Book Review: The Reign of Wolf 21 by Rick McIntyre (The Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone #2)

 

Finally getting to the second book in this non-fiction trilogy about some of Yellowstone's most legendary leading wolves! 

This book pretty much starts off where The Rise of Wolf 8 left off. 8's tale is finished, and now his adopted pup 21 takes center stage. We follow him, his mate 42 and the rest of the Druid pack through the years, seeing the many conflicts the wolves face. There's funny moments, hardships and heartfelt moments. 

All of this comes together in an overall very well-told account of 21's days leading the pack. I genuinely really liked getting to know these wolves. While I never saw them personally, McIntyre paints a vivid image of pretty much the entire pack and especially some of its particular members. Aside from our titular 21, I especially liked his mate 42. These two have just such a strong connection.

It's also really impressive how huge their pack got. Wolf pups generally have a pretty high death rate, and it's rare for a full litter to survive their first year. But there were literal situations in this book where there was not one but three litters raised (pretty much entirely) from puphood to adulthood. There might've been a few pup deaths here and there, but generally most pups survived and the pack counted well over thirty, almost forty wolves at one point.

Of course, as the pups and other non-leading wolves in the pack grew older they'd disperse and go on to form their own packs or join a pre-existing one. But generally the pack was immensely successful under 21's and 42's reign.

The book does, as many non-fiction wolf books do, have a sad ending. 42 ends up dying before 21, and while we can't know for sure, 21 really seemed to have mourned her before in the end perishing not much later. However, their reign has been very good for the huge pack and they had many offspring to carry on the Druid bloodline. 

The next book in the series doesn't seem to focus on any of his pups, but rather an unrelated male known as 302 (nicknamed Casanova). I look forward to the next book very much!

Rating: 4/5