“Dyrwolf” by Kat Kinney

Lea Wylder is a fighter. She’s been fighting all her life. She’s been fighting against the enemy, the biggest threat to her people. She’s been fighting against the grief of losing her loved ones. And if that wasn’t enough, there is a continuous battle with her own mind and body, both seemingly trying to betray her from within.

Lea’s life isn’t easy. Still, she knows who the enemy is and knows how to fight against it. That is until she meets one of them. She is supposed to kill him on the spot. But she can’t kill Henrik. Not after he shifts from the white wolf who’s been chasing her in her dreams to a human boy with this stupid barley-stalk hair and a sack full of herbs rather than weapons.

Lea’s life was hell before. Now it becomes even more complicated.

There are reasons beyond a mop of barley-white hair that make Lea agree to help the enemy. And there are more reasons why I really liked the story besides it being packed with unexpected twists.

I loved how the author peeled off layer after layer gradually revealing the true nature of things. Both sides of the conflict, human and Dyr, transform in front of readers’ eyes with every chapter. The story of what happened in the past and what is happening now unfolds as secrets get revealed.

And I absolutely loved the immersive writing style I already fell in love with when reading Kat Kinney’s Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series. In “Dyrwolf”, the language is even richer, with descriptions pulling you into the story.

“Skinny, stiped aspen trunks fly by, pale and bare as rib bones, their leaves fluttering in a dazzling display of corn-stalk gold and ember orange.”

Nordvend is a harsh place. Neither Dyr shifters nor human colonists have chosen it to be their home for its climate. Still, now this is their home, and both nations are prepared to do everything not to lose it. Is it possible to find a compromise that will satisfy both sides? Or were the crimes and atrocities performed too horrible to ever sit at the negotiations table?

Since I felt totally drawn in by the author’s incredibly beautiful prose and simply couldn’t say goodbye to Lea and Henrik just yet, I started book two of the series “Darkwitch” right after I finished book one.