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 Moonlight Wolves #3: Die letzte Schlacht.
Tamani and his pack are back in this (presumably final) installment of Moonlight Wolves. Will they win the battle against the Pack of Darkness? Let's see. Spoilers ahead.
Once again shown visions by the Pack of Endless Hunting, Tamani is tasked with uniting the wolf packs of the Great Fjord under one banner to stand against the rag-tag group of wolves known as the Pack of Darkness, which is terrorizing the wolf territories and slaughtering packs. Will the allied packs win against their adversary?
Overall a good conclusion to this first arc. It doesn't quite reach the same highs as book one for me, but it's still very solid in its own right. If this is to be the final Moonlight Wolves installment, it's a good, mostly satisfying conclusion. Character arcs are finished, pretty much all loose ends are tied up and the wolves live happily ever after.
However, I do still have a few criticisms with this one, and it is, just like with last book, mainly about the Pack of Darkness-conflict. As a refresher, the first book in this felt a bit like a standalone self-contained story. There was obvious potential for sequels and not all ends were tied up, but the conflict was self-contained and finished within the same book. For books two and three, however, they feel like a two parts of a bigger whole, what I'll call the "Pack of Darkness-arc" because said pack is its main antagonist in both books. And both are a part of a bigger story.
In book two the Pack of Darkness is first seen as a threat, however for 90% of the plot they are still absent from the main story, leading to a lot of buildup in book two but very little payoff as we barely get to know our main threat. You'd think that in book three the Pack of Darkness would play a bigger role, but they're once again very much present in the background up until the climax. We actually learn very little about them and get to know very little members of them (only their leader, Neya, her pups and I think one or two subordinates), etc. And then when they do finally show up in the climax and they are fully revealed to the reader (which is too late into this two-book arc if you ask me), their leader Kavar is killed pretty quickly and after that the book is already over.
Just to state the obvious, I don't think that the main Pack of Darkness conflict is bad per se. I think it's a concept that works, however the execution is just a bit lacking if you ask me. The pacing feels a bit off because we spent two books hyping up this threat, only for their defeat to be over very quickly, and we also just learn a bit too little about them. I'd have loved to know more about their members, how their pack works (because they seem slightly different from the main packs of the Great Fjord), their culture, an exploration of Neya as a character, how the pack suffered under Kevar's rule, etc. There is so much missed potential here. So while I think the Pack of Darkness are good antagonists, they feel a bit underutilized because they're so present in the background and all things considered we don't learn much about them.
I also think Rex's death wasn't as effective as it could've been because he has never been shown to be particularly close to Tamani. While Rex is his father, he is also the Ice Pack's alpha male and he very much acts like a leader first and a father second, leading to this divide between them. Rex also isn't a very sympathetic character, with him speaking out against Tamani several times. Sometimes understandably so (like when Tamani reveals he had pups with Shira), but other times Tamani is clearly acting in the Ice Pack's best interests AND following orders of their ancestors (which the wolves, worship) and Rex still reprimands him. Which doesn't make Rex a very likable character to the reader, or at least to me. So his supposed-to-be-emotional death near the climax didn't quite have the impact I think it was supposed to have. He is the only really major character on the side of good who dies (other wolves of the Ice Pack also die, but they're far more minor characters) and the one Tamani was closest to, but because of this divide between Rex and Tamani I don't think his death is quite the gut-punch it's supposed to be.
However, that said, I still think that this is a good book, just that the final execution isn't as good as it could've been. But there's still lots of good elements to be found here. I'm particularly fond of Tamani and Shira as a couple in this book, when I didn't care so much for them being together in book two. But they're good parents and so loyal to each other, it's just nice to see. Do recommend this trilogy if you speak German and love wolves, I think it's must-read for wolf xenofiction lovers such as myself.
Rating: 3.5/5
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