This book appears to be a reboot of the book Fearless by the same author. I've tried to obtain a copy of Fearless for quite some time now (well over a year if I recall correctly), but it's out of print and so far I haven't been lucky enough to find one. So the reboot will have to suffice. Spoiler ahead.
On Ciel Loup Island lives a wolf pack, our protagonists, who have always respected the wolf laws. The most important law of all is to never engage with humans or their livestock. Then suddenly a mysterious white wolf appears, a stranger who breaks wolf laws by attacking healthy prey and bears. The pack wonders whether this wolf, whom they nickname Spiritwolf, is a friend or a foe. And what if Spiritwolf attacks a human and this leads the humans to retaliate against the wolves?
I did not expect this one to be as good as it is. Granted, I wasn't going in with a negative outlook, but I was really surprised at how quickly this book had me hooked. I think the main thing that drew me in quite fast was the characters: They're quite varied and distinct and I liked most of them.
There's Elkwolf, a curious but good-natured pup who is probably my favorite. Brushwolf the elder was a lot of fun (and I'm so glad she didn't die! Xenofiction loves killing of elderly mentor characters). There's also the noble hero Moosewolf, and the antagonist Bearwolf, who is an effective foil to Moosewolf, especially when, despite being a villain, he does make a few valid points regarding Spiritwolf (but also a lot that aren't valid!).
Spirtwolf himself is probably the most interesting character, a wolfdog who grew up outside of lupine law and therefore has no idea how to respect it, even after being taken in by the pack. He is definitely effective at living in the wild as he's a very skilled hunter and fighter, but he doesn't know the finesse of being a wild predator and how to respect life. Spiritwolf is also very mysterious. He's without any dialogue throughout most of the book, and even when we do see his side of things or he does speak, he's very hard to pinpoint what exactly he's up to. Just a nicely written, mysterious character and he works great in this story. His relationship to characters like Elkwolf and Brushwolf is also nicely developed.
I guess if I do have a criticism for this book, it is that it is very anti-wolfdog. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely do think that breeding hybrids in real life is unethical, but man, this book seems to have a vendetta against them. Spiritwolf is the only wolfdog representation we get, and he's a loose canon who will attack anything and anyone. And I do disagree with how the author portrays him as pretty much just a monster. He definitely does have a softer side to him, but ultimately he is the main antagonistic force of the book an we never get any "oh, not all wolfdogs are like this"-type of message.
I also personally didn't really care for the lupine character's names, to be honest. Names like Elkwolf and Sunwolf feel a bit weird to me. That's like calling a person "Tablehuman" or "Cattlehuman".
But despite these gripes, I did overall really enjoy this book. It's got loads of good characters, a great mystery regarding Spiritwolf, and high stakes and an intense climax.
Rating: 4/5
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