I did rate this book 4 stars whereas Wolfsong got 5 from me... I know this is an unpopular opinion but I actually do prefer Ox as a narrator over Gordo. I know any Gordo hate is considered slanderous, and I by no means hate him, but I don't think I love him as much as other readers seem to. I liked how the plot of this book circled back to the hunters. TJ Klune was just very smart in the first book by setting up so many characters and villains that the sequels could settle into. I thought Elijah was a perfectly hatable character, and I almost wanted more of her messed up ideals throughout the book to really sell it.
This is a very slow burn childhood friends to lovers to enemies to lovers story... I love that the dynamic is a bit more complicated than the typical romance tropes, but I needed them to get to the romance a little bit sooner. This wasn't as much of a problem in the first book even though the romance heated up equally late in the story, likely because we were distracted by the whole world being set up and being introduced to everything at the same time Ox was. This book did not have the benefit of being able to postpone the romance by spending time on world-building. It just felt like the romance was unnecessarily delayed.
That being said, I absolutely ate it up once it started. Mark is an absolutely precious character, and the grumpy/sunshine dynamic is highly engaging. I don't know if I can say I ship Mark and Gordo more than Ox and Joe but it is close. Also, the plot leading up to the romance is still entertaining. The politics involved with Michelle Hughes and the wolves' desperation to protect each other was great and this is one of the few stories where I like the extreme overprotectiveness that everyone seems to have over each other.
The last little issue I have with the story is the repetition. The book was probably 50-100 pages too long because of what I would like to call literary dilly-dallying. So many themes and motifs were just discussed over and over again and it became a bit tedious. More literally, Gordo actually repeats certain themes/lines at several points. The "wolves don't love you, they use you" line from Gordo's mother was repeated so many times. I understand that it was for emphasis and that would have been fine except Ox did the exact same thing in the first book when he would think about his mother and repeat the motif of the soap bubble on his ear. If either one of the characters had narrated with this habit I would be fine with it (which is why Wolfsong shamelessly received a 5-star rating from me), but when both characters do it it just serves to muddle the two people together and undermines the author's credibility when it comes to writing from different characters' perspectives.
Still though... the vibes are immaculate. I love the atmosphere, I love how the town got involved in this one, I love Bambi. Very solid TJ Klune book.
Final verdict: Although there were some slipups with the pacing and narration, the atmosphere and characters make this book an excellent read.
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