S. A. Swann - Wolfbreed

In this captivating reinvention of the werewolf novel, S. A. Swann propels readers into the darkest days of the Middle Ages, weaving a rare blend of soaring romance, historical intrigue, paranormal thrills, and spiritual questioning to tell a story that forever changes those who hear it.
When a monk inadvertently discovers a lair of werewolf young, he unleashes what will become the Church’s most powerful—and secret—weapon. Clandestinely raised by the Teutonic Order, these lupine creatures serve as instruments of God against pagan unbelievers. Trained to slip into villages cloaked in human form, they are all but unstoppable. Only one, called Lilly, has cunningly fled her brutal master.
Uldolf is too young to remember the massacre eight years earlier that claimed his village, his arm, and his kin. But he knows the pain of loneliness. When he sees what appears to be a beautiful young woman, injured and cowering in the woods, he races to her aid. Uldolf and his adoptive family will do anything to protect the terrified girl, but the danger is greater than they can possibly imagine. For death is the only life Lilly has ever known—and if their humanity can’t pierce the darkness Lilly harbors in her soul, they’ll soon come to know it, too.

Comment: I had this book in the shelf since 2010. I was sold on the apparent hint of romance and the werewolf idea, which is still my favorite type of PNR, even though this one didn't seem to have the usual vibes of books published around that time.

This story begins with a monk discovering strange people who can turn into werewolves and being the setting medieval, he believes they aren't fully human and, with the support of the soldiers, decides to use them to force the pagans who might fight the conversion. However, it is impossible to control them all the time and one day, after a terrible event, one of them, Lilly, runs away. Later, she is helped by Udolf and his family and she learns what it means to have compassion and something worthy to do. The problem is that the monks and the soldiers are after Lilly and they won't rest until she is captured again. But what can Udolf, with only one arm, or his poor family do to protect Lilly? Or will be Lilly who ends up protecting them?

I think the idea of this plot was quite interesting. I confess I'm not that fond of medieval settings nowadays because part of me always feels rather annoyed at how plot points must be developed when it comes to the treatment of women or even certain beliefs and behaviors. This often makes me wish I could change things and I don't enjoy the story as much. In this case, since the story would have werewolves, meaning some paranormal with the historical setting, I hoped the focus would be on themes not the ones I generally dislike.

Well, I'll have to say that this wasn't as linear as I hoped because the author created a story where a huge part of its development is heavily set on the terrible aspects of persecuting people and how the religious orders were no more than an excuse to submit others. Sure, all these things might be historically accurate without the paranormal elements, but it did not make for a pleasant story. Of course I knew this would not be easy to go through, considering the werewolves would not be the sexy kind we find in romances, but it was still quite unpalatable to read.

In fact, another thing I'll confess is that I did skim over the battle scenes and the descriptions of torture and deaths. It does feel as if I didn't really read with that much attention, then, but what I did read was enough to paint a picture and I just didn't find a lot of positive to keep me going, except Udulf, who was a nice young man.

Udulf is the son of a previous lord in the region and his family was killed, but he was adopted by a humble couple, which means his life has been one of overcoming obstacles and having the base to be a good person, and he is the reason why I rounded up this book into the positive grade.

Udolf finds Lilly after she escaped her "owners" and helps her. She feels in debt to him and, in part, that is why they get along easily, but there is another reason which is explained later on. Sadly to my preferences, it's not related to werewolves nor the usual mating traditions (kind of), and that was definitely an element I've missed in this story, even more so when the little romance is, indeed, between these two. I fell the author's goal with this story was quite obvious and valid if that was his intention, but adding the romance element might be a suggestion, perhaps, and not his initial intention? I say this because it was clearly very weakly done and almost unimportant.

I have this opinion because, considering the fighting scenes and what happens closer to the end, Lilly and Udolf might still want to help each other or they might even defend one another and Udolf's family without the romance, so having it done so poorly made the element seem rather pointless. Added to this we have the issue of  the werewolf condition being something to fear, something unpredictable and I honestly could not see how this would really work out, or at least I don't think the author wrote things well enough if that was to be the path the story would take.

When I turned the last page, I was mostly glad because it was done. I will summarize the reading experience to this: the setting and theme really didn't win me over and I'll add this book to the list of things I've added to the TBR at a time my preference was set on something specific but I have to wonder if I had read it back then, would I enjoy it more? The plot was not pleasant to read, so...

Grade: 5/10