This was a book I learned about when I saw that awesome cover. And I couldn't help but get it. It also sounded just like a book for me. But oh, I ended up being very disappointed. Only two stars for this. I have a whole bunch of thoughts to share about this book. A quick read, which was a plus. Ha.
I shall start by mentioning that cover. One of the characters in the corner looks like a wizard. Which was a total lie, and is not an outfit that is in the book. And the tagline, the hunt begins at midnight. What. That does not fit with the book at all. I had no idea how old the main characters were. Weird.
I guess they were teenagers. But it was not mentioned how old. And at times the main boy felt like such a child, but in a bad way. I also feel more tricked by the cover. Seemed like there would be tons of monsters in this book. There wasn't. Only a few ones. But I will say that the monster parts were the parts that I liked most. Especially a scene at the start of the book, where a boy ends up tricked by the monster and a trap kills him. I liked that scene a lot, as it was brutal and made me think the book would be awesome. It was not. Yeah. I just felt so disappointed.. I truly had hoped to love it. But it was way too rushed. And the writing was not very good at all. I did not care for any of the characters. There was nothing to care about.
This book tells the story of Argo, a boy who comes from such a small village. He lives with his sister and their father. Whom is a mean drunk. His sister is sort of an outcast. Argo works at the smithy. His sister, Simna, knits. The book begins with Argo and some other kids going out on a hunt, to kill a stray monster that has been hiding for years. Except it was not old, but new. And more cunning. So one of them died. Simna's boyfriend. I felt nothing for this. Nothing at all. This book did emotions all kinds of wrong, sadly.
It could have been so much better. If it had any types of feelings included. But it did not. Sigh. I did not at all care for Argo. Even though he do spend a lot of this book crying. It just felt weird, considering we don't get to know anything well enough to actually care. This book takes place in a world that was changed by war ages ago. They are killed all the time, so their world is a small one. They aren't able to rebuild before most of them are killed again. I thought this sounded so exciting. But it was sadly done too badly for me.
I just feel like this book could have been so much better. If it had been longer. If it had been written better. If it had more details, more about the world. If it had characters that I could actually care about. But it did not have these things, sadly. And it ended way too soon. This whole book was simply much too short. But I found the story of this world to be interesting. I liked learning more about why things were that way. But there was too little of this. Still. I liked the past, how they had been at war a thousand years ago and lost.
I liked learning more about how they were all almost killed again, about every century. How the monsters were just suddenly there, killing them all. How the monsters were of different types and sizes. I wished to know more about all that. But there was too little of it. Sigh. I wanted more about the trap in the marshes, as it sounded so very cruel and awesome. But no more information. Nothing more about the past. Or the future. This book was simply too short and had too little in it. I so badly wish I had loved this. But I did not.
The plot of this story is that Argo is now alone in village, after his sister left on a trip. He is getting a little suspicious about the elders of the village, about how things work. The bad guys were the Elduari. They came from across the sea. They were not like normal humans. They had some sort of magic. And they kill everyone who thinks about rebelling. And now they are after Argo. They kill his dad. Whom is never mentioned again, not once. Yeah. No feelings in this. I get that he was a drunk, but still. Zero emotions.
These bad guys are hunting Argo. He is running away, and ends up running with a girl, a monster hunter named Ana. Whom is actually a princess in disguise. She was supposed to be all badass and awesome. But I did not like her at all. I wanted to, but no. She wasn't written very well. And their sort of friendship was badly written all over. Sigh. I really wanted more from this story. And I'm not sure what else to write. Everything just felt off to me. It was not exciting enough or thrilling. It simply felt like a short story, to me.
I'm not sure what else to say about this book. Argo and Ana are running from the Elduari, whom wants to kill them. But then they want to kill them too. And take down their leader, I guess. Two very young people, thinking they are enough to change their entire world. Which could have been, had they been at least a little bit interesting. But they were not. Gah. I just wish I had cared more. But it was impossible. Release the Wolves sounded so exciting. But it was such a let-down for me. And I just wanted more of everything.
