I’m so excited to see this sequel to The Devouring Wolf, with its seamless queer inclusion, intriguing magic system, and engaging characters. After Riley Callahan and her four closest friends finally received their wolf powers at the resolution of The Devouring Wolf, Riley, now 13, is the leader of her “prime,” or group of bonded werewolves. She thought that finally getting their powers would mean she and her friends would finally fit in with the other wolves—but because of how they got their powers, the five friends share a unique bond that still sets them apart and causes other wolves to resent them.
As Riley grapples with this, a new threat arises for the entire werewolf community where she lives with her two moms and two siblings. The nearby witches, with whom the werewolves have an uneasy relationship, are seeking the missing successor to the magic-hungry powers of the Nameless Witch—powers that can control even werewolves. When Riley and her prime encounter the young runaway, Ter, however, they learn she doesn’t want the powers and would rather choose her own path. They pledge to help, even though the frightening power of the Nameless Witch means their new friend could soon steal their magic and destroy the wolves. Their actions flout the orders of the wolf leaders, however, notably Great Callahan, aka Riley’s Mama C. What path will Riley follow, and will her prime follow their leader?
The book is effortlessly queer in multiple ways, not only because of Riley’s moms. Ter uses she/they pronouns. Riley’s older sister Darcy is trans, one member of her pack is nonbinary, and another was raised by a two-uncle couple. Riley also has a crush on another girl. None of these identities drives the plot, but nor are they ignored when relevant. For example, part of witch magic involves knowing someone’s name, and Ter notes that sometimes the name someone goes by has more power than their birth name. Riley understands that because, “She could hardly even remember what her sister’s name had been before it was Darcy. It probably wouldn’t hold that much power over her anymore.”
The worldbuilding here is excellent, and the magic systems of both wolves and witches are thoughtfully developed. This is more than just a contemporary fantasy adventure, though (despite the plentiful action). Parker weaves in a theme about the choices we make and how we claim our power that is powerful without being pedantic. She also wisely avoids making the theme into an explicit analogy for any type of queerness (since such analogies often don’t quite capture people’s real experiences), although readers could find echoes there to queerness and other aspects of identity. Instead, the message is widely applicable but will be felt differently by different readers. There’s also a secondary theme about a child moving into young adulthood and how this impacts both them and their parents, which I appreciated both as a parent and as an erstwhile teen.
While the ending is satisfying, a few small loose ends seem to indicate another volume is to come in this series, and I can’t wait.
Riley, her moms, and brother are White; several other characters are Black or Latine.
