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aishablue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
kindra_demi's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book felt like it was supposed to be about a romance story, but someone in the writing and publishing process said "No. This book shouldn't have the romance as the main plot point." and so the author wrote together another storyline into it about a magical forest that I'm still kind of confused on how it works.
For the first half of the book, I was more interested in the interlude and what was happening with the sister over what was happening in the main character. I will give that the second half, I was actually really interested in what the storyline was becoming. But my confusion in the first half brought me very close to DNF'ing. I think the primary reason I didn't was I just wanted to be able to finish with my book club.
For the first half of the book, I was more interested in the interlude and what was happening with the sister over what was happening in the main character. I will give that the second half, I was actually really interested in what the storyline was becoming. But my confusion in the first half brought me very close to DNF'ing. I think the primary reason I didn't was I just wanted to be able to finish with my book club.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
drdavis23's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Minor: Sexual content
imds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Blood, and Abandonment
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
murphy___'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
2.5
One of the quote endorsement things on my library’s copy of this book said it was great for “fans of Uprooted,” and I am definitely a fan of Uprooted. And I was liking the twisted fairy tale vibes I was getting from the back cover.
As hard as everything from the cover to the protagonist’s name tries to give a Red Riding Hood vibe, For the Wolf is reimagining of Beauty and the Beast if anything. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’ve watched the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, you’ll be able to predict the basic shape of a lot of future events.
In this word, the gods are gone, and the Wolf in the Wilderwood has them trapped. Per tradition that’s practically taken the role of prophecy, the oldest princess becomes queen, and the second princess gets sacrificed to the Wolf in hopes that an acceptable sacrifice will convince him to release the gods. Naturally, queens try to only have one daughter, but Red has the unfortunate honor of being a twin. So on her twentieth birthday, she got to be sacrificed to the Wolf.
The main story is Red, meeting the Wolf (which is actually a title, not a species indicator), exploring what in the heck is going on in the Wilderwood, and dealing with magic. But there are also some parts from the perspective of Neve, Red’s sister, back at home and desperate to get her sister back.
At first, I loved the story. It definitely had Uprooted vibes, I was curious about the Wilderwood and what was behind all the weird stuff going on, and I was actually a little interested in the relationship between Red and the Wolf.
And then it started to drag. Red is stubborn and powerful and has an attitude of “I’m here now so I’m going to help,” but the Wolf absolutely refuses to tell her anything about what’s going on, claiming he’s trying to protect her even when knowing would help her protect herself. I was expecting him to eventually give in and tell her and then the story could start, but he never did. Red doesn’t find out certain Very Essential Information until right before the climax. It only took a few chapters for this deliberate and repeated refusal to let Red join the plot to go from slowing down the story to outright frustrating.
The big driving force of this story is how much Red is loved, but I think I have a different understanding of love than than what’s in this book. There are no less than two (and arguably three) characters who show their love for Red by being willing to die in the process of undoing Red’s choice rather than accept that she made a choice they didn’t like. They all said they loved her – and maybe they thought they did – but actual love has to also involve respecting the other person’s autonomy. If they aren’t willing to respect her choices about her own life and instead do everything in their power to force her to do what they want, that shows more that they feel like they own her or are entitled to make decisions for her rather than loving her.
I wish I could have liked this book more than I did. The world was fantastic, even the small bits of politics that I got from Neve’s sections were interesting, a unique religion is a driving force in the story, the Wolf’s story was revealed in tantalizing layers, I actually enjoyed the slow-burn relationship between Red and the Wolf, and the Wilderwood was a great setting with a lot of potential. But even though the story hinged around Red’s choices, every single character in the book was dead set against letting her make those choices – or if she managed to anyway, doing everything up to and including dying to undo them. It’s like the entire story was telling Red, “Yeah, we know you’re the main character, but we don’t want you to be part of it so it sit down and shut up.”
I did finish it. I suppose it’s because I wanted to see if anyone ever let Red make a choice (spoiler: no, the only “character” who respects Red’s choices is not even human) and because there were other good things in the book (the Wilderwood, mainly) whose stories I wanted to see play out. I was so excited to find something similar to Uprooted that I hoped to love, and then it rapidly decided that it hated its protagonist and drove me into frustration. I wish I could have liked this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content and Murder
kjulie's review against another edition
DNF @ p.178
Too much angst and too predictable for me. This was a Beauty and the Beast retelling (I obviously didn’t look into the synopsis very intentionally because that came as a bit of a surprise). I thought I’d enjoy it, at least a bit, since I remember enjoying Uprooted (which it was compared to) and The Wolf and the Woodsman (which came out at the same time and has a similar initial premise), but it just dragged on and on, and I didn’t care for any of the characters at all. I felt like I could sense exactly would happen in the rest of the book (brooding, struggling with magic, betrayal masked as helping, this would be the twist, and then the sisters fight together and win). No thank you, that’s not what I want to spend anymore time reading.
Too much angst and too predictable for me. This was a Beauty and the Beast retelling (I obviously didn’t look into the synopsis very intentionally because that came as a bit of a surprise). I thought I’d enjoy it, at least a bit, since I remember enjoying Uprooted (which it was compared to) and The Wolf and the Woodsman (which came out at the same time and has a similar initial premise), but it just dragged on and on, and I didn’t care for any of the characters at all. I felt like I could sense exactly would happen in the rest of the book (brooding, struggling with magic, betrayal masked as helping, this would be the twist, and then the sisters fight together and win). No thank you, that’s not what I want to spend anymore time reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
scipiokento's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
"A forest in your bones, a graveyard beneath your feet. There are no heroes here."
This was my second time reading this book and it still remains to be one of my favorites. Following along with Red and Eammon as they find space in the constraints of responsibilities thrust upon them to still fight for what they believe in still continues to be a joy to experience. Whitten has beautifully crafted these characters who have lost so much but continue to stand for what they hold dear despite what is thrown at them. A lot of my favorite tropes are present in here such as forced proximity, enemies to lovers, even a sprinkling of forbidden love in a way (I'll stop naming tropes for fear of spoiling anything but trust there are more). This story has wonderful bones and tips it's hat to a well known tale but manages to keep it's own identity with a new face and a darker tone. I will never stop screaming about this book.
This was my second time reading this book and it still remains to be one of my favorites. Following along with Red and Eammon as they find space in the constraints of responsibilities thrust upon them to still fight for what they believe in still continues to be a joy to experience. Whitten has beautifully crafted these characters who have lost so much but continue to stand for what they hold dear despite what is thrown at them. A lot of my favorite tropes are present in here such as forced proximity, enemies to lovers, even a sprinkling of forbidden love in a way (I'll stop naming tropes for fear of spoiling anything but trust there are more). This story has wonderful bones and tips it's hat to a well known tale but manages to keep it's own identity with a new face and a darker tone. I will never stop screaming about this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
books_before_bed_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
It's very rare that I realize how much a book is going to grab me soul before I finish it, but this one did. I am absolutely astounded at this beautiful story, and cannot wait for the sequel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
folded_between_pages_of_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, and Death of parent