Lea Wylder has spent so long hunting werewolves that now one is stalking her in her sleep. In the unforgiving forests of the north, shape-shifting wolves have enslaved the sole human city for hundreds of miles, driving survivors up into the mountains. When Lea tracks a shifter and finds him caught in a trap, she’s convinced he’s the white wolf from her dreams. Not that it matters. He’s one of … them. And they’re at war.
But as Lea pulls back the bowstring, Henrik shifts to human and begs her not to shoot. By name. But how could he possibly know her? In twenty years, the wolves have never crossed the river over to their side.
Injured and unable to walk, Henrik needs Lea’s help to get back home. If he could be turned against the pack, it could change the course of the war. But first there’s the small problem of returning him to the wolves—without getting caught.
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YA lovers unite! This is a fantastic book that gave me shades of The Hunger Games meets Teen Wolf. We start by meeting our awesome heroine, Lea, named after the old Serran word for ‘nightfall’. If that isn’t some great foreshadowing, then keep reading because there are so many twists and turns from there. For me, this was a journey for our heroine from girl to woman, knowing that there were secrets hidden inside that she hadn’t acknowledged yet. Watching her explore the realizations of who she is, and what that means for her place in the world, really pulls the reader into the story.
Lea’s initial encounter with Henrik is electric and all-consuming. Although she’s afraid to trust him, she inherently longs to. Their journey together leads to many moments where they could harm each other but they end up forming a tentative bond. This will come in handy once they reach the Colony and discover they need each other more than they know.
I won’t spoil it but rest assured that lots of action and twists ensue. The characters are fleshed out and realistic; the writing is fantastic. The world-building and fantasy powers/strengths will engross fantasy and dystopian lovers. A great read to add to your TBR!!
Lea is a hunter, and her quarry are the Dyr, shape-changers who can appear almost human, or as wolves. She harbors a life-long hatred of the Dyr, ingrained almost since birth. When she encounters Henrick, a Dyr apothecary with the ability to cure her of the mysterious ailment that has plagued her since childhood, she is forced to make a choice: Help him return to his people in exchange for his help, or leave him to die and continue to suffer.
Dyrwolf is action-packed and exciting from page one, and the pace doesn’t slow down as the book progresses. The characters are intriguing and relatable, and I have to say this is one of the best YA fantasy books I’ve read in a very long time. I love the author’s manner of description in the book, as well; it’s unique, fluid, and captivating. Dyrwolf was a book that once started, I had difficulty setting aside.
This was a great read, and one I’d highly recommend.
The dyrwolves are the enemy, everyone knows that. Then one day Lea comes across a trapped, injured one, who turns out to be a boy about her own age who knows things he shouldn’t. And suddenly Lea’s not so sure about what everyone knows to be true. The story is told in first person, present tense, from Lea’s viewpoint.
Elements I liked:
The story really drew me in. I liked that Lea realistically struggled with migraines, making her an atypical main character and fantasy story hero. I liked that in spite of her struggles, Lea was a strong female lead who worked to make her own choices and figure things out. Descriptions in the story were detailed and often lyrical, the writing well-done. The world felt real and the characters were varied and interesting, with most of them having enough depth to make them believable. I liked the story’s unique take on werewolves.
Elements I struggled with:
The first couple of chapters were very choppy, with poorly transitioned memories, flashbacks and bits of world-building interrupting the flow of the story. I almost didn’t read further – the choppiness was so frustrating and made it hard to follow the story. A couple of allusions to things in our world were a poor fit for this world – allusions to Little Red Riding Hood and to Hamlet. Those did not seem to have a place in this world and frankly, jarred me out of the story at those points.
Overall:
Barring the first choppy sections, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. The book is entertaining and the pace is good as Lea learns more about the dyrwolves and her own past. It’s an entertaining story, well worth reading.
I didn’t expect to enjoy Dyrwolf as much as I did. I’m usually a fantasy reader, rather than paranormal, and I loathed Twilight. But this tale pulled me along, with its excellent descriptions, three-dimensional characters, and believable world-building. Highly recommended.
With beautiful, lyrical writing, the author creates an entrancing world where nothing is as it seems. The chemistry between Lea and Henrik is white-hot (of the YA variety), but this story is much more than romance. My eyes were glued to the page through the last quarter, when the war escalates and Lea finds allies–and enemies–she never would have expected.
Dyrwolf by Kat Kinney is an exciting YA paranormal tale about Lea, a human and Henrik, a shape-shifting wolf. Lea lives in a colony where the shifters are their mortal enemies. When her friend Salem is taken by the shifters Lea’s plan is to stop at nothing to get him back. Along the way she meets Henrik, a handsome blonde wolf in human form and she decides to gain his trust in order to get Salem back. It’s not long before sparks begin to fly and this is where the story really took off for me. Kinney easily draws the reader in with her beautifully descriptive writing and imaginative plot. Dyrwolf happily brought me back to the days of ‘Twilight’ and the like! I look forward to reading more from Ms. Kinney in the future. Very well done!
I already knew that this author, Ms. Kinney, was a talented writer, having read “Dark, Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1)” her paranormal shifter romance, yet it was still startling at times, how good the prose is throughout this book. Such skilled writing is always a joy to read, but in this case, the story was also compelling and filled with stirring action. Unlike Dark, which is an urban fantasy, Dyrwolf has the feel of a historical fantasy. The story takes place in a credible and frightening world in which people are at war with werewolves, and both groups are plagued by dark secrets, prejudice, and insurgence. The lead character, 16-year-old Lea suffers with the shame of having been abandoned by her mother and fights a devastating and mysterious ailment while forming an uneasy truce with a boy-wolf despite having been taught her entire life to fear any of his kind as a mortal enemy. I highly recommend Dyrwolf to anyone who enjoys YA paranormal fantasy/romance, werewolf tales, or coming-of-age adventures!