NetGalley Review: Wolfsong by T.J. Klune
Hey all, Sam here.
As promised yesterday, I have two book reviews for you today, but I’ll wait until this evening before posting the second one. I’m trying to keep up on all of my book reviews, especially the NetGalley ones. Yes, I do still have quite a few NetGalley reads that are books that have been out in the world for a little while now, and I am slowly but surely working on my backlog too, but I’m also trying to keep up with the new and upcoming releases. For the past month or two, I’ve done a pretty decent job of it.
Anyway, I’m starting off my reviews today with a fantasy romance re-release. There is a definite improvement for the series covers, that’s for sure. I went through a phase where I read a whole lot of vampire and werewolf and witch type romance stories, but it’s been a little while since I really devoured a bunch of books from the sub-genre, so this was an interesting detour from the more epic fantasy stories I’ve been reading lately.
This book will be released on July 4 (in the US), so there’s not much longer to wait.
My Thoughts
The Bennett family has a secret
They’re not just a family, they’re a pack.
Wolfsong is Ox Matheson’s story.
Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.
Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.
Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man – charming, handsome, but haunted – and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.
The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.
The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.
Now available from Tor Books.
Rating: 4
It’s clear to me that this book was one of Klune’s earlier works, but now repackaged and reprinted. But I can also say that there was a pull into this story, a compelling characterization that made me want to keep reading.
Honestly I couldn’t tell if the writing style was good because it highlighted Ox’s more “simplistic” mindset and way of thinking, or if the writing style was amateurish. So many sentences were short and kind of choppy. Paragraphs were shorter as well. There wasn’t as much description. But…it made the pages read so quickly. Even though the writing was simple, it was still effective.
Ox sees the world a bit differently than any other protagonist I can recall in my somewhat recent reads. There are so many layers to him, so he is deeper than most would give him credit for, but he doesn’t spend time waxing poetic about things. He just describes things as they are, for the most part. But he also sees certain emotions as colors, which makes me wonder if that’s just the easiest way for him to describe them, or if he actually has a form of synesthesia.
It was interesting that this book covered such a large amount of time. We get some time when Ox is 12 and his dad leaves, then it jumps forward, showing how he and his mom pull together and move forward, before showing how things really start to change when the Bennetts move in.
Most of the first half of the book covers this period from when Ox is 16-23, when things get very intense and dramatic, and everything changes. The rest of the book covers the Bennett pack split up and eventual return.
While there are moments where everything is pretty high stakes, most of the story honestly just feels like friendship and found family and the bonds that connect us all. So much of it just feels kind of cute and fluffy and easy-going. Aside from the moments of pain and drama and intensity, most of this book just feels like a warm hug.
And okay, I should point out that there is a big age difference between Ox and Joe. When they first meet Ox is 16 and Joe is 10, and the connection between them is pretty much immediate…something that often happens in stories that feature supernatural creatures such as werewolves. It doesn’t negate the fact that for a chunk of the book Ox is an adult and Joe is a minor, and Ox is experiencing lustful thoughts and urges towards the young man, which feels a little…yuck.
Still, overall, I read this book fairly quickly, and there are a number of characters I would like to know more about…so yes, I will be continuing this series. I think the rest of the series features folks who are of a more similar age, which will feel a bit less problematic to me. And look, it’s not that age gaps bother me–I’m four years older than my husband. What bothers me is that for nearly half the book, one of the pair is an adult, while the other is a teenager, a minor. When I was studying to be a teacher in the beginning of my college years, if there was a two year difference in age and one person was an adult and one was a minor, then it was never considered to be consensual, and legally was considered rape. Thankfully, Ox doesn’t really act on his thoughts and feelings for Joe until Joe is about to turn 18, but still, it just felt weird to me.
All right, well that is all from me for now. Stay tuned for another review coming later today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
