Wolf by wolf

This book was amazing and everyone needs to have it on their radar and read it when it comes out in October. The premise alone drew me in, but this book was so much more than an alternate WWII outcome. This book focused on how it is who we are inside that matters and that we are all the same on the inside, we were all created equally.

That being said, this was I'm sure a massive undertaking for Ryan Graudin. This book focuses on a society in the 1950s where Hitler won and took over basically the world other than the Americas. It was fascinating for me to read about this different history where WWII did not end when it did. Added to this alternate reality was this epic motorcycle race across the continents. This was a great plot tool to add adventure and action to the plot as Yael attempts to complete her mission of killing Hitler and ending his reign.

The characters in this book are really great. We get a lot of background on Yael and this strange ability she has but we also get background on this alternate world and how the war unfolded. Yael is such an important character in terms of identity and self-confidence. She was terrorized as a child and physiologically altered (trying not to give away too much), but she still fought for what she believed in and ultimately joining the resistance.

I really enjoyed this book, however, I'm a little bit disappointed by the ending. I have so many questions still and feel unsatisfied with where the characters go from the end and how everything ties up. I can see how ending where it did works though in terms of deciding for yourself how the alternate world as a whole responds to the end of the story, but I wanted more. I feel like a huge plot point was introduced in the last few pages but not fully explained. As far as I know this is a standalone, so there are no future books to further explain the events of this book.

Overall, this is a great book that you need to pick up. It has both amazing writing and an amazing message about identity and being yourself.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Update: Ryan Graudin has now said this will be a duology, so I will actually get all my questions answered!