Cbr18bingo Middle because I quit in the middle of this one
I picked this one up thinking it would be right up my alley. It’s a fantasy novel centered around the Little Red Riding Hood/Big Bad Wolf story, with dark magical woods and so on. Well over 100 pages in, I realized it was not for me for a few reasons, but it might be for you. It might be for me at some later time.
For the Wolf takes place in a cold, landlocked kingdom that sits next to a dangerous magical wood. According to the legends, the “gods” long ago were imprisoned by dark forces in the woods, and the only thing keeping these dark forces from overrunning the world is a pact made by previous generations with the wolf (I think; one of my problems with this book was getting a handle on the lore that underpins the story). Whenever a second daughter is born to the ruling family, she is sacrificed to the woods when she is 19-20 years old. The trees in the magical woods are wild, they have teeth, they consume (people think) the girls sent in there. The belief (and there is a religion with a convent full of holy women for it) is that one day, the sacrifice will be acceptable to the wolf and the gods will be released.
Redarys, aka “Red,” is the second daughter, the first to be born in a hundred years or more. Her twin sister Neve is older and therefore will become queen while Red will become a sacrifice. Neve and her betrothed Arick (who is in love with Red) desperately try to convince Red to run away before the ceremony that will send her to certain death, but Red is resigned. Apparently, four years ago, Red and Neve went on a wild run to the forest, which led to something horrible happening (I didn’t get far enough to get the full explanation) but Red feels that she hurt Neve (who remembers nothing) and as a result of this wild escapade, Red started to feel some strange changes within; plants seem to be drawn to her, her blood looks green sometimes, and she can taste dirt in her mouth.
After Red is taken to the forest, which she enters wearing the ceremonial white dress, black sash and red cape, Neve and Arick start plotting with a priestess to get Red back and fight the evil magic of the forest. Meanwhile, Red does get attacked by the trees, which seem to want her blood, but she finds her way to the home of the wolf, who is not a wolf but a man named Eamonn. Eamonn, who appears only a bit older than Red, is the son of the original sacrifice and has always lived in the woods. He is kind of like a caretaker but things in the woods are going south. The “sentinel trees” that magically keep monsters imprisoned are rotting away and opening paths for the return of dark magic and monsters. Eamonn heals the trees by cutting himself and letting his blood be drunk by the trees. He has two helpers who do the same but their blood is less powerful. Eamonn seems annoyed that Red is there, won’t let her use her blood to help but also sees that she possesses some kind of powerful magic to fight the dark forces.
Clearly, there is going to be a slow burn romance between these two and they are going to have to figure out how to use their magic to save the world. My problems with the book are that, first of all, the characters seem a bit flat to me. For example, Red and Neve are meant to be very close and their mother is an ice queen, but I also feel like the author is telling me that instead of showing me. Eamonn is maybe meant to be a brooding Heathcliff type but I’m not feeling it. I don’t feel a connection to the main characters and I am not terribly interested in what is happening.
The bigger issue for me is the cutting. I know in fantasy lit, there can be bloodletting as part of magic. I’ve read books where that happened, but usually it is associated with “dark magic” and the villains. In this book, the good guys are the once constantly cutting themselves, storing up vials of blood, and walking around scarred and lightheaded. It bothers me a lot. I can’t read any more of that even though it looks like eventually they might figure out that magic is more powerful than draining yourself. Given that I am not feeling connected to the characters and I am put off by the self harm, I will pass on For the Wolf.
