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A review by difficultwomanreads
Song of the Dark Wood by Sheila Masterson
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5/5. Releases 3/18/2025 in audio.
—Little Red Riding Hood but make it dark-ish
—virgin sacrifice
—wolf but is it wolf but he's kinda wolf but he's kinda not but
Heat Index: 7/10
The Basics:
Rowan is set to begin her time as the Red Maiden, a term in which ferries souls to the God of Death, The Wolf; and while she could theoretically make it through her term alive, many maidens, including her direct predecessor, have not. Her only hope may lie in "pleasing" him, a task she's been prepared to execute her entire life. But just as she discovers there may be more to The Wolf than meets the eye, Rowan is offered the chance to free herself—and potentially future maidens—from this fate. Is she willing to make one final sacrifice?
The Review:
This got off to a great start. There's no doubt that Masterson knows how to write, and she describes a vivid fantasy world, full of weird rituals (veils!), creepy grooming, culty fundamentalism, and that classic "we worship a goddess yet we somehow manage to be massive misogynists" practice upheld by so many men.
One thing this did from the start, and managed to carry through, was add an air of creepiness while remaining a romance. A lot of "darker fantasy" romances out right now try this and don't really hit it. Masterson is committed to atmosphere, and aside from the occasional turn of phrase that I felt betrayed it—"I'm crazy about you", for example—overall I felt it worked.
And I did like the chemistry between Rowan and The Wolf, even if I wasn't a huge fan of the fact that he had like, a normal guy name. I don't want him to be Just A Guy, but I guess it's easier than calling him The Wolf the whole time. I'm still going to call him that throughout this review for the sake of consistency.
Anyway, there's the classic wolfy "SHE SMELLS SO GOOD" dilemma, and by God, it was so refreshing and such a good choice to have The Wolf's perspective as well as Rowan's. I loved his obsessive desire to have her, the death entangled in this orld.
But... This back and forth started, and it never really stopped. To me, Rowan and The Wolf needed a degree of trust or none at all. It felt like it was established somewhat quickly, then it was betrayed, then they got it back, then it was betrayed. It felt as if Masterson was afraid of committing one way or the other. And the thing is that Rowan in particular felt so easily manipulated! I get it, she's very sheltered, but her inability to read a room caused so many problems.
To be clear, I'm not against problems. These problems were just... contrived. They kept me from believing that Rowan was ever truly emotionally with The Wolf, and if she wasn't there, then how could she possibly fall for him?
Nonetheless, because the writing quality was good and I enjoyed the story, I was willing to brush some things aside... But at about the 75% mark, we got a move and an argument that did not feel at all like something of the world Masterson had been writing. It felt... like something an immortal death god would not say. It felt, really, like I was suddenly reading about a pretty young contemporary couple. I got snapped out of the story.
While the book wrapped up well, I couldn't really shake that blowup. It took me out of what felt like, until then, something of a fairy tale.
The Sex:
I really loved the concept of a Little Red Riding Hood being prepared to PLEASE the wolf, as opposed to simply being a sacrifice that would lie there on an altar waiting. It added to the eeriness and Rowan's conflict over her agency. That being said, Connor did a lot of like... educating her about consent and sexuality at one point, to the degree that I again felt sort of pulled from the story. I was like "Okay dude, you are supposed to be a threatening death god, you're being feminist boyfriend right now". I get the sentiment, but it was a little much.
That said, the sex scenes themselves were really good. And I did love that at one point, Rowan was like "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST BE A DEATH WOLF GOD GUY AND RAVISH ME". Same, girl.
Conclusion:
I think I'm a bit more bugged than I would've been if this was just straight-up mediocre. Because there's a lot I like here! It just kind of fell apart. There was some piecing back together, and I do think that it's pretty good for what it is. I just thought what it is was... more?
All that being said, very good audio narration on both sides!
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
—Little Red Riding Hood but make it dark-ish
—virgin sacrifice
—wolf but is it wolf but he's kinda wolf but he's kinda not but
Heat Index: 7/10
The Basics:
Rowan is set to begin her time as the Red Maiden, a term in which ferries souls to the God of Death, The Wolf; and while she could theoretically make it through her term alive, many maidens, including her direct predecessor, have not. Her only hope may lie in "pleasing" him, a task she's been prepared to execute her entire life. But just as she discovers there may be more to The Wolf than meets the eye, Rowan is offered the chance to free herself—and potentially future maidens—from this fate. Is she willing to make one final sacrifice?
The Review:
This got off to a great start. There's no doubt that Masterson knows how to write, and she describes a vivid fantasy world, full of weird rituals (veils!), creepy grooming, culty fundamentalism, and that classic "we worship a goddess yet we somehow manage to be massive misogynists" practice upheld by so many men.
One thing this did from the start, and managed to carry through, was add an air of creepiness while remaining a romance. A lot of "darker fantasy" romances out right now try this and don't really hit it. Masterson is committed to atmosphere, and aside from the occasional turn of phrase that I felt betrayed it—"I'm crazy about you", for example—overall I felt it worked.
And I did like the chemistry between Rowan and The Wolf, even if I wasn't a huge fan of the fact that he had like, a normal guy name. I don't want him to be Just A Guy, but I guess it's easier than calling him The Wolf the whole time. I'm still going to call him that throughout this review for the sake of consistency.
Anyway, there's the classic wolfy "SHE SMELLS SO GOOD" dilemma, and by God, it was so refreshing and such a good choice to have The Wolf's perspective as well as Rowan's. I loved his obsessive desire to have her, the death entangled in this orld.
But... This back and forth started, and it never really stopped. To me, Rowan and The Wolf needed a degree of trust or none at all. It felt like it was established somewhat quickly, then it was betrayed, then they got it back, then it was betrayed. It felt as if Masterson was afraid of committing one way or the other. And the thing is that Rowan in particular felt so easily manipulated! I get it, she's very sheltered, but her inability to read a room caused so many problems.
To be clear, I'm not against problems. These problems were just... contrived. They kept me from believing that Rowan was ever truly emotionally with The Wolf, and if she wasn't there, then how could she possibly fall for him?
Nonetheless, because the writing quality was good and I enjoyed the story, I was willing to brush some things aside... But at about the 75% mark, we got a move and an argument that did not feel at all like something of the world Masterson had been writing. It felt... like something an immortal death god would not say. It felt, really, like I was suddenly reading about a pretty young contemporary couple. I got snapped out of the story.
While the book wrapped up well, I couldn't really shake that blowup. It took me out of what felt like, until then, something of a fairy tale.
The Sex:
I really loved the concept of a Little Red Riding Hood being prepared to PLEASE the wolf, as opposed to simply being a sacrifice that would lie there on an altar waiting. It added to the eeriness and Rowan's conflict over her agency. That being said, Connor did a lot of like... educating her about consent and sexuality at one point, to the degree that I again felt sort of pulled from the story. I was like "Okay dude, you are supposed to be a threatening death god, you're being feminist boyfriend right now". I get the sentiment, but it was a little much.
That said, the sex scenes themselves were really good. And I did love that at one point, Rowan was like "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST BE A DEATH WOLF GOD GUY AND RAVISH ME". Same, girl.
Conclusion:
I think I'm a bit more bugged than I would've been if this was just straight-up mediocre. Because there's a lot I like here! It just kind of fell apart. There was some piecing back together, and I do think that it's pretty good for what it is. I just thought what it is was... more?
All that being said, very good audio narration on both sides!
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.