Another wolf xenofiction which looked interesting to me! Spoilers ahead!
Ukita is a young wolf, son of the leader of the pack, who is suddenly thrust into the limelight when his father doesn't return from an expedition. He now struggles to lead his pack. Meanwhile, a human boy named Ahoté and his tribe are encroaching on wolf territory. A conflict between the pack and the tribe seems inevitable, but when Ukita and Ahoté start to form a bond, this might just be a way to achieve peace before too much bloodshed takes place.
This is a book that I enjoyed somewhat, but I also have some real criticism for. I'll start with the positives, though. It has some neat world-building and the story kept me invested. I also liked characters like Kiaza and Ek'toph and the bond between Ukita and Ahoté was nicely written.
However, there's also some definite flaws to be found here. For one, I do not think Ukita is a very interesting protagonist. He doesn't really grow or change that much throughout the story (aside from him growing into his leadership role slightly more). But like, he starts out the story believing that humans aren't all evil, and the story in the end proves him right. This is the central conflict of the story, and he never once changes his mentality about it or anything. I personally think he'd have been a far more interesting character if he started out hating the humans but grew to trust them overtime. That way he'd have a more prominent arc and actually go through some solid development.
Another issue I have is, sigh, the sexism. You know, I'm getting really tired of this trope being so prevalent in animal xenofiction. And it's bad here. Pretty much all she-wolves and women in this story are confined to looking after the pups/children and they do not participate in regular pack/tribe life. The hunting, patrolling, exploring, tracking, fighting and leading is pretty much only done by the males. There are also, in a very masculine cast, only two relevant female characters (Eirlys and Tala). And both of these characters only exist to be accessories to the male main characters. They don't really have their own personality or arcs or goals or quirks. They're just there to be underdeveloped side characters for the protagonists to hang out with. So boy, the author sure did a shit job writing his female characters. And I'm tired of women in animal xenofiction so often getting the short end of the stick and being written so poorly.
The world also felt a bit empty (like, there's only one tribe of humans and pretty much no wolves outside of the main pack, which just makes everything feel rather small). Not a huge issue and the world-building aside from this is solid, but it just didn't feel like a very "lived in" world sometimes, just a tad too empty. There's not a lot of wolves and other animals outside of the packs, when supposedly wolves are supposed to be ruling the world now since humans "went extinct".
Another issue I found is some errors, like incorrect formatting and I think I may have spotted one or two typo's. This book definitely needed another edit before being published.
So yeah, while I did enjoy this book quite a bit, I still don't think I'd go out of my way to recommend it, even to wolf fans. Especially if sexism bothers you, or you are looking for a compelling protagonist (which Ukita is not). Not the worst, but it could definitely be improved upon.
Rating: 3/5
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