Leonie Swann’s Big Bad Wool is the sequel to Swann’s Three Bags Full and has been ably translated by Amy Bojang. The sheep and their shepherdess, Rebecca, have moved to Europe and are staying in the grounds of a chateau. As with Three Bags Full, the story is told from the sheep’s perspective and we have to interpret what they’re seeing and hearing.

It appears that Rebecca has stumbled across a dead deer in the forest, killed by someone is a most unpleasant manner. The goats grazing next to the sheep believe it’s the work of the Garou, or werewolf; and it appears some of the humans believe that story too. Then a human is killed too. The novel is about the sheep’s attempts to protect Rebecca by working out who the Garou is.

It’s an interesting concept, having non-anthropomorphic animals as detectives. That is, they don’t walk around on two legs, speaking human languages. Instead, they behave like sheep and think like (very intelligent) sheep. The only concession is that they understand English (and the goats understand French).

The book didn’t quite work for me. I enjoyed it, but there were a lot of humans, some of whom only played bit parts and seemed superfluous. I think that the plot would have been tighter and more absorbing with two fewer chateau people. I liked the goats – the dialogue between the two groups of animals with the semi-surreal goat contributions was fun. However, if one assumes that the whodunnit aspect is the main reason for reading the novel, it fell short. I admit to being a little confused about who was supposed to be doing what to whom and when / why they were doing it. Some aspects were clear but some were not. That might be a result of us being, along with the sheep, one step removed from the human-to-human explanations.

I have enjoyed all of Swann’s books (including this one) but this feels like the weakest so far.

#BigBadWool #NetGalley

This was another enjoyable, quirky read following the sheep detectives as they adjust to the European, specifically French, life after leaving their home to travel after the events of the last book.

Darkly funny and more than a little bit out there, I recommend this if you feel like reading something different (but I definitely recommend reading book 1 first!)

I read the first book, Three Bags Full, back in 2018 and have been waiting a long time for Garou to get translated, so I was really excited to give this a whirl!

The story is a unique concept but it didn't feel different enough from Three Bags Full. Maybe my reading tastes have evolved but, this time around, I found the sheep characters frustrating and their sheep-logic grating. I'm not sure if maybe it went in too many circles or simply went on too long but it wore on me as the narrative progressed. It was very silly (complimentary) but not really funny.
There were too many characters (animals and human), and keeping track of them all amid sheep/human perspectives and random name changes was chaotic. The human characters lacked depth and distinction. I didn't feel like we got to know Rebecca as well as I'd hoped for a lead human character.

I'm not sure if it was the writing style or the translation, but something was missing in the story for me. Maybe heart, or stakes, or emotional pull... I didn't feel immersed in the story nor was I overly invested in its resolution. On top of this, the pace was pretty slow.

Overall, I don't have strong feelings toward this. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. It was... fine, if a little boring. But, I wouldn't bill this book as 'ein Schaf thriller'. From a mystery perspective, it's pretty undercooked and tropey. I found the ending/resolution really anticlimactic.

2.5 rounded up

I came across the first book in this series in a Co Donegal library--a mystery involving Irish sheep was one I had to pick up. I enjoyed it a lot. So when I saw that there was another book about these sheep, I knew I had to read that one, too.

This time around, the sheep are in France with their shepherdess. As stipulated in her father's will, she has brought them on a long-awaited trip to Europe and she still reads to them every night. So while the sheep still have some of their usual routine, they're in a new meadow with sometimes scary people around. They have much to figure out, some of which they learn from their new goat neighbors. They soon come across some disturbing sights in the forest and it's not long before they have a mystery to solve. Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in the flock--and possibly all of Europe--puts her mind to work. The other sheep, each with his or her own special skills and strengths do their part.

This book is dark, yet quite funny in places. Superficially, the sheep and goats are very amusing as they observe and try to make sense of human behavior. This was the best part of the book for me. I loved that aspect in the first book as well. At the same time, some of the human behavior is disturbing and serious issues, such as mental health, mental health treatment, human cruelty, and more, arise. This is definitely not the usual sort of cozy crime novel--it's darker than that. And I also found it hard to keep track of who was who at times. There are a lot of characters and there are several lists of them at the beginning of the book. I think I would have had a better time had I read a physical copy of this book instead of a digital one on my phone, because it would've been easy to go back and refer to these lists. There are numerous sheep, goats, and humans and although the author does a good job of giving them different sorts of names, I still found myself trying to place a character at various points throughout the book.

In addition to the sheep describing the weirdness of humans, another aspect of the book I enjoyed was not a central plot point, but was part of sheep culture in general. When the sheep go to the water to have a drink, they sometimes see their own reflections, which they don't realize is them. So they've been taught about the sheep from the depths, who they feel comes to offer them courage and support. it's not unlike the way humans create various stories and myths.

In any case, I found the book enjoyable and funny, but also uncomfortable at times. You don't have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, but I do think it'd be best to read them in order if you can.