Book Review: Wolf by Wolf – Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf is nothing if not a very rare literary piece of gem authored by Ryan Graudin. The story takes us to an alternate history where Hitler and the whole Axis powers controlled most of the world after winning the second world war and held an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents to commemorate their victory.

This motorcycle race, popularly known as The Axis Tour, will also pave the way for the resistance to assassinate Adolf Hitler and ignite a revolution in the hopes of changing the world’s order. And they are all pinning their hopes with Yael, who is competing as Adele Wolfe. Only Yael didn’t factor in the emotional turmoil brought upon by Adele’s brother, Felix, and fellow competitor Luka.

Reading this book made me compare Yael to Katniss’s plight to bring hope to the people oppressed by the Capitol in the Hunger Games Trilogy. The stirring narrative of the book’s main protagonist Yael combined with a flight or fight mentality, made me feel nervous and excited at the same time, and flipping its pages until the very end left me yearning for more.

The whole skin-shifting thing just made the entire book more exciting on a whole new level. I loved the intensity of each chapter and the edge-of-your-seat feel, especially when Yael’s gets into a compromising position. And then there are the secondary characters, most especially the five wolves, that made their mark on me despite their little “screentime” in the book.

One of the themes in this book has always been one of my interests in reading historical fiction. Each book with the Holocaust theme always breaks my heart, and I end up having to take a break from every now and then because I get too emotional. I had to drag reading this for so many reasons, and one of them is what I have just mentioned, and the number one reason is that it’s just so good I hate to have to end it.

This is a relatively long book, but there’s something about it that made me want to finish it right away, but then I realized that before reading this book, I’ve found out that the sequel will still be next year which made me so frustrated because I need more from this story! People, I am telling you – it is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Expected publication: October 20th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

About The Author
Ryan Graudin grew up in Charleston and graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree in Creative Writing in 2009. She is the author of All That Glows and The Walled City. She resides near Charleston with her husband and wolf-dog. You can find her online at http://www.ryangraudin.com.