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yujowheelies 's review for:
Wolfsong
by TJ Klune
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TJ Klune fulfilled my biggest wish like 8 years before I realized I had it. A small town queer werewolf romance with plenty of magic, violence, pain, found family, and healing. There's a lot of raw heart in this book and it filled a void I desperately needed filled.
That being said, there are a few kinda jarring issues with this book that will probably turn some readers away. They are as follows:
1. There is a six year age gap between the main characters that is taken very lightly/casually because of vaguely explained werewolf magic reasons. They meet when one is 10 and the other is 16. Things start getting romantic when one is 17 and the other is 23. Nothing explicitly sexual happens until one is 20/21 and the other is 26/27. Why this big a gap? No idea, genuinely. The book would've been the exact same if Joe was only a couple years younger than Ox.
2. A certain quirks to Klune's style is that he can get really repetitive- certain quotes and motifs are kind of driven into the ground ad nauseam, so much so that it pulled me out of plot at times.
3. Most of the conflict in this book comes from characters lying by omission, keeping secrets, leaving, or miscommunicating- which leads to quite a bit of dramatic argument scenes that sometimes feel cyclical because no one is listening to each other. Some people live for this but other's find it annoying/unreadable, so I feel like its a fair thing to warn people about.
4. The villain felt extremely one-dimensional and comically horrible, which is kind of a bummer when this story is mostly magical/paranormal realism. He's a man who just likes to be violent for violence sake- he threatens sexual assault multiple times and these instances genuinely kind of shocked and confused me, and their inclusion felt unnecessary.
I tend to come off as overly-critical in reviews because I find it easier to articulate my issues or things I didn't like about any certain book. But I really did love this one, and am looking forward to seeing how the characters develop in the rest of the series.
That being said, there are a few kinda jarring issues with this book that will probably turn some readers away. They are as follows:
1. There is a six year age gap between the main characters that is taken very lightly/casually because of vaguely explained werewolf magic reasons. They meet when one is 10 and the other is 16. Things start getting romantic when one is 17 and the other is 23. Nothing explicitly sexual happens until one is 20/21 and the other is 26/27. Why this big a gap? No idea, genuinely. The book would've been the exact same if Joe was only a couple years younger than Ox.
2. A certain quirks to Klune's style is that he can get really repetitive- certain quotes and motifs are kind of driven into the ground ad nauseam, so much so that it pulled me out of plot at times.
3. Most of the conflict in this book comes from characters lying by omission, keeping secrets, leaving, or miscommunicating- which leads to quite a bit of dramatic argument scenes that sometimes feel cyclical because no one is listening to each other. Some people live for this but other's find it annoying/unreadable, so I feel like its a fair thing to warn people about.
4. The villain felt extremely one-dimensional and comically horrible, which is kind of a bummer when this story is mostly magical/paranormal realism. He's a man who just likes to be violent for violence sake- he threatens sexual assault multiple times and these instances genuinely kind of shocked and confused me, and their inclusion felt unnecessary.
I tend to come off as overly-critical in reviews because I find it easier to articulate my issues or things I didn't like about any certain book. But I really did love this one, and am looking forward to seeing how the characters develop in the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia