Quick Review: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Goodreads Summary– Her story begins on a train.

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo.

Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin’s brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move.

But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

The ending- I did not see the ending of this book coming and I thought it was absolutely genius and so creative.  It really made me want to read the next book and see where this story is going to go.  One of the best endings I have ever read if I am being honest!

Action-packed- There was a lot of action in this book and it was really entertaining. I usually do not enjoy race related novels but there was something special about the way that Wolf by Wolf was written.

Original- I do not think that I have ever read an alternate history novel and I really enjoyed it.  It was so fascinating to read about what the world may have been like had Hitler won the war.  There was also a SciFi element that I wasn’t expecting and was not so sure about at first but eventually came around to.

Past and present timelines- I really loved that the author included chapters that focused on Yael’s past and explains how she ended up the way that she did.  I think the chapters about her past were actual my favourite.  I would love a prequel to this novel.

Side characters– I wish that we got to know more about the side characters and their histories.  I feel as though the only characters who I truly understand is Yael, and I would have loved to have a better connection to the other characters.

“The wolves of war are gathering. They sing a song of rotten bones.”

“Her self-reflection was no reflection at all. It was a shattered mirror. Something she had to piece together, over and over again. Memory by memory. Loss by loss. Wolf by wolf.”

“Hope. A strange word. In her past, it had been a light, wispy thing. Crushed as easily as a finger under a guard’s boot. But now…now hope weighed so much, as if the Colosseum itself had collapsed on top of her. Mortar and suffering. Brick and time.”

If you have read Wolf by Wolf I would love to know your opinion.  Have you read the second book? What did you think?