So many things to say about this juvenile fiction book. It's a little ridiculous.

First off, this is by far the best book of the series so far. However, it's not because of the plot involving Faolan, the main wolf we are supposed to care about. I found the story of his friend, Edme,to be far more interesting.

Born in a clan of wolves known to be brutal, Edme finds out she wasn't born with her eye missing at all. Since only deformed wolves are considered to be chosen as a part of the honorable upper ring of wolves (for reasons not really explained), their only valued purpose for being kept alive is the chance they might get selected thus representing their clan. However, Edme's clan has one weakness: they are so perfect they can't give birth to actual deformed wolves! (mkay..) So, Edme's clan leader ripped her eye out after she was born, thus faking a deformity.

Meanwhile, some of the she-wolves of this clan have had enough brutal treatment and abuse. One such wolf, Katria, has had enough abuse. After her daughter is killed for revealing that Edme was not born deformed, Katria decides it is time to do what many she-wolves of the clan before her have done: leave. Basically, she decides to risk being killed for running away than tolerate abuse. Cue She-Wolf empowerment moments.

So what's up with Faolan these days? Well he's just joined the upper ring of special wolves, The Watch and...wtf:

"Between two volcanoes were four large drumlyns of gnawed bones that rose to an impressive height. Atop each one, a gnaw wolf was perched, now and then shooting high into the air to perform jumps as spectacular as those they had witnessed from Twist and Winks. Faolan was known for his impressive leaps, which he had learned while attempting to walk on his hind legs. These wolves, however, executed fantastic somersaults, twists, and turns in the air."

Thank you book, for making me imagine the most stupid and ridiculous thing I have ever read.

In short, these special watch wolves....watch volcanoes. They are like...volcanologists? Or something. And they study volcanoes by jumping up into the air...and doing flips and shit. ...

Moving on.

A bunch of other stuff happens, but the last thing I feel worth mentioning is the final She-Wolf Empowerment moment. So, the she-wolves that ran away from the brutal clan have formed their own clan. A war is impending, and the cause of the war is the brutal clan from which they came. So a huge legion of she-wolves gathers to fight their former clan. Their lead she-wolf gives this moving speech before they head off to battle their former abusers. Girl power! Except that never freaking happens! Because I don't know why! I guess I missed that part!

Anyways. I guess if you're really into she-wolf empowerment movements you'll like this book. If you like reading stupid descriptions of wolves jumping into the air and doing flips you'll like this book even more.

4⭐️

2.5

The beginning of chapter four was about how Edme didn't want to and wasn't going to go back to the clan. Then she is just there by the middle of it?

I wish the repetition would stop already. "Gywnneth, the Masked Owl." Yes. I have seen that every page that her name has been spoken every time. I know what she is by this point. Same thing with what Faolan means. Please stop. Furthermore, the wolves all shove their ears forward. It's not necessarily bad, but it's the verb used every single time for every single set of ears.

The wolves get drunk?

I wasn't expecting a real curse word. The animal ones are no big deal, but this is a kids' book. There's no place for that here.

It's strange that Faolan suddenly feels everything in his marrow. The old language, his mother, etc. How he just magically knew the old language because of his marrow. It's way overused, too.

I really liked the arc with the McNamara clan and Morag at the end. That felt well done and beautiful. I'm sad about Arthur, though. He basically got introduced out of convenience.

Lots of plot points didn't really add up, but the story overall wasn't bad, and I liked the characters introduced. Like others, though, I don't think the back blurb matched what actually happened at all.

I have a lot of questions after finishing this entry in Wolves of the Beyond.

The Wolves of the Watch serve as the highest governing body of the Wolf Clans, settling territory disputes, setting borders and hunting rights. Yet, these wolves are all former Gnaw Wolves, who are the lowest ranking wolves and abused for their disabilities and physical deformities. Wolves with these traits are considered cursed and are left to die when they're born, so then why are these wolves in charge? If they're so hated and treated so poorly if they are not in the Watch, why is the Watch in charge?

Furthermore, this means that the Watch also doesn't condemn this practice, meaning they're at least complacent in it, at best. Why would these wolves care to uphold a law that wants them dead for the way they were born? Why would the Watch be okay with laws that needlessly send pups to die, and if they survive, to a life of abuse?

It almost overshadows the plot as a question for me.

The plot was fine, more interesting toward the end. I think the buildup for Old Cags, who is rabid, was decent, but the payoff was weak. He really only wound up killing an owl who was only around for a couple chapters, and screaming a name at one of the main characters. He really failed to deliver a feeling of real danger, despite his rabies. (Though this could be because this book is for children, so Lasky might have had to dial this aspect down for the audience.)

The last two chapters made me cry. This book was so good