“Romantasy” is all the rage, especially on TikTok. A barrage of books entitled with some permutation of A [Blank] of [Blank] and [Blank] has flooded the YA sections of bookstores. The most notable is the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.
This isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. Paranormal Romance has been an entire category for at least a decade, desperate to inhale the exhaust from Twlight’s success. And the YA section has always been filled with soft-core porn. Many of the books can be summarized as follows:
Girl heroine meets a love interest who is bad for her.
Girl heroine eventually learns that it's okay to be corrupted by this love interest who is bad for her.
The main reading demographic of these books is 30-something women. Why they love reading about the sexual exploits of teenagers is another story.
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten isn’t any of that. It’s a fantasy romance that isn’t dedicated to titillation and debauchery. It’s classified as “dark” fantasy, but I didn’t find it all that dark. It’s also saturated with real craft, and you can tell the author loves words and cares about how they come across. She didn’t always succeed in elevating the material, but the smudges from the elbow grease she put in were all over the page. And I appreciate that.
A Fairy Tale Twist…But Not Really
I picked up the book because I judged it by its cover. It’s a great cover. I’m also fond of twists on fairy tales, especially interesting takes on Little Red Riding Hood. Those who love Jin-Roh know what I’m talking about.
For the Wolf isn’t a reimaging or retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but only wears it as wrapping paper. A dangerous game. If what’s inside doesn’t fulfill the promise of the packaging, you’ve alienated a big reason why many readers would pick up the book.
But the author’s own myth was interesting and evocative enough that I found myself not caring how far she leaned into the original story.
Red is sent to the Wilderwood as a sacrifice for the Wolf. It is the fate of every second daughter of the royal line. Her sacrifice supposedly keeps dangerous monsters at bay. The twist is that the Wolf is a man. A very handsome, brooding man, of course.
As soon as this setup became clear, it bristled my teeth. My guard went up, ready to put the book down if it took a turn into depravity and cliche. I’d rather not wear hip-waders when reading a book.
But it never took that turn.
A Romance That Isn’t Debauched
The book has a slow-building romance, which is one of the main tensions. But first, Red and the Wolf get married.
Yes, you read that right. They get married.
As it turns out, the Wolf is another name for Warden, and he is really the protector of the forest. He wishes he didn’t need help to do his duty, but he does. The reason he is brooding is that he takes his responsibilities seriously, responsibilities that require his flesh and blood, and he doesn’t wish to foist the burden onto someone else. He would stop the so-called sacrifices of the second daughters from coming if he could, but he is trapped in the forest.
So we have a man who is put in a forest to tend it and guard it. And it is slowly killing him.
The whole book is almost a treatise on the phrase “It is not good that man should be alone” from Genesis when Adam is in the garden of Eden. One of the main conflicts is resolved when the Wolf finally accepts Red’s help to share the burden. To build something greater together than he could do alone.
And still, we are 3/4ths of the way through the book and there have been no sex scenes. Red and the Wolf finally do become intimate (again, they are already married, and this is a consummation of that bond), but the camera slides away to focus on something else, giving the happy couple their privacy.
I was, frankly, astonished.
Real Craft
The book has a distinctive tone and voice, and the author exhibits some real writing chops when it comes to individual lines. I’ll just quote a few.
The surface of the gate was moving, slithering like she’d cupped her hand over an anthill.
She froze, familiarity first a blade, then a balm. A library.
Trunks bent and twisted like frozen dancers, and the bits of sky caught between them seemed darker than they should, already shaded twilight."
Her chest was a cage for things she couldn’t trap into language.
For a breath, the four of them froze in suspended silence. Then — a roar, a rush, as if a million stones overturned at once, as if something sped under the ground like some great beast flashing beneath the surface of the sea.
Conclusion
The book wasn’t perfect. The world-building is haphazard at times, and it plays into the trope of “religion is a tool to control the masses.” The pacing is a little slow, and it feels repetitive in parts. The author also casually mentions past dalliances the characters have had as if sex could be so casual in a world like this. The modern-day cursing, while not overwhelming, took me out of the story every time it happened.
So, despite the book’s overall tact, I still wouldn’t recommend it for younger readers. But it is worth reading if you want to dip your toes into “Romantasy” without the need to wear a hazmat suit.
7/10
What? The characters get _married_? In a book in 2024? That is surprising…