First sentence: “Once upon a time, a hundred years ago, there was a dark and stormy girl. “

Back in June, I wrote a love letter to The Wolf Wilder, desperately in need of it because holy wolves + Russia! I managed to get myself a copy, and is it everything I had hoped it’ll be? Well, I’ll tell you.

CHEERS

• I loved the wolves, and was so attached to them.

I see why Feo loves them so dearly. These wolves, who were once domesticated but were trained to be wild and fend for themselves, act exactly like you’d think wolves would act. They fight, they run, and they don’t really like humans except Feo who’d showed nothing but love for them. Most of the time, they don’t listen to Feo, which puts them in a life-threatening situation; it pained me when they didn’t listen though because I wanted them to make it out unscathed, but that’s a wolf for you. I also love Feo’s treatment of them. She understands that they’re wolves and doesn’t force them to be anything but a wolf.

• You can’t help but admire Feo’s bravery when she decides to find her mother and get her out of the grasp of the Russian army.

Feo is such a tough little girl for embarking on this dangerous mission. She just wants her mother, who had been taken away by General Rakov and Russian army for disregarding their threats of stop wilding the wolves, and it’s very admirable that she’d risk everything to save her. It might be naïve of her to think she can save her mother alone, but hey, I like her dedication and bravery. Very good traits in a person.

• Feo makes a friend in a human. 

Feo has never had a human friend, who wasn’t her mother, and when Ilya, a Russian soldier who’s a couple of years older than her, decides to join her mission, it tugged at my heart. Here are two people, who seem unlikely to be friends (since he’s part of the Russian army), relying on each other in the cruel snow in the Russian forests. Unlikely friendships are always my favorite.

• You get to see wolf wilding in action. 

Wolf wilding is such a new idea that I’ve never seen in books, and I loved seeing it. You get to see how these wolves are brought to Feo and her mother, why a Wolf Wilder would train domesticated wolves to be wild, and the different views and treatment people like Feo’s mother and General Rakov have on this concept. Just wish there was more.

JEERS

• My interest in the story started to wane as I read on.

My god, for a seemingly beautiful book, everything bore me. I started losing interest in the story and in the characters as I read on because nothing really exciting happens—there was a lot of running and snow, no character development or emotional ties. Even the actions and climax didn’t get me on the edge of my seat, nor did it made me fear for the characters when they got into dangerous situations.

• Where’s the Russian history and the culture?

You are given a glimpse of this Russian world, but this book doesn’t do a great job at world-building. You have to rely on your preconceived ideas of what you know about Russia (or imagine it to be). Since this is a Middle Grade, it makes me wonder how kids will be able to imagine this world when it’s all just snow and vagueness. I wanted to see this rich world.

• So much General Rakov, so little wolf wilding. 

The book became less about the wolves, and more about escaping General Rakov and rescuing Feo’s mother. We spend a good chunk of this book dealing with that, and I wish that time was spent on the wolves and the wilding concept because that’s what I thought the majority of the book would be about.

Katherine Rundell wrote a beautiful book, but I wish it was executed in a way that was more exciting, had more world-building of this Russian world, and delved more into wolf wilding.  It wasn’t exactly what I expected when I wrote my love letter to this book. If you’re looking for a Middle Grade about a girl trying to save her mother, The Wolf Wilder is great, albeit boring, but if you’re looking for it to be about the wolves? No such luck here. The book barely focuses on them.