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tasharobinson's review
4.0
A couple chapters into this book, I was thinking "Heh, this is a pretty shameless girl-fantasy. Super-powerful female protagonist with shape-changing abilities and everyone's scared of her or in awe of her, plus she owns an incredibly hot boy-demon who cooks gourmet food and cleans for her? What a bunch of wish-fulfillment tropes." And then the further I got into the book, and the more unexpected things that came of that initial setup, the more it surprised me and the better I liked it. Halfway through, it became that rare book I didn't want to put down. And then the ending just stunned me, in terms of where it went and how many expectations it defied.
And… it reminded me that there's nothing wrong with the occasional unashamed escapist fantasy. The protagonist, who goes by a variety of names, is a "wolf kind," a woman with two natures and the ability to become a wolf and to change size and alter how others perceive her. Even just a few pages into the book, I was enjoying her narrative voice — her confidence and arrogance and ferocity, her utter not-humanness. In a world where female protagonists seem to fall into such limited categories, this one feels unique in some really enjoyable ways.
The world itself is also highly enjoyable. It reminded me a bit of The Dresden Files, and Ursula Vernon's Black Dogs books, and Charles De Lint in general, and Emma Bull's War for the Oaks, a longtime favorite of mine. It takes place in an LA that's absolutely lousy with magic circles and hidden powers, and of course they all seem to hold each other mildly in contempt and mildly in respect, but each new one introduced was fun. I went into this book expecting nothing, and I came out disappointed that there are only two volumes in the series. Looking forward to reading more Carol Wolf.
And… it reminded me that there's nothing wrong with the occasional unashamed escapist fantasy. The protagonist, who goes by a variety of names, is a "wolf kind," a woman with two natures and the ability to become a wolf and to change size and alter how others perceive her. Even just a few pages into the book, I was enjoying her narrative voice — her confidence and arrogance and ferocity, her utter not-humanness. In a world where female protagonists seem to fall into such limited categories, this one feels unique in some really enjoyable ways.
The world itself is also highly enjoyable. It reminded me a bit of The Dresden Files, and Ursula Vernon's Black Dogs books, and Charles De Lint in general, and Emma Bull's War for the Oaks, a longtime favorite of mine. It takes place in an LA that's absolutely lousy with magic circles and hidden powers, and of course they all seem to hold each other mildly in contempt and mildly in respect, but each new one introduced was fun. I went into this book expecting nothing, and I came out disappointed that there are only two volumes in the series. Looking forward to reading more Carol Wolf.
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