A review by marie_thereadingotter
Iron Wolf by Siri Pettersen

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 First of all, this book is weird. But it is so good. The world is vivid, but feels very alien at the same time. The magic in this world has this dark undertone to it that I don't see enough of in Fantasy. I think this book is loosely tied to her other series (The Raven Rings). It's been a while since I've read that series, and how I write reviews leaving out details to avoid spoilers doesn't help me when I go back to re-read reviews for stuff. 

 

Juva is both likable and kind of unlikable. She is extremely stubborn, and she makes some really dumb decisions at times. Around the middle of the book she spent a lot of time waffling about how to handle something. While I get it to a degree, I feel like a lot of her problems could have been solved had she made a decision about some of it sooner. 

Gríf, I struggled picturing what he looks like. And the fan art Pettersen has of him on her Instagram isn't what I thought he looked like. The fan art makes him look far too "human"... and he's not human. Maybe I missed a detail in his description, maybe something was lost in translation? The fan art is amazing, but I was picturing something else. 

 

There are a lot of intertwined plot lines, a lot of backstabbing. And for a good while there I wasn't sure who I was supposed to root for. There are three POVs. I felt like one of them was slightly redundant with information we get from the characters. I also really hate that character in particular. What becomes of him is a little ambiguous, but I really hope karma catches up to him. 

 

I have no idea where the story is headed from here, but I am excited to read it when it comes out.