⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author (Platform): TJ Klune (Kindle)
Publisher (Release): Tor (2022)
Length: 578 pages
Genres: Adult; LGBT+; Fantasy; Romance; Action
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
explores addiction, abuse, and a variety of mental health illnesses
contains explicit scenes of a sexual nature
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: must read (especially for fans of Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse)
👍 Pros 👍
Wonderful family drama with a fantasy backdrop
Diverse cast dripping with charm
Sexy romance
👎 Cons 👎
A bit too on the nose with its Twilight influences
Overlong and repetitive
👀 Synopsis 👀
Ox Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a lesson: Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.
Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harbouring a secret that would change him forever. For the family are shape-shifters, who can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known. He also finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy. Joe is charming and handsome, but haunted by scars he cannot heal.
Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town, and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man – and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
Wolfsong is, admittedly, painfully derivative but, in spite of that, stunningly beautiful. An LGBT+ coming-of-age drama, TJ Klune flexes a mastery in evoking emotion, layering its overlong heft with heart-wrenching drama, prioritising family in a fantastical world of werewolves, witches, and all manner of wickedly mysterious creatures champing to escape from the shadows. It’s sensitive, surprisingly smutty, and showcases a soaring story of found family and shared trauma.
🧩 Plots 🧩
The parallels to Twilight are incredibly difficult to ignore…even literally mentioned as something that exists within Wolfsong’s world and I cannot help but feel those references should have been pruned. It’s obvious enough that the flagrant cramming in the reader’s face is a tad insulting. There are flecks of Sookie Stackhouse and many an early-2000s YA but these feel better woven through a well-built family drama. Wolfsong nails the consequences of trauma on a ‘normal’ life but likewise finds the sliver of hope in humanity and the power of letting the right people in (blood or not).
Choice is thicker than blood
Mystical and magical, the core story feels overdone but Klune sprinkles fiery action throughout to keep the pace brisk in the face of a beefy length. Fighting against it is the repetitive tendency to trudge down the same path over and over, exploring the same emotional contemplations, even when they’ve reached a conclusion. Then, the sizzlingly sexy smut comes armed for horny battle and suddenly it’s hard to fault something that works even when it doesn’t.
A fitting if predictable finale ends on a high, resolving Wolfsong’s fantasy foray with raw recognition of the human nature that saved the day.
‘…it’s hard to fault something that works even when it doesn’t.’
🎭 Characters 🎭
Oxnard ‘Ox’ Matheson brings a big, goofy bisexual viewpoint with readers joining his first-person, present-tense narrative as it tells the tale of his life from abused youth, the love he develops despite it, to the confident and complex adult he becomes. The family dynamics are a stark gut punch, setting the stage for his psyche to launch off while never letting its swift progress detract from the depth that has us invested.
Degraded as big and dumb, Ox’s battles with doubt and anxiety hit close to home for me, exploring the perception in silence and the maturity in forgiveness. A complimentary cast of chromatic characters come with their own satisfying arcs and gay personalities that charm the pants off the reader with their wit and weirdness.
Hold tight to those that matter most
And, if it isn’t clear by now, Wolfsong is a sexually diverse tale, with multiple romances that cross the spectrum with genuine care. It’s gay AF but not overbearingly so. Admittedly, the coming-out scenes are stereotypically on the nose and standout as shallow sections in a novel that builds bonds and emotions effortlessly, but I understand the compulsion to try and represent a defining moment within the target audience’s lives.
The core romance between Ox and Joe is blushingly beautiful, growing from childhood friends, to chosen family, and finally to red-hot romance, providing the primary pillar that keeps Wolfsong upright. The chemistry is electric, the drama is wicked, and the growth is dynamic even in the face of regressive tropes of ‘owning’ one another.
‘It’s gay AF…’
💭 Final Thoughts 💭
Wolfsong is a fantastic family drama with a fantasy backdrop, filling its small, mysterious town with a sexually diverse cast that embodies the emotive themes of found family and strength through trauma. It’s childish, witty, and deviously charming, wrapping a coming-of-age tale in a supernatural mystery brimming with action. Werewolves and witches can’t quite hide the clear and borderline insulting references to Twilight while a long length and repetitive contemplation put strain on the complex bonds Wolfsong painstakingly builds.
But…it’s hard to fault something that works even when it doesn’t. A rich and risqué romance helps alleviate any issues while the sensitive handling of LGBT+ representation makes this a must-read for the gays pining for a relatable romp with blood, sex, and magic.
The Phoenix Project 