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For the Wolf (Volume 1) (The Wilderwood, 1)
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND TIKTOK SENSATION! The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf. An instant NYT bestseller and word-of-mouth sensation, this dark, romantic debut fantasy weaves the unforgettable tale of a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose--to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood--and her world--whole. "If you ever wished Beauty and the Beast had more eldritch forest monsters and political machinations, this is the romance for you."―Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January "A brilliant dark fantasy debut!" --Jodi Picoult, NYT bestselling author
The second daughter is for the Wolf. An instant NYT bestseller and word-of-mouth sensation, this dark, romantic debut fantasy weaves the unforgettable tale of a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose--to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood--and her world--whole. "If you ever wished Beauty and the Beast had more eldritch forest monsters and political machinations, this is the romance for you."―Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January "A brilliant dark fantasy debut!" --Jodi Picoult, NYT bestselling author
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Community Reviews
3/5 stars
"Tell me what happened to them. Exactly what happened, no more half answers."
As the second daughter of the royal family Red's fate has been known since she was born, she is to be a sacrifice to the Wilderwoods and the Wolf who inhabits it. Her sister and their close friends are devastated by what awaits her but she has a secret that compels her to go. Of course, as soon as she gets there, she realizes that the truth is far more complicated. If you wanted to read this book because it markets itself as a red riding hood retelling: don't. It's just a beauty and the beast adjacent tale.
I had a couple of issues with this book. Let's start with the first one and the reason why I chose that quote to start the review: the miscommunication trope. I understand that at first Eammon didn't trust Red that much (and neither did she) but oh my god why couldn't he explain ANYTHING. It was frustrating, and it made me put the book down several times.Now, Neve and Arick believing that they were doing the right thing and going against the woods was a positive example of miscommunication in the plot. I went back to check and the whole truth gets revealed around 60% of the book, which brings me to my other issue.
This book was too long. It did not need to be 436 pages long when a big chunk of it was spent on Red not doing much besides exploring the woods and telling Eammon to trust her. If this book was short and thighter I think it would flow way better. There's also the fact that after reading all that I honestly cannot tell you how magic works in this universe or what the Wilderwoods wasnor am I interested enough to care
When it comes to the characters I really liked Neve and Red, the former more than the later. They were fleshed out quite well and their bond as sisters was the best relationship of the whole book. Eammon, the wolf of this tale, was fine enough but I do wish there had been a bit more development of his character besides his need to be a martyr. Raffe, Arick, Feife and Lyra needed more time to shine instead of just hinting about their stories. Poor Raffe, he supposedly loves Neve but gets sidelined pretty quick and speaks maybe 3 times before the final confrontation. Same with Arick, he's just there to get the plot moving and that's it. At least Fife and Lyra got to bleed all over the trees lmao.
I'm rating this 3 stars because I think this plot had potential, but the author squandered it on the romance plot. The worldbuilding and the lore about the Wilderwoods and the Five Kings was far more interesting than whatever Red and Eammon had going on, and so was the sisters relationship! I also think that selling this as a red riding hood remake of sorts hurt it because I was expecting elements from that tale and was disappointed when they couldn't be found. The writing is overall good and the plot was coherent enough. I can say this book kept me reading until the endeven if I had to stop a couple of times.
For me, this could be fixed by making Neve the protagonist. Just imagine the book from Neve's pov. Her beloved sister gets sent to, presumably, her death, she has no support from her mother, she has so many responsabilities weighting her down and suddenly an opportunity to save her sister comes along. With Neve as the main point of view we could have explored the world where Valleyda exists, the culture, the religion of the Five Kings, etc, all the while we have Kiri feeding her all these lies about the woods and magic and making the readers also believe in these tales. Then, cut to an interlude with Red learning the truth (and we can skip the millions of pages where she just exists in the forest) and there's doubt about who's in the right. This would also give space for Arick's transformation and for readers to put two and two together. And some screen time for Rafe, poor guy. I also want to know what's up with Neve and Solmir.
Will I be reading the next one? Maybe. I do want to know what happens with Neve. Mostly, I can say that this wasn't the worst book I read this month but also not the best.
"Tell me what happened to them. Exactly what happened, no more half answers."
As the second daughter of the royal family Red's fate has been known since she was born, she is to be a sacrifice to the Wilderwoods and the Wolf who inhabits it. Her sister and their close friends are devastated by what awaits her but she has a secret that compels her to go. Of course, as soon as she gets there, she realizes that the truth is far more complicated. If you wanted to read this book because it markets itself as a red riding hood retelling: don't. It's just a beauty and the beast adjacent tale.
I had a couple of issues with this book. Let's start with the first one and the reason why I chose that quote to start the review: the miscommunication trope. I understand that at first Eammon didn't trust Red that much (and neither did she) but oh my god why couldn't he explain ANYTHING. It was frustrating, and it made me put the book down several times.Now, Neve and Arick believing that they were doing the right thing and going against the woods was a positive example of miscommunication in the plot. I went back to check and the whole truth gets revealed around 60% of the book, which brings me to my other issue.
This book was too long. It did not need to be 436 pages long when a big chunk of it was spent on Red not doing much besides exploring the woods and telling Eammon to trust her. If this book was short and thighter I think it would flow way better. There's also the fact that after reading all that I honestly cannot tell you how magic works in this universe or what the Wilderwoods was
When it comes to the characters I really liked Neve and Red, the former more than the later. They were fleshed out quite well and their bond as sisters was the best relationship of the whole book. Eammon, the wolf of this tale, was fine enough but I do wish there had been a bit more development of his character besides his need to be a martyr. Raffe, Arick, Feife and Lyra needed more time to shine instead of just hinting about their stories. Poor Raffe, he supposedly loves Neve but gets sidelined pretty quick and speaks maybe 3 times before the final confrontation. Same with Arick, he's just there to get the plot moving and that's it. At least Fife and Lyra got to bleed all over the trees lmao.
I'm rating this 3 stars because I think this plot had potential, but the author squandered it on the romance plot. The worldbuilding and the lore about the Wilderwoods and the Five Kings was far more interesting than whatever Red and Eammon had going on, and so was the sisters relationship! I also think that selling this as a red riding hood remake of sorts hurt it because I was expecting elements from that tale and was disappointed when they couldn't be found. The writing is overall good and the plot was coherent enough. I can say this book kept me reading until the end
For me, this could be fixed by making Neve the protagonist. Just imagine the book from Neve's pov. Her beloved sister gets sent to, presumably, her death, she has no support from her mother, she has so many responsabilities weighting her down and suddenly an opportunity to save her sister comes along. With Neve as the main point of view we could have explored the world where Valleyda exists, the culture, the religion of the Five Kings, etc, all the while we have Kiri feeding her all these lies about the woods and magic and making the readers also believe in these tales. Then, cut to an interlude with Red learning the truth (and we can skip the millions of pages where she just exists in the forest) and there's doubt about who's in the right. This would also give space for Arick's transformation and for readers to put two and two together. And some screen time for Rafe, poor guy. I also want to know what's up with Neve and Solmir.
Will I be reading the next one? Maybe. I do want to know what happens with Neve. Mostly, I can say that this wasn't the worst book I read this month but also not the best.
Read this a few months ago. This was a fine folklore retelling. I really enjoyed the twist on the classic little red riding hood x beauty and the beast story to make it more dark and magical, and I was really impressed by how big of a story Whitten was able to build out of the original content. In contrast, however, I did feel that not enough world building/magic system explaining was done in this book. While I know it is the first book in the story, I still felt that there was too many gaps of missing information, especially in the main plot points or pertaining to the main characters, making it so that I did not understand why certain elements of the plot were the way they were or why I should care. The world itself felt almost incomplete because so many foundational things in it were not explained.
Other than that, like I said the story was a fine retelling. Whitten managed to keep the earthy, woodsy feeling of the original content while making the woods come to life in a unique and magical way. I enjoyed the element of how the characters had an almost symbiotic relationship with the woods. The main characters of this book were pretty boring cut and pastes from other fantasy novels, but the side characters were interesting. The ending of the book especially drew me in and I wanted to read more to find out what happens in the sequel.
Other than that, like I said the story was a fine retelling. Whitten managed to keep the earthy, woodsy feeling of the original content while making the woods come to life in a unique and magical way. I enjoyed the element of how the characters had an almost symbiotic relationship with the woods. The main characters of this book were pretty boring cut and pastes from other fantasy novels, but the side characters were interesting. The ending of the book especially drew me in and I wanted to read more to find out what happens in the sequel.
I had a hard time getting into this, but once Red started to bond more with the Wolf and the others living in the forest it became a lot more interesting. I liked these characters a lot and I understood and sympathized with their motivations. I enjoyed the feeling of found family with their little crew and
the people who lived on the other side of the forest, cut off from the world but very self sufficient. I had a harder time with the interlude chapters. I really hated what was going on with Neve and the characters around her. Overall, though, I enjoyed the fantasy and fairy tale feeling of the story and was happy to have read it. I listened to it on audiobook and it was okay, the narrator was fine but I may have preferred reading it myself since I could have glossed over the parts that didn't interest me.
the people who lived on the other side of the forest, cut off from the world but very self sufficient. I had a harder time with the interlude chapters. I really hated what was going on with Neve and the characters around her. Overall, though, I enjoyed the fantasy and fairy tale feeling of the story and was happy to have read it. I listened to it on audiobook and it was okay, the narrator was fine but I may have preferred reading it myself since I could have glossed over the parts that didn't interest me.
This was more of a 3.5 star for me, but I'm rounding up because overall I enjoyed this a decent bit. It's kind of like a combination of Little Red Riding hood (the premise at least), Beauty and the Beast, and a little of that folklore/fairytale element that I would compare to The Bear and the Nightingale. I wish the love story was a little more fleshed out, but I'm a sucker for any beauty and the best themes, so I was pretty happy overall.
I always seem to enjoy fairy tale re-telling, but not this time. The story couldn't decide whether it was drawing from "Red Riding Hood", "Beauty and the Beast", "Snow White", "Frozen" or an amalgam of old Russian fables. It also vacillated between horror (so much bleeding and body mutilation) and PG language. I mean, the phrase "Kings!" isn't sufficient as an exclamation of frustration or disgust and "Kings on shitting horses" was just plain weird. I give 'World Building' a B-minus. The Wilderwood has been around for centuries, as has Eammon, but now a rotting breach disease is suddenly overtaking it all? And there's another group of people living north of the Wilderwood (shades of Game or Thrones) who have coffee and wine from Burgundy? Yet Red's homeland is struggling to have grain delivered.
I chose the Audiobook format and give the reader a "Fair" rating. There were mostly female characters so her voice acting wasn't a stretch and she did a pretty good job with all except the Wolf, who just sounded as if he had a perpetual sore throat and was tired all the time.
This book could have been written with 60% fewer words and I'm guessing the 2nd one in the series may be partially to blame. After all, when you have a contract to deliver 2 books based on an old fairy tale that only lasted a few minutes in its original telling, you are likely to add lots of words, repeated phrases and side trips down dead-end lanes where angst, unresolved sexual tension and sibling intrigue can be fed to readers. More specifically, there were tons of metaphors and similes in this story, used where well-paced dialog could have served better.
This is not a personal attack on Hanna Whitten, whom I am certain is a better writer than me, and by all accounts a really great person. But I'm the reader and for me, this book fell flat. And I'm not likely to buy the second in series.
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