Review : Raised by Wolves
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Pages : 418
Genre : YA, Urban Fantasy
Series : Raised by Wolves, Book 1
My Rating : 
What it’s about :
Bryn has been raised by wolves – or more exactly, werewolves. Even though she has a special bond with her pack and their leader, she can’t help questioning her place as a simple human in this group. When she discovers a strange boy locked in her leader’s basement, Bryn’s life is forever changed, pushing her to confront both the people she trusts and memories of her terrifying past.
My Thoughts :
I’ve been a bit grumpy towards YA fiction in 2011; I kept reading it, but more often then not I felt the same story kept repeating itself with only small variations. Fortunately, sometimes come along books like Unearthly and Raised by Wolves to remember me that not all fiction is created equal and that there are, indeed, YA novels deserving of my love.
To be fair, Raised by Wolves wasn’t without faults (but what book is?). It was slightly less engaging than Unearthly, especially since it was so slow to get going. If I compare the two, it’s only because I read them one after the other; these two share a genre but they are, in fact, two very distinct stories.
One of Raised by Wolves surprising aspect for me was the almost lack of romance. It’s there, of course, somewhere between the lines; there are even strong hints, I think, of a possible triangle. The fact is, Bryn is so busy trying to figure out the mysteries of Chase (the boy locked in the basement) and her past, and dealing with the consequences of her actions, that she barely has time to give romance a thought.
And talking of consequences, my oh my! I was kind of surprise how brutal the pack was. Well, it’s nothing more than what you’d see in regular urban fantasy I believe, but most YA tends to soften it up a bit. I think in this case, the author did a great job of illustrating the animal aspect of a werewolves pack with balance, in a realistic manner that didn’t embellish it too much.
There’s a lot happening in this intriguing book but it’s really not full of action. It’s often slow-moving and I didn’t really like how the author chose to tell the story, in a very linear manner, often skipping big chunks of time. It made it difficult to connect with Bryn and getting really into the story, and I’ll admit that when I was finally able to get into it, it was actually the third time I was picking up the book.
The conclusion was strong, I felt, leaving a lot of place to a following book while concluding this chapter of Bryn’s story. I loved the characters surrounding her and I can’t wait to see what Trial by Fire will bring for them!
Series Reading Order :
- Raised by Wolves
- Trial by Fire
- Taken by Storm (coming in 2012)
I am getting cranky with young adult books, too. Only 2 made my best of list… It is just the same stories over and over again. I am particularly sick of threesomes…
Reblogged this on booklovershere.
So what if Raised by wolves doesn’t have much romance? To me, it’s still an interesting book. In my opinion romance would’ve made it worse. Much worse. I’m going onto my second time reading it, and still, it just sucks me into it’s text.
Hi Nava,
I gave it 4 stars, so of course I too think it’s still an interesting book!
I mentioned the lack of romance was surprising, because most paranormal novels insist on it a lot. However, I didn’t mean it as a negative thing. Just surprising. Different, if you prefer 🙂 If you read more of my blog you’ll see that I’m not really into romance anyway; I always prefer when the story focuses on other aspects!
You’re on your second reading, but have you read book 2? Did you like it? I still prefer the first one, but Trial by Fire was really fun too. I can’t wait for the third book to be out!