Title: Wolf by Wolf
Author: Ryan Graudin
Genre: Historical Fiction YA
Format: Paperback
Length: 388 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: 20th October 2015
My Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
Her story begins on a train.
The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo.
Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin’s brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move.
But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?
From the author of The Walled City comes a fast-paced and innovative novel that will leave you breathless.
My Review:
“Once upon a different time, there was a girl who lived in a kingdom of death. Wolves howled up her arm. A whole pack of them — made of ink and pain, memory and loss. It was the only thing about her that ever stayed the same.
Her story begins on a train.”
This is a YA contemporary novel about a girl called Yael who was experimented on at Auschwitz. This caused her to develop her shapeshifting abilities. She is now a member of a rebel group, she has one mission to join the famous Axis Tour, a treacherous motorcycle race across the world, from Berlin to Tokyo. She must win this race, dance with Hitler and the Victor’s Ball and kill him.
It’s a brilliant clever combination of alternate history and fantasy. Graudin clearly did her research. It doesn’t feel like you’re getting a history lesson – this story is simply a girl’s thrilling attempt to get revenge on those who ruined her life.
Yael is an intelligent brave heroine. I was rooting for her the entire time. Her five wolf tattoos represent the five people that she has lost and I loved that we were able to know their story too.
“Babushka—the one who gave her purpose.
Mama—the one who gave her life.
Miriam—the one who gave her freedom.
Aaron-Klaus—the one who gave her a mission.
Vlad—the one who gave her pain.
These were the names she whispered in the dark.
These were the pieces she brought back into place.
These were the wolves she rode to war.”
In order to enter the race, Yael has to mimic the appearance of Adele Wolfe, the only previous female Victor. However, along the way, Yael discovers that Adele has secrets of her own, ones that Yael won’t find in any fact file.
I enjoyed the side characters too, Adele’s twin brother, Felix Wolfe who just wants to protect his sister (who as we know isn’t actually his sister), Luka Lowe the boy with which Adele has a past with, a past Yael is unaware of, and Tsuda Katsuo the Japanese contestant, her main competition, he is determined to win. I felt that Graudin really developed the characters really well. They all had their own motives and agendas and that resulted in plot twists you didn’t expect.
It was interesting to watch her develop relationships with her fellow riders, and that ending, that ending. I wanted to say that I saw it coming but I really didn’t. Wolf by Wolf throws us into a stunning, well written journey. My only real gripe with this book is it’s 75% the race, there is not much before or after the race, however that being said, it’s only the first novel in the series and I cannot wait to read the second book.
