Book Review: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Title: Wolf by Wolf
Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: Wolf by Wolf, Book 1 
Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Pages: 388
Rating: ★★★ 1/2

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, 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.

Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has 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 victor, 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 begins to get 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?

I don’t read YA books often but when I do, I’m quite picky about it. When I first heard about Wolf by Wolf, I was intrigued that it’s historical fiction and somehow includes motorcycle racing and wolves. To add to the mix, we get a protagonist with Mystique-like abilities in a world where Adolf Hitler reigns. Needless to say, I had to read this book.

I loved how Graudin tackled one of the biggest what-ifs in history: what if Hitler won? By this alone he got points of originality from me. Of course, there is the opposing force of the Resistance and their attempts at the Führer’s life. There is also a bunch of teenagers involved. It started sounding like another Hunger Games or Divergent book to me but thankfully, Graudin chose to go on a different direction. Not completely (it still had elements of it) but for the most part.

One recurring theme in this book was the idea that change needs to happen and someone needs to do it. Yael, with her past and hatred for the Führer and everything he stands for, grows up with conviction that she can use her abilities to be a catalyst for this revolution. While this isn’t new in fiction, I liked how Graudin worked it into the novel. Yael holds onto five important people in her life who help shape her view and determination to complete her mission. She was afraid, she was angry, and she wasn’t always confident in what she could do, but she knew she could do something and that’s what kept her going. It reminded me of a quote I read long ago:

Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do Something. Anything.
– Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

I think this sums up Yael’s intentions nicely. She can’t do everything, but she has a part she can play and she did her best to fulfill it. I respect her for that.

Graudin also writes about dealing with pain and haunting memories of the past. Having lost people she loved, Yael tended to compartmentalize her pain and avoid it. At one point in the book a character teaches her how to deal with it.

V: By pretending the pain was not there, I had let it root. I’d given it power over me. I decided I couldn’t be afraid of my own life. My own reflection. So every morning I make myself look in a mirror for five minute. Face it all.

Y: So I’m just supposed to make things better by staring?

V: Better? It never gets better. It just gets less. It becomes something you can face. If only for five minutes.

There is so much to this dialogue I can say because it resonated with me, and I loved how Graudin addressed this. It is something we see a lot in books, but I rarely see it brought up well in a short amount of pages.

Wolf by Wolf is the first book in this series. I don’t know how many books Graudin has planned for this story, but Book 1 is a satisfying foundation. I’m interested to see how Graudin will work with Yael and the other characters. I am hoping this doesn’t suffer the second book syndrome or end up becoming another typical YA novel where romance and love triangles end up taking precedence over more important matters. I have a few things I can pick on about this book (e.g. how can she keep up with other racers who’ve trained for years? do we seriously need to point out a few times that Luka’s handsomeness can woo a thousand/hundred thousand maidens? oh and how convenient to have Felix saving her all the time) but what I took away from it far outweighed my being nitpicky.

Great start, Graudin. I look forward to your sequel.