Book Review: ‘Wolfsong’ by TJ Klune (spicy gay werewolf romance)
I feel like I’ve been hearing about ‘Wolfsong’ and the ‘Green Creek’ series since it was traditionally published back in 2022 in the most beautiful paper cut style hardback editions. For some reason, last week was finally the time.
Ox Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a lesson: Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.
Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harbouring a secret that would change him forever. For the family are shape-shifters, who can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known. He also finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy. Joe is charming and handsome, but haunted by scars he cannot heal.
Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town, and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man – and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.
While I had some hesitancy in the beginning, I flew through this chunk of a novel and I’m already eager to get stuck into the rest of the series.
The reviews of this book are mostly glowing and the Goodreads rating is sky high, but one review made me aware of an uncomfortable age gap so I went into the book hesitantly, and I was in fact icked out by the age gap between Ox and Joe for the first section of the novel. They meet when Joe is 10 and Ox is 16 and form a close friendship, but nothing more at that stage. Even though friendship is all it is on the surface, the knowledge that it would be more and that they’re mates really cast a shadow over what should have been an innocent enough friendship by the ay their relationship was framed by everyone around. After a few time jumps, we really settle back into the full action when Joe is 17 and Ox is 23 - still a really uncomfortable age gap for me if I’m honest - but a lot more manageable. By the time the romance really hit, the characters are very much grown men and I was so invested that my ick was a distant memory!
The romance between Joe and Ox very much feels like a paranormal romance style romance with this long history, supernatural forces and duty and honour getting in their way, and the undying devotion that they have to keeping each other safe. I am all in for paranormal romance so I was completely hear for it (once they were old enough…). There is some real spice in this romance to so hold onto your hats for that scene.
More than the spice and the romance, there’s so much emotion and connection in ‘Wolfsong’. The power of family, friendship, love and community is the focus of this story and it really shapes that in a beautiful way through the dynamics of the Bennetts and the pack that are brought to Ox and his mother’s lives.
I did find TJ Klune’s writing style a little odd sometimes; it’s very different to what I’m used to, but it’s not insurmountable and just become how Ox’s voice is to me so it’ll be interesting to see if that is a writing style or a narrative choice as I move through the series. The same applies to the repetition in the narrative - so many repeated phrases, memories and ideas are brought to the page time and time again that were either a bit heavy handed in writing, or a part of Ox’s narrative which does make sense for his character and the way he is experiencing life through the Bennetts and his pack.
I really do think that ‘Wolfsong’ is worth the hype and I can’t wait to rest the next three books in the series.
Written by Sophie
