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alittlebird's review
5.0
Ideas and Execution: 4 Stars
Role and Fulfillment as Sequel: 4.5 Stars
Characters and Arcs: 4.5 Stars
Rounded Up
Role and Fulfillment as Sequel: 4.5 Stars
Characters and Arcs: 4.5 Stars
Rounded Up
pero_tefi's review
2.0
2.5
Im gonna be honest here, its not that this series is bad. Its well written, i can see the research done to write it, the characters also seem cool and I see the authors intentions of making them cool and complex. I just couldnt get into it, I didn't enjoy it, stuff happened and i was just there to read it, people died and I was just like "okay", I think the characters and their desires and their thought processes were so well written and described it left nothing for me to figure out I was just there to watch it and read it happening so yeah. I still recommend it, it was good, and in the past it could have even been amazing for me, but I guess it just isnt my cup of tea right now.
Im gonna be honest here, its not that this series is bad. Its well written, i can see the research done to write it, the characters also seem cool and I see the authors intentions of making them cool and complex. I just couldnt get into it, I didn't enjoy it, stuff happened and i was just there to read it, people died and I was just like "okay", I think the characters and their desires and their thought processes were so well written and described it left nothing for me to figure out I was just there to watch it and read it happening so yeah. I still recommend it, it was good, and in the past it could have even been amazing for me, but I guess it just isnt my cup of tea right now.
vikingwolf's review against another edition
2.0
I very much enjoyed 'Wolf By Wolf' but circumstances meant that I only got round to reading this sequel years later. Now I'm wishing I hadn't spent my time on it to be honest. In the first book, Yael is focused, smart, able to think on her feet and perform her duty with no distractions getting in her way, exactly as she was trained. However it seems that in this book, she decides to put the entire mission at risk by ignoring her training and common sense because of two boys. Seriously Yael I'm disappointed in you, and to a certain extent, your colleague who I'm not naming for spoiler reasons.
The characters certainly annoyed me in this book. Let's start with Yael. Her decision in the last book to leave Felix alive when he can pass on the information about her tattoos is madness. You're trying to kill Hitler, end an evil regime and save millions of people here but you let him live when he can identify you and pass that detail on? Kind of defeats the point of stealing Adele's identity to allow her angry brother to pass on details to the enemy. Same with her lack of suspicion over the 'plane scene'. Likewise when Luka behaves like an idiot at the dock, she should've left him and escaped in order to continue the mission. After the failed attempt, she should have been regrouping and getting in touch with the resistance as millions of lives were at stake. Instead she wants to save Luka because she fancies him and Felix because she feels bad about impersonating his sister. Also her version of a lie detector fails to take into account the very obvious drug issue.
Luka annoys me for the majority of the book with his stupid comments which keep landing them in trouble and his stupidity at the house lets Felix do something even dumber. However he does start redeeming himself towards the end. Felix could not be any dumber. It didn't seem to matter how much evidence of war crimes and lies he saw, he still thinks that the Nazi is going to honour his promise. Even when he finds out about the secret project, even when the resistance prove their case over and over, he's still too stupid to actually listen and learn. I truly did hate his character as the book progressed. It was infuriating.
The biggest problem for me was the lack of plot for the first two thirds of the book. We failed to kill Hitler so we just travel towards the resistance headquarters in the city with two guys that the other traveller doesn't trust, hoping somehow to find the heavily guarded Hitler who you can't identify because he has unknown numbers of shapeshifter clones running about impersonating him. Your plan is 'find him, kill him'. Right, really going to work after the failed murder at the end of the race because they'll never expect another hit! It's only when the plan changes after the detour that a plot really emerges and those chapters are better.
The problem is that it's basically a road movie without zombies or anything else happening to liven up the travel. The scariest bit was wondering if the old truck would get them there. It was slow enough but having everyone remember a few Christmas memories in these pointless interludes was just boring padding that didn't need to be there. Only that flashback to the death camp experiments with Yael's travel companion stood out from that. I just drifted along waiting for something to happen and thought longingly of the first book action.
Which brings me to the ending. I never normally put ending spoilers in my review but boy howdy I need to say something at how angry I was at the end of one characters story so don't read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know. Last chance...ok SPOILER. He just CANNOT get away with that, he just can't FFS! Yael delivered the first part of the promise but her friend should have taken revenge for his action. Me, I'd have shot HER in front of him. The book title is Blood For Blood after all and he deserved to suffer in my opinion, not get the ending he received. It's not what trained resistance fighters would do. Forget the humanity forgiveness crap, teaching him a lesson mattered more to me. Rant over.
SPOILERS OVER. Welcome back. The non spoiler thing I'll say about the ending is that it felt kind of rushed, spiralling quickly to a conclusion for me after a few hundred pages of padding with little plot and a weird chemistry free romance that I never really felt. This book really disappointed me in various ways but at least it was a two book series not a trilogy to sit through. I'd had enough of most of the characters at that point.
The characters certainly annoyed me in this book. Let's start with Yael. Her decision in the last book to leave Felix alive when he can pass on the information about her tattoos is madness. You're trying to kill Hitler, end an evil regime and save millions of people here but you let him live when he can identify you and pass that detail on? Kind of defeats the point of stealing Adele's identity to allow her angry brother to pass on details to the enemy. Same with her lack of suspicion over the 'plane scene'. Likewise when Luka behaves like an idiot at the dock, she should've left him and escaped in order to continue the mission. After the failed attempt, she should have been regrouping and getting in touch with the resistance as millions of lives were at stake. Instead she wants to save Luka because she fancies him and Felix because she feels bad about impersonating his sister. Also her version of a lie detector fails to take into account the very obvious drug issue.
Luka annoys me for the majority of the book with his stupid comments which keep landing them in trouble and his stupidity at the house lets Felix do something even dumber. However he does start redeeming himself towards the end. Felix could not be any dumber. It didn't seem to matter how much evidence of war crimes and lies he saw, he still thinks that the Nazi is going to honour his promise. Even when he finds out about the secret project, even when the resistance prove their case over and over, he's still too stupid to actually listen and learn. I truly did hate his character as the book progressed. It was infuriating.
The biggest problem for me was the lack of plot for the first two thirds of the book. We failed to kill Hitler so we just travel towards the resistance headquarters in the city with two guys that the other traveller doesn't trust, hoping somehow to find the heavily guarded Hitler who you can't identify because he has unknown numbers of shapeshifter clones running about impersonating him. Your plan is 'find him, kill him'. Right, really going to work after the failed murder at the end of the race because they'll never expect another hit! It's only when the plan changes after the detour that a plot really emerges and those chapters are better.
The problem is that it's basically a road movie without zombies or anything else happening to liven up the travel. The scariest bit was wondering if the old truck would get them there. It was slow enough but having everyone remember a few Christmas memories in these pointless interludes was just boring padding that didn't need to be there. Only that flashback to the death camp experiments with Yael's travel companion stood out from that. I just drifted along waiting for something to happen and thought longingly of the first book action.
Which brings me to the ending. I never normally put ending spoilers in my review but boy howdy I need to say something at how angry I was at the end of one characters story so don't read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know. Last chance...ok SPOILER. He just CANNOT get away with that, he just can't FFS! Yael delivered the first part of the promise but her friend should have taken revenge for his action. Me, I'd have shot HER in front of him. The book title is Blood For Blood after all and he deserved to suffer in my opinion, not get the ending he received. It's not what trained resistance fighters would do. Forget the humanity forgiveness crap, teaching him a lesson mattered more to me. Rant over.
SPOILERS OVER. Welcome back. The non spoiler thing I'll say about the ending is that it felt kind of rushed, spiralling quickly to a conclusion for me after a few hundred pages of padding with little plot and a weird chemistry free romance that I never really felt. This book really disappointed me in various ways but at least it was a two book series not a trilogy to sit through. I'd had enough of most of the characters at that point.
th3misna's review
5.0
This is the type of book that makes you feel something. That shakes you to the core and leaves you breathless chapter after chapter. The type that long after you finish it will stay with you forever. This is one of the best books I've read this year and I just can't express how amazing this book was for me. This story is beautiful, heart-breaking and so much MORE. Im definitely reading this book again some time soon!
stephajo's review
5.0
I think it's evil and amazing and SO worth the pain that comes with reading it.
rachbarn98's review
4.0
The last 100 pages were really good - but sad. They definitely made up for the slow pace of the first 300 pages.
cuckleberryfins's review
5.0
This book destroyed my soul and crushed my heart but it was still amazing. I would definitely recommend to a friend. 10/10. I want to read all if Ryan Graudin's work.
diaspora_reader's review against another edition
4.0
"The nights were just as still as the day. They should have been more disturbing, with the darkness everywhere, but Luka found himself enjoying the evenings around the fire. It was warm, there was food and there was her."
I absolutely loved almost everything about this book. It breaks my heart that I have to say "almost" amidst that sentence. But when it comes to 'Blood for Blood', that's not the only reason for this broken heart of mine.
If you're looking at reviews for this book, you'd be confused by the varied responses from fans who continued the duology. One person rates 1 star, another rates 4.5, another leaves a review that starts with their disappointment, and another commends Gaudrin for what she's left us with. I've come to a conclusion on this odd phenomena:
For anyone who read 'Wolf by Wolf' and loved it for its action filled, fast paced tone, book 2 is quite likely to disappoint you. The pace slows down immensely. There is no Axis Tour and no race against Japan and Germania's finest, fittest youth. When Yael 'kills' the Fuhrer, the setting is altered completely. There's still action and there is still heart-racing moments, but it's slightly overwhelmed by other things instead.
For those who loooved book 1 for its characters, for Yael as an individual, for her relationship with her wolves, and with Felix and Luka, you are quite likely to adore book 2 and eat it up like birthday cake. I fit into this spectrum. I was so excited to see how Luka would react to Yael's true form, and her reason for impersonating Adele. My heart raced to see if there was something more between the 2 of them. I wanted to know where Felix's story would go from the blow Yael delivered to his head.
I got to read all these things. And, there were so many pleasant surprises to go with them.
Luka freaking Lowe. If someone had told me during 'Wolf by Wolf' how pivotal his character would become I would've hit them up with an uncertain 'suuure'. You surprising son of a gun. How dare you make me love you like this?
My first review had centred on Yael and how much I'd loved loved loved her. But this one's for you, Luka. Absolute shout out to you.
It's been so long since I've read a book that actually got under my skin. Sleepless nights to find out what happens next. Denial when what happens actually happens. Anger for it. 5 starts despite myself. The decision to make it a 4 instead. And a few tears, I'll be real - I shed some tears.
Plucking out quotes to mark the beauty of 'Blood for Blood' doesn't do it justice. Chapters is more like it. Chapters on farmhouse steps where wolves met skin. Chapters in front of cameras where boy meets world and tells the truth. Chapters where three 17 year olds, too young for war, develop into something more. Chapters where on and on, they fall in love. It was so powerful to watch them fall in love (I considered the love story a beautiful necessity despite nay-sayers)
But why did I almost, almost love book 2? The last page left me so unsatisfied.
Spoiler
I'm not exaggerating when I say I fully hated that ending. I do see why Graudrin went though with it. It brings Luka full circle. The national socialist poster boy who really was so much more. Who died for the so much more.
Doesn't mean I'll ever like it. My personal opinion: a far better ending could have been written if he had lived and Yael and him got that happily ever after. Reviving Miriam mid-way through book 2 low-key proved she could surprise us with Luka's unexpected survival. It just wasn't necessary to kill him.
I'm incredibly impressed with the way the Wolfe twins were developed though. My finding is that both are national socialist sympathisers, rather than just loyal to their family. I fully despise Felix's actions and his inability to listen to just listen to Yael. And love Yael for her ability to forgive and let go.
" What now?
—NOW WE MAKE OURSELVES—
Yael was not a monster. Luka was not the next generation of Nationalist Socialists. They were what the Reich would come to fear the most. A Jewish girl and a German boy holding the future and the past in their hands - together ".