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A review by laracamille
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
2.0
I wanted to DNF this so badly, but I had to see it through. I didn’t hate it, but I definitely didn’t like it.
My biggest issue with this book is the plot. Not enough clarity was given for the purpose of the Wilderwood, the magic system, the Five Kings, etc. When these things were explained, they were explained very lazily. It was just very confusing to me, and I found myself frequently flipping to previous pages to see if something was explained only to find nothing. I really think that this author was just making up shit as she went. Like, let me get this straight: Eammon turns into the tree-beast thing from taking the Wilderwood out of Red to save her - it’s a big moment of loss for Red and is supposed to be a very heavy scene. But then… she bargains with Eammon… who is now the Wilderwood… to return him to the “real” Eammon… and everything is just fine and dandy again??? I swear to god this was such a common theme throughout the book. The characters would do these crazy things and cause crazy damage only for it to be for nothing and the damage is all reversible anyways. It’s boring. I will say this book had an interesting concept, but I don’t think it was executed very well.
The characters are another issue. They are ALL so incredibly boring. The author clearly put no effort into making anyone who wasn’t Red or Eammon interesting and convincing. Yet, even Red and Eammon are so goddamn bland. This was the main reason why I couldn’t get into this book. Like, how are you going to have the main character and her love interest be boring as hell with no chemistry? I hate to say it, but Red annoyed me so much. She would either ask questions when the answers had already been revealed to her, or she wouldn’t ask questions when you’d think she should. Red lost all of her complexity the second she met Eammon, which, for me, is very disappointing being that this was written by a female author. ALSO, Fife and Lyra were completely unnecessary characters. They were not developed at all and really only served as lazy plot and world-building devices. You could take them out of the book and it would change nothing.
The writing is ok. I did get a bit fed up with Red always biting her lip and the men leaning in the doorways.
My biggest issue with this book is the plot. Not enough clarity was given for the purpose of the Wilderwood, the magic system, the Five Kings, etc. When these things were explained, they were explained very lazily. It was just very confusing to me, and I found myself frequently flipping to previous pages to see if something was explained only to find nothing. I really think that this author was just making up shit as she went. Like, let me get this straight: Eammon turns into the tree-beast thing from taking the Wilderwood out of Red to save her - it’s a big moment of loss for Red and is supposed to be a very heavy scene. But then… she bargains with Eammon… who is now the Wilderwood… to return him to the “real” Eammon… and everything is just fine and dandy again??? I swear to god this was such a common theme throughout the book. The characters would do these crazy things and cause crazy damage only for it to be for nothing and the damage is all reversible anyways. It’s boring. I will say this book had an interesting concept, but I don’t think it was executed very well.
The characters are another issue. They are ALL so incredibly boring. The author clearly put no effort into making anyone who wasn’t Red or Eammon interesting and convincing. Yet, even Red and Eammon are so goddamn bland. This was the main reason why I couldn’t get into this book. Like, how are you going to have the main character and her love interest be boring as hell with no chemistry? I hate to say it, but Red annoyed me so much. She would either ask questions when the answers had already been revealed to her, or she wouldn’t ask questions when you’d think she should. Red lost all of her complexity the second she met Eammon, which, for me, is very disappointing being that this was written by a female author. ALSO, Fife and Lyra were completely unnecessary characters. They were not developed at all and really only served as lazy plot and world-building devices. You could take them out of the book and it would change nothing.
The writing is ok. I did get a bit fed up with Red always biting her lip and the men leaning in the doorways.