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skylacine's reviews
1045 reviews
Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire
4.0
Solid non-fiction about animals that are commonly seen as pests. Has a lot of of good information and I enjoyed reading it.
If I do have some feedback it's that sometimes it will jump subject a bit (like you're reading a chapter about X animal and suddenly the author will talk about Y animal out of nowhere).
Also, I personally found it odd that in the pigeon chapter nowhere passenger pigeons are mentioned. As in, the pigeon species humans literally hunted to extinction because (supposedly) they damaged crops? Quite odd since they're quite a major thing that happened in the past century.
If I do have some feedback it's that sometimes it will jump subject a bit (like you're reading a chapter about X animal and suddenly the author will talk about Y animal out of nowhere).
Also, I personally found it odd that in the pigeon chapter nowhere passenger pigeons are mentioned. As in, the pigeon species humans literally hunted to extinction because (supposedly) they damaged crops? Quite odd since they're quite a major thing that happened in the past century.
Wolves of the Shadowlands by Matthew Manyak
3.0
Bullet review:
+Plot was pretty interesting and kept me engaged enough.
+Despite me not being too fond of the human-POV chapters, they were relatively fine. Ahoté isn't a terrible character or anything.
+I liked Ek'toph and Kiaza.
-Despite being the main character, Ukita isn't all that interesting as a protagonist. He starts out the story pretty much the same as he leaves it. He starts out believing humans aren't evil, and then he proves to be right in his assessment and that's just kind of it. He does have a minute arc of growing into his leadership role more, but even that is pretty minor as he is pretty leader-like from the start. So he's not a super interesting or three-dimensional main character. He doesn't really change or learn anything new throughout the book.
-Sigh, yeah, the sexism. This book basically has only two relevant female characters (Tala and Eirlys) and they only exist to be accessories to the male characters. They don't really have their own personality or goals or arcs or anything (aside from the very simple "learn to trust humans/wolves more" everyone but Ukita/Ahoté goes through). The other female characters are generally not named and they also aren't really allowed by the males to participate in pack/tribe life. The females are repeatedly mentioned pretty much only in association of taking care of the pups, when the males do all the tracking/hunting/fighting/patrolling/leading. And this status quo is never challenged, either. So like, yeah, the writing of the female characters of this book isn't great. All other characters of note are all male and they have more going on than Tala and Eirlys.
It's not a terrible book or anything but I'd still skip this one, there's better wolf xenofiction out there.
+Plot was pretty interesting and kept me engaged enough.
+Despite me not being too fond of the human-POV chapters, they were relatively fine. Ahoté isn't a terrible character or anything.
+I liked Ek'toph and Kiaza.
-Despite being the main character, Ukita isn't all that interesting as a protagonist. He starts out the story pretty much the same as he leaves it. He starts out believing humans aren't evil, and then he proves to be right in his assessment and that's just kind of it. He does have a minute arc of growing into his leadership role more, but even that is pretty minor as he is pretty leader-like from the start. So he's not a super interesting or three-dimensional main character. He doesn't really change or learn anything new throughout the book.
-Sigh, yeah, the sexism. This book basically has only two relevant female characters (Tala and Eirlys) and they only exist to be accessories to the male characters. They don't really have their own personality or goals or arcs or anything (aside from the very simple "learn to trust humans/wolves more" everyone but Ukita/Ahoté goes through). The other female characters are generally not named and they also aren't really allowed by the males to participate in pack/tribe life. The females are repeatedly mentioned pretty much only in association of taking care of the pups, when the males do all the tracking/hunting/fighting/patrolling/leading. And this status quo is never challenged, either. So like, yeah, the writing of the female characters of this book isn't great. All other characters of note are all male and they have more going on than Tala and Eirlys.
It's not a terrible book or anything but I'd still skip this one, there's better wolf xenofiction out there.
Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska by Helen Moss
3.0
It's not bad or anything, it's historically pretty accurate to the real events. But this book just kinda made me feel, well, nothing. It felt a bit too matter-of-factly to me. I didn't feel the emotions and excitement it was trying to make me feel.
Maar verder is-ie lief, hoor: bijzondere belevenissen van een eigenzinnige hondencoach by Cas Snel
4.0
At times I do question Cas' methods a bit (he still uses a form if dominance theory and punishments, which goes straight against everything regarding dog training I've been taught in animal care college), but all the same his stories are interesting to read.
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World by Peter Godfrey-Smith
3.5
Are Wolves Afraid of the Dark? by Huw Lewis Jones
4.0
Obviously a book for younger readers, but it still gets the job done of teaching them about wolves. It has a lot of good information it delivers in a straight-to-the-point manner and has some lovely illustrations to boot.
The only thing I think they didn't explain very well (at least in the Dutch translation) is how wolf packs work. They briefly mention stuff like dominance and use the term "alpha" but they never really make it explicitly clear how wolf packs (usually) work, with a breeding pair and pups and offspring of the past year, and possibly other (related or in rarer cases unrelated) wolves. I get that this book wants to deliver information in bite-sized chunks and a quick manner, but if I read this as a kid without prior information about these animals, I think it'd only have confused me more on how wolf packs really work, rather than making things clear to me.
The only thing I think they didn't explain very well (at least in the Dutch translation) is how wolf packs work. They briefly mention stuff like dominance and use the term "alpha" but they never really make it explicitly clear how wolf packs (usually) work, with a breeding pair and pups and offspring of the past year, and possibly other (related or in rarer cases unrelated) wolves. I get that this book wants to deliver information in bite-sized chunks and a quick manner, but if I read this as a kid without prior information about these animals, I think it'd only have confused me more on how wolf packs really work, rather than making things clear to me.
Wolf & maatschappij by André Donker
3.0
A decent nonfiction about wolves and their relations to society (particularly in the Netherlands and western Europe). The information presented is good and the author's writing voice is pleasant, but the sections are very short and feel a bit rushed.
The presentation of the book also feels very amateuristic, from the font choice to how images were inserted to this book definitely needing another edit (some placeholder text from an earlier draft was accidentally kept in the final product). It just feels rough and a bit unpolished.
The presentation of the book also feels very amateuristic, from the font choice to how images were inserted to this book definitely needing another edit (some placeholder text from an earlier draft was accidentally kept in the final product). It just feels rough and a bit unpolished.
Black Magic by Nicole Austen
3.0
I normally don't mind xenofiction where the animals don't talk, but this is a case where I think the wolves SHOULD'VE talked. They're very anthropomorphized, anyways (they have their own traditions and culture and prejudices), plus this is a fantasy book, so having the animals talk would've probably worked better than keeping them quiet.
As is, this book does a lot of telling (e.g. "Mala felt X emotion") but not a lot of showing. The wolves do have distinct personalities, but again I think these would've come across better had there been actual dialogue.
Also, despite Mala supposedly being the main character she doesn't get a lot of page-time or POV-chapters.
Not a terrible book by any means but I think having the wolves talk would've fixed a lot of its issues.
As is, this book does a lot of telling (e.g. "Mala felt X emotion") but not a lot of showing. The wolves do have distinct personalities, but again I think these would've come across better had there been actual dialogue.
Also, despite Mala supposedly being the main character she doesn't get a lot of page-time or POV-chapters.
Not a terrible book by any means but I think having the wolves talk would've fixed a lot of its issues.
The Alpha Female Wolf: The Fierce Legacy of Yellowstone's 06 by Rick McIntyre
4.0
Lovely book about the famous wolf O-Six and her family. I hope McIntyre keeps writing these books.