*I was given an ARC of Red and the Wolves in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and Cherry Zong for my copy of the graphic novel*
Synopsis:
For lovers of Through the Woods, Blackwater, and Squad, comes a dark, sapphic retelling of a classic tale.
Red, a fiercely loyal hunter, has dedicated her life to protecting her witch Grand Mother. Monsters have been roaming the forest that they call home, bringing forth a mysterious illness that has devastated the land and chased every living soul away. Until Red stumbles upon an injured wolf-girl named Sil.
Red is cautiously optimistic to befriend someone new, but the more their relationship deepens, the more she begins to uncover the sinister truths behind everything she’s ever known.
Red must make the difficult decision of who to defend, before catastrophe consumes them all. This graphic novel that’s an apocalyptic fantasy meets queer love story turns the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale on its head.
Review:
I was expecting Red and the Wolves to be a Red Riding Hood retelling. That is absolutely not what I got, but that isn’t a bad thing. Other than having a character called Red and some wolves, the similarities are non-existent. I did really love the wolves though, they were so cute.
Speaking of cute, I love this art style. The character designs were wonderful but the settings were the stand out of the whole graphic novel. So much detail on every page and the colour palette is stunning.
Something that I don’t think was delivered to its full potential was the romance. I was promised a sapphic retelling of Red Riding Hood but I don’t feel like Red and Sil were given enough time to really form their relationship. Don’t get me wrong, they were cute but the sapphic vibes weren’t really there. Give. Us. More. Sapphics. Thanks.
The story and character backgrounds were well done but I read this over such a long period of time, sometimes reading just a few pages at a time, that it’s a little disjointed to me. Which is half my fault and half the graphic novel’s fault. The story just wasn’t capturing my attention in the way I was expecting. It’s very rare for me to not read a graphic novel in one sitting but this one took me such a long time.
I’m thankful Red and the Wolves gave the story the space it needed to make an impact but I do think the pacing could have been a smidge faster.
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