Cait's Reviews > Raised by Wolves

Really this book is a debatable 3.5 stars for me. I may or may not lower that to a three later.

Okay, lets get this review started. I have never ever disliked the first half of a book as much as I did Raised by Wolves. And that's saying something if anyone has seen some of my other reviews.

First of all, the writing, prose, and flow is downright atrocious. It was like she was leading a one-woman crusade against all long sentences with any kind of flow to them.


Come. My brothers!. It is. Time! *soldiers* Yeaaah.aaaaaahhhh.aaaaahh. Woo.Hoo!

And almost every other freaking page in the first tenth there were one of these:
Blood. Blood-blood-blood-blood-blood...
I got bit.
I got bit.
I got bit.

I understand that the girl is scarred for life because of what happened to her parents, and I get that the blood repetition brings it up as a painful memory and something that she will never get rid of, blah blah blah. I just got insanely tired of it after the first ohhh..... 10 times. The I got bit was even worse. Again, the whole I-can't-get-it-off-my-mind thing is just peachy if she remembers it only sometimes, but it eventually becomes a bore and bother when it started interrupting the flow of the story; Bryn would be thinking about something else and all of the sudden that accursed phrase would come back up interrupt it and just threw me for a bit of a loop. Then, when she re-opens her reconnection with the "pack" all syntax hell breaks loose. Here are a few examples:

Saftey. Warmth. Alpha.
Pack.
Mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Fight. Fight. Fight.
(this one's a doozy)
Fight. Trapped. Blood. SURVIVE.
Three bodyguards.
No more fights.
No more bond.

Again, Barnes, I comprehend the fact that wolves aren't exactly on the same level with us intellectually, but Bryn is HUMAN, so I would have appreciated it if she hadn't gone full cave woman for half of the fucking book. That was honestly the reason why I practically skipped over some parts; I just couldn't stand it.

Then, there was Bryn herself. Maybe it was just the feminist in me, but I totally agreed with her the first forty pages about not wanting to be owned/controlled by anybody, then after such vehemence about the whole thing; all of the sudden didn't matter to her anymore. I felt like Barnes was writing about a totally different character for the next two-hundred pages. And that person I absolutely hated. She all of a sudden turned into a girl who was just exuding and aura of "who cares if I am a person and have my own rights? I'm just going to be controlled by a guy and do whatever he tells me to!" It's not like she was exactly forced into the situation; she chose to do it knowing what would happen. She didn't even question what was right or wrong anymore. Bryn even began using ownership terms; especially with Chase who, may I remind you, she'd only met twice, and it was seriously the worst case of instalove that I've ever seen:

Instalove: the one and only way to fall in love instantly with the first random person you meet for no apparent reason; it's guaranteed!

I think what was the worst about Bryn in the first 200 pages was when she finally, heaven forbid, made her own choice considering her life and what she wants and that repercussions that happened to her afterwards. Even if her choice is about a guy she barely knows, they beat the hell out of her until she has four cracked ribs, a face that's been punched to a pulp, and is unconscious for THREE days. Then if you couldn't imagine it getting any worse, it does . She blames herself for the whole thing, and the cherry on top is that she thinks she deserves being beaten, and doesn't blame Callum for doing it to her when he's been essentially her "father" since she was four. No. Just no. It's not okay to get beaten because you feel like you deserve it, ever, especially if that person is only 15. And to be so brainwashed that someone would think they deserved a beating is actually kind of sad. Technically, she wasn't even a wolf, so to do the same ritual of punishment they do to wolves is another layer of ridiculousness.

Sigh. The first half of the book was just plain painful.

The only character that helped to alleviate this seemingly never-ending pain was Ali. God, was she ever awesome. First, she survives a birth that, apparently, not many human mothers survive, and she lived and had twins. When her husband goes to slap her after defying "the Alpha" *gag* AND he brings back Bryn beaten up and broken after promising that he wouldn't, she locks her husband in a cage, grabs Bryn and the twins and gets the hell out of there without even looking back once. She knew what was important, what's right to do and what's wrong to do (like beat a 15 year old girl into the ground) and stood up for her beliefs, Alpha or no.

I honestly think she's the only reason why I had the will to go on with this book. Oh, and did I mention that Bryn got mad at her because Ali wanted her to live a slight normal and dare I say it, human, life and not hang out with a bunch of sweaty wolves who want to beat her to a pulp? I think this picture will suffice for my feelings:

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yeaaahhhhhh

Alright, so, if you can get over the first half of the book, it finally begins to pick up the pace and get better. The writing did improve although there was still a lot of those annoying one-word sentences splattered around everywhere. It was actually smooth enough to read.

What I really enjoyed was the plot and character changes, especially with Bryn. She finally becomes the character that I saw the first sixty pages, and really takes charge of her life again-and on her own terms, too (again because of Ali forcing her to leave, that awesome chick) Really, it started feeling like an actual story since the first half didn't have much of a plot, or a real objective. I also really liked the addition of Lake. She was badass with her gun (it was pretty funny how much she was obsessed with weapons) but wasn't just merely bad. She had her own problems and concerns that she had to deal with (view spoiler)[ being a female werewolf (which is rare in itself) who probably won't die during childbirth makes her a pretty big asset and she's become a wolfman perv magnet, even at 15 (hide spoiler)]

And I've got to admit, in the dictionary under the words "creep" and "pervert" his name and face would probably be front and center. To say much about him would kind of ruin the whole suspense, but if you've read or is going to read this book, you'll know what I'm talking about. I kind of like the description or should I say lack of it with how he really looked. I'm going to give Barnes the benefit of the doubt and say that she didn't describe him well on purpose because Bryn couldn't see him as anything other than a monster; to find out he looks like just a normal guy was too much, I mean he killed her parents while she was watching, so she just blanked out his face due to trauma.

I also enjoyed the ending; there was no drastic cliffhanger and everything ended pretty smoothly which made me happy.

So, in the end, I did like this book; it's not my favorite of all time, but it was okay. Pick this one up if you don't mind verryy rocky beginnings.