Dark Wolf Awakening-Review

Intro

Dark Wolf Awakening is Ryan Even’s debut novel, and I cannot disagree. A book with fantastic ideas that needed more editing and rewrites, but it is a flat and lifeless novel. I was left feeling disappointed and not wanting to read the next book.

Writing

When Beast Kind commoner Valian discovers that he is not only royalty but the last of a previously extinct bloodline, he is thrown into the confusing and twisted world of Beast Kind politics and war. I will not lie; the premise of this book, chiefly the use of shapeshifters (Beast Kind) in a pseudo-Roman ease setting, sounded excellent. That was until I read it and discovered that Ryan Evans was more interested in telling than showing.

The first chapter was the biggest warning sign; we spent almost the entire first chapter with Valian talking about his life from childhood to adulthood. It felt dull; I wish we had spent at least a chapter or two with me seeing Valian’s world through his eyes instead of him telling it. This would become the most persistent issue within the text. Valian explains why Tristian is his best friend as opposed to the two having meaningful chemistry. I don’t see why Valian keeps repeating that he and Tristian are best friends when it has been firmly estimated. This is not the only instance of repetitive statements of the previous fact, such as when (after Valian explains to us about his mysterious heritage) he repeats the storywhen explaining it to his superiors. I don’t know what happened, but there seems to be a lack of editing within the book. Cause it reads exceptionally clumsily.

The descriptions are stated as opposed to experienced. So, for example, the change into beast form is supposed to be extremely painful and lacks any bite because Valian doesn’t experience the changes but simply describes them to us.

As a result, I wasn’t engaged with the book; The book never let me into the world that Ryan Evans promised meI was always stuck behind the glass. A pretty sideshow but utterly emotionally uninvolved.

Conclusion

I wanted to like it; it sounded metal as hell and fun. But with the constant telling as opposed to showing, repetitive telling, and bland prose, I was hard-pressed to feel excited over the Dark Wolf Forsaken. So I think I will be reading something else instead.

Acknowledgments

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