Review: Wolf’s Curse by Kelley Armstrong

Posted May 6, 2020 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 4 Comments

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Wolf's CurseWolf’s Curse (Otherworld: Kate and Logan #2)
by Kelley Armstrong

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: MF and hint of MM

Blurb:
For Kate and Logan Danvers, sixteen-year-old twins of the werewolf Alpha, nothing could ruin a summer faster than the words “supernatural teen leadership conference.” They expected a boring week of earnest political discussions and team-building exercises. Instead, in Wolf’s Bane, they got a crash-course in real-life leadership, when the camp imploded and the twins and their new friends fled into the West Virginia forest.

Now, in Wolf’s Curse, the group has taken refuge in a magically warded cabin only to discover that they might have been safer taking their chances with the demon outside. Trapped in a dark witch’s sanctuary, surrounded by hell hounds, the twins will need to hone their leader and team building skills fast. There are battles to be waged and mysteries to be solved. Friendships to be forged in conflict and lost in betrayal. Even romances spark to life amid the turmoil.

It might not be the way Kate and Logan expected to spend their week, but it will certainly be a summer camp to remember.

My Review

After reading Wolf’s Bane I was quite excited to get to Wolf’s Curse. This is a duology that reads more like one big book. Wolf’s Bane ends on a cliffhanger or in the middle of the story and I was happy to finally get part 2 and see how it all ends. Wolf’s Curse starts off with the main characters and their friends trapped into a cabin or a dark witch and form there is only gets worse until they find a way to resolve it all.

I liked the paranormal vibe this book had and the figuring out what was going. Although it did have a bit of a weird mix of more dark/ creepy and then more mild parts and for a long time I wasn’t quite sure what was going on which direction the author was going in terms of the tone of the book. The creepy part gets toned down a bit later in the book and it sticks more firmly in the same tone after that. There were quite some mysterious events in this and the first book that seemed a bit far fetched and not fit in with the paranormal world as we know it and I was wondering how that would get explained, but there is a good explanation of everything later on. I like how there are some great twists and reveals as well. With characters not quite being who they are and some interesting characters pop up in this book.

The story was interesting with the characters trying to stay safe as well as figure out what was going on. Although the whole splitting up the group and then running around and trying to find the rest wasn’t as interesting for me. I do like how they handle most of the situations, trying to be smart and cautious, but also very curious and determined to solve things. There also is a bit action and danger.

There is a fun cameo appearance of some characters from this author’s Darkest Powers series as well as references to both the Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising series, which is nice. I don’t think it would be too difficult to follow it if you haven’t read those series yet and it might even make you curious about those. For those who have read the other series it’s a fun tie in. Although I did wonder if I missed a novella or something as this book referred some events that weren’t in any books or maybe this is meant as a way to bridge this. I like how with all the series are tied together and clearly set in the same world. I am curious what will happen to the characters after this book as a few side plot lines are left open enough for possible more stories, but at the same time there are enough hints of what is to come that you can make some guesses yourself.

While the book wraps up the main storylines up well, the characters and romance storylines feel a bit unfinished. I know the story is the main focus and not the romance, but it still bothered me a bit with how much page time it was given to not have it fully resolved. It bothered me a bit how the romance was left open ended as I really wanted to see how these relationships continue. You can obviously guess where things are gong, but it felt a bit unresolved and I would’ve liked to see more of the romance play out. The book is told from both Kate and Logan’s point of view and they both have their own romance with one of the side characters.

On the other hand it does make sense they end where they do. I am pretty sure Logan is demisexual from the description and he probably needs more time to develop the feelings as he gets to know Mason, which will take time and that isn’t possible during the short few days this book is long. While Kate’s behavior also makes sense, although her romance ends on a more hopeful and optimistic tone, while still being clear they still have things to work through. I liked how Kate’s romance at least had a clear direction, while Logan’s romance felt more unsure and in the beginning stages.

I liked Kate’s romance more than Logan’s. It’s clear Kate and Elijah are a good match and we get some interesting glimpses into her feelings like how Kate realizes she never will settle for less as she wants a relationship like how she feels about Elijah and how they complement each other. I like how Elijah explains his behavior from book 1, although it was a tad frustrating how long that took due to circumstances getting in the way and Kate talking right over him. It felt like those too many coincidences in a row that prevented them form taking this thing through. It also felt to me like Kate’s relationship with Elijha developed more as we got to see more of it throughout these books and get a feel for how they areas a couple, which I enjoyed seeing. Where Logan’s romance with Mason is still very much in the early stages and while Mason’s behavior has an explanation I still thought he was an ass at times and I didn’t fully feel the romance between them yet.

Another minor niggle for me is that this book was almost too full of diversity, I think it’s good that there is some diversity and totally think diverse characters, different races and different sexual orientation need to be seen in books. But here it almost felt a bit too much, like checking off multiple diverse characteristics in characters. There are a lot of diverse aspects and at the same time there isn’t as much exploration of those topics. I would rather have seen the author stick with a few diverse topics and explore those a bit more as now it felt like there is a lot of diversity in amount, but a bit superficial.

I really like the characters of both Logan and Kate. They are both likable characters and while their voices or writing style for each of them is a bit similar, they do both have a different way of thinking and a different personality. I really liked seeing them resolve something that was between them and mend their bond. I also liked how Logan realized he had made a mistake in judging someone. They felt pretty mature for teenagers, but in a good way. I enjoyed reading about them and following their story.

To summarize: This was the second half of Kate and Logan’s adventure and I was excited to get the second half of the story. It directly continues form where book 1 ended and continues the storyline and nicely resolved it at the end. There is some danger and adventure and plenty of paranormal things going on. I liked the references to the Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising series and the cameo appearances from two characters form one of those series. While the plot line gets wrapped up well I thought the character and romance plot lines were left a bit open. Kate’s romance I liked the most of the two romances, I liked seeing a bit of Elijah and Kate and get hints of how they were together and how they would be as a couple. That romance ends on a pretty positive note, although it’s clear they have more to work through. While Logan’s romance only barely gets started, which makes sense as the getting to know each other part takes up more time than this book has, but I still would’ve liked to see how their romance develops. This book has some interesting side characters as well as some fun twists. All in all I was happy to be back in this world again and follow the adventure of these twins.

4 Stars

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4 responses to “Review: Wolf’s Curse by Kelley Armstrong

  1. Sounds like things got pretty intense there at first, but I like the sound of their adventure trying to get somewhere safe and taking care of their group. LOL, I like my romance parts detailed out, too. One of these days, I’ll get to all of these other series besides the Rockton stories.

    • It was pretty intense at the start indeed after the cliffhanger ending of the first book. I liked reading their adventures. I was a bit sad the romance wasn’t fully detailed, but all in all this definitely was a great duology. I hope you get around to reading her other series eventually :).

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