I was drawn to a book about wolves by Blaidd Gwyn - (White Wolf in Welsh), anticipating a blend of typical werewolf fantasy with some wider Welsh lore. I got the wolf shapeshifter fantasy part, which was still enjoyable. It does have a slightly different twist on books of a similar genre.

It was great to read about a Tabitha, who is to become the next giant wolf of the West. Battling old ways, where men lead and women are deemed suitable for only select roles within the pack. Each pack or race of Wolves has distinct colours and traits. Some live a more rustic way of life others more modernised, but there are key roles amongst them all such as Peace keeper , Protector and so on.

This book moves very quickly, as distrust amongst the packs spread after the brutal challenges and deaths of others not seen in years. The battles are gory and bloody with many a death. Some of the main characters like Tabitha and Ren were very likeable, some baddies equally easy to dislike. I did think there were a lot of missed opportunities to flesh out the characters and see them develop more . Similarly it would have been good to understand the background of the wolves race and the history of an Alpha challenge better to give greater context and understanding. It did feel a little unbalanced in this regard. The settings, the physical wolf attributes were well described and it was easy to place your self in their world. This was a still an enjoyable read, perhaps lacking some finesse, but with a great opportunity for these aspects to be worked though in future books in the series.

It took a while for me to get into the book, but once I did, I enjoyed it. I like the characters. I like that the author didn't make the two characters you see at the beginning of the story love interests. That in my opinion was a nice touch.

I thought the premise of this was good and would be curious to see where the series goes, but I did have some issues with the writing style. I had a hard time understanding character motivations/development due to time jumps, which led to me getting a bit lost whilst trying to keep track of everything. It is definitely dark and gory which I didn't mind. It was pretty fast paced and the plot was fairly easy to follow compared to the characterization. Overall it could use some refinement and tweaks but I think it was a series starter that people will enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with a review copy of this text in exchange for an honest review.

This was a curious read with a great premise that could do with a polish, especially on transitions. The author I feel sometimes struggled to give the reader knowledge without having characters make awkward observations. There were many characters and time jumps that made some characterisations difficult to believe in some ways as you never got the backbone of the story of some characters and too much of others, but the premise made the book broadly enjoyable as a gritty fantasy books. The book is definitely graphic in terms of the violence with no shortage of victims so take warnings seriously when reading.

If you are looking for a very dark fantasy sprinkled well with horror then this is the book for you. This book rockets into full on action and never stops until you have turned the last page. Plenty of blood soaked pages, graphic portrayals of gory battles and so much more. A fantastic read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc in return for an honest review.

I did not get along with this book's writing style. The world building felt intricate and had me engaged, but the writing style made it so hard for me to finish. I felt an urge to stop reading basically at the end of every chapter. I don't think it's bad, per se, but I do think it could use refinement and work.

i enjoyed reading this book there are some parts i wished had been more detailed or longer but i get why they were done that way after getting through a few more chapters and i look forward to reading the next book in the series i would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy worlds but it seems it will take reading more of the series to understand the world fully

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with a review copy of this novel in exhange for an honest review!

'Giant Wolves of the West' is a story about a girl named Tabitha who is part of a clan, in which if it's members have the ability to transform (into wolves) they can then train to become 'protectors' of the clan. Tabitha is one of the few women in the clan with this ability, but the prejudices of the clan may prevent her from fulfilling her dreams...

Why this book was not for me...
First and foremost I feel that I should clarify that this book has a genuinely good premise, the concept of these clans having soldiers who can transform into animals is quite original and when the story began I absolutely believed this would be a story I could get fully invested in.

However I felt that the story became incredibly rushed as soon as it hit around page 50. In fact the pacing feels off for around 70% of this story with things happening way too quickly, and in some cases events just happening between chapters that requires you to just assume its happened.

Lastly I feel that there was a lot of inspiration gained with George R.R. Martin's 'A Game of Thrones', but I think in this case it has been executed in a really poor manner. We get an excessive amount of swearing, to the point I don't think it is believable that someone would come out with half the thing the men say. It also contradicts the theme of empowering women when the male characters come out with misogynistic comments in every conversation.

With the issues of plot and excessive swearing, this was a book that was just not for me personally.

Rating: 1/5

Once again, many thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with a review copy of this text in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blaid Gwyn Publications for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which will be available October 20,2023!

This was a very violent, very mature dark fantasy horror read. I enjoyed it. It was full throttle nonstop and I felt like it had me in a chokehold. Characters and world are fully realized and fleshed out. Pacing was on point. I really enjoyed it