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amieg17's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
nm_reads's review against another edition
5.0
I honestly couldn’t even process the thoughts and feelings I had during and after reading this book. I was completely stunned by how much I loved it. I mean I loved the first one, so clearly I had high expectations and I’m happy to say those was definitely reached and maybe even surpassed. The writing was amazing, I felt so connected to the characters, they just completely came alive, and the whole concept of the book was new and interesting. Now that I’ve gotten all the fancy talking done: THIS BOOK WAS SO FUCKING AMAZING I’M GONNA DIE IF I DON'T SEE MORE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT IT! I love Yael so much and her backstory made me sob one too many times. The fact that she kept losing everyone. And the wolves. OMG THE WOLVES! WAIT THE ENDING! Sorry I'm skipping around everywhere, but the significance of the wolves?! Incredible. And the fact that the one for Luka was a lion & not a wolf because he was different and he held such a special place in her heart broke me. When she asked why she was always the only one left? I was sobbing uncontrollably. I think the pages are stained with my tears from when Luka died. I know people always say they saw these deaths coming, but I genuinely never do, which is what makes them hurt even more. I don’t know if it’s because I’d rather they not die (obviously) or because I’m just really bad at looking ahead, but I’m always so shocked and devastated by character’s deaths. I can’t process them. I loved Luka with all my heart. I can’t believe I managed to fall in love with him and he just had to die. I will never forgive Graudin for that (I probably will I love her writing so much). Wait, I can’t end this without talking about Felix. He was just, I can’t even describe anything about what I feel for him. I was so prepared to hate him after he decided to betray them, but I just couldn’t. I understood him too much, I felt too much for him to stay mad. And I loved the development and how at the end he finally stands up for himself and not just others. This book broke me and then put me back together again and I don’t know if any historical fiction is ever going to top it. 5/5
ffrdna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emleemay's review against another edition
3.0
“There are no rules in this war.”
2 1/2 stars. I'm rounding up on this one for a couple of reasons: 1) I did enjoy it, though not as much as [b:Wolf by Wolf|24807186|Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, #1)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424193184s/24807186.jpg|44446095], and 2) Part of the problem is a personal issue to me, and others clearly felt very different.
Firstly, [b:Wolf by Wolf|24807186|Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, #1)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424193184s/24807186.jpg|44446095] was an exception to a rule of mine. I almost never enjoy "journey" books, where most of the book consists of the protagonist travelling between two plot points. I generally find them tedious. However, exceptions can be made when the journey is different and/or compelling enough to carry me through the pages. And in [b:Wolf by Wolf|24807186|Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, #1)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424193184s/24807186.jpg|44446095] it was - you don't get much more unique than an alt-history drag race in which a shapeshifter tries to kill Hitler.
Unfortunately, though, [b:Blood For Blood|26864835|Blood For Blood (Wolf By Wolf, #2)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454518446s/26864835.jpg|46906263] is another journey book, and this one failed to hold my interest. The journey is much more generic here, essentially a lengthy road trip back to Germania to finish putting the resistance's plan into action. As with other road trip books in the past, I just got the sensation that I knew exactly where they would end up and what would happen - everything else in between was just filler to pad out the journey there.
And - even more unfortunately - I was right. The last fifty-ish pages are easy to predict, right down to who lives, who dies, and that ridiculously obvious twist you can see coming even at the end of the last book.
Also, the book is at least a hundred pages too long. It's full of flashbacks that drag the already overlong book back - these chapters were truly tiring to read. I kept wanting the plot to do more stuff in the present instead of lingering on the past, but I think this was mostly because, as I already mentioned, the whole book felt like not much was happening, we were merely moving towards a conclusion that was predictable and inevitable.
I've noticed that other reviewers have said this book was more emotional than [b:Wolf by Wolf|24807186|Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, #1)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424193184s/24807186.jpg|44446095], but this was actually a negative for me. I think this series got its strength from its action and exciting premise, and when the book lingers too long on introspection, the author’s tendency to tell and not show is made obvious. And the noted "emotion" was kind of a drag. Yael's badass thirst for revenge is watered down in this sequel and she becomes a bleeding heart for two Nazi boys - Luka and Felix.
Honestly, it's not that bad. If you enjoyed the first book and have been highly anticipating this, you should still read it. I did enjoy it, but I found that I enjoyed certain parts and scenes rather than the book as a whole, which I thought dragged in places. A too long epilogue to one of the most fascinating premises in YA.
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em_masw's review against another edition
5.0
Don’t know after reading this again it is my favourite book of all time :(
ashurq's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book that really deserves a full-length review. I adored the first book. Seriously, there are not words to describe how much I loved Wolf by Wolf. In my opinion, Blood for Blood wasn't as good, but at the same time I didn't really expect it to be. A part of the first book that I really fell in love with was the setting of the motorcycle race. Without that subplot driving the main plot as well as the pace of the book, BfB feels almost...relaxed in its pace. It's definitely slower than the first book, but that does have its own advantages. The Holocaust is always a tricky subject, right? But I thought that the author did a great job being so respectful with it but not sugarcoating it either. Even though this is an alternate history, there are some facts that remain the same. With this book having a more relaxed pace, it allowed for the author to dive into the characters a little more and that made some passages especially powerful. Before reading this book, I had read a review that criticized Graudin for romantically linking a Holocaust survivor with a "Nazi poster boy" so I went into the book a little apprehensive about how the romance was going to go. Honestly, I thought it was really tastefully done and I didn't feel like it was inauthentic to the characters. Overall, I would definitely recommend this one.