Book Review: Shadow by Jade V. Stephenson

 

Another wolf xenofiction to add to the pile. Spoilers ahead.

Shadow is a wolf-dog hybrid (half wolf, half Australian shepherd) who makes her way into the wild and now has to survive here. She joins a pack, but eventually leaves and founds her own pack with her mate, Storm. But life in the wild can be harsh. Will her pack prevail?

Overall this is just a decent wolf xenofiction, but it also doesn't really have anything to set it really apart from the rest of the genre. It is a novella and rather than having full-on chapters that tell a complete ongoing story, it seems to be more so divided into short snippets each detailing a moment of Shadow's life. But aside from that format, this is basically every wolf xenofiction you've ever read. It's not bad...but also not very good.

I guess my main gripes with it are the fact that Shadow herself as a character isn't very defined. She doesn't really have a clear personality or traits or whatever, she just kind of feels like the everyman narrator rather than a fully fleshed-out character. And since she's a main character, obviously this is an issue. The side characters aren't very well-developed, either.

I also think that if the book had been a bit longer, more time could've been spent on fleshing out the characters. It didn't even need to be much, even with just 20-30 more pages I think we could've established a bit more personality for these wolves. 

The book also uses the outdated alpha wolf theory which always just kinda annoys me. Also, I kinda wish that the book delved more into the aspect of Shadow being a wolfdog. You'd think that being half domesticated would affect this character in some way or form, but honestly once she learns to hunt and act like a wolf Shadow might as well have been a full wolf, because her doggishness doesn't really come out (other than in how she looks, having a very long coat). I think that it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not explore how being part dog affects her.

So yeah, not very good, not bad, just kinda mid. I think that if it had just been a little longer and the character a little bit more fleshed out, I could've given it half or even one star extra.

Rating: 3/5