Rise of the Wolf

Young adult, true Bildungsroman (lost child becoming an adult). Some caricatures and a lot of fantasy creatures in this smallish world. A few technical quibbles, but looking forward to reading another in the series.

A decade back there was a TV series called Grimm, a police procedural with fairy tales come to life. The main focus of the show was were beasts good and bad, much like this book. For me, it got to a point when you wondered "are there any normal folks, or is Portland entirely made up of creatures?" This book felt like that. How do the mundane humans fit into this society? Not well under the evil werelion and wererat overlords, clearly. The main character ends up being their hero, and I suspect in future books, these mundane folk will be a liability to him.

Technically, many of the chapters ended in a spoiler. The point of view shifted abruptly at times, primarily when the protagonist was unconscious or locked-up. The author used these shifts to tell more of the story. I would have preferred either an omniscient narrator or keep entirely to the knowledge of the main character - this hybrid felt clumsy. Hoping the writing will get better with as the series goes along. While the full story isn't finished, the plot of this novel comes to a conclusion, which is a major plus for any series book. 3½ stars for this solid beginning.