Book Review: Kona's Song by Louise Searl

 

Let's take a look at (yet another) wolf xenofiction. Spoilers ahead!

We meet our titular Kona as he is raised alongside his adoptive siblings in his home pack. He soon grows restless, however, and goes on a quest to find his heritage and biological family with his siblings at his side. From here on he will face enemies such as rival packs and cougars, and even find love and his father. But throughout it all he has one question: which is the place he can call home?

While pretty average for a wolf xenofiction, this one still had some elements that set it apart from the generic "pup grows up, disperses from pack and founds a new pack with a mate" formula a lot of them follow. Not saying any stories with this formula are bad, just that they're pretty standard when it comes to the wolf xenofiction. 

In Kona's Song, there's several divergences from the formula. For one, Kona doesn't permanently disperse form his original pack he was raised in; he and his siblings eventually return. Second, despite him finding his father and actual biological family in the mountains, he doesn't stay there and actually realizes that home is where he was raised rather than with his biological family. He does love them, but it just isn't home. And instead of forming a new pack, he and his mate are instead crowned the new leaders of his original pack instead. They're quite subtle differences, but they are different from the cliché I sometimes see in these books, which is good.

The book itself overall is good, but really nothing more than that. I think the most pressing issue it has was it feeling rushed. We just go from one point to the other with very little moments to breathe or for small character interactions, which leads to our main cast outside of Kona feeling a bit bland. The only other characters who kind of had a personality was his brother; who goes from doubting Kona as a leader to respecting him; and his mate, but they're still not very memorable because (as you can probably notice) I can't even remember their names. 

Kona himself has pretty average character development for a protagonist, with him becoming a strong leader and going through some heartbreak after his mate rejects him, but he obviously comes around in the end and his development was definitely handled the best out of all the characters. I just wish we got to spend more page-time with him and his family so we could flesh them out as characters even more, because right now it just feels rushed and a bit basic. 

I do really like the lore the wolves have, with their own religious figures Alpha-he and Alpha-she, and their howls (referred to as "Songs") actually having very specific purposes in wolf life. Not just to call to one another, but also to celebrate the birth of pups or confirm the union with a mate, for example. These are some neat elements and I honestly kind of wish we got more of this, since this is interesting lore but it's featured very little throughout the story. I kinda wish we got more of this.

Overall this is a good book and it has some good concepts such as interesting lore and deviation from a lot of wolf xenofiction stories, however the rushed execution and very basic characters honestly makes me wish for more. I do like the book, I really do, but it's kind of a shame because it feels like it could've been really good if it had been fleshed out more.

Give us more character development and time at each location. Delve deeper into the lore. Explore the relationship between Kona and his siblings, adopted parents and biological father thoroughly. While this book is still good, it feels a bit like wasted potential because it could've been so much better had it been polished and a little longer.

Rating: 3.25/5