Wolfsbane

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A compelling follow-up to a wonderful series, Wolfsbane pleasantly surprises you with magic, love, and more.

Opening Sentence: I couldn’t shut out the screams. Darkness surrounded me.

The Review:

Andrea Cremer’s Wolfsbane picks up almost immediately after Nightshade. Calla Tor, of the Nightshade pack, wakes up in an unfamiliar place. She finds herself surrounded by Searchers, away from her pack and any familiar faces. Shay has been deemed the “Chosen One,” but the legacy, the clouded past, and the truth has yet to be uncovered. With new knowledge, cooperation, and a common goal, Shay, Calla, and the Searchers have plans to rescue Calla’s pack. In doing so, the searchers have show more hopes to uniting with the wolves as allies in their war against the Keepers and the Banes. In a world unknown to her, Calla must rise up to become the alpha she has always known she was meant to be.

Calla is an alpha, but also a young teenage girl. For the amount of experiences that she has lived through in Nightshade and also in Wolfsbane, she has grown to be this young woman. She is intelligent, loyal, and definitely someone I would want to follow. Calla grows from her pain and those experiences, readjusts and moves forward. It’s not easy to be disconnected from her pack, her family, but she follows her instincts to make decisions never easy for a girl her age. It is a testament of her persona that people from both Guardians and Searchers are loyal to her. Alongside Shay and her allies, she has embraced the unexpected.

Shay has become a little more aggressive. I’m not sure if it’s due to his new role of leadership, or what, but he has become pushy. He must be feeling a lot of pressure to fill in the shoes of being the Chosen One, and to lead his people to victory.

Ren takes a backseat role in Wolfsbane. If you remember from the previous book, Nightshade, he helped Calla and Shay, and stayed behind to ensure their escape. Away from Ren, Shay seems to think about him more. Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or is it because of Calla’s duty to her fellow alpha? Calla is definitely still connected to Ren, and you’ll have to read Wolfsbane to find out why.

Searchers, Guardians, Keepers become great supporting characters. Each group has their own sets of personalities, individually and collectively. In Wolfsbane, we really find out more about the history of the wolves, the humans, and the magic world. It’s interesting to see how deep Cremer goes into creating this world. It’s fascinating and interesting. I almost wish that there was a book based on their history! Maybe when Rift comes out, I’ll see a little more into their history.

Cremer has brought Wolfsbane into a different plot twist, cleverly weaving in new elements with hints of old ones. We find out more about the wonderful world that she has created, as well as learn about the undiscovered past of her detailed and intricate culture. Cremer’s writing is by far one of my favorite elements of the book. When reading Wolfsbane, and the other books of the Nightshade series, it is like time stands still. Surrounded by details, elements, emotions, and words, Cremer’s Wolfsbane is magical in itself.

I appreciated that Cremer wrote Wolfsbane to be a different story with all the familiar story elements. It was refreshing and invigorating. There were definitely plot twists and surprises, emotionally-crushing moments, and definitely young love heart pangs. Wolfsbane has substance and everything is complex, well just plain amazing. And yes, even though there is a love triangle, I was happy to see that Calla was adult enough to make decisions fitting for an alpha.

Notable Scene:

Ethan came forward, slamming his empty cup on the table. “Now that preschool is over, can we get moving? Anika had a point. We only have a few hours of daylight left.”

“Ethan!” Tess was on her feet.

“Easy, girl.” Connor stood up too. “He’s right. We need to head out.”

Lydia looked at me. “I’m sure you still have lots of questions. I’m sorry we can’t answer them all right now.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I rose from my chair, muscles humming. The caffeine buzz and the thought of getting into the forest had me itching to run.

It was time for this alpha to find her pack.

FTC Advisory: Penguin Teen provided me with a copy of Wolfsbane. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Call it the Sophomore slump, the second season syndrome, or what have you, but last year I gave NIGHTSHADE, the first book in the series of the same name by debut author Andrea Cremer, a perfect 5/5 rating. Today I’m giving the sequel, WOLFSBANE, a 2/5 rating. What happened to the story, the characters, the romance, and the writing between books one and two to cause such a drastic change? A lot of annoying, confusing, and boring things.

The mythology of the Keepers, Guardians, Searchers, and the Scion still offer an interesting twist on witch, werewolf, and demon mythologies. Likewise the sociopolitical interactions of each group are well thought out and have wide reaching effects on show more themselves and each other. Andrea Cremer’s background as a history professor comes into play as well providing a detailed and very realistic origin for her mythologies. Unfortunately, those are about the only good things I can say about WOLFSBANE.

Just about everything I loved about NIGHTSHADE is absent in WOLFSBANE. The forbidden love triangle between Calla, Shay and Ren? Not so forbidden anymore. But don’t tell Calla. She still anguishes over which guy to choose ad nauseam. Shay, barely recognizable in this sequel as a whiny possessive hot head, bears the brunt of her indecisiveness. Calla still wants to make out (and more) with Shay until mid smooch session when she’ll abruptly shove him away out of guilt over Ren. But then the situation just repeats a few chapters later.

More annoying still was the plethora of new and extremely irritating characters. NIGHTSHADE was all about the wolves, WOLFSBANE is all about the Searchers. In the first few chapters a dozen new characters strut in and out of scenes with lots of desperate attempts at humor and inside jokes to show how close they all are. It was like a badly cast reality show. Calla and Shay basically just watch and ask zero questions about why they are there, what they are being asked to do, what the ultimate plan is, why they are so desperately needed etc. They are just ordered around and basically meekly obey. Well, Calla grows and shifts back and forth a lot, but that’s about it.

90% of WOLFSBANE takes place in the Searchers academy and mostly consists of the Searchers inappropriately timed jokes (like after people just died), stupid sexual come ons, and lots and lots of history lessons. The last hundred pages or so finally spark with a bit of energy and action along with the first appearance of some of the original characters from NIGHTSHADE, but it wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for the rest of this extremely disappointing sequel. The third book in the Nightshade series is titled BLOODROSE and will be published on February 21, 2012. Based solely on the strength of the first book, I still plan to read it, but I’m keeping my expectations firmly in check.

Sexual Content:
Heterosexual and homosexual kissing. Scenes of sensuality. A non graphic sex scene. References to rape. A scene that might have been an attempted sexual assault. show less

Wolfsbane picks up where Nightshade leaves us--with Calla in the Searchers' lair. With her destiny in her own hands for the first time, Calla is confused and lost. She is an alpha without a pack--worse, she is an alpha who betrayed her pack--and she's caught between two men. While Calla is determined to keep Shay by her side, she can't forget Ren, which annoys Shay to no end. Nevertheless, for all her problems, she is still as kickass as ever, and her loyalty to her pack drives her to find a way to rescue them from the Keepers.

What I admire most about Calla is her ability to keep pressing forward in times when most girls would be crying and asking for help. She does have her vulnerable moments and times when she's indecisive. Still, she show more doesn't let despair overtake her. Like her, I pined for the pack in this book. As much as I love the new characters, I missed the pack quite fiercely and worried over their well-being.

New characters are introduced and secrets come to light. The Searchers are amazing people--knowledgable, strong, and brave. Through them Calla learns more about the history of her people and the Keepers from them, and she gains the power to oppose the Keepers and save her pack. Andrea Cremer knows how to introduce a set of new characters, develop them along with the old, and keep them all interesting. We also learn a little bit of some of our old friends' histories!

Questions are answered and questions are raised. Lives are saved and lives are lost. Wolfsbane is an action-packed book filled with hot boys, thrilling fights, plot twists, and rescue missions. As much as we learn in one novel, Andrea Cremer never fails to maintain the reader's interest--or end with a cliffhanger. Needless to say, I'll be reading Bloodrose as soon as I can get my hands on a copy! show less

Review:

I love this series. I loved the first book and I loved the second book. The story definitely intensifies in this book. We lost some characters from the first book (no they didn’t die just not in this book as much) but we gained a slew of new characters. Quite a bit that I just fell in love with . This installment is full of twists, turns, heartache, action, and lots of history. I loved every moment of it.

Long Story Short:

The story picks up right where we left off in Nightshade. Calla and Shay have been taken by the Searchers. Calla wakes to find herself in what she would think is a dangerous situation, but what she finds is that the Searchers are far different than she ever imagined. They don’t like her much for sure but they show more need her and she needs them. As her stay continues she learns there is more history that belongs to her people, the searchers, and the keepers, and what she learns changes her world. In the middle of all her history lessons, she starts to miss her pack and even Ren, she is confused and doesn’t know which path to take… freedom and the chance to be with Shay or to return to her pack and help those she loves.

My Thoughts:

This book was so intense. First off, I loved hearing all the history, the beginnings, and the secrets the past holds. I find that if an author does it right, storytelling within a story can be just super fascinating, Andrea Cremer did it more than right! It was pure enjoyment, interesting, and enlightening.

Second, I loved that this book took place in a new setting with some new and very lovable characters. An entire new world but still held onto the important elements of the old world. It was crazy awesome to see how the searchers live, what they can do, and where they fit in to the story exactly. If I had to choose a side, it would be with the searchers for sure… unless I could be a wolf with no keeper. The new characters were so different and captivating, they really brought the story up to a new level for me.
Last but not least.. I am glad to have back the beautiful writing and superb storytelling from the first book. Everything that made me fall in love with the first book was included in this book. I really missed my time with the wolves while they were away…. I was glad to have them back. The story just keeps getting better, this is for sure not one of those empty filler, middle book, it’s another stepping stone in Calla and Shay’s story. The twists are there, the love, joy, devastation were there (Andrea Cremer is not afraid to make me cry) and the action packed scenes were there all wrapped up in beautiful words.

In The End:

I laughed, I loved, I cried, I hyperventilated, I made it to the end… of this book … time for more! show less

*** This review contains major spoilers. You have been warned. ***

Calla Tor is separated from her pack and her family, surrounded by the Searchers, who have been her enemies for as long as she can remember. She assumes they will kill her soon until they offer to make her part of their campaign to destroy the Keepers, the masters of her and the other guardians that treat them like property. Since it gives her the opportunity to save her friends and family, including Ren, and earn them their freedom, Calla agrees. Shay, the Chosen One turned Guardian, is with Calla and acts as her only support system, but she still has complicated feelings about Ren. Will the Searchers keep their promises and save her friends despite their past conflicts? show more How many will die in the fight for freedom? Will she ever choose between Ren and Shay?

I read Nightshade and I had some significant problems with it, namely with Renier and the oppressive and misogynistic wolf pack hierarchy, but other aspects of the story redeemed it for me. Wolfsbane had all of the things I hated about Nightshade and more with none of the things that I liked. In the last book, Renier was insufferable and used violence as well as passive aggressive tactics to make Calla feel inferior. He didn’t figure largely in this installment, but when he appeared, he made a big impression. When Calla returned to her home to try to save him, he decided to beat her into submission and “break” her because that’s what a good boyfriend should do to make his girlfriend stay with him. If that wasn’t enough, Calla blames herself and feels guilty for his actions, which just screams domestic abuse situation. I had absolutely no sympathy for Ren because he decided it was ok to express his love through his fists.

Now, let’s move on to Shay. In Nightshade, he was a great character and everything that Ren wasn’t: understanding, caring, and an all-around good boyfriend. Now that he turned into a Guardian, he automatically turned abusive and egotistical just like Ren. He pressured Calla for sex, which she refused because she wasn’t ready and she still had complicated feelings about Ren. In true Guardian fashion, Shay became angry and jealous. Calla was scared that he would shift and hurt her and she still wanted to stay with him. This scene alone gave me the urge to throw the book across the room. Neither of these boys was remotely attractive or worthy of Calla’s affections. I really wanted her to come to her senses and stand up for herself with both Shay and Ren, but she never did. The strength she had in the first book was gone, making her into a hugely uninteresting character. I truly don’t understand the fandom surrounding this series, revering these abusive males and arguing which one is better. With a society that already has misogyny deeply ingrained into it, there really doesn’t need to be any more normalizing of violence against women.

Wolfsbane, in addition to featuring horrible romantic interests, didn’t have much going on plot wise. It fell into the second novel in a trilogy pitfall where it sets up for the third book, but doesn’t do much else. The cover was also terrible, featuring an oversexualized Calla in a suggestive pose, which is far inferior to the original design that was circulated. I wish they had gone with the original design. The only good things about the novel were Andrea Cremer’s fluid writing, some of the new Searcher characters, and the glimpse into the Searcher way of life. The negatives of this novel vastly outweigh the positives for me and I won’t be reading the rest of the series. show less

Writing like Andrea Cremer's almost makes me forget that I'm reading a YA book. Not to say that YA writing isn't on par with adult books, because it is, it's just Andrea writes very well. Which also makes it so I feel like there's a movie going on in my mind while I'm reading, which I love because then I feel like I'm there with the characters, instead of just reading about them.

Wolfsbane picks up exactly where Nightshade left off. The pacing is excellent and was kept moving throughout the entire story, with twists and turns that were unexpected. And some bombs were definitely dropped, especially near the end. We learn something about a major character we thought we knew, and I for one was not expecting it. The love triangle isn't quite show more as present as it was in Nightshade, since Ren is mostly only talked about but not seen very much. Which really is a shame, because I am firmly Team Ren. I have to say Calla's indecision about who she really wants didn't bother me as much as it usually might, and I can only say it's because I have seen some merit in Shay, though he still bugs me.

We meet a new set of characters in Wolfsbane, the Searchers. I have to say they made me enjoy this book much more than Nightshade, especially Connor with his humor. Adne is also one of my favorites, and is involved in the bomb that is dropped about another character. I'm really excited to see where it is taken in Bloodrose, as well as her mysterious relationship with Connor. I disliked Ethan from the get go, but then did a complete 180, just like he did about the Guardians. Watching them all interact with each other, they felt like real people who've been together for a long time.

Over the last few years, after reading many werewolf and vampire books I got pretty tired of them, and stayed away of paranormal books for quite a while. This however is not your average paranormal story, so even if you're not a huge fan of werewolves, I would still say give this a try. Andrea Cremer's story packs punches left and right that leave you wanting so much more, and she always delivers. This series is a definite must read series. show less

The thing I absolutely loved about Nightshade was its unique take on werewolf mythology. Wolfsbane continues to expand upon this angle of the story, calling much of what we previously learned into question once we hear the other side of the story. The mythology gets deeper and the unreliable nature of the information's sources leaves the reader free to question the motives behind every action.

The romance angle starts to become more important in Wolfbane. In Nightshade, it was a non-issue given Calla's betrothal to Ren. Her current tie to him is questionable at best, leaving room for Shay to make a more clear move towards her. The book remains in a love triangle quandary of sorts, but happily it also remains in the background for the show more most part, with the plot driven action in the forefront for the majority of the novel.

Wolfsbane continues the story well and has an ending that will make the reader desperate for the final book in this trilogy.As the stakes get higher, Wolfsbane does well by keeping the focus on the action and mystery. Surprises, loss and betrayal abound, taking readers on an completely unexpected adventure than thrills at every turn. show less