A review by starryeved
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold

3.0

You are the hunter, and this wolf, though he thinks he is the predator, is your prey.

Elana K. Arnold's frank, unflinching depiction of taboo subjects such as menstruation and the macabre is spot-on, as always. And, as always, her writing is wonderful. And, as always, we love a loose Red Riding Hood retelling.

However - and I think many readers have this issue - the underlying message of female empowerment comes across more as violence = justice. That to face toxic masculinity, sexual harassment and violence, the danger of "incel" mentality, and more, we must resort to raging violence. I don't know how comfortable I feel with that. While I love Arnold's critique of these issues - and boy, are they serious issues that are constantly overlooked - the overall takeaway from the novel shies away from what might arguably be a more constructive path.

If you liked this, you can find a marginally similar concept in One in Four Are Birds. For now, though, I'll hold my reservations. Unlike Arnold's previous works, Red Hood is far more on-the-nose, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

“It’s not that we need more wolf hunters,” you say. “It’s that we need men to stop becoming wolves.”