This one popped up on my Goodreads feed. Let's review it. Spoilers ahead.
This story is basically one big loredrop, told to us by a dog, about the first wolves and how the first wolf pack formed. It shows the hardships these wolves face, particularly the pack leaders named Versa and Arn, as well as their daughter Tria.
This book is basically if the El-Ahrairah narrations from Watership Down took up an entire book. It really is just the myth. And for what it is, it's okay. I wish I got more invested in it, but it wasn't too great in my opinion.
I think the main reason is that I genuinely didn't care about most of these characters except for one. Tria is a character I think is really well-written and three-dimensional and interesting, but the rest of the cast? I genuinely couldn't care less.
The two pack leaders, Versa and Arn, are also in an abusive relationship early on in the book, at one point even nearly killing each other in a fight. They make up and later are shown as these perfect pack leaders, and this is where I really disagree. You really show me an abusive relationship and then expect me to root for this couple to stay together? And portray them as these mighty and brave heroes and the perfect couple? Um, yuck? Think about what you're writing for a second.
If the book had (rightfully) condemned this relationship as being terrible and dysfunctional it could've worked, but the fact that Versa and Arn are in the later chapters depicted as this perfect couple and the perfect leaders gives me the ick. I can't just forgive them for abusing the other early on in the book (for the record, both wolves were at fault in this case, with them abusing each other. There wasn't just one perp in the relationship).
So yeah, Arn and Versa are definitely characters I dislike, and the rest of the book's cast are honestly very generic and uninteresting. Again, except for Tria, who is the best-written of the bunch and goes through actual character growth and such.
I guess it could get old that Tria is super over-powered and kills a lot of wolves despite being a single wolf, but I can forgive that since this is supposed to be canine mythology. Human mythology is full of overpowered heroes, gods, spirits, etc. as well, so why would canine mythology be any different? I don't think that this is a story we're supposed to take that literally.
Something I do not think works, however, is the dog narrating to us somehow having knowledge of explicitly human stuff, such as Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome. This just doesn't make sense. It would have made far more sense if the mythology had stayed completely unique so it doesn't feel like the dog narrating suddenly knows things it shouldn't.
I guess my other main complaint about this story is just that, aside from Tria, I never really found myself getting attached to the story itself. There's some conflict with lone wolves and stuff like that going on, and honestly I was just mentally checking out once every while and struggled to keep my focus. This book wasn't particularly something I was fond of. It just didn't really capture my attention.
Not too bad a book, and if you like lupine xenofiction I tentatively recommend it, but I don't think it's great.
Rating: 3/5
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