Wolf By Wolf (Wolf By Wolf #1)
by Ryan Graudin
The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball.
Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin's brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?
Premise
Shapeshifter. Motorcycle race. Killing Hitler.
As a Jewish seven-year-old, Yael was herded into a concentration camp with her mother and selected for gruesome experiments--ones that eventually gave her supernatural powers—she can change her face, hair, and height at will—skinshift. With the help of other prisoners and her new ability, Yael escapes from the prison camp and survives on the streets by stealing. One day she is rescued and recruited by the resistance, who still operated in hopes of overthrowing Hitler. Yael’s superpower can change everything. She trains from then on for one goal: kill Hitler. And not just any ordinary, covert assassination; Yael is to pose as the famous first female motorcycle racer, Adele Wolfe, who impersonated her twin brother to enter the all-male motorcycle race and won, and to whom Hitler has taken a fancy. Every year, Germany and Japan host a motorcycle race, an Axis tour from Berlin to Tokyo. This year, “Adele” will win as a Victor again thus earning the Double Cross, an honor never bestowed on anyone, get close enough to Hitler, and deliver the one public, televised shot that kills him and sparks the smoldering rebellion worldwide.
Babushka—the one who gave her purpose.
Mama—the one who gave her life.
Miriam—the one who gave her freedom.
Aaron-Klaus—the one who gave her a mission.
Vlad—the one who gave her pain.
These were the names she whispered in the dark.
These were the pieces she brought back into place.
These were the wolves she rode to war.
Character
I fell in love with the protagonist Yael one chapter in, something that rarely happen. She has a resilient, unrelenting personality that keeps her alive through all the trials and sufferings thrust upon her. The concept of changing face at will is also very interesting. What if you can effortlessly slip into another person’s identity? Who’s the real you? Yael faces the same problem every day; who is she, really? Is she still the same she if she doesn’t even remember her own face? Yael is sometimes sucked into Adele’s life, its intrigues and relationships, and has to frequently remind herself what her true purpose is.Yael’s whole life is pared down to five wolves tattooed onto her arm, each representing a person she lost because of the Nazi regime: her mother, a Russian crone she called Babushka, her fellow prisoner Miriam, resistance member Aaron-Klaus and Vlad. The weight of their sacrifice tortures and fuels Yael on to the mission. She is a character with many flaws: she lies, steals, and even kills. She’s not one of those heroes who doesn’t have to make any hard choices.
Also, can I fangirl about the Russian term volchitsa used in this book? It's so fierce and gorgeous and apt!
Adele Wolfe is the girl whose identity Yael steals to enter the race. She's clearly a spunky, headstrong woman who fights hard against the traditional perception of woman: messy, joins motorcycle races exclusively for men, smokes cigarettes, and all that. Her interesting previous adventures causes much trouble for Yael as she tries to bluff her way through Adele's life. This character brings another layer to the story through her absence, if that makes any sense.
Wolf by Wolf is a delightful book that’s packed with excitement, motorcycles, and intrigue. It also features a strong heroine, Yael, that’s both complex and lovable. If you enjoy reading about World War II, resistance/espionage, assassination, and urban fantasy, then it’s very much the book for you!
Adele Wolfe is the girl whose identity Yael steals to enter the race. She's clearly a spunky, headstrong woman who fights hard against the traditional perception of woman: messy, joins motorcycle races exclusively for men, smokes cigarettes, and all that. Her interesting previous adventures causes much trouble for Yael as she tries to bluff her way through Adele's life. This character brings another layer to the story through her absence, if that makes any sense.
Felix Wolfe, Adele’s brother, follows “Adele” into the race. He is bent on persuading her into returning home with him and stopping her shenanigans. To him, racing is a dangerous sport that hits too close to their family’s wound—when the twins were young, their older brother died in a mobile accident—and winning isn’t worth the strain it has put on their crumbling family. To Yael, Felix is a burr that hinders her from concentrating on the race and adds a new level of complexity to her mission, because no matter how good she is at pretending to be Adele, Yael isn’t sure she can fool her twin brother. However, Felix is a sweet character who seeks to protect and support “Adele” after he knows the true nature of her mission.
Luka Lowe is another racer that’s involved with Adele. Yael, once again, is unprepared by their interactions and their development of a relationship. Dangerous, unpredictable, and cunning, Luka presents both an ally and a threat. However, he’s also tender and vulnerable with “Adele,” because he has fallen for her. Luka is a mystery with many layers that seem contradicting, and Yael is quite floored by this unexpected person in her life, who makes her feel things other than pain and hatred. I originally didn’t want romance in this book, because I felt like it is superfluous in this story, but okay, the author gradually won me over. And I’m interested to see if their relationship develops further in the next book (OH YES THERE’S A NEXT BOOK!!!)
Minor character are also colorful and support the plot. There’s Henryka, a resistance leader who constantly fusses over Yael like a mother hen and bakes her good things to eat. There’s Katsuo, a Japanese racer who’s desperate to do anything to win the Double Cross and bring honor to his country. There’s the Japanese girl, the only other female racer this year, and she warns Yael about Katsuo putting drugs into her food and things through origami cranes and stars. Graudin creates all these other characters that enrich the story into a complex, realistic world that we care about.
Luka Lowe is another racer that’s involved with Adele. Yael, once again, is unprepared by their interactions and their development of a relationship. Dangerous, unpredictable, and cunning, Luka presents both an ally and a threat. However, he’s also tender and vulnerable with “Adele,” because he has fallen for her. Luka is a mystery with many layers that seem contradicting, and Yael is quite floored by this unexpected person in her life, who makes her feel things other than pain and hatred. I originally didn’t want romance in this book, because I felt like it is superfluous in this story, but okay, the author gradually won me over. And I’m interested to see if their relationship develops further in the next book (OH YES THERE’S A NEXT BOOK!!!)
Minor character are also colorful and support the plot. There’s Henryka, a resistance leader who constantly fusses over Yael like a mother hen and bakes her good things to eat. There’s Katsuo, a Japanese racer who’s desperate to do anything to win the Double Cross and bring honor to his country. There’s the Japanese girl, the only other female racer this year, and she warns Yael about Katsuo putting drugs into her food and things through origami cranes and stars. Graudin creates all these other characters that enrich the story into a complex, realistic world that we care about.
Setting
Speaking of world, the world-building of Graudin is exceptional. Set in an alternate timeline where the Axis WON WWII and where the Third Reich is established, Wolf by Wolf depicts a world that still struggles with racism, persecution, and oppression. Even the racers demonstrated the separation of nations; Germans and Japanese don’t usually speak to each other, a custom broken when they were all kidnapped by Russians (of course it’s going to take a disaster for humans to unite). Even though the whole setting is gloomy and despairing, Graudin creates a sense of hope through Yael’s progress with her resistance mission.
Pacing
The pacing of this book is quite fast and gripping. While there are many instances of backstories and memories, the book doesn’t drag for one moment because of the tightness of events—spanning the motorcycle race.You will not see that ending coming.
Wolf by Wolf is a delightful book that’s packed with excitement, motorcycles, and intrigue. It also features a strong heroine, Yael, that’s both complex and lovable. If you enjoy reading about World War II, resistance/espionage, assassination, and urban fantasy, then it’s very much the book for you!
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