Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Wolfsong

SERIES: Green Creek #1

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

NARRATOR: Kirt Graves

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE:  October 5, 2016

LENGTH: 18 hours 40 minutes

BLURB:

Ox was 12 when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.

Ox was 16 when he met the boy on the road, the boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.

Ox was 17 when he found out the boy’s secret, and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet.

Ox was 23 when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his blood red eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.

It’s been three years since that fateful day and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

REVIEW:

I still have trouble with words sometimes. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any. It was that I had too many, and they all got stuck trying to come out at once.

This was me after reading/listening to this book and then trying to write about it. There’s just so much I want to say about this book, but I get stuck on an awed wow. It’s epic and awesome and pine cones and candy canes, and wolfsongs, and feelings and, and, and….

I really should’ve known better than to read this book before going to sleep. And I did, I really did. But I read on anyway. So that’s why I went to sleep way past midnight, thoughts spinning and emotions reeling, just to wake up a few hours later with my head still full of the book. I gave up on sleep after that and just got back to the book. And if that’s not a sign of a truly great book, I don’t know what is.

T.J. Klune has this incredible and unique way with words. At first glance his writing might seem simplistic but it is really anything but. He just has this amazing ability to really hit you where you feel it. To get to the heart of matters, to what’s really important and to create great characters and stories that will stay with you for a long time. And boy did this book make me feel. So, so much. To really create awesomeness. There is magic in his words.  

The relationship between Ox and Joe was… I don’t even have words to describe how wonderful it was. From the very first time they met, you just knew it was going to be epic, and you followed them as their relationship developed, changed and matured with them both, how it shaped them, and everyone around them.

I have a huge weakness for genuine characters. Characters that I can believe in and that are flawed and real. Nothing is as false or off-putting as picture perfect people. But there were no perfect people (or wolves) near this book. They were all wonderfully flawed, messy emotions and irrational actions – it was perfectly imperfect.

Even when things doesn’t really bring the story forward, Klune allowed them to happen. The characters were allowed their feelings, to stumble and fall, being irrational and just feel. Because that’s life. It’s not always (if ever) moving forward in a linear fashion. Sometimes you just need to stop for a while and breathe, and feel. That is one of the things that makes this story so powerful, so real (ignoring the whole werewolf/witch part) and makes you really connect.

I’m of two minds about Kirt Graves’s narration. On the one hand it was perfect and I loved every second of it. It truly reflected Ox and his personality, his narration of this story and the flow of it. It was just a match made in heaven and he brought us to Greek Creek. Made us feel so many emotions during our time there. And it was just so wonderful. But on the other hand it also frustrated me. I’m a fast and impatient reader, so the slow place frustrated me. But the pacing was also prefect for this book. Had the narration been anything but this pace just wouldn’t have fit. It wouldn’t be Wolfsong. So my personal feelings aside, this really was the perfect narration of this book, and one can hardly ask for more than that.

Wolfsong is refreshingly long, but I believe it needs to be. Sure there are many things that might seem repetitive and slow paced and maybe even irrelevant. But it all just fits.  This book has been filled to the brim with feelings and angst. And was there ever angst. But I loved every single word of this book, every single feeling. I loved this amazing world that Klune created and can’t wait to read about Mark and Gordo in Ravensong. But I’m also scared; Klune promised even more angst in their story…

I need a hug.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon  

Audible