By Megan Amato
Content warning: bloodletting, violence
I’m a simple girl. Give me a pretty cover, a fairytale retelling set in an enchanted forest combined with mysterious and complicated political happenings, and I will happily give you my money. Hannah Whitten’s debut YA fantasy, For the Wolf, delivers on all these themes, spinning classic myths like Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood and weaving them into her own original and highly imaginative tale.
As the only second royal daughter born in a century, Red has been promised to the ravenous Wolf since her birth. Despite her bond with her sister, Red is almost eager to go and spare those she loves from her out-of-control magic that scares her more than the Wolf himself. However, upon entering the woods, she learns that the Wolf is not the villain he is made out to be, and that the dangerous Wilderwood, the only thing keeping the monsters from descending upon her kingdom, is dying. Red will have let go of her bone-deep fear, join forces with the Wolf, and learn how to use her magic to save everyone she loves—but the cost might be the one person she loves most: the sister who will do anything to get her back.
One of my favourite genres is fairytale retellings. I love to find the familiar wrapped up in a new or unfamiliar environment. Whitten knew her genre well, and she combined iconic imagery—like the cloak from Little Red Riding Hood—with the tale everyone loves to reimagine: Beauty and the Beast. However, what I appreciate most about Whitten’s version is that she said “NO” to the Stockholm Syndrome found in the original fairytale—which can also be found in countless retellings—and built the romance on Red’s will to stay within the Wilderwood despite the Wolf’s reluctance.
Whitten’s characters pulled me into the story from the very beginning. As a protagonist, Red’s inner turmoil, motivations, and fears about her magic and sacrifice were very believable, and I felt her weariness in the marrows of my own bones as she resigned herself to death at the Wolf’s hands to protect her loved ones. And later, when her buried will to live resurfaces in the face of her own mortality, I was immersed in her first real fight for herself—just because she was “for the Wolf,” didn’t mean she would go down without a fight. However, despite his reputation, the Wolf is a cinnamon roll wrapped up in a rough exterior, and as Red witnesses him selflessly spill his blood for the greater good time and time again, she has to readjust from her readiness to die to the ability to fight for everything she holds dear.
Overall, this is a fantastic read full of magic, love, sacrifice, and power, shown through the progression of the plot, through the political workings of multiple players, and through the sacrifices Red and those around her make—especially her sister Neve, who virtually sacrificed her soul to get Red out of the Wilderwood and away from the Wolf. I am eagerly awaiting Whitten’s second novel featuring Neve’s story, which promises to be more morally grey and features one of my favourite tropes: angry girls destroying others’ expectations.