Given to the Wolf King is a fantasy novel by Adalynd Grayves; book one is the Faeted to the Clawed Throne series. A darkness is infecting two opposing kingdoms, the human and the fae. Aoife, a headstrong fae princess, runs headfirst into danger to protect innocent lives, and in true action-before-thought style, she causes more damage than intended. To bridge a rift, she has to accept her fate of being handed to the Wolf King, a strong leader of the humans with a secret well hidden, as a ward and to aid an alliance of good faith. In doing so, Cullen and Aoife can learn more about each other and explore what the darkness is and who is causing it, but the trouble mounting on the horizon does not prevent the feelings that arise within both Aoife and Cullen. Enemies surround them, curses are found, and darkness is infecting more by the day, but fate, of course, has her plans for the princess and the king.
I was hooked from the very beginning of this book, purely by Aoife’s stubborn, reckless, and fearsome protection. She will do anything to save the lives of the innocent. She feels so deeply for nature and is acutely attuned to every life form, spanning from plant to creature, and this is reflected in the magic she wields. Unfortunately, her feelings get her into trouble very early on. Maybe it’s how the fae ages, but she is somewhat out of touch with what her role as princess means regarding how she should behave. This could have something to do with the fact that her father babied her slightly for being the only girl in his brood. That’s not to say she isn’t intelligent and grown. Efi has looked after her siblings and has completed her role in her kingdom very well, but being passed into the hands of Cullen as a ward was such a shock to her system that you can see her slowly adjust herself and adapt, and I enjoyed seeing this growing stage in her throughout the book. She was a fish out of water in the human kingdom, but she never allowed that to entirely squash her fighting spirit.
It seems Cullen hasn’t had the chance to be anything but a strong, stern, and fearsome leader. There is so much mystery when it comes to Cullen. It might be down to how focused this book was on Aoife, but you do get the sense that all the secrets he has to keep feel like a weight about to pull him under; you get a sense of his panic and fear later on in the book. I feel like he didn’t realise there was another way to be, a way more like Aoife, where you feel everything more freely, whereas Cullen keeps it all hidden deep beneath the surface. I loved his thoughts about how entertaining, frustrating, and, at times, sexy Aoife could be. It gave more of a feel to the character beneath his tough surface. I can’t wait for Efi to crack him wide open.
I liked how Adalynd Grayves introduced the world and politics in this book. A lot of the time, with fantasy books, you can find that history and world-building can bog down the magic, but in this, you get the sense that Efi herself doesn’t understand the full extent of the world she lives in. Erainn is its own kingdom; therefore, it doesn’t abide by the laws of the other Fae courts. So this mystery Shadow Court could be leaching out and infecting Erainn and the human land, or it could be a way for the light and dark courts to try to bring Erainn back into the fold. There are so many questions because the author only allows you to have as much knowledge of the situation as the main character does, so Efi doesn’t know the full extent of what this darkness and Daemon mean for her life. You get the sense, in real-time, that she feels in the dark, but the fear starts to creep in towards the end of the book, and I’m telling you now that Daemon gives me the major ick, which is the author’s intent. I loved the magic of this book. The explanation of how magical, majestic, and important the unicorns of Erainn were to sustain the magic of the land, but how they healed despite being so brutal, was a lovely juxtaposition.
Another aspect I liked was how humans and fae have such big assumptions about each other, with prejudices and judgements that are completely unfounded because they fear each other enough not to interact regularly. Cullen has a much better opinion of the fae than Efi does of humans, considering he has been interacting with Efi’s father for a long time as they are both kings of neighbouring kingdoms. But it was entertaining to see how they went from annoyed but intrigued at the situation they have now found themselves into my most loved trope of ‘I am drawn to this person and cannot leave them now’. This isn’t a real trope, but it should be. I look forward to seeing more of their progression.
Now we all know I love Fate and what a scheming minx she is, and so far, Adalynd Grayves has me very intrigued by how she will play Fate for Cullen and Efi. So I will be reading the next book in the Faeted to the Clawed Throne series at some point, but I’m not chomping at the bit. This is due to how subtly the author set up the next book in the series; it almost dampened my enthusiasm for it. This has, of course, affected my star rating of this book, as has my opinion of the pacing problems. Sometimes it was perfectly paced, the action had you completely immersed in the scene, or the feeling of the characters had you connected deeply to them. Then, at other times, it felt like there was too much filler that added very little to the overall plot of the book. For example, the slow days of Aoife getting through her days, walking around the castle, etc. I know this is to show how different her life is now and give you insight into her feelings, but Efi is already written in such a way that you can easily understand her emotions. Therefore, I found the frequency of these filler bits to be too often and too long, and I subsequently found myself rushing through them. Due to this, I will be rating Given to the Wolf King Three out of Five Stars.
I would recommend Given to the Wolf King to anyone who loves fantasy books full of all things magic, unicorns, curses, and fae/human rifts. This book is more fantasy-heavy than romance-heavy, but not overly world-building-heavy. I wouldn’t class it as romantasy as, from reading book one, I believe it will be a slow-burn series, but it had me grinning at points as the tension rose very slowly. If you love a strong, protective, and rather stubborn FMC and an equally similar MMC who is more worldly with a hidden wildness, then give this indie author’s series a whirl.
Favourite Quotes
““I’ve marked you. Now I’ll always be able to find you.””
page 26
““Don’t let anyone stop you from being who and what you are.””
page 38
“I should not feel attracted to the man who holds my life in his hands.”
page 49
“I feel like a caged bird. Struggling to get out.”
page 86
“His touch was soft and intoxicating, and she wanted nothing more than to drink it all up.”
page 132
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Finer Details
Title: Given to the Wolf King
Author: Adalynd Grayves
Pages: 178
Publisher: Adalynd Grayves
Publication: 2022
Language: English
Rating: 3/5