*** This review contains major spoilers. ***
Calla Tor is separated from her pack and
her family, surrounded by the Searchers, who have been her enemies for as long
as she can remember. She assumes they will kill her soon until they offer to
make her part of their campaign to destroy the Keepers, the masters of her and
the other guardians that treat them like property. Since it gives her the
opportunity to save her friends and family, including Ren, and earn them their
freedom, Calla agrees. Shay, the Chosen One turned Guardian, is with Calla and
acts as her only support system, but she still has complicated feelings about
Ren. Will the Searchers keep their promises and save her friends despite their
past conflicts? How many will die in the fight for freedom? Will she ever
choose between Ren and Shay?
I
read Nightshade and I had some significant problems with it, namely with Renier
and the oppressive and misogynistic wolf pack hierarchy, but other aspects of
the story redeemed it for me. Wolfsbane had all of the things I hated about
Nightshade and more with none of the things that I liked. In the last book,
Renier was insufferable and used violence as well as passive aggressive tactics
to make Calla feel inferior. He didn’t figure largely in this installment, but when
he appeared, he made a big impression. When Calla returned to her home to try
to save him, he decided to beat her into submission and “break” her because
that’s what a good boyfriend should do to make his girlfriend stay with him. If
that wasn’t enough, Calla blames herself and feels guilty for his actions,
which just screams domestic abuse situation. I had absolutely no sympathy for
Ren because he decided it was ok to express his love through his fists.
Now, let’s move on to Shay. In Nightshade,
he was a great character and everything that Ren wasn’t: understanding, caring,
and an all-around good boyfriend. Now that he turned into a Guardian, he
automatically turned abusive and egotistical just like Ren. He pressured Calla
for sex, which she refused because she wasn’t ready and she still had
complicated feelings about Ren. In true Guardian fashion, Shay became angry and
jealous. Calla was scared that he would shift and hurt her and she still wanted
to stay with him. This scene alone gave me the urge to throw the book across
the room. Neither of these boys was remotely attractive or worthy of Calla’s
affections. I really wanted her to come to her senses and stand up for herself
with both Shay and Ren, but she never did. The strength she had in the first
book was gone, making her into a hugely uninteresting character. I truly don’t
understand the fandom surrounding this series, revering these abusive males and
arguing which one is better. With a society that already has misogyny deeply
ingrained into it, there really doesn’t need to be any more normalizing of
violence against women.
Wolfsbane, in addition to featuring
horrible romantic interests, didn’t have much going on plot wise. It fell into
the second novel in a trilogy pitfall where it sets up for the third book, but
doesn’t do much else. The cover was also terrible, featuring an oversexualized
Calla in a suggestive pose, which is far inferior to the original design that
was circulated. Isn't it pretty? The only good
things about the novel were Andrea Cremer’s fluid writing, some of the new
Searcher characters, and the glimpse into the Searcher way of life. The
negatives of this novel vastly outweigh the positives for me and I won’t be
reading the rest of the series.
My rating: 1/5 fishmuffins
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