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A review by eesh25
Ravensong by TJ Klune
4.0
4.5
I was somewhat skeptical going into this book. On one hand, I really wanted to read Gordo's story. On the other hand, I struggled a lot with all the backstory stuff in Wolfsong and did not want to deal with it again.
Thankfully, we were caught up to present-ish time (meaning a year after Joe and the others came back from their ill-advised travels) pretty soon—though I don't blame Gordo for said travels. The "backstory" was a little over a hundred pages and it covered not just what went down in the three years that Gordo was gone, but also everything went down when the Bennett pack was in town the first time around, when Gordo was young. We finally found out why Gordo didn't want Ox to have anything to do with the pack, and what unforgivable thing the pack did.
And honestly, if Gordo had decided that he just couldn't forgive what they'd done and that he wanted nothing to do with the pack, I wouldn't have blamed him. He was only fifteen and what they, it was horrible and it makes me so mad that they—Thomas, Elizabeth, Mark—did that; which is, when you think about it, a good really thing since you need a pretty big reason to be mad at someone for as long as Gordo was.
Anyway, after the first section was over, we got to the main plot, which is very much related to what happened with Ox in book 1. That's why I said that you had to read it first. What's going down is that there are Omega's invading, there's shit going down with the Alpha-of-all situation and a bunch of politics and stuff that I don't want to spoil. I will say that it's all awesome and even though a part of the story was resolved in this book, there are still things that were started in Wolfsong that still need resolving and I'm very eager for book three to come out. Also, Ox continues to be awesome.
This series is restoring my faith in werewolves. I mean, most werewolf books still suck but at least we know that it can be done right. So yay for that.
What else? Oh yeah, the romance. Almost forgot to mention that. Mark and Gordo... they've got a lot of history and they're both mature enough to not be angsty. The thing's preventing them from being together is Gordo's mistrust and hurt. He can't move on from what happened in the past and he's not sure he wants to. It's a slow burn but exactly the right pace for their story. I loved it.
I also loved all of the characters. I loved that we got to know Gordo's friends better. The three of them, and Jessie, are endlessly entertaining. Just like Carter and Kelly, though things with them got a little more serious because of some things that took place.
Ox and Joe are great. I loved Elizabeth being the "adult" of the pack even though she's not much older than Mark. Robbie was the surprise characters. I mean, he was in book 1 too but he's opened up a lot more at this point and I'm so freaking happy that his book is next, even though I wanted Carter's book more. Mark is a calm and rational presence, and perfect for Gordo. Gordo is grumpy, impatient with shenanigans, and exasperated with everyone around him 99% of the time... and I love him so much.
The characters are the heart of this series, as they should be. I care about all of them and they're what make the werewolf thing not-weird, I think. Overall, this was a great book and I'm really happy with it. I don't know how many books there will be in the series but I'm hoping for at least two more. 'Till then, I'm gonna read some other books by the author.
I was somewhat skeptical going into this book. On one hand, I really wanted to read Gordo's story. On the other hand, I struggled a lot with all the backstory stuff in Wolfsong and did not want to deal with it again.
Thankfully, we were caught up to present-ish time (meaning a year after Joe and the others came back from their ill-advised travels) pretty soon—though I don't blame Gordo for said travels. The "backstory" was a little over a hundred pages and it covered not just what went down in the three years that Gordo was gone, but also everything went down when the Bennett pack was in town the first time around, when Gordo was young. We finally found out why Gordo didn't want Ox to have anything to do with the pack, and what unforgivable thing the pack did.
And honestly, if Gordo had decided that he just couldn't forgive what they'd done and that he wanted nothing to do with the pack, I wouldn't have blamed him. He was only fifteen and what they, it was horrible and it makes me so mad that they—Thomas, Elizabeth, Mark—did that; which is, when you think about it, a good really thing since you need a pretty big reason to be mad at someone for as long as Gordo was.
Anyway, after the first section was over, we got to the main plot, which is very much related to what happened with Ox in book 1. That's why I said that you had to read it first. What's going down is that there are Omega's invading, there's shit going down with the Alpha-of-all situation and a bunch of politics and stuff that I don't want to spoil. I will say that it's all awesome and even though a part of the story was resolved in this book, there are still things that were started in Wolfsong that still need resolving and I'm very eager for book three to come out. Also, Ox continues to be awesome.
This series is restoring my faith in werewolves. I mean, most werewolf books still suck but at least we know that it can be done right. So yay for that.
What else? Oh yeah, the romance. Almost forgot to mention that. Mark and Gordo... they've got a lot of history and they're both mature enough to not be angsty. The thing's preventing them from being together is Gordo's mistrust and hurt. He can't move on from what happened in the past and he's not sure he wants to. It's a slow burn but exactly the right pace for their story. I loved it.
I also loved all of the characters. I loved that we got to know Gordo's friends better. The three of them, and Jessie, are endlessly entertaining. Just like Carter and Kelly, though things with them got a little more serious because of some things that took place.
Ox and Joe are great. I loved Elizabeth being the "adult" of the pack even though she's not much older than Mark. Robbie was the surprise characters. I mean, he was in book 1 too but he's opened up a lot more at this point and I'm so freaking happy that his book is next, even though I wanted Carter's book more. Mark is a calm and rational presence, and perfect for Gordo. Gordo is grumpy, impatient with shenanigans, and exasperated with everyone around him 99% of the time... and I love him so much.
The characters are the heart of this series, as they should be. I care about all of them and they're what make the werewolf thing not-weird, I think. Overall, this was a great book and I'm really happy with it. I don't know how many books there will be in the series but I'm hoping for at least two more. 'Till then, I'm gonna read some other books by the author.