REVIEWED by Jay V.

TITLE: Brothersong

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

SERIES: Green Creek #4

PUBLISHER: BOATK Books

LENGTH: 522 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 13, 2020

BLURB:

In the ruins of Caswell, Maine, Carter Bennett learned the truth of what had been right in front of him the entire time. And then it—he—was gone.

Desperate for answers, Carter takes to the road, leaving family and the safety of his pack behind, all in the name of a man he only knows as a feral wolf. But therein lies the danger: wolves are pack animals, and the longer Carter is on his own, the more his mind slips toward the endless void of Omega insanity.

But he pushes on, following the trail left by Gavin.

Gavin, the son of Robert Livingstone. The half-brother of Gordo Livingstone.

What Carter finds will change the course of the wolves forever. Because Gavin’s history with the Bennett pack goes back further than anyone knows, a secret kept hidden by Carter’s father, Thomas Bennett.

And with this knowledge comes a price: the sins of the fathers now rest upon the shoulders of their sons.

REVIEW:

I’d like to preface this review in that there are no spoilers for this last book in T.J. Klune’s Greek Creek series, as much as I can avoid.  However, I will be discussing the first three books in context of the last, so if you haven’t read them, come back when you have; just know they are excellent reads that will take you from high to low.  I’m also posting links to Love Bytes reviews of the first three at the bottom, so skip to there if you’re new to the Greek Creek series and want to know about the previous books.

Now, for those that have read the first three books, you’re in for another rollercoaster ride. I’m going to rehash some of my thoughts from my review of Heartsong and expand on the concepts in light of this final book. Klune has been circling the Bennett pack through the first three books by having various narrations from people not in the family, but this book goes right in the center with Carter narrating – he is the oldest son of the Bennett pack and knows best the adventure of the boys as he was the start of this generation. As for points of view, in the first book Wolfsong, we had Ox tell his story starting with being a young boy through adulthood, first meeting the Bennett family. Klune writes this story of innocence, pain, and growing up with the use of stream of consciousness, short sentence structure, and poetry thrown in throughout the book. Ravensong takes up the reigns with Gordo’s perspective, he being the witch for the family.  He backtracks some to give a history of the Bennett family and is told with a more mature writing, riddled with snark, pain, and begrudgingly a deep love. Robbie is up next in Heartsong, telling his muddled history of how he came to the Bennetts, though much of it are not real memories, and we all had that shocking moment when we realized not all is what it seems.

As the unreliable narrator is used in the third book, a different version of that technique is used in the last and we finally get a Bennett’s point of view. We know from the end of the third book that Gavin is revealed to Carter then taken away. Carter has cut his connection with the pack and is going to find Gavin and his father.  Again, we get another narrator for the first half of the book that can be a bit hazy on the details as exhaustion, frantic searching, and being cut off from the pack makes the story told by Carter begin to slip in to questions of reality verses fantasy. Gone is the generally joking Carter replaced with a man lost and trying to find himself. Are we seeing things the way they really are or is it delusional thinking?

As in the third book, there are really two parts to this book, Cater on a journey then the end culminating to the big finale that we all knew was coming.  Of course, it wouldn’t be the brilliance of Kune’s writing without some big curves thrown our way. You think you know what will happen, but expect the unexpected.

There are some fun and unexpected Easter eggs to other Klune books, as expected. And for a book that could be all angst, there is still humor, though not of the over-the-top kind that some of Klune’s books are known for being. We finally get to meet the human Gavin, who is, shall we say, quirky? All the characters you love and hate are in this book, and we get a final glimpse in to their lives before we depart the world of Green Creek. And that’s where I have to leave off without doing any more writing close to being spoilers.

For overall impressions, Klune continues to use major and minor motifs and themes throughout the series – found family, the sins of our fathers, life beyond death, patriarchy/matriarchy, and using such techniques as colors, symbolism, hidden meanings, repetitive words and sentences, and differing points of view to surround the telling of the story of this important pack. As I got near the end of the book I realized that what I had thought of as the overarching theme of the series was turned on it’s head and I found that I was a bit in awe of what was plainly in front of me but I had not seen. Leave it to Klune to make one go back to rethink, even reread, the series, picking up the breadcrumbs that had been spread throughout the books to understand the larger picture being presented. As in the other books, you’ll laugh and you’ll cry, so get that box of tissues handy before you start. But this is a good ending to the series and well worth the trip. As I’ve said before, Klune has creating a masterclass of writing, elevating the genre, and for that I am so very grateful to have the opportunity to read such great writing.

Green Creek series:

Wolfsong Review (Greencreek #1)

Ravensong Review (Greencreek #2)

Heartsong Review (Greencreek #3)

RATING:  

BUY LINK: 

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