I'm torn between a three and a four star rating (out of five) on this one. I went with the lower rating because the cliff hanger ending makes the novel feel very abruptly ended despite the 300+ pages. There's also some minor problems with the pacing (it drags in places), and a tension between the plot within the book and the overall plot arc of the series. Instead of the first book containing an independent and complete narrative that ties into the larger series arc, Year of the Wolf reads more like the first installment of a WIP. Despite that, Year of the Wolf is a pretty awesome read!
Citlalli Alvarez's family is being hunted by something inhuman, unnatural, and clocked in shadows. After her eldest sister, Marisol, mysteriously disappears, Citlalli's mother removes her remaining three daughters from their father's dubious custody and takes them back with her to Seoul. Only it seems that whatever took Marisol isn't done with the Alvarez family just yet.
Heffner writes a uniquely gorgeous take on vampires and werewolves, incorporating Korean mythology and transplanting a kick-ass Latina from the States to Seoul, South Korea. Heffner creates a lot of drama within the transplanted Alvarez family with Citlalli at her rebellious best. Some of the staging that sets-up the disconnect within the family slows the pace of the novel down, leaving it draggy in places, but overall Heffner creates a gorgeously imagined story with an alternate spirit world Korea rich with vibrant characters and landscapes.
There are shifts in POV that I should find jarring, but that seem to work within the novel. One of the shits occurs pretty late in the narrative and I question the choice, but, again, it works perhaps because it's used judiciously.
I love that the characters are complex and very different. I love that there are secrets and lies and that Mami, especially, loves her children as much as she resents them. Khyber, too, is beautifully dualistic, so much so, that at this point I'm not sure which way he's going to go (good guy or bad!). I definitely can't wait to dive into the second novel, Year of the Tiger.
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