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 Wolvenvrouw.
This one looked interesting to me, so I picked it up from the library. Spoilers ahead. Also, this review will contain mentions of sexual assault, read at your own risk.
Kita is a young woman living in a tribe of prehistoric humans. One day, she finds one of her friend's dead body, with signs of rape being present. Her tribe is quick to blame the To'ah people (Neanderthals) and go on a murdering spree among them, leading to a rift forming between Kita and a young man of her tribe named Tar. But then she finds out the truth of who really raped and murdered her friend. Then Tar leaves the tribe, and she is determined to follow him and make things up with him.
Okay so, some things this book did really well. I quite liked the characters and found them rather intriguing, especially Kita and her best friend Aski. Tar is also quite nice, and I enjoyed meeting the various Neanderthals at the To'ah tribe. So that's a neat plus.
The world-building is simple but it still feels pretty well-established and I like how (unlike what is common in Cro Magnon fiction) it isn't massively sexist or anything. Yes, one of Kita's friends does end up getting raped, but that's clearly shown to be an outlier and morally reprehensible. It's not seen as something that is common (*cough* People of the Wolf *cough*). The women also hunt, lead and are seen as equal to the men, so that's nice.
However, there are a few things holding me back from really enjoying this book. First, Toram. He is the culprit of what happened to the poor deceased woman and it's pretty obvious from the start. Out of all the characters early on he was the one acting the most selfish and antagonistic and just "sus", so him being the one behind it all was pretty predictable. But what I found worse than him being the villain being predictable is definitely how his story was handled once they find out. The answer is: they don't. At least, the story kinda just starts to take any and all focus away from Kita's tribe from that moment on and follows Kita and her journey. As a result of this, we never really find out what happens to Toram in his hometribe. Does he get punished, and if so, how? For a character that was set up as a major antagonist early on, the character who sets the whole plot into motion, he's pretty much written out of the book once Tar leaves. Which was a letdown.
Also, Tar. I mean, he's a decently written character, but I don't find him very interesting as a love interest for Kita. Their romance is honestly just kinda poorly written. At first the book clearly establishes that Kita has no romantic interest in Tar and only sees him as a sort of older brother figure, but the moment Toram (her initial love interest) turns out to be antagonistic she pretty much instantly can only think about Tar and "oh I love him so much" and "oh I must earn his forgiveness". When before she never seemed romantically interested in him before, and explicitly referred to him as a brotherly type of figure. So their romance just didn't really work for me and didn't feel romantic. Why would I be rooting for a woman to get together with a man she sees as a brother and previously had no romantic inclination towards whatsoever?
I was also a bit sad to see that the wolf the book promises based on the title and cover is only there very briefly to act as a plot point and nothing else. It shows up, Kita kills it and it gives her honor and the "Wolf Woman" title. That's it. The wolf serves no other purpose. Which is always disappointing to me as a wolf lover.
Ah well, I still did enjoy this book despite these issues, but it did hold me back from truly being immersed in the story. Especially the fact that we never see how Toram gets punished, and the lackluster romance.
Rating: 3.5/5
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