Red Wolf is a retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale by author of the Soul Screamers series Rachel Vincent. A perennial favorite of mine, I couldn’t help snatching it up when I saw the title on Netgalley.
Adele lives with her mother and younger sister in a small village surrounded by a thick, unnatural dark forest filled with all manner of monsters. It’s only with constant vigilance, and a ring of torches that the town prevents the creatures of the wood from taking them.
But Adele’s mother and grandmother have a dark secret, one that she learns of when she is attacked by a snow white werewolf within the trees of the dark wood. When she somehow kills the wolf, her grandmother appears, revealing she is a redwulf, a sacred guardian of the humans against the monsters of the world. Sixteen year old Adele’s life is thrown into chaos as she learns more and more about her new role of protector, and also learns how quickly the people she protect will turn on her, even her own teen crush.
Red Wolf is a great read, but it leaves a lot of open questions for a sequel or two. It follows the Red Riding Hood tale (complete with hatchets) with a touch of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and a significant amount of its own flair. I really enjoyed this book, finding myself eager for moments to steal a few more pages. I truly hope there is more to expand in this world setting as the biggest complaint I had was that it left me a little wanting at the end.
Contains: Violence