Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Der weiße Wolf.
A fantasy I picked up at a secondhand bookstore. Spoilers ahead.
Thomas is a troubled young boy who ends up in a fantastical world after following a white wolf into the woods. Here, he befriends the girl Onari as well as Alwin, a runaway from an evil kingdom. The trio are foretold to rescue both warring countries by defeating the evil ruler who is diving it all. But before they can get to him, they will have to cross the mysterious Forbidden Land, which are ruled by the evil Black King.
This is definitely not the most original YA fantasy story, it's kind of by the numbers and all, but I also think it's a rather good book. Despite using quite a few familiar plot elements and characters, I still found myself engaged in the story and wondered where it would go next. And for every commonly used plot element, there's also a few unique ideas here or there. The world the story primarily takes place in (it's an isekai) is pretty fun to explore and inventive, with plenty of history and lore to back things up.
My favorite element of this book was definitely the three main characters, Thomas, Onari and Alwin. Thomas is our primary protagonist, and while I initially found him a bit of a standard protagonist he quickly grew on me throughout the story as we see his growth as a character.
Alwin is also enjoyable. Initially he's seen as somewhat of an enemy to Thomas and Onari because he's from the rival kingdom, but he soon develops a very strong bond with the duo and this was very satisfying to see (especially after the heavily implied abuse and loneliness he probably suffered for most of his life).
Onari, finally, was my favorite. She's definitely a strong-willed character, but there's also a lot more to her. She cares for nature, she's spiritual, she's compassionate even to those others would write off as evil, she's loyal to a fault and also has a great dedication to her people. She definitely feels the most rounded out of the three main characters, though the others are by no means bad. I think my only slight gripe with her character is that, as the only major character of color, she kind of falls into stereotypes such as the "noble savage" and "magic native". Not completely, though, and I definitely appreciate that there's more to her character than just these stereotypes, but this is how she and more generally speaking her tribe are portrayed at times.
If I had to mention a gripe in this book it's that the villains can be a bit underwhelming. I did appreciate the Black King as a genuine threat, however there's also more nuance to his character and this is nicely resolved with Onari taking pity on him, even if he is dealt with quite quickly. My main gripe is more so the Great Gond, the main villain, and his minions Sjachtar and the Shadows. They're just a bit underwhelming and more stereotypical as far as fantasy villains go. I'm not saying they're totally boring or flat or whatnot, but with the main three all being very well-written and developed characters I thought it was a bit underwhelming to see the villains be just kind of stock-y. And, again, the Black King was handled rather well, but a bit too fast in my opinion.
Overall this is a good isekai fantasy, though. Do recommend it if it looks interesting to one.
Rating: 4/5
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