Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Wolfsong

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

60 reviews

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm really conflicted on this book - and my review of it, honestly.
There are some real bright shining moments to this book - namely, the writing. The unique style really drew me in and kept me interested. I like the fact that this book spanned decades and the development that went into the characters.
I like fantasy but decided that shifters and werewolves aren't my thing, which took some of the magic out of it for me. The romance felt compelling and emotional and big and beautiful in moments but also slightly predatory at others.
While I think I ultimately liked Wolfsong, I don't think I'm going to continue with the series.

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bibliobetty's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I wasn't planning on rating this book but I can't stop thinking about it and how much I enjoyed it. Will definitely be picking up the rest of the series and other books by this author.

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brookeisbusyreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

After coming to a printing error in my fancy special edition hardback of this book where ~30 pages had been printed incorrectly, I managed to finish it thanks to KU. So now I don’t have said hardback…which is okay?

I know this is a really popular series…but I feel very meh about this book. And apparently the other books are told from different characters that I’m not all that interested in reading about (except Carter—I’m very interested in his perspective).

Things I Liked:

The setting and worldbuilding (reminded me of how the werewolves and pack thing was done in Twilight movies)
The found family dynamic
Thomas Fucking Bennett
Mark’s role in the whole story
Using colors to represent emotions
The two and a half times this book ripped my heart out then apologized and did it again
SOME of the repetition
Richard Collins’s evil-ness
Carter and Kelly’s brotherhood

Things I Disliked:

~95% of the repetition (I got very annoyed so many times but occasionally it would work)
Being beaten over the head with how Ox’s dad told him he’s “gonna get shit”, Joe’s explanation of how much Ox means to him, and Joe’s traumatic experience (all said pretty much word for word over and over again, I might add)
The idea of tethers seeming like they’re important but getting drowned out by the Alpha stuff
The possessiveness, especially with Joe (I get the bonding thing and I was all for it at the start of the story, but it does get controlling by the end.)
THE 20-OR-HOWEVER-MANY PAGE DETAILED SEX SCENE (Yes, I know this is an adult book but I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT detailed. Also, I don’t know, I felt that scene cheapened another scene later on.)

Overall, I’m really just disappointed that I didn’t enjoy it like I was hoping to. I don’t see myself continuing the series but I might revisit it later.

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marieeh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

This book was hard for me to rate. On the one hand, I loved the writing, the meandering chapters taking me through the story. I liked that this was a long, slow paced story spanning many years. I really loved the examples of non-toxic masculinity - men who loved each other openly, hugging, crying, sharing their emotions. It was refreshing. I also really liked the descriptors. "Candy canes and pinecones". I can smell that, but I also feel like I understand the emotions those scents evoke. That phrase made me feel something every time it was mentioned.

However, I got really icked out by the

age gap romance. I tried to get past it since all the characters just sort of explain it away as a mates thing and "when you know, you know", but I had a really hard time and never really did. I just don't see why Joe couldn't have been aged up even to like 14. Everything else could have happened exactly the same. And I could accept a 3 year difference a little more easily. I honestly think I could have even accepted it if they both met as adults (21 and 28) but since they met when Joe was 10 and Ox almost 18?? I couldn't. I was also kind of blindsided by the very explicit and lengthy sex scene. I am not big on those to begin with, and it came late in the book and kind of without warning - there had been really nothing sexual like that and then boom. And the fact that the epilogue was a sex scene too? I loved the way the final chapter ended, it was beautiful, but then throwing that in (I know it was an important "mating") just kind of cheapened it to me.

All that said, it was a good, sad story. I wasn't expecting how emotional of a read it would be. I really liked the characters, though I wish some had been fleshed out more (maybe in the other books in series?) and like I said before, I loved the writing. It was very poetic in places. I'm not jumping to read the rest of the series right now, but I will definitely check out more by this author.

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saretta02's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

2.75

Finished reading: September 10th 2024

“It was candy canes and pinecones. It was epic and awesome. And it was home.”

WARNING: it's another unexpected stop of the unpopular opinion train!!

I'm honestly still shocked and sad this has happened. I mean, I absolutely adored T.J. Klune's writing in the three books I've read before Wolfsong, and I was SO sure I was going to love this story as well. Sure, I don't exactly read a lot of shapeshifter romances, but this author always seems to create the most wonderful characters and worldbuilding in his books and I was fully convinced this was going to be one of them. I guess I was wrong. It's not that I don't like the premise or general idea behind this book... But somehow the story itself just didn't work for me this time around. I think this had a lot to do with the way this story was written; while unique, I was never able to warm up to the writing style and the constant repetition of certain words and phrases got so EXTREMELY annoying after a while. In fact, you could probably cut out at least 200 pages and still not get rid of all that repetition... While I liked what it represented in the beginning with the pack mentality and connections, it soon really started to grate on me. Especially the second half was a struggle to get through, because I was long over the way this story was written by then. Also, am I the only one wondering about just how inappropriate the relationship between Joe and Ox is, since he was only ten when they first bonded? Sure, nothing sexual happened until they were both adults, but still... I can't say that I was a fan. And then I'm not even talking about the extremely graphic steamy scenes when they appeared. *shudders* The whole quest thing was also extremely frustrating and it seems like it was only used to keep them apart until Joe was of age. There was so much drama and angst in general, and the story gave me Twilight vibes (for me personally that is NOT ment as a compliment). All in all Wolfsong wasn't the story for me, and I won't be continuing the series. I loved the premise, but the execution somehow just didn't hit the mark... This doesn't mean that I love his other stories any less though!

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levilore_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the werewolf lore in this book and how the author showed the bonds between the wolves via writing style. Ox was a great main character and genuinely liked all the side characters as well.

The exploration of found family and belonging was really beautiful especially because the book took place over more than a decade.

Sometimes things were repeated and retold multiple times which got kind of tedious towards the end, but overall a great start to a series. I'm excited to read the rest!

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jadeyfish's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Enjoyed the writing and the focuses on family! I loved the found family and the relationships felt extremely genuine. Could not put it down, and I read this thing in one day!

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stormfather's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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anguawolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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