Almost a year ago, I was receiving Wolf by Wolf as my first book of my Uppercase YA lit subscription box. The book really opened my eyes to something I thought I hated – alternate historical fiction. It gave me Yael, a bloodthirsty, skinshifting survivor of the death camps, and a heroine that really kept me entranced in her story. I read her story in a matter of hours one day, and I’ve been waiting not-so-patiently to find out what happens to her. Luckily, I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, and by the time you read this review, you’ll hardly have to wait for the book at all! Blood for Blood will hit shelves November 1st, and here’s why you need to pick it up:
Release date: November 1, 2016
Summary (via Goodreads)
There would be blood.
Blood for blood.
Blood to pay.
An entire world of it.
For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun.
Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost.
But dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all: how far can you go for the ones you love?
Things I Liked:
At the end of Wolf by Wolf, we know that the whole world believes that Yael has succeeded in killing Hitler. Only the reader and Yael know that isn’t true. She’s killed a skinshifter pretending to be Hitler, rather than the man himself. So, in Blood for Blood, we are launched immediately into the heat of the action. Sprinkled in, you’ll also find flashbacks that reveal pieces of Luka and Felix’s pasts this time, showing how all of the characters had very different yet torturous upbringings that helped shape who they are in the present and gives light to their motivations. I remember being so wrapped up in Yael during Wolf by Wolf that I didn’t quite give the other characters a whole lot of thought. Now, I’m especially smitten with Luka. He’s reckless, dangerous, too ridiculously charismatic to ignore, but we also see a softer side that’s going to make the fangirls swoon.
You might recall that in my review of Wolf by Wolf, I said that I enjoyed that it wasn’t a love story. That changes in this book, and I’m actually quite happy about it. Love can be a powerful motivator, and I enjoyed watching it develop slowly at all of the right moments.
There’s one moment in particular that Yael witnesses that will stop you in your tracks. Literally. I like to walk the library stacks on my lunch hour whenever I’m in one of those crazy Fitbit challenges, so I’m usually pacing back and forth between the books carrying my Kindle out in front of me. I was reading Blood for Blood, reached the moment in the story I’m referring to, and I just had to stop. I didn’t cry, but it was like a wave of emotion washed over me. I understood why that moment needed to happen, but I can tell you one thing – I was not prepared for it. Brace yourself. This book will grab you out of nowhere and crush you…crush you like a certain character’s fingers. Just you wait and see.
I think the best way to describe Blood for Blood is INTENSE. The action never stops. At some points, I was reminded of V for Vendetta (in a very, very good way), and I’d love it if one day we could see this story play out either in graphic or film form.
Things I Didn’t Like:
Just like with Wolf by Wolf, I’m going to struggle to find something wrong with this book because I enjoyed it so thoroughly. If I have to pick something, I’d say that some parts were somewhat predictable. I had Hitler and the skinshifters figured out pretty early and a few other small parts, but I failed to put all of the pieces together before the big reveal. That’s not even a bad thing because the choices Graudin made in telling this story made it exactly the story that I wanted to read. I think the only thing I really missed were the post its from Uppercase that gave readers access to bonus materials that helped illustrate certain plot points. I would have loved to have had those for this book, and probably for every book that I read.
Oh – I know one thing I didn’t like! It doesn’t have any bearing on the book, but it needs mentioned just in case there’s some other person out there who has this in their mind the way I did. This series will not be a trilogy! Correct me if I’m just crazy, but I distinctly remember checking Goodreads after finishing the first book and seeing that there were three books planned in the series. I had this in mind while reading Blood for Blood, and as things started to wrap up and the loose ends became tied up, all I wanted to do was scream, “No! There has to be more!”I’ve since checked Goodreads and found that Wolf by Wolf #3 no longer exists. Now, there’s just Wolf by Wolf, Blood for Blood, and Iron to Iron (a small novella that is meant to be read between the two). Am I crazy? Was I imagining a trilogy all along? Maybe so. Either way, I’m so sad that this series has come to an end. I’ll definitely be reading more from Ryan Graudin in the future.
Overall Rating:
This book deserves a solid 5/5. I gave Wolf by Wolf a 4.5/5, and this book definitely surpassed the first. Pick this series up, you won’t be sorry. It’s ready and waiting to take you on one of the most intense adventures you can experience in between the pages of a book. Don’t miss out!
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