Amazon Blurb:
“Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.
Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road, the boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.
Ox was seventeen when he found out the boy’s secret, and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet, of Alpha and Beta and Omega.
Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his bloodred eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.
It’s been three years since that fateful day—and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.”
Wolfsong is a beautiful, heartbreaking, and lovely story about a simple human boy who was told by his father that he would never amount to anything and that people were going to give him shit.
It’s a story about how when he was sixteen he was walking down the dirt road towards his house and a tornado of a ten-year-old boy jumped out into the road and asked him what that smell was. What smelled like candy canes and pine cones, epic and awesome.
That smell was Ox. and when the little tornado that is Joe Bennett realizes this, he drags Ox home to meet his whole family that lives in the house at the end of the lane.
From then on Ox’s life is full of werewolves and magic and pack.pack.pack.
It’s about finding out his little corner of the world in Green Creek is so much bigger and so much darker than he ever imagined.
It’s about the long wait for true love that was there all along, and all the pain and violence and strength necessary to be a leader and lover and protect those closest to you.
It’s honestly one of my favorite books.
And one I put off doing a review of for the longest time.
Because how could I ever do justice to this beautiful novel?
So that’s where I’ll start. This novel is beautiful. It’s told in a format that might throw off some readers. There is a repetition of words and phrases and small snapshots of scenes to show the passage of time. This is a novel that spans over the course of more than a decade. It’s ambitious, but the flowing, repetitive style keeps it from seeming that way. Instead it feels fluid and natural. It feels like you are right there with Ox. Feeling the joy, the family, the green relief of pack. brother. son. love.
There are so many great things to love about this novel, it’s hard for me to mention just a few and keep but I’ll try.
Ox is one of my favorite MCs of all time. He is strong and resilient and believes that he doesn’t deserve anything but the shit his father promised the world would give him, so it’s even more wonderful that he is immersed with people who value him even when he can’t value himself.
Joe. Oh the tornado Joe. He grows up that Joe Bennett. But still retains all the vulnerability of the little boy on the road who noticed Ox, smelled him, and knew he would be the center of his world and that he just had to give him his most prized possession.
Ox’s mother and Joe’s mother are two of the best characters.
Thomas Bennett is the world’s greatest dad.
Carter and Kelly are the best brothers.
And everyone just wants Gordo and Mark to get their shit together.
And I’m always going to love Robbie. And all the guys from the shop. And Jessie is badass.
I love that this novel isn’t afraid to hurt people. Some of the best characters don’t make it to the end folks. The villain is as competent as he is crazy and he will stop at nothing to take the power of a Bennett pack alpha. You have been warned. But it’s all so worth it.
Wolfsong is a novel that makes you cry and laugh, cry and laugh. It breaks your hard and then puts it back together. On the one hand it’s a gay werewolf shifter novel. On the other it’s the story about a guy who is stronger and more special than all the supernatural creatures around him. Not in spite of being human, or even because of his humanity, but because he is so much more than that.
Please read this book and love it just as much as I do. I promise you will not be disappointed.
5/5 Crows. Because seriously guys, this is one of my favorites.
As always, a brief summation of my rating system:
1 Crow: It sucks and I’m not even going to finish.
2 Crows: It’s okay, very meh. I read it all the way through but probably skimmed it in places.
3 Crows: It was good, it held my attention. I read it all the way through. It entertained me. I liked it but there were some flaws. (This will be where most of my reviews land.)
4 Crows: I really liked it. It was so good. I’m going to reread it several times. There was hardly anything wrong with it.
5 Crows: The illusive 5 Crows. It impressed me so much, I loved it, and consider it one of my favorite books of all time. It was ground-breaking, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
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