Dark, atmospheric and thought provoking. I loved this book. I thought it would be more fairy tale like and it wasn't; it was so much better. Red is blind and isn't allowed into the woods because it's not safe. When her grandmother returns after years away, Red becomes more and more intrigued and things start to change for her. She makes decisions that she wouldn't have made before and begins to find herself. There are light, tender moments and some really dark moments. A super read for anyone who likes a book that they can't stop thinking about long after they've read it.

Red lives in a village surrounded by woods. Only women are allowed into the woods because the wolves only attack men but the village major limits their movements and freedom. Red has limited vision but feels at home in the trees which respond and guide her. When her period arrives it heralds a much bigger transformation. Deeper family secrets will be unearthed and the fate of Red and her family will hang in the balance.

I loved everything about this book. The author was inspired by interpreting the original story of little red riding hood as the protagonist having limited vision like herself and that idea birthed this wonderfully original story. This is a story about women and how they are controlled and coerced. Red has a wonderful connection with the trees and the wolves of the forest but she and any other women who dare to claim any freedom are punished by the village. There are strong messages in here about how we treat nature and the importance of sustainable living. There are very complex mother daughter relationships at play between Red and her mother and the enigmatic presence of her grandmother. I loved that it describes the logistics of Red’s period when it arrives - something rarely mentioned in children’s books and yet so important to be visible. This is a compelling and beautifully written story, dark, mysterious and magical.

Red is known as such for the colour of her hair. She lives with her mother - Magenta -, sister Aerona and brother Luki. They live in a town that is bordered by forest - but the town is surrounded by a fence, with only a gate into it. The gate has a Wolf Siren tower next to it.

Only women go into the forest at all, and only women guard the tower. Usually the only person in the forest is Caragh - the woodcutter - a lowly job which was given to her by the Mayor - after she turned down his offer of marriage! The men live in fear of being attacked by the Wolves that lived in the forest although no one has seen or heard them, and the tower alarm has not been sounded for many years. Red's own father was killed by a Wolf.

One day in the forest, which she isn't scared by despite her visual impairment, she meets an old woman who says she is her Grandmother, Red takes her home. Magenta is not happy but accepts her mother in - she left when Magenta was just 14.

Grandmother loves the forest as much as Red. She shows Red there is nothing to be afraid of, she even calls four wolves to Red's side and says they will protect her. But that she should say nothing to her Mother about this! Grandmother also gives her a red cloak.
But why did Grandmother leave her own child? And why does she leave again when Red feels so close to her?

As she is delivering a parcel one day to Ms Blaeberry (a supposed witch who lives in the forest, and who lots of women visit) Red feels ill/ What is happening to her?
Ms Blaeberry explains to Red about what has happened to her, and about her Grandmother. And that this could happen to Aerona too. Red is angry does her mother know, why did she not tell them. The village must never find out.
But then Caragh is killed, supposedly by a wolf. But Red finds her and brings her out from the forest. This changes everything. The Mayor is unhappy with Red spending so much time in the forest, and with the fact that she says she saw Caragh that day, that the forest allowed her in and she found Caragh's body. They want to banish Red. The girls are listening to the village meeting because Delana, Red's best friend, told her about it. But something unexpected happens to Aerona, they have to run....
In the forest they meet Grandmother. Aerona is so happy! Red follows the trees which have all fallen from where Caragh was found to a piece of broken fencing - where they also find the dead wolf shot by Zac.
Who really killed Caragh?
Can the girls ever return?

Beth O'Brien is like Red visually impaired. She has looked at the Red Riding Hood story differently. Surely you would only see a Wolf in your grandmother's bed you could not actually see very well. She says she has smiled at strangers who look like family members she is meeting and failed to recognise friends and family when meeting them unexpectedly!
Red in the story is a strong child, she wants to do what is right by her family. But she also feels drawn to protect the forest and the wolves.
I really enjoyed this, and even better only 165 pages, meaning it would not be of a size that is off putting for some children.

It took me a little while to get into this, but I eventually enjoyed this dark, feminist retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

I was immediately drawn to this by the cover designed and drawn by Ayesha L. Rubio, I’ve always been a sucker for Red Riding Hood tales and I love seeing how people handle them.

This is Beth O’Brien’s debut, and what a debut it is, confident and strong, full of beautiful magic, wolves, and reasons why the patriarchy sucks.

Red lives in a village surrounded by a forest, one no one really goes in any longer as the wolves have turned from the hunted to the hunters and any man or boy who goes in the woods is killed.

Though women and girls are left unharmed they aren’t allowed to go in the woods either, this is done to control by the men who resent their freedoms and want to curtail them as much as possible.

I really don’t want to give too much of the story away as the twists and turns are wonderful as they unfold, there are secrets all around, jealousies, entrenched power, magic, wolves, and lots of changes. This keeps you powering through as you are desperate for the next revelation.

But the woods are full of magic, trees that can help or hinder, wolves with secrets, women who’ve been exiled for their craft, and a story that needs to be told to balance out the narrative told by the men in the village.

This is one of the best books I’ve read that talks normally about menstruation in girls and this is a key part of the storyline, this change in a woman’s is used really well in the story, again not going to give why away…

The main character being visually impaired was done so sympathetically and honestly and the acceptance of this by others around her was really strong, there was also a moment of signing in the book which was just part of the story which really worked for me.

Altogether this was one of the strongest middle grade debut’s I’ve read for a while and now I really want to read what comes next from Beth O’Brien

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well done Beth O'Brien, the handling of a sight compared character was impeccable . The tale itself just draws you in and holds you till the end. The real question in this story is, who are the real monsters ? Read it to find out.

I really enjoyed this beautiful gothic retelling of red riding hood. I don't want to say too much, I would highly recommend Wolf Siren. Well done on your debut novel :)

Oh, how I loved Wolf Siren - a dark and gritty fairytale retelling in which Little Red is a visually impaired girl traversing a divided landscape: a forest sheltering wolves, her village sheltering worse. Chauvenism is rife, and there are dark intentions around every corner. There are wolves in the woods, but are they the real monsters?

WOLF SIREN is an #ownvoices story, and the protagonist is powerfully depicted. While listed as children’s fiction, I think that older readers (including adults) will find their own power within these pages.

An ethereal but powerful reworking of Red Riding Hood, reframed from a feminist, eco-friendly perspective.. Beautifully written with a real fairytale feel, and with an authentic own voices representation which adds a fascinating extra layer to the story.

This is one of those books that just feels so deep and meaningful. It has a story to tell and a lesson we need to learn.
Beautifully written version of the tale of Little Red Riding hood, but with a lot of differences. I especially loved that Red was visually impaired (as the author says at the end, perhaps this explains why she didn't recognise that there was a wolf in her grandmothers clothing). She finds her way around despite her vision being low, she had friends that help her when they can, and of course the odd bully who can't help but mock her.
But soon Red discovers there is more to her family and village than just a fear of the woods and wolves, something much deeper and darker is going on.
I adored this book. I found it so moving, especially towards the end.
I loved so many aspects of the story, but I don't want to say too much, as it gives away some of the best parts of the story!
Just give it a read, I don't think you'll regret it.

Wow! This was so much better than I thought it might be. It was deliciously dark, dangerous and a refreshing new perspective on the familiar children's story. Lots of fantastic vocabulary choices and clever character traits which ensured I was hooked from beginning to end.
Highly recommended.

This story is not so much a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood, but is inspired by the original. Protagonist Red is a teenage girl who feels called to the woods. In a patriarchal society where the forest poses a danger to the menfolk of her village, voicing such a desire is the ultimate taboo. But when the stability of village life is threatened, Red feels she must answer that call.

I’d usually start with what I liked about a book, but I’m going to do the opposite this time, as there wasn’t really much that I didn’t enjoy. If I had to be picky, I would have preferred a pacier start to the story and a more satisfying resolution regarding the Mayor and Nova. But that’s about it.

Now on to what I loved. The story was very evocative of old fairytales, both in the descriptions of the settings and the language. The character names were great, and I really enjoyed the nod to the language patterning in the original fairytale. Unsurprisingly for a fairytale, there is magic. Some is very subtle and the characters barely register it, rather accepting it’s something that just is. Other examples of magic are rather more dramatic.

Significantly for me as a sight-impaired person, Red’s own sight impairment was handled brilliantly by the author and clearly came from a place of experience. In too many stories, a character’s disability IS the story. In others, the disability is brushed under the carpet like it doesn’t matter, which is clearly not the case when you’re living with a disability. Red is limited in some ways because of her sight impairment. But the author does not make this a way to pity Red (there are certainly other ways you feel sorry for her). Instead, Red gets by in her own way, sometimes with a little help, as is often the way in real life. Plus she has many other qualities that are just as, if not more, important a part of who she is. Crucially for me, though, without giving too much away, there is a part in the story where some magic happens and it would have been very easy for the author to ‘fix’ Red’s sight impairment. She does not. And I was really pleased about this because it sends the message that Red’s disability is who she is, not what the story is about. In actual fact, there’s a lovely irony that, out of all the villagers, Red is the only one able to clearly ‘see’ what is happening and what needs to be done.

This is a really lovely, yet emotional read with depictions of grief and menstruation. Suitable for mature upper key stage 2 readers and above.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is a reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood. There is a girl in a red coat, a grandmother, a woodcutter and wolves in a wood, but there the similarities end, this is a very different story.
Red lives in a village ruled by a mayor who favours those who please him. Having lost lots of men to the wolves in the woods only women (who seem to be safe) are allowed to enter the woods, but this is seen as a punishment. Red often sneaks into the woods feeling at home and at peace among the trees who watch over her. It is there she meets her missing grandmother and starts to find out bits about her heritage.
It is quite a dark book- life in the village is oppressive and the woods are dangerous..Despite this, Red still manages to find joy in the world around her. She is partially sighted and her descriptions of how she perceives the world are at times almost poetical.
Ultimately this a story about fighting for what is right and about protecting the fragile ecology around us. I would have liked to have had a bit more about consequences for the mayor, who is built up as the big bad at the start, but I did like that the ending didn’t play out quite as I expected. A good debut novel.

Wolf Siren is a captivatingly dark reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood. The narrative skillfully keeps you guessing: the story explores the complex relationship between villagers and wolves, highlighting how fear and manipulation can divide a community. Red's journey of self-discovery, despite her visual impairment, her determination to uncover the truth driving the narrative and challenging societal norms, give food for thought to anyone reading (particularly in current times).

O'Brien subverts traditional tropes, empowering the female characters and exploring themes of resilience. The writing is evocative and haunting, full of twists and turns, and the interconnectedness of Red, the wolves, and the woods is portrayed beautifully.

While aimed at younger readers, Wolf Siren will appeal to anyone who enjoys a well-crafted fairy tale with a dark, feminist twist. It's a thought-provoking exploration of power, prejudice, and challenging norms.

If you think that reimagined tales of Little Red Riding Hood have been done to death, this one will change your mind. It reflects a lot of contemporary values such as feminism, environmental protection and inclusivity. It is a thought-provoking take on the original story that renders the original tale more relevant to our current context.

Red is in some minor ways the chaperone rouge you know, and in most other ways, entirely reinvented, has agency, and more appeal.
The story world and the wolves do too.
I had not expected this to be so competent for both adult and young (MG) readers.
Cannot wait to share it with my child and gift it to friends’ children in a couple of years.
A cool take on The Little Red Riding Hood.
The prose is suitable for a children’s book.
The storyworld and the plot are much more immersive.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

"It's hard to live between two worlds that do not trust each other"

This book is an alternative take on Little Red Riding Hood, with a dark m9dern twist, I loved how the reader is shown how Red, the wolves and the woods all interconnect. I feel this book gave empowerment to woman within the story and the determination of a child. I will definitely be recommending this book to students and will recommenda copy for our school library.

Thank you Net galley for the ARC copy. The blur on this book got me straight away...one of my favourites a story based in a fairytale.....what can I say...this book was amazing. Definitely a book that I couldn't put down. A twist on the Little Red Riding Hood tale the story explores Red life and what's been going on In her village....men are not allowed into the woods due to wolf attacks but there's more to it then you know. It's hard to write a review without giving too much away but if you like a book with girl power, an awaking and the truth will come out then this is your book. I hope this book gets nominated for Book Of rhe Year as it truely is a magical book that deserved all the praise and recommendations it can get.

" It's hard to live between two worlds that do not trust one another"

" The wolves had to fight to survive, Red, like women. And yes, some people would call that dangerous"

Wolf Siren is a wonderfully gothic fairy tale. Beth O'Brien has taken the traditional tale of Red Riding Hood and created a beautifully dark modern fable.

Red lives in a village where most residents are forbidden to enter the nearby woodland as dark secrets lie and wolves can kill. Red's grandmother disappeared some years before but all is not what it seems. When a woodcutter goes missing, locals turn their suspicion and anger towards the wolves- led by a Mayor who seems to hold a power over the people. The only people who may enter the woodland safely to fetch firewood are the women of the village- but why ?

However Red won't be deterred from entering the woods with a desire to find out what is happening within and soon discovers she has a hidden secret - one that will transform her life, impact on her sister and mother and create wide divisions among the people.

To say any more would reveal too much but Beth O'Brien's story is an empowering tale of a young girl who is visually impaired but also has a strength of determination that will transform a community and finally reveal some dark truths. This is a story of female solidarity overcoming the manipulation of the men in a remote community.


Full of tension, gripping, haunting and totally original, this is a great read for the 10-14 year age range ( or adults who like a new twist on a traditional tale). It will be great to see what Beth O"Brian writes next .

Highly recommended for Year 6-9

I loved this new story of Red Riding Hood! It was magical, mysterious, tragic, empowering and had me unable to put it down the whole time. Such a different take on the Red Riding Hood story. I especially loved how it displayed the empowerment of young girls and women being the protectors of the village. But also how they were the only ones who could bring both humans and wolves together. One of my newest favorites and definitely will be recommending that my students read this book!