I absolutely love a retelling and this was a really enjoyable read!

As the second daughter, Red has always known she was meant to be a sacrifice for the Wolf and that her elder twin sister Neve would become queen. What I enjoyed most about this book was the relationship and love between the sisters, it was clear they would do anything for one another and they both truly believed that what they were doing was for the best of their other half.

This gothic retelling has elements of Little Red Riding Hood as well as the Beauty and the Beast. I was definitely invested in Wolf and Red, and I loved finding out more about the truth behind the myth through Wolf's history. At times it was a little slow and hard to get through, but it was all worth it for the ending – I can't wait to see what happens in For the Throne, it's been set up perfectly for a sequel and I wish I could read it right away!

If you like a fairytale retelling or a slow-burn fantasy with a dark twist, this is one for you.

3.5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Orbit, for providing me with an e-arc of this book. My opinions are my own.

<i>The First daughter is for the Throne.
The Second daughter is for the Wolf. </i>

This sentence alone lured me in, into the Wilderwood, and made me want to dive into this book head first. This book is a dark spin on fairytale retellings. It has a dark, gothic-like feel to it, with the trees that seem to think for themselves and the ominous feeling that seeps throughout the story.

At the beginning of this book we meet Red and Neve, two sisters. Since birth they have known that one of them will be Queen, and one of them will be send into the Wilderwood as a sacrifice. The Wolf demands that the second daughter be sent to him, as a bargain to keep the shadow monsters inside their prison within the Wilderwood.
When Red enters the forest, though, she soon learns that the myths don't tell the whole truth.

I loved this book a lot! I love the eerie feel the writer sets in her words. I never quite felt at home within this world - and I mean that in a good way! I loved the beginning of the story, with Red preparing to go to the Wolf, and I loved the ending, which was action packed and left room for a very interesting sequel. The middle part felt a little slow to me at times, and confusing at others. I didn't fully understand the myth of the Wolf and the Five Kings and the Wilderwood at first. I didn't quite grasp what the differences were between myth and the actual situation. I understand that Red is learning this as she goes, but I could have done with a little more worldbuilding.

If you love fairytale retellings, this is one you can't miss out on! I loved how it's not 'just' a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but mixes more than one fairytale into the story, without making it feel like too much.

I will be on my guard while walking through forests with white-barked birch trees for a while, but at least reading this book was worth it ;-)

When I finished the book I was not sure how to rate it, because throughout reading I had mixed views on it. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the story (retelling of Red Riding Hood fairytale with magical elements, different characters and created world), but on the other hand, some parts took quite some time to push through. One day after I finished reading I think I will settle with 4 stars. This is exactly the book which I was reading and imagining as a film!
Now I really need to read the sequel, because when you finish the last page, oh my God (or better "Oh Kings", as it was said in the book), you just sit with the thought "Can I start the second part straight away, please?", because the ending leaves you with chills and craving to see next adventures of the characters.
What I really enjoyed is that in the middle the story is divided in two POVs - Red's and her sister Neve's - in order to come back together and then split again at the end.
Overall, I can say that the author created amazing debute novel! Hope that the second part will be as good as the first one or even better!
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

A slowburn romance, set in a cursed forest, with spooky lyrical descriptions, inspired by fairytales? Hold me while I SWOON.

I love how much Hannah Whitten loves to write, each sentence in this book weaves a beautiful, dark, biting fantasy together. Every inch of this book is pure magic.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I LOVED this book!!! As a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, it had so much more than I expected. FOR THE WOLF had romance (a big plus), action (another plus) and fantasy (Oh look, yet another plus) themes and I really fell in love. I loved the characters (especially Eammon for obvious reasons) and I really cannot wait for the second book in the series!!!!

If you love the 'Marriage of Convenience' trope, or the 'Only One Bed' trope, definitely give this book a read. But also for the general Fantasy reader (keeping in mind this is Adult Fantasy, not YA), Whitten has created a beautifully terrifying and vivid world for us to visit, so you won't regret it.

To be honest, there was one thing I didn't like, and that's just because of personal opinion but I felt it had slightly too much description, but not too much to put me off, so all's well that ends well.

As per usual, please make sure to check out the trigger warnings before reading this book.

The First Daughter is for the Throne.
The Second Daughter is for the Wolf.
And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.

This book is called 'For the Wolf' and the cover (which is beautiful, by the way) shows a girl in a red cape. That, and the name of our main characters, is all the Little Red Riding Hood vibes you’re gonna get, because For the Wolf is actually a Beauty and the Beast retelling (gearing towards a Sleeping Beauty or Snow White retelling near the end). It definitely has a fairy tale vibe to it, only twisted and darker. Whitten was able to take what she wanted from these tales and wield it to make something new.

“Things once tied to magic don’t lose it easily.”

The story follows Redarys, the second daughter of the Queen of Valleyda. North of Valleyda we find the Wilderwood, a character in its own right, with its own desires, struggles, memories and power. Centuries ago, a bargain was made with the Wilderwood, whereby every second daughter is to be ‘sacrificed’ to the Wolf living in the forest on her 20th birthday. According to their religious believes, the Wolf will eventually deem one of the sacrificed second daughters acceptable and return the Five Kings (their Gods) to the kingdom. It’s Red’s turn to be sacrificed now.

Truths are twisted into stories as times goes by and, as Red enters the Wilderwood, we discover that, contrary to popular belief, the Wolf is not an evil monster, but more of a warden, deeply tangled with the forest, and the only one who can help it keep the real monsters within the confines of the Shadowlands. But something is very wrong with the Wilderwood and even the Wolf needs help. Though he will never admit it.

“I don’t think we’re ever ready to take on what our parents leave us. The places left rarely fit.”

I loved the level of personification given to the Wilderwood. It will do anything to ensure its own survival so you never know if it can be trusted or not, but it must certainly be respected. The whole atmosphere of it, the dark fairy tale vibes, and the world-building in general were great, but I found the pace to be very slow and I didn’t connect with the characters. To a point where I considered DNFing it.

The only reason I didn’t DNF this was because I wanted to know what was going to happen. The story was good but I felt nothing for the characters. I feel like the characters were flat, there was little to no development and I just couldn't care less about them. Hence, my enjoyment of the story was limited, no matter how much I liked the world or the actual plot.

Neve (Red’s sister) has a single goal: get her sister back and save her from the Wilderwood. Apparently that just made her clueless to everything else going on around her. Neve not figuring things out even when they there right under her nose bothered me to no end. I mean, there’s a limit to how dumb or blinded by grief someone can be. Her POV really slowed the reading for me.

Then we have Red, who could’ve gone back to her sister anytime she wanted even if it was to just let her know she was safe, but didn’t. Not even when their mother died or when she saw what Neve was getting herself into. Why? Because she was occupied falling in love. Everything could’ve been avoided if Red wasn’t so self-absorbed and dropped by the palace to stop her sister from worrying.

Overall, the idea of the characters was good. All of them, I feel all the secondary characters were necessary. Had they been done right. As I said, the idea was good, but the execution of them was lacking. They were flat, lacked personalities and could’ve been interchanged for any other character without anyone noticing. This book would’ve been great if I could’ve connected with the characters. The only one I felt a little something for was the Wilderwood.

As it is, and as much as I liked the premise, the setting and the overall idea of this book, I unfortunately don’t feel like it has grabbed my attention enough to read the sequel. I can definitely see other readers thoroughly enjoying this duology, though.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Orbit (Little, Brown Book Group UK) for the e-ARC in exchange of an honest and voluntary review.

An exceptionally slow start but I'm glad that I persisted. This was a slow burn fantasy that reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. I love the concept of the Five Kings and the Shadowlands and the Wilderwood being a living entity and I cannot wait to read the next book!

Firstly, Thankyou NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group, U.K. for the e-arc of For the Wolf in exchange for my honest & unbiased review.
I’d heard that Hannah Whitten’s debut book was a Red Riding Hood retelling, but for me For the Wolf is so much more.
Redarys the younger twin sister to Neve is the second daughter, she will be sacrificed to the Wilderwood at the age of 20 in exchange of an age old bargain that rescued her kingdom Valleyda from all things dark and the shadow monsters!
The kingdom hope at each sacrifice of a second daughter that the Wilderwood will release the 5 kings, but of course it’s just not that simple!
Hannah Whitten delivers a fairytale retelling that goes beyond just one fairytale, there are definite hints and feeling of Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty tears it’s head towards the end.
The story itself is told beautifully, calling on a number of traditional tropes, but done in such a way that they don’t feel cliched and I was engaged from start to finish.
I’d highly recommend this if you love retellings, atmospheric woodland stories, which do include the obvious, but also if you just love a great story well told. Now, hurry up and get book 2 finished, I want more!

This is the first book in the Wilderwood series and is the author's debut book. From the start, this book has a distinctive fairytale feel to it and I loved that about it. The world was a vivid one and I love the concept of the Wilderwood. The characters are well written and the plot was compelling throughout. I really enjoyed this one and I can't wait for the sequel. I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

For the Wolf is a beautifully written folk tale laced with notes of horror and compelling romance. It took me a little while to settle into the world, but once I had I was delighted to get lost there.

If you are anything like me and love books which grip you from the start, that are fast paced and devour quickly then I'm sorry to say that this book is just not it.

Over the course of 8 days I have been reading this (normally I can read a book in 2!) I didn't feel excited about reading more - there is so much content that simply just doesn't need to be there. It held no relevance and killed my interest.

I hate giving poor reviews and I'm sorry but this just didn't click for me.

I'm starting to feel like there's a formula out there in the author-net that tells authors what a fairytale retelling should look like, and it's just not working for me. If you've read one retelling of Red Riding Hood then you've pretty much read them all, because this fits the same formula as Uprooted did - and I liked it about as much as well.

For the Wolf is a story about two sisters. In this kingdom, the first born sister goes to the throne and the second born is a red-cape-wearing sacrifice to the dangerous wolf in the forest. The wolf appears to be striking the bargain as a means to offer protection from the forest in exchange for a girl, but it's not entirely clear what his motives actually are.

So Red (original, I know) is the second born daughter and is swiftly offered to the wolf. Thankfully, the wolf isn't anything like a wolf and is instead a troubled man with a complex past; there's an associated link between the wolf and trapped gods, but again that's pretty wooly too and didn't make a lot of sense for some time!

Anyway, it unfolds that Red is magical and the wolf has a lot of secret about the Wilderwood with its god-monsters. If you like angsty romance and (loosely) dark fantasy then you will probably like this. If you liked Uprooted then you will almost certainly love this. Sadly Uprooted wasn't for me, I like my fantasies to actually be dark, and the angsty romance left my "yes please" list about ten years ago.

Nevertheless, the writing is nice and reasonably compelling, but the story is just too cookie cutter for me.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the atmosphere and the overall vibe of the book (and I’m a sucker for a retelling!). Thank you so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing this Arc!

If you like fairytales with a dark twist, then give this a go!

Sometimes you don’t mourn people so much as you mourn who they could’ve been.”

For centuries the second born daughter of the royal family is given to the Wolf. Sacrificed in hope that the Wolf will release the lost kings from the forbidding Wilderwood. Redarys “Red” is the second daughter and she’s reached the age to be sacrificed. Surrendered to the forest and the mysterious Wolf, Red learns not everything she’s been told is the truth, and it’s possible, she might be a saviour in more ways than one.

For the Wolf was gothic, wistful and rather irresistible. The story unfolds through Red’s perspective with interludes that focus on her sister, Neve.

Whitten weaves a story with an atmospheric and macabre energy - a girl destined for sacrifice, honorific clothing to signify it all, chaplain to worships lost kings and past daughters, and then to a derelict castle overgrown and earth trodden, and dark altars channeling darker forces.

The Wilderwood is a powerful entity in of itself. I was surprised by the level of personification given to the Wilderwood. It’s a powerful entity with desires, memories and power in of itself. I wasn’t at any point certain if it was to be trusted or not, but certainly respected.

I liked Red’s character. She started off the typical female heroine of many fantasy tales with some bite to her, but by the end, her character development was clear and it was really satisfying to see her become more at peace with herself, expunging her fears and moving to take control of her own life.

Whitten definitely succeeded in writing a love interest that causes a good swoon. He is the perfect concoction of moody, distant, guarded yet gentle and deeply caring. He has lived for so long carrying loss and burdens on his own, that he not only finds it difficult to trust another person, but finds it hard to delegate any tasks - which was an excellent source for conflict. I liked how Red didn’t cower to Eammon, and instead went toe to toe with him.

And there are really good side characters that add interesting dimensions to the story, with the exception of Kiri. Her dialogue was cringeworthy and she offered nothing to the story but irritation for the reader, which I suspect Whitten knows, which for me would make it worse. The glimpses we’re given of the better characters struck my curiosity, especially Lyra and Fife (the Wolf’s companions), and they all for the most part felt worthwhile support to the story. I’m very, very intrigued about Lyra and Fife’s ongoing story and their histories.

The only thing that irked me at times was it lacked in its originality. It’s undeniably a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast - even down to two sidekicks for the Wolf/Beast - along with smidges of Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood. The pace is slow burn as well, which made parts of the story feel a bit sluggish, when paired with the feeling of having heard/read a similar story before.

For the Wolf is extremely romantic. Love connects and motivates all the characters in one shape and form. Red and Eammon’s relationship was somehow gradually developed yet happened all at once, which worked for me. There is a sex scene toward the end of the book; it’s on page but it’s not too explicit and is really enjoyable, especially once invested in the characters and the romance.

My favourite part of For the Wolf was the relationship between Red and Neve and its subsequent development across the story. They both start from a place of love and commitment to each other - with Red desperate to keep Neve safe and Neve desperate to save Red from her destiny - but it quickly evolves beyond those roots. Through individual and combined lenses, we see the sisters journey through their love, fear, control and ultimately power.

The gradual drawing of lines between one side and the other provided a mounting palpability and excellent momentum toward a tense climax and what can only be described as a harmonious cliffhanger, promising that the story is far from over. I’m very, very intrigued about what’s coming next and where the characters will end up. Here’s to the wait For the Throne! 👑

Thank you kindly to Orbit Books UK and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC, in exchange for this honest review.

This is a fairytale fantasy delight!

Effortless writing, engaging characters and a mixture of threads from well known fairytales. “For the Wolf” does not disappoint,

After falling in love with the cover of this book, I so wanted to love the story too, but unfortunately this book didn’t feel the easiest of reads, despite a lot of good to say about it.

I’ll start off with what I loved, beyond the cover which is gorgeous. The writing of the Wilderwood is brilliant, this wood with the sentinel trees and this creepy atmosphere, it was really well done, the wood is shaped and written like a character in itself and this world is built really vividly in your mind. There were times when I really loved the writing. I also liked Neve, I found her a promising character and I really wished for more of her because she felt so complex and torn. When I started reading this book I thought/hoped the love story would be between sisters and the way it started created such a beautiful bond that I looked forward to seeing. Sadly this only ended in disappointment.

What I didn’t like, well we’ll start with the biggie, Red was a character I just really struggled to like, she is hugely selfish. Throughout the book Neve has one goal, to get he sister back, to save her sister, that love makes her vulnerable to being manipulated and exploited in fact but she persists, even pushing away Raffe, who she has loved for a long time. However, Red falls in love with the Wolf/Eammon and literally nothing else matters. Very quickly in, you discover that the stories of the dangerous Wolf are all myth and that actually Red can leave any time she wants. But she doesn’t. Red stays in the woods, not even briefly leaving, because she is falling in love with the Wolf, because he needs her. All of Neve’s problems (and Arick’s also) actually would have been avoided had Red just come back, even fleetingly, to tell her she was safe and happy. She every now and then clings to the cloak her sister gave her but does nothing to ease the heartbreak she knows her sister must be feeling. Even when she gets to see how her sister is doing, seeing her tired, having lost weight, talking about blood letting, their mother dying, she doesn’t go back to her. In fact the only time she actively goes to her sister is to stop her doing something that threatens her harmony with her boyfriend and it drives the entire reunion. There are even times when the bad guy has to remind Red about her sister and Red, after only talking about things that involve herself and her love, goes “is she alive?”. Truly I could not read another book where this character is made out as heroic while repeatedly not choosing this sister who sacrificed everything in an effort to save her. She chooses the boy every time and it’s a YA annoyance that I thought I would be avoiding in this one.

That brings us onto the Wolf/Eammon, the single most emo pain in the a$$, moping about loneliness while continually shutting people out and going cold on them, he’s called a martyr in jest in the book but it’s insufferable. The guy is weak and can’t manage but he’s constantly telling people not to help him, despite the fact they will die anyway if he fails. Total logic. The writing I loved when talking about the wood, I hated when talking about the Wolf. If you turned reading about his hair into a drinking game, you would be getting your stomach pumped. The hair is I’m his eyes, the hair is black, the hair is long, his hand is running through his hair, his hair is falling out of its tie ... please stop. Similarly, there’s only so much you can read about someone cutting their hand and bleeding, the pacing was incredibly slow getting to the conclusion.

I really wanted to love this book but I found the protagonist too selfish and the love interest too cliche and while I would love to know Neve is ok and her story in the next book, I couldn’t handle more of the romance unfortunately. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this.

For the Wolf is the Little Red Riding Hood retelling you didn’t know you needed. It follows princess Redarys who has always known her destiny was to be sacrificed to the enchanted Wilderwoods and the Wolf.

I instantly fell in love with this story. The eerie ambiance, the ‘Wolf’, the creeping shadow beasts, and the bloodthirsty woods… and the writing was beautiful, with a lyrical quality to it and just so enchanting. These sorts of stories always have a way of attracting me to them, and they’re some of my favorites.

Redarys, or just Red, is the Second Daughter. In this world, that means she is to be offered to the Wolf and the Wilderwoods before she turns 20. But the story the people of her kingdom pass down as religion is far from the truth, and she finds nothing is as she expected. Least of all, the Wolf himself. Eammon was such a kind, selfless bookworm, I loved him!

While Red accepted, and even welcomed her fate for her own reasons, her loved ones couldn’t accept her fate, and heedless of the dangers, they set out to find a way to release her, setting dangerous things in motion...

Neeve, Red’s sister is the First Daughter, the heir to the throne. She and Red are twins. We got to see a few chapters from her perspective, though I have to say the contrast of her grief to the excitement and allure I felt in Red’s chapters was a bit jarring. I always paused the book before or during Neve’s chapters, and I just didn’t like her very much. (*The following book is “For the Throne”, so I assume Neeve will be the main character, and we’ll still get some chapters from Red’s perspective.)

Overall, For the Wolf was everything I was hoping for and more! It was enchanting, dark, intriguing, and a very exciting story, and I really enjoyed it! I strongly recommend it!

“The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf. And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.”

Redarys or ‘Red’ is a second daughter and due to a centuries old bargain, in her twentieth year she must be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood. In doing so, Red’s kingdom hopes the wolf will return the five kings, their Gods.

But the stories aren’t entirely truthful and the Wolf, isn’t the monster he’s portrayed as. For the Wilderwoods are actually a Prison and the Wolf, it’s Warden. Over time the Wilderwoods are weakening and Red must help to strengthen it before Sinister forces break free.

Deeply spellbinding and vividly detailed, I loved how Hannah Whitten blends Horror and Dark Fantasy with fairytale elements from Red Riding Hood,Beauty & the Beast and Snow White to create a captivatingly original story.

The detail in the eerie woodland setting was breathtakingly atmospheric and the shadow creatures felt like they could’ve crawled straight out of a Guillermo del Toro movie.

I loved the development of the slow burn relationship between Red and Eammon (The Wolf), it felt organic and more realistic as opposed to the Insta love trope that’s commonly used. I also loved how well written many of the characters are; Lyra, Fife and Neve especially.

I personally thought it started a little slow but picks up as Red meets the Eammon. The POV also alternates between Red in the Wilderwoods and Neve (Red’s twin sister) in Valleyda, which was incite-full —allowing us a glimpse at the emotional fallout to Red’s sacrifice.

The ending was incredibly well written and action packed, setting up the sequel nicely. Since it’s called For The Throne I assume it will be Neve’s story with some POV chapters from Red’s perspective.

Lovers of Dark Fantasy and Fairytale inspired novels will be hard pressed not to give this a read.

I also wanted to thank Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC

For The Wolf is a captivating new fantasy, about a second born princess who, in order to keep her land safe, is sacrificed to a monstrous forest and the Wolf living within it.

The world building was fantastic, and I was sucked in from the first page. This book has an incredible dark fairytale vibe and a torturous slow burn romance that had me devouring it in a day. I'm already champing at the bit for the sequel!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

For the Wolf follows Red, a second daughter who has been promised her whole life as a sacrifice to the wilderwood and the mysterious wolf who lives there, in order to appease an ancient treaty. Red leaves behind her life in Valleydan, including her twin sister Neve and her estranged mother to venture into the woods to answer to call of an ancient power. Once she arrives in the forest she discovers ancient secrets and old powers rising, and discovers that the forest may ask more of her than she has ever given before. Excellently written with a haunting atmosphere and compelling characters, For the Wolf is a 2021 release you do not want to miss!

Set in the magical Wilderwood, a mystical forest, the atmosphere of the book is absolutely impeccable. I will always have a little piece of my soul that craves the wilderness and healing nature of forests, especially having grown up near a national park and exploring forests every weekend. There is something so truly transportive about a magical forest setting, and I loved the slightly creepy notes of the Wilderwood, as well as how it is almost its own character, influencing events and shaping the characters destinies.

I really loved the romance in this book, which is pretty shocking for me to love a hetero relationship this hard!! I was literally sqealing the first time they kissed aha. The love interest, Eammon, was a really sweet character and I alwys love the tropes of a) someone being sent to be married to a scary monster who turns out to be a sweet little cinnamon roll who is pretty much a prisoner themselves (yes i know this is very specific but it gave me major warbreaker vibes and I LOVE IT) and b) a marriage of convience between friends who eventually fall in love. The progression from relectuant allies, to friends, to lovers was such a great natural evolution of the relationship. Also I think the forest was kind of a third wheel in the relationship lol but it added an extra element of depth seeing how much they both love the forest and how this contributed to their love for each other.

Another element of the book I really enjoyed was the relationship between the sisters, Red and Neve. I liked how we kept seeing Neve's story through the interludes, I thought this added a lot of depth to the book and interesting politics, as well as Neve being a fascinating character and having a bit of a downfall arc, and exploring through her eyes both how power corrupts but also how easy it is for evil people to exploit and manipulate vunerable young women. Both sisters really strive to find and reunite with each other, however while their motives may be pure they don't go about achieving their goals in the right way (especially Neve lol). Also seeing them spend time apart from each other and find their own paths while still wanting the best for each other was really rewarding.

Sacrifice was a big theme of the book, and I think this was something very well explored and so fascinating. Also the concept of a sacrifice freely given is worth so much more and can be so much more healing was a great concept to discuss, as well as highlighting how important consent is.

In conclusion a stunning debut novel from Hannah Whitten, full of creepy magical forests, strong sisterhood bonds, an adorable romance, excellent prose and an ending that will leave you extremely hyped for the next installment.