Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Wolfsong

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

64 reviews

sofieishere's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.0

"I wanted to say, I may have started picturing your underage son naked, but I didn't know if that was something someone could say to an Alpha werewolf." ....What? 😭

The book started of strong, sketching the relationship between Ox and his parents. Especially the relationship with ox's father was very emtional to read. So I expected that the book would continue to be this great. But then came the age gap...
The mc (Ox) has a love interest (Joe) who is 6 years younger than him. That wouldn't be much of a problem if they were both over the age of 18. But they first meet when Ox is 16 and Joe is 10. Joe gives Ox his wolf, basically claiming him. Later in the story there's a flashback to this moment where Joe says something along the lines of "even then you were mine and I was yours" Ox later freaks out when he realises that Joe likes him. They get together when Joe is 17 and Ox is 23.
My main problem with their relationship is that the age gap is completly unnecesary. Joe has an older brother (Carter) who is around the same age as Ox. At first I thought that Carter and Ox would and up together simply because they were the same age and that Joe's obvious crush was just a joke for the plot and would just stay one-sided. But then the book kept developing and hinting at their (potential) relationship. It made me deeply uncomfortable. I'm currently 16 years old and it makes me sick to even think of being in a relationship with a 10 year old. Have you seen what a 10 year old looks like?? Even if they only get together when they're older, it's still mad weird. Like the only use for the age gap is for random jokes. So I have no idea why TJ Klune decided to write them like this. That has to have been a concious decision, right?

But besides the age gap the writing is also just very cringe worthy and eye rolling at times.

There is so much repetition. There were moment were I thought "Wait haven't I read this exact scene before?"

Near the end of the story I just didn't care anymore. I didn't really care about the characters, I didn't care about the plot, I didn't care about the relationships. I honestly just wanted them all to die so this book could finally end, because it was dragginggg on.

Anyway Ox is a hypocrite, I would rather have Ox and Robbie end up together and this review might not be very coherent and a bit hate-filled. But I still found the book quite entertaining. It definitly wasn't great, but it was wasn't all bad.

( Also I've never read a book where the epilogue was just a sex scene lmao)

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bookwitch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

THIS WAS SO LONG. Ox as a narrator was really difficult to get used to, especially for that many pages. It may be a personal thing, but the age gap romance aspect felt a tad too uncomfy for me. While Ox was a decent character, I think I was overall just interested in others, which could have led to this being just an okay romance. Not to say it was inappropriate, it was done in the correct way, I just did not particularly like the characters at the center, nor did I like seeing them from such a young young age at the beginning.
Somehow though, despite my little issues, TJ Klune manages to grip me in a way that few others have. His writing is magical in itself, and has easily made him an auto-buy author for me.

While I am more interested in the main characters of other books in this series, the length keeps me at bay, at least for now.

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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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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

If there's one thing that TJ Klune absolutely excels at it's writing found family. That theme can be found running through every single one of his books, especially this series. I listened to this it time around and the audiobook narrator does such a fantastic job with this story. Something about Klune's writing in this just makes it so difficult to put down. So glad the next one is on Hoopla so I can keep going with my re-read!

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ciuli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I think the first time I read this book I gave it 5 stars, but now I'm dropping it to 4 because the pace is so. Freaking. Slow.
I love the characters, I love Ox and I had forgotten how close he was to Carter and how precious their friendship is, this makes me all the more excited for the 4th book! (I had previously read up until the 3rd book but never gotten around to reading the last one, so I'm really curious about it).

Kelly and Robbie are my babies, no one can touch them.

But Joe. Joe. I'm sorry but I can't stand him 😭. He is such a pretentious little shit and the whole book I was like "Ox, baby, are you really sure about ending up with him?!"

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