Book Review: Ravensong by TJ Klune

 

From the publisher:

The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and joy. The Bennett family has a secret: They're not just a family, they're a pack. Ravensong is Gordo Livingstone's story.

Gordo Livingstone never forgot the lessons carved into his skin. Hardened by the betrayal of a pack who left him behind, he sought solace in the garage in his tiny mountain town, vowing never again to involve himself in the affairs of wolves. It should have been enough. And it was, until the wolves came back, and with them, Mark Bennett. In the end, they faced the beast together as a pack… and won.

Now, a year later, Gordo has found himself once again the witch of the Bennett pack. Green Creek has settled after the death of Richard Collins, and Gordo constantly struggles to ignore Mark and the song that howls between them. But time is running out. Something is coming. And this time, it’s crawling from within. Some bonds, no matter how strong, were made to be broken.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.
Now available from Tor Books.

My thoughts: 

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's a good followup to the first book in the series, Wolfsong. As the synopsis states, this is Gordo Livingstone's story. Some of it is his view of some of the events from Wolfsong. Most of it is about what happened after Wolfsong. 

I liked getting to know Gordo and seeing things from his point of view. He is a magic user rather than a werewolf. And he is a tether - he helps hold the wolves together so they don't lose themselves to the wolf within. I liked that Gordo grows and changes as the book goes on.

Green Creek is described again though maybe not as thoroughly as in the first book. Most of the action takes place in and around Green creek. The world building extends to the werewolves and how magic works in their world. There is a lot more about the Omega wolves in this book too. 

The book was slow to take off. It repeated some of the events from the first book, but from Gordo's point of view. Things picked up when new events began to happen. 

I still had the same nitpicky little things that bothered me about this book that bothered me about Wolfsong. So much happens to these characters, I guess I had too much empathy for them at some point and found it hard to read and a little depressing. Once again I almost DNF'd the book, but I stuck with it and was glad I did so in the end. Also the sex scene was a little too graphic for me. I am more of a fade to black kind of reader. I can understand why the author chose to include the scene, it just wasn't for me.

Overall, Ravensong is worth a read, especially if you've read Wolfsong and wondered what happened next. If you enjoy werewolf stories with some romance, then this might be a good book for you.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This didn't affect my opinion.