A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice: Book 1 (Wolf by Wolf, #1)

by Ryan Graudin

What would the world look like if the Nazis had won the war? Wolf by Wolf is a gripping thriller about one girl's extraordinary mission to kill Hitler.

"Wild and gorgeous, vivid and consuming. I loved it! I can't wait for the sequel." Laini Taylor, bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, they host an annual motorbike race across their combined continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball.

Yael has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost when she was a prisoner in a brutal concentration camp. Now part of the resistance, Yael has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. But the only way to enter the race is to impersonate last year's only female racer, Adele Wolfe. Yael is a master of deception but there are two other competitors it may be impossible to fool - Adele's brother, Felix, and Luka, a boy she clearly has history with.

But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and stay true to her mission? The future on the world is depending on her . . .

A fast-paced, clever story that will leave you breathless.

• ISBN10: 1780622023
• ISBN13: 9781780622026
• Publish Date: 5 November 2015 (first published 15 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orion Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jamie]

I thought this book was such a cool concept and definitely intriguing. I couldn't help thinking about Mystique from the X-Men movies for Yael's transformation. I would definitely recommend this and am excited to continue the series.

""She-wolf. An interesting choice."
"I didn't choose it," she told him. "It chose me.""

What an interesting premise!

Wolf by Wolf analyses the "What ifs?". What if the Allies had been defeated? What if Hitler had won World War 2? What if a victim of lab experiments had the ability to change their appearance? What if that character had a mission to assassinate Hitler?
 
Wolf by Wolf is not just an alternate historical fiction retelling with science-fiction elements, it's a story of loss, pain, grief, survival and the triumph of the human spirit. We experience Yael's life in the death camps as a young child and her teenage years as a member of the resistance. We also get a sense of Yael's trauma and losses. Yael is a skinshifter who can change her appearance and she doesn't know her identity under all those faces. Yael is a likable, brave and smart heroine. She is a survivor who ultimately tries to do the right thing.  

Yael needs to win a grueling motorcycle race that stretches from Europe to Asia to get close enough to Hitler and assassinate him. The motorcycle racing is a little repetitive at times. While competing, Yael meets many characters and has to figure out who is friend and foe along with realising that people and relationships are more than what is shown on the surface. Most of secondary characters aren't well-developed, but a few are interesting. One of them is Luca, an unpredictable character and I'm interested to see what his role will be in  Blood for Blood.

Wolf by Wolf is a fast-paced story with an extremely interesting premise and a strong character who's trying to survive and figure out her place in the world. I really enjoyed Wolf by Wolf.

"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."

Holy craaaaaap. Why are more people not reading this?!? GET ON IT!

[liz089]

So I got this book on my weekend trip to Groningen and deceided yesterday to make a start with it. I've been wanting to read this one for a while, I was really interested in this alternate piece of history, and I finally bought it...

And... I finished it the same day XD I might have taken a break or two to eat and move from my living room to the bedroom, but apart from that I could not put it down.
It was soooo awesome !! It got to me right away and I just kept on reading. It was very exciting and I kept wanting to continue and continue until I finished it.

I really enjoyed the MC's story, how the story changed from present day to the past, so we learn bit by bit what happened to her and how she became who she is now.

I really loved the race and the plot surrounding the story. Even though the ending was a bit predictable, it kept me interested from beginning to the end. LOVED IT.

4.5 stars, but let's round it up to 5 because it made me read the entire book in one day and that does not happen often to me anymore !

[Kait ✨]

This book is SO COOL. The premise: imagine if Hitler had won the war. That’s really all I needed to dive in, but this book has a lot more going for it than just the action-packed plot.

I’ve always been fascinated by the medical experiments that were done on some concentration camp prisoners. (A couple other books on this subject that come to mind are [b:The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII|17290707|The Nazi and the Psychiatrist Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII|Jack El-Hai|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364865552s/17290707.jpg|23912961] and [b:Gretel and the Dark|18242996|Gretel and the Dark|Eliza Granville|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374769969s/18242996.jpg|25690265].) Basically prisoners were subjected to genetic alterations, attempts to cure homosexuality, injections of dye to change hair and eye colour, etc. This book has an element of sci-fi as Yael is able to shift her physical appearance to take on the face/body of someone else.

Yael’s journey to complete her rebel mission is a tense and heartbreaking one full of love (and love lost), jealousy, and a whole lot of backstabbing from the other riders in the race.

Of course the ending can’t be as neat as one might wish (I say that more in the sense that we root for Yael’s whole-hearted success), and it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. I am dying to start the second book, [b:Blood for Blood|26864835|Blood for Blood (Wolf By Wolf, #2)|Ryan Graudin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454518446s/26864835.jpg|46906263]. I have no idea where Graudin is going to go from here but I have no doubt it’s going to be fantastic.

[Stephanie]

I am super picky about my alt-history (especially revolving around WWII). The only series I ever liked was Ian Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych, which is more adult than YA. But let me tell you, this one is pretty damn amazing. A+++ Will buy from again.

No really, I will. There's a sequel.

[ross91]

just one word: AMAZING.
I really didn't like The Walled City by Graudin and I wasn't expecting to like this book, but I have to say that this story is quite impressive.
A lot of The man in the high castle vibe, but I enjoyed this book more, TBH.
Yael, the main protagonist, is so easy to love and root for. Her story is compelling and all the flashback chapters enriched the story perfectly. Felix is also a quite great and complex character, I hope we'll se more of him in the sequel. I'm not totally sold on Luka tho, I didn't like him much and I never really trusted him. We'll see.
One of the things I appreciated the most about this book is the little amount of romance. With so many things at stake and so many complications I found it refreshing that for once the main protagonist of a YA series is more focused on her goals than on acquiring a boyfriend. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
And now we wait.

Oh and I saw that there's a prequel novella about Luka and Adele, but I'm not so sure I'm gonna read it. Maybe if the waiting for the sequel becomes too excruciating to bear...

[kimbacaffeinate]

Five reasons to grab your earbuds and listen to Wolf by Wolf

• Set in 1956, Germania, capital to the Third Reich. Ten years ago, Imperial Japan and the Third Reich won the World War. Some aspects of the original history ring true as we meet Yael our heroine. As a child, she was experimented on in Auschwitz. These experiments left her with a unique ability. Now as a teenager, Yael has joined the rebel faction and is assigned a treacherous mission. Each year to commemorate their great victory over Britain and Russia, Emperor Hirohito and Hitler host the Axis Tour. This motorcycle race takes place from Berlin to Tokyo. It is brutal and tests the rider’s limits of endurance.  The winner aside from recognition gets to attend the Victor’s Ball and gain an audience with Adolf Hitler. Yael task is to win the race and kill Hitler at the Ball. To do this, Yael must use her abilities to assume the identity of last year’s female victor.


• Wolf by Wolf was a fascinating story blending alternate history and fantasy. Graudin breaks the tale into past and present with chapters on the race and darker chapters that shed light on Yael, her tattoos, abilities and the time she spent at Auschwitz.  Her research and attention to detail made these accounts both harrowing and fascinating. The race itself was intense and complicated by friends, fellow participants and snares Yael encounters. It pushes Yael to the edge and I was spellbound.


• Yael is a character that will immediately capture the reader. She is strong, brilliant and fearless on the surface but her heartbreaking story will rip at your heartstrings. She wears tattoos hidden from view and their symbolism..eek gads, grab the truffles. Graudin weaved in a subtle romance and shared the bonds of siblings and friendship. She gave us a complex heroine who will etch herself into your heart.


• Narration: Christa Lewis  narration was brilliant. Her interpretation of Yael, allowed me to feel all of her emotions. Sometime the fear was so real, I found myself holding my breath.


• Ryan Graudin tells stories that shed light on our own tragic, dark history and wraps them in a fascinating tale that grabs the reader and stays with them long after the story ends. Her writing is lyrical and the switch between past and present was seamless. Her characters are unique, strong and leave the reader feeling as if they knew them personally.

Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[readingwithwrin]

“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.”

See reviews first on my blog

This was my first book from Ryan Graudin and I am so glad I started her work with this one. It was way amazing and far better, then I ever thought it would be.

This book not only takes on an alternative history and a whole new part of history with the potential experiments that the Nazis were doing on people. While this was interesting and fascinating it was also rather terrifying to think of.

Yeal is one of the most complex characters that I have read thus far. When we first meet her she is a very young girl just going to the concentration camp with her mother. From there we see her grow up and change drastically due to the suffering she had to go through due to doctor's experiments. The experiments not only change her as a person, but they also make the other prisoners terrified of her. Because of this though she also is able to escape and become part of the resistance. She gets taken in by Aaron-Klaus and Henryka who taught everything she knew outside of the camps.

This story is told from two perspectives all by Yael just as a child and her in the present. For me this made the book far more enjoyable because we slowly got to see how she became who she is today and what made her want do this.

If you're wondering how the wolves come into all of this be prepared for a great deal of heartbreak.

I really enjoyed the race parts of the book and found them really interesting especially when it was explained how it certain parts were now a part of Germania and what parts were still their own countries. Not only did we see the places along the race roads we also got to see Tokyo and see how it and Germania's political parties acted towards each other.
The race had so many different things going on with it at all times that it made the book fast-paced and I was always wanting to know what would happen next and how she would get out of trouble or evade trouble in the first place. We also have Yael trying to live Adele's life and attempt to keep Adele's brother from getting hurt and from stopping Yael on her mission to end Germania.

That ending was amazing and I can't say anything about it sadly. So please go and read this book!

"So that was Valkyrie. Not a woman of war- bearer of life and death- but a military protocol."


I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[nightingalereads]

Refreshingly different from anything I could've expected. And good. Very good. I really admired Yael, although my favorite character has to be Felix. I just loved everything about him.