A review by lindsayslittlelibrary
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

There were a few things I really liked about Once There Were Wolves. This book was very atmospheric. I liked the setting in Scotland. I really liked the emphasis and focus on environmental conservation. That’s about it for positives.

Somewhere in the middle this story turned from a tense conservation effort into a bizarre and dark murder mystery. Every character in this story had some sort of trauma. There was a lot of very gruesome and detailed abuse and death towards both humans and animals, so be aware of that because going into this I was not. There were also a lot of mental health issues that I thought were handled carelessly and were largely swept under the rug. I encourage you to look up TWs if you have any concerns.

By the end of this book I really hated the MC. She was very negligent towards her pregnancy. She made many frustrating decisions throughout the story. She lacked critical thinking skills and was very irrational, though I do think this was at least partially due to her being in a very bad place mentally. Her baby and the wolves all deserved much better. 

I did like the narrator for the audiobook and I’m glad I listened to this story, because if I had attempted to read the physical book I know I would have DNF’d it. The only perk to reading this book rather than listening to it might be an easier time identifying the transitions between the past and present storylines. There weren’t clear indicators of the changes in timeline while listening so I was often confused when the story would jump back and forth. 

Overall, I was really unsatisfied and upset by this story, especially the ending. I can see why some people really like this book, but it wasn’t for me.