Review: Wolf by wolf by Ryan Graudin

I loved this book! It was suspenseful, fast paced without being rushed and had an interesting cast of characters. 


This book is set in an alternate universe where the Nazis won the war. Hitler has expanded his empire and rules it with an iron fist. Meanwhile the resistance plots to take him down. They plan to do this by having one of their agents, Yael, win the annual motorcycle race between the axis powers, Germany and Japan. A victory will ensure an audience with Hitler bringing Yael close enough to kill him. In order to race she has to pretend to be last year’s victor, Adele Wolfe. This is one of my few qualms with this book. Yael has the power to skinshift, essentially changing her appearance to look exactly like someone else. This power was…obtained (for lack of a better word) in the Nazi death camp where a doctor experimented on the young girl and somehow infused her with the power to change her appearance. This is the only fantastical element in the story, and while it does take a stretch of the imagination I found it acceptable as it is crucial to the plot. 

My other problem with this book was the writing style. We follow Yael’s point of view and sometimes her words would become almost staccato or telegraph-like which just isn’t a style I personally enjoy. Luckily it wasn’t very often, and I found the rest of the book well written with a natural flow. 

The plot is fast paced and I like that in a book, if it isn’t rushed. The setting of a motorcycle race involving deception, fierce competition and the ever present need for speed made for great reading. I also found the characters interesting and vivid. The main characters were well fleshed out and I got to sympathize with almost all of them in different ways. There were a number of side characters and these were described enough to make them more than mannequins in the background, but not enough to take away from what mattered. 

I really enjoyed this story and I will definitely be picking up the final book of this duology to see how it ends. 


I gave this 4,5 stars out of 5 on Goodreads. 

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