Ryan Graudin

"Wild and gorgeous, vivid and consuming. I loved it! I can't wait for the sequel."--Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, on Wolf by Wolf The action-packed, thrilling sequel to Ryan Graudin's Wolf by Wolf. There would be blood.Blood for blood.Blood to pay.An entire world of it. For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun. Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost. But dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all: how far can you go for the ones you love? This gripping, thought-provoking sequel to Wolf by Wolf will grab readers by the throat with its cinematic writing, fast-paced action, and relentless twists.

Blood for Blood

alexandra

THIS WAS AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER. a bit slower than the first, but the biggest reason I docked a star was because how frustrating it can get (in terms of plot situations). full review to come.

mercy

Amanda Kordeliski

Spectacular conclusion to the story. It is satisfying and gut wrenching and will leave you thinking for days.

In this alternate version of the 1950s, after the Axis powers win World War II, Yael, a Jewish skinshifter, fails in her mission to kill Hitler and finds herself being hunted while trying to finish what she started.

Flavia Louise

I actually enjoyed this quite a lot. Really interesting plot and interpersonal relationships. The chucked in German words did annoy me a bit but that's because I'm German.

Cecilia Spencer 

Words cannot express how much I love this book but also how much I hate it too.

Lincy

Erin Russell

This book GUTTED me. While I enjoyed Wolf by Wolf for it's excellent and unique plot, along with its realistic and fleshed out characters, I did not expect the sequel to surpass it in quality. I was so wrong. I don't know what it is about Blood by Blood but I couldn't put it down. Actually, that's a lie I know exactly what it was, my babies Yael and Luka. I've never connected so much with a romance in a book ever. Romance in YA usually makes me a bit hesitant because I personally don't appreciate when it distracts from the plot, but these two babies deserved each other and happiness. They brought me so much joy. AHHHH the feels are too much. This installment was similar to the first, it was full to the very last page with action and strong emotions. You can consider me a fan of Ryan Graudin and her marvelous story-telling. I've had my eye on the Walled City and this has bumped it up to a higher rank on my TBR. I highly recommend this series, but be forewarned, be ready to be hit right in the feels and love every second of it.

Vera Sokolyanskaya

I need to start with a story. My family likes to discuss different topics, including history. Some time this year one of the family members found a question in "50 topics to discuss with your family" list on the Internet.

The question was something like - you time traveled into the past, you are in a room with a baby and someone tells you that baby is future Hitler. What do you do? 
My family covered all possible ideas: one family member thought about killing the baby, two family members considered different options of taking the baby and raising him in a diverse and inclusive environment so that he doesn't grow up a Nazi. The last family member thought that anything we do is pointless because if this baby doesn't grow up to be Hitler, someone else will become a Hitler because of the environment in 1930th.

In a way this duology explores all these options.

These books explore alternative history of "what if Hitler won" while staying a YA book. It doesn't explore the " how Hitler won" aspects, it focuses on "how he lost again" (I don't think this is a spoiler since we learn in the first few chapters that the main character's goal is to kill Hitler and end Germany's dominance in the world).

This duology was a blast and surprised me many times other than "the final twist" which I guessed in the end of book one. Two books in the series are very different: one is a motorcycle road trip wrote from one POV, the second book has several POVs and even though you can call it a road trip as well, it's more complicated than that, it explores character's background more, it has more character development. I enjoyed both books immensely.

Maria

Есть такая теория, что с любой страницы Википедии можно добраться до страницы Гитлера не более, чем за 6 кликов. С такой повсеместностью проникновения Гитлера в инфополе неудивительно, что и в янг-адалте он тоже должен был когда-нибудь появиться.

(Не исключено, впрочем, что «Волк за волка» - это не первое появление Гитлера в подростковой литературе, но мне вот просто только щас попалось)

Итак, на дворе 1956 год, Третий Рейх победил во Второй Мировой, его территория простирается до Урала и Северной Африки. Арийская и союзная японская молодежь ежегодно участвует в трансконтинентальной мотогонке из бывшего Берлина в Токио, победители гонки – звезды, с них рисуют плакаты, у них берут интервью, их приветствует сам фюрер. В предыдущем 1955 году гонку впервые выиграла девушка – Адель Вольф. Гитлеру она так понравилась, что на балу он пригласил Адель на танец, и это был первый за много лет посторонний человек, который его коснулся.

Яэль – еврейская девочка, над которой ставили эксперименты в концлагере, отчего у нее появилась суперспособность, она может менять внешность. И благодаря этой способности Яэль – лучший кандидат для выполнения миссии Сопротивления. Она должна превратиться в Адель Вольф, принять участие в гонке, выиграть и на балу убить Гитлера. 

Перед тем, как хвалить эту дилогию, сделаю заявление: я лежу на пляже в отпуске, поэтому прочитала обе книги довольно быстро, за вчера и сегодня. Не исключено, что если б я читала как обычно – вечерами, да еще с перерывом между выходом первой и второй части, у меня было бы к ней гораздо больше претензий. Но поскольку история пролетела перед моими глазами стремительно, как гонщик на мотоцикле, мне всё понравилось: скорость, динамика, саспенс, уровень драматичности, проработка персонажей. Особенно в первой книге: она не перегружена флэшбэками и внутренними монологами, там простая и понятная цель у всех героев. Яэль – «героиня, которая выживает», героиня-мститель, мне такие нравятся, да и у остальных персонажей мотивация осмысленная.

В оригинале еще хвалят стиль, но тут ничего не могу сказать – я читала на русском, и переводу не хватает редактуры, в некоторых местах хотелось мысленно менять порядок слов и подбирать более естественные обороты.

Финальный твист, к сожалению, не вышел неожиданным – я поняла его уже в конце первой книги, и судя по отзывам на Goodreads, не я одна. Но повторюсь, если читать так, что между финалом первой и финалом второй для тебя проходит несколько часов, то это не разочаровывает так, как, наверное, было бы, пройди между ними год.

Так что округляю до пяти звездочек, всем гитлеркапут.

Becky

And I have now conquered book 2 in 2018.

I had high expectations for this book as I've been waiting to read it for 2 years and the second week of 2018 is when the time was right. It didn't go anything like I expected and I loved it all the more for that.

It had faults but those faults are probably the fact that the characters I'd grown attached to acted as humans do. Irrationally and making such poor decisions. I hated them for it because they acted so selfishly and did things I didn't agree with. It is the reality of the world though and it definitely fitted with this post ww2 setting where people would have made choices that they wouldn't agree with now.

I loved that I was kept guessing and that there were years. I was so emotionally invested right until the end with this book. I wanted so many things and not all of what I wanted happened but it was oh so good. I am currently hating the ending but hating it for being so good and so right. If I wait a few days I know I will love the choices made and know that it for so well.

Well done. This was brilliant.

Deborah Kerr

A milquetoast ending but the audio narrators did a fantastic job!

The action-packed, thrilling sequel to Ryan Graudin's Wolf by Wolf. There would be blood. Blood for blood. Blood to pay. An entire world of it. For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun. Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: The world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost. But in the midst of the chaos, Yael's past and future collide when she comes face-to-face with a ghost from her past, and a spark with a fellow rider begins to grow into something more. Dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all--how far can you go for the ones you love? This gripping, thought-provoking conclusion to Wolf by Wolf will grab readers by the throat with its cinematic writing, fast-paced action, and relentless twists. "Wild and gorgeous, vivid and consuming. I loved it! I can't wait for the sequel."--Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, on Wolf by Wolf

alice

É. Eu amei bastante o primeiro livro, e estava muito ansiosa pra ler o segundo e acompanhar o desenvolvimento dos personagens secundários (principalmente o Luka). Acabei um pouco decepcionada, estava achando tudo maravilhoso até chegar no final. Teve um acontecimento bem desnecessário que me lembrou do livro Crooked Kingdom (que é um dos meus favoritos), porém sem o mesmo significado. Não estava esperando por aquilo e senti que a autora só queria emocionar o leitor (e pra ser sincera, nem isso ela conseguiu comigo). Também acho que o desenrolar das coisas no fim da história ficou meio sem sentido/corrido. Enfim, uma pena. Mas ainda acho que seja um bom livro, mesmo com suas falhas, e gostei bastante do romance e do personagem do Luka no geral. Senti que nessa continuação o leitor ficou mais imerso na mente frágil e danificada da Yael e achei isso muito interessante!

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

Oh my gosh, this was so good.
Just- sad and happy and beautiful and amazing. A perfect ending to this duology.

Wren Hardwick

This series deserves more hype and I am hoping that those who read this will give this duology a chance.

This is a retelling of a very real thing that happened: World War II.

Before I start, I want to shut down those who believe this series is insulting to what actually happened. Wolf by Wolf and Blood For Blood DO NOT GLORIFY the Nazis and what they did to innocent people. If anything, it helps see the hurt and pain that can come from such a horrible event. If retelling such an event is insulting in your eyes, I assume you don’t watch anything involving Captain America, or movies such as Inglorious Bastards, or even video games such as Call of Duty? How about episodes of shows like Doctor Who? 

None of these movies/comics/games insult the events that actually happened. I just see the makers and authors trying to making something beautiful out of something so horrible, if that makes sense. They still hold true to the horrible things that happened. Some, like this book I am reviewing, take the experiments done on said innocent people, and twist it into something vengeful. 

Yael failed to kill Hilter. In fact, she came into the realization that there are other skin shifters out there like herself, and some are even working for the Fuhrer himself. How many times have they tried to take the tyrants head off and it just ends up being someone else entirely?

Change faces. Keep changing. Always changing. 
They are after Adele, not Yael. Keep running. Always running. 



Yael has failed. Everything she has worked for since escaping the clutches of the Nazis, has meant nothing. Nothing? No, she must make it right. She has held people at arm’s length to make sure nothing got in the way of ending this nightmare. She will not let it all be for nothing. She must find the Resistance.



Little does she know that her fate is still intertwined with Luka’s and Felix’s. Each one plays a role in how this book ends.

Yael: Realizing that even though she kept people at arm’s length, doesn’t mean they kept her at the same distance. 
Lukas: Finding himself having feels for Not-Adele, someone on the opposite side of the train tracks. Also seeing the ugh truth of the war and what his father worked hard on. 
Felix: Doing whatever he can to save his family. But who has his family and who can he trust?

This book is a slower paced book and has a lot of character development. A lot of people didn’t like that aspect of it and expected it to be exactly like the first book. Well, sorry, not all books are the same and you have to have character development in order to keep the book interesting.

Personally, I thought Felix had the most interesting story line. He never knew who to trust. He was playing tug-a-war the whole time, but he was the rope. He was an emotional wreck the whole time because one moment he would trust Yael and the next he would be doing everything he could to destroy her. I mean, wouldn’t you be if you found out who you thought was your sister was not actually your sister and then where are your parents who has them and who would actually protect them? WHO DO I TRUST THE ANSWER IS EVERYONE AND NO ONE LETS DO EENY MEENY MINY MOE. 

Yael meets some from her past, saves people she doesn’t need to save but wants to and finds out the horrible yet welcoming truth of what really happened to her friend.

The last like twenty chapters of this book are intense. I can’t even describe it. It’s a lot like this meme: 



I have such a love for this book. Any types of real-historical-event-driven books always catch my attention. I highly recommend this book for history nerds, fantasy lovers and action junkies. 

WARNING: Your heart will break at the end. 

NARRATOR: Christa Lewis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I would go as far as to compare Christa Lewis to Lauren Fortgang. She does voices and she actually grabs your attention. I absolutely will listen to more books read by this narrator! 

But, as always, the applause goes to Ryan Graudin! Such a beautiful, heartbreaking tale!

Roos Kuijper 

Wolf by Wolf was a complete surprise I that didn't expect to love as I did. Blood for blood is even better and that ending really surprised me and broke my heart a little! This duology deserves so much more attention!

Blood for Blood

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