Wolf By Wolf

Well, this book has made my week. I'd even say that this book has gone so far as to make my year. Wolf by Wolf is a novel that has perhaps the most interesting premise I have read so far. When I first read the summary on Goodreads I couldn't help but be excited. I mean, c'mon, it's a motorcycle race to kill Hitler! How can you not make that cool?!?! And thankfully, the author makes every opportunity she can to have this story be as awesome as possible. The writing of the actions scenes is perfect, the writing of the characters is perfect. Even the way the plot is delivered, it all just culminates into a ball of awesomeness that just might have enough power to shoot it's way up to my top of the Best of list of 2016 (and believe me, I don't make that prediction lightly).

I think the element that caught my eye, other than the premise, is how each character is written so well. Each one of them is given believable motivations for doing what they do. Adele Wolf wants to race so that she isn't reduced to becoming birth mother for the third Reich, and her brother wants her to come home and help her with a crumbling family. Even the main villain who gives Yael her powers has good motivations. Then, I also enjoyed how the characters aren't as stupid as they could have been. While on the race, Yael inevitably makes mistakes in Adele's character that other people are bound to notice, which they do, and what's more, they call her on her perceived BS actions. They see her behavior as off, to say the least, and they are not afraid to say so. Where I feel that a lesser author would not capitalize on the moment, Graudin makes the most of it, providing tension for each and every scene.

And speaking of tension, there are so many different ways that Graudin makes tension in this novel, I've lost count. She is talented enough to keep the reader guessing with something happening at every turn, and it isn't just with the racing scenes, which, while they are heart poundingly good, are few and far between. The author instead manages to create scenes that help to delve in many different types of relationships and situations that makes one understand how dangerous an operation like this would be if it ever took place in the real world. While I won't spoil anything let me just say that anything can, and does happen on this race, with twists and turns that have just as much to do with the relationships between various major and minor characters, as it does the race track.

The exposition is written very well. Instead of getting one massive info dump on what Yael's life was like before she joined the resistance, we see how she came to be through each wolf that is tattooed on her arm. Each one represents a significant person to her, and it is through them that we learn more about her life in flashbacks. I'd say that it is a tad convenient that she just happens to think about each person's wolf and relation to her in chronological order, when perhaps a normal person wouldn't do so, but whatever. It is a gripe so small, I can pretend it isn't there.

I also like how the problems of identity are clearly expounded upon in this book. Yael's powers allow her to change almost everything about herself, except for age, gender, and any tattoos she gets. This means that, while she has trouble thinking about who she is in the present, she cannot forget her horrible past, in which her loved ones were killed, and when she received her powers in horrible, painful experiments. This shows that she is not perfect, and this is something that she must overcome and be able to get past as she completes her mission. This I feel helps for her to becomes one of my favorite characters of 2016.

Honestly, this book was absolutely amazing, right down to the ending, which, obviously, I won't spoil. Let's just say that it is excellently written, and makes sense, given what has been established before now in the exposition. I think this is, so far, one of my favorite books of the year, and for that, and because I truly cannot find any worthwhile fault with it, I give it a five out of five. Go to the library, bookstore or the internet and get yourself a copy now. You won't be disappointed.