Aislin Freedman, Junior
A semi-sentient forest that bargains for sacrifices. A mysterious, millenial old myth notoriously known as “the wolf.” Twins destined to be torn apart by a prophecy, a bargain, and a broken promise.
Hannah Whitten’s debut novel is hauntingly evocative of the whispering, cruel shadows that hide behind trees and in the deep shadows of a cursed forest. For the Wolf is very loosely based on the premise of Little Red Riding Hood, but for anyone thinking that means this book is full of clichés, you would be happily mistaken. The only part of the story taken from the children’s story is the base character archetypes, and a few nicknames. Whitten’s writing is poetic and majestic, perfectly rendering the setting and characters of this dark fantasy romance.
Hundreds of years ago, a second born princess fell in love with a commoner nicknamed “the Wolf,” and they made a bargain with the mystical and benevolent Wilderwood so they could live out their happily ever after. However, not long after, the Wilderwood closed its borders and trapped the five kings-become-gods inside. With this, the forest ceded eternal summer to eternal winter, becoming a place of fear and deference. This was the beginning of the bargain that would dictate the religion of an entire continent, and the destiny of the royal family of Valleydan, the kingdom closest to the forest border. The bargain was made as follows:
The first daughter is for the throne. The second daughter is for the wolf And the wolves are for the wilderwood.
Redarys (Red) is the second born daughter of the house of Valleydan, and twin to first-born daughter Nevarah. Her life was decided from the moment she was born; she would enter the Wilderwood and be given to the wolf. It wouldn’t do her any good to think about the fact that no second daughter to enter the Wilderwood had ever returned.
With vines and thorns, Whitten weaves a story worthy of the dark, twisted gods that the characters mistake for heroes, and as beautiful as the woods-indebted heroes mistaken as villains. She carefully builds upon a romance tentatively avoided by both leads of the story, while explaining the loss each character has endured to get to the state of sorrow and closed off emotions they first portray.
Whitten never defaults to the cliché tropes many readers detest, such as the “damsel in distress.” Each character learns to stand on their own two feet, and help those around them grow into their own. Daintily dark and thoroughly romantic, Whitten balances the romance and plot perfectly atop the sharpened edge of a dagger. Romance never overpowering the plot, but plot never becoming tedious.
Each page of this book is glowing with overpowering love and devotion, yet bloodstained with the loss that each character struggles to overcome every day. Insanity is not a stranger, and trust is valued above all else; however, love is what is really put to the test. More than romantic love, For the Wolf is about the heart wrenching, bottomless pit of love that is held between sisters, between friends, between twins.
Despite one being for the throne, and the other for the Wolf. The Wilderwood itself cannot stop their love.