Wolf by Wolf

by Ryan Graudin

Hardcover, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

T F GRA

Publication

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2015), 400 pages

Description

Science Fiction. Historical Fiction. Young Adult Fiction. HTML:Her story begins on a train. The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, they host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball in Tokyo. Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele's twin brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move. But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and stay true to her mission? From the author of The Walled City comes a fast-paced and innovative novel that will leave you breathless..… (more)

Barcode

4385

Language

Lexile

L

User reviews

LibraryThing member gaby317
Wolf by Wolf is set in a world where Adolf Hitler's Third Reich goes on to control half the world alongside the Japanese Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. Our heroine Yael survives a death camp after having been singled out by the concentration camp's doctor for his skin changing experiments. Yael's
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buried her entire family and many of those closest to her. Her overriding goal is to destroy the Third Reich's control and to bring about Hitler's end.

The Resistance has planned an elaborate mission that requires her to first win the Axis Tour - a deadly race over the conjoined continents of what had been Europe, Russia, and Asia. It is only as the winner of the contest that she'll have the opportunity to come close enough to Hitler to make her move.

I loved Wolf by Wolf. Yael enters the Axis Tour with a dossier on each of her competitors and quickly finds that there is much that her files fail to cover. She must decipher their shared histories without revealing her identity or her mission and play to win. Yael is strong, deadly, and with a strict code and as she goes through one of the most difficult challenges in her world, we can't help but root for her.
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LibraryThing member seriesousbooks
I love alternate history novels and this one was fabulous!
The race element did drag for a bit--but I'm not a fan of adventure stories so that's a personal thing.
The concept is fabulous and the thought behind everything is apparent.
I'm not sure about the one element to this story but reading the
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author's note on why she made that choice made things clearer to me and I understand why it is necessary. I also completely missed it when I was listening to the audiobook and didn't realize what was happening until well after the 50% mark.
Full Review to Come
Actual Rating: 4.5/5
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LibraryThing member Beammey
I actually really loved this book. I'm all for historical fiction, especially the 'what if??' kind, so I knew I would like this book, but no, I LOVED it. I really enjoyed the main character and that the book wasn't focused on the romantic interest and her. It was really well written and I was
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rooting so hard for Yael, then that twist ending! If I could give this more than five stars I would. So, so, so good. Looking forward to the next book in the series!
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LibraryThing member yvonne.sevignykaiser
I had an opportunity to hear the author at a forum at the 2015 Texas Book Festival. I was completely intrigued by the idea of her alternate history and concept for this book. Unfortunately I had to wait to get a copy of her book because the festival did not receive copies. I ordered it once home
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form her local book seller and received my copy several weeks later. I finally got a chance to pull it from my TBR pile.

Wow what a ride! The story alternates between 1955 Germania and a WWII concentration camp and these changes run smoothly throughout the story. Yael our main character is taken with her family to a concentration camp. The camp doctor picks her from the crowd for experiments he is doing. He is working on a project to change the genome of the Jewish prisoners. Many have died from the transitions but Yael is able to survive and eventually shape shift. She can look at another women or photograph of a woman and change to that person. Her curse becomes her way to survival and escape from the camp.

We come to our present time of 1955-56 Germania and Hitler has won the war and there is still a resistance group trying to win the country back and stop the insanity of Hitler's purge. Yael has joined the group and the plan is for her to infiltrate the yearly Axis Tour Motorcycle Race. This would get her close to Hitler at the Victors Ball where she can assassinate him and set off the major move by the resistance.

You feel every threat and find yourself holding your breath as she makes her way through the race. Then the kick at the end holy moly Batman!

Not only is the story amazing but it stays with you and makes you think and remind us of how crazy the world was and can easily teeter back if we don't continue to be vigilant and stay on top of and stop hate and labels.
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LibraryThing member Jennie_103
SPOILER ALERT

It’s a post WW-II world except the Nazis won. Even more mind-bogglingly this is not the weirdest change to our world – Yael is a skin-shifter. After a Nazi concentration camp biological experiment as a child, she has the ability to shift her appearance at will. As an adult, she
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becomes part of the Resistance, and her mission is to take the place of champion motorbike rider, Adele Wolfe, win the motor race again, dance with Hitler at the Victor’s Ball and stab him on live TV. The majority of the book covers the race and the various plots and entanglements this entails – including the death of several characters, including one at Yael’s own hand. This section of the book seemed a little predictable – until the end when Yael/Adele, unthinkably, doesn’t win. And the solution is incredibly simple – go to the ball as the winner’s date. Something she could have probably done if she’d asked without going through all the hardships of the race in the first place… Wouldn’t have been as much of a story though!
Identity is key to this novel – how do you hold on to your beliefs and values if you are forced to pretend to be someone else? Also alliances, trust, friendships and family ties.
This novel might encourage would-be fighters and spies to concentrate on their language skills – being able to speak several languages gets Yael out of several tight spots. A lead female character to appeal to the girls, motorbikes, tattoos, knives, spies and not too much mushy stuff to appeal to the boys. Teachers beware, there is swearing, although mostly in German…
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LibraryThing member lilibrarian
An an alternate future, Germany and Japan won World War II. To celebrate their dominion over Europe and Asia, they organize a joint motorcycle race of their best youth to celebrate their strength. The winner will get to meet Hirohito and Hitler. Yael is a survivor of a death camp. As a result of
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medical experimentation, she is different. Disguised as a German girl, she enters the race determined to win and get to Hitler.
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LibraryThing member acargile
This novel is set in a world where Hitler was not defeated, so I’ll call is alternative historical fiction.

Our main character is Yael, a Jew who lives in a concentration camp. She’s the camp’s doctor’s experiments. He injects her regularly to see if he can create an Aryan out of a Jew.
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He’s successful--she looks much different. We learn all of this in flashbacks. The novel takes place in 1956 where Europe and Asia are basically German and Japanese, respectively. Yael is a resistance member. Her job is is to kill Hitler and start a revolution.

Hitler rarely goes out and, when he does, is surrounded by guards. There is only one way. Yael needs to win a famous motorcycle race. Hitler danced with the girl who won the previous year; if Yael can win, she can get close enough to kill the “monster,” as she calls him. This race won’t be easy. It’s a race across the continent--what has been conquered by the Germans and Japanese--to show people their power and the skill of their people; also, anything goes. Participants do whatever to get ahead, so the strongest survives. In this race, Yael meets Luka and Felix, both of whom care about Adele, the girl Yael is pretending to be. It’s a tense race with questions of whether anyone can be trusted.

This is a fascinating look at an alternate world. We often wonder how the world would be different if victors were losers and losers were victors. This is one author’s view. There is a bit of a science fiction element, but the author explains his choice at the end of the novel. The second novel will be released in November of 2016. It’s a good reading experience. I enjoyed the book
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LibraryThing member wildrequiem
a very formulaic young adult book, but still extremely entertaining. the concept is very interesting, and i think that combined with the alternate historical context makes it unique.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
From the book jacket: The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. [They] host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across [three] continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo. The resistance has
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given Yael, [a former death camp prisoner], one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler.

My reactions
This is interesting speculative fiction dealing with “what might have been” had Germany & Japan won WW2. It was that aspect of the book which initially caught my attention. But Graudin takes this a step further by introducing an unusual twist: As a result of experiments she was subjected to in the death camp, Yael can now “skin shift,” altering her appearance at will, which provides an incredibly valuable disguise in virtually any situation. In this case, she is impersonating Adele Wolfe, last year’s winner of the race.

The plot moves as quickly as the racers bound from Germania to Tokyo. Yael is a strong heroine – resourceful, intelligent, physically and mentally fit for the challenge. There’s a complication to Yael’s plan, when two boys close to Adele make it all the more difficult for Yael to pull off the masquerade.

I thought there were several holes in this plot, and I didn’t much care about the interpersonal drama between Adele/Yael and the two boys. I also think I would have enjoyed this kind of speculative plot without the “skin shifting” aspect. The ending is abrupt and leaves more questions than answers – could Graudin be planning a sequel?

While I recognize the appeal for the target audience, it really wasn’t the book for me, and I’m in no hurry to read anything else by this author.
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LibraryThing member JanaRose1
After undergoing an experimental trial at an extermination camp, Yael has the power to skinshift, to impersonate others. As part of a plot to overthrow Hitler, she impersonates Adele Wolfe, last year’s female victor of a motorcycle race. The plan is for Yael to win the race, be invited to the
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after-party, dance with Hitler and kill him.

I’m not quite sure how taking out Hitler would cause the entire Reich to crumble. It just doesn’t seem like his second in command would step up. Despite this criticism, Yael was a very interesting character. The book itself was fast-paced, intriguing and hard to put down. Overall, well worth picking up.
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LibraryThing member alsparks324
In a world where Hitler wins World War II, hope has been crushed by Nazi rule in conjunction with Japan. Controlling most of Europe & Asia, the Emperor and the Fuehrer are in control. Yael was a Jew taken to the concentration camps. While there she was "experimented" on. Through this
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experimentation she gains a unique power that could be the key to ending tyrannical rule. All she has to do is win a grueling motorcycle race and then assassinate Hitler at the celebratory ball. She is driven by memories from the camp and other memories. If she's successful the resistance will rise up and try to regain normalcy. If she's not the world will continue to suffer. Twists, turns, & action. Loved it. A different look at the world and playing "what if" with history.
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LibraryThing member mandkrue86
Yael grew up in one of the most horrific times mankind has ever know: the Third Reich. And as a person of Jewish descent, she is brought to a concentration camps where she is selected for a number of medical experiments. The young suffers immense pain as injection after injection meant to turn her
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into the prime example of an Aryan woman: white blond hair, blue eyes, and Scandinavian facial features. Yet something goes wrong and Yael is suddenly capable of changing her appearance and look like whoever she wants to be.

That astounding ability does not just allow her to escape a horrible death at the camp but also turns her into a key piece of the political resistance. By 1955, the number of death threats and assassination attempts against the Führer have increased dramatically so that he hardly ever makes an appearance anymore. With one exception: the winner’s ball of the Axis Tour, a motorcycle race half-way across the world. There’s not better opportunity to kill the man responsible for so much pain and hardship than there and no better person to do it than shapeshifter Yael, taking over the identity of former victor Adele Wolfe. Let the race begin!

I have to say I was more than intrigued by Grayson’s idea of what if. What if World War Two had not ended in 1945 because the Nazis won? What then? However, this book is more about Yael’s personal story and the Axis Tour than life in the Third Reich. I was incredibly interested in the parts of the story that played on the past because you could see a glimpse of that “what if” Graudin has promised. But as someone who is not very interested in motorcycles, the fact that the majority of the book was focused on the race was kind of a letdown. It made the book drag on and I had a hard time picking it up (which is why I’m still not sure if I want to read the sequel). That being said, I enjoyed the characters, especially the triangle between Yael, Lukas, and Felix.

One last comment: as a native German I did not like the randomly thrown in German words. They weren’t always grammatically correct and thus sounded odd. To have everything written in English would have made for a better reading experience!
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LibraryThing member Vulco1
It was pretty good. Action packed. Good espionage scenes. This was a pretty interesting idea that I hadn't read before.
LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
This alternate history had the potential to be a compelling read. It had a gripping start, beautiful writing and an unique concept, but it was very repetitive and at times it lacked the action it promised. I also felt, as the reader, that I was kept at arms' length from really knowing the main
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characters - Yael, Felix and Luka, and as such couldn't totally connect with them. However, I did enjoy Yael's backstory. "Wolf By Wolf" has received a number of rave reviews, but I didn't think it lived up to the hype, although it was still an okay story.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
3.75 stars

What if the Axis had won World War II? Yael was a little girl and had been one of the medical subjects in one of the concentration camps. What they did was inject her with something to make her appear more Aryan. Turns out she could do more than appear Aryan after a while – she could
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“skinshift” to look like anyone else. Because of this, she was able to escape, and years later, in 1956 when she is 17-years old, she is part of the resistance and she has a mission – she is impersonating a girl motorcycle racer. Once she wins, she’ll have access to Hitler…

This one took a bit for me to get “into” it, but once it got going, I thought it was good. We go back and forth in time from current day Yael in the resistance to young Yael in the concentration camp and everything leading up to how she got to her current mission. There was a good twist at the end and it is a series (or maybe trilogy?), so I will continue.
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LibraryThing member GennaC
"She-wolf. An interesting choice." "I didn't choose it," she told him. "It chose me."

An exhilarating, heartbreaking alternate history in which the Axis rang victorious and Hitler's brutal dreams of an Aryan, empowered Third Reich are realized.

Yael is an enigma; damaged and haunted by the brutal
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experiments to erase her Jewish traits she survived as a child and the long list of people she has lost. Now 17 and trained by the resistance to be a ruthless weapon, Yael has a new mission. Assuming the identity of a favored Aryan daughter, she sets out on a reckless journey to win the Fuhrer's favor in order to plant a bullet in his chest.

75% of the book is a gritty, cross-country motorcycle race, which was unexpectedly riveting. Graudin's alternate WWII is haunting and well-researched, her metaphoric writing subtly effective. I've always been drawn to WWII literature, both fiction and nonfiction, but Wolf by Wolf is unlike anything I've ever read, particularly in YA. With a breathtakingly unique premise and complex, compelling characters, this was a provocative, gripping read.
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LibraryThing member KeriLynneD
Such an interesting story! Yael is a strong willed main character who even though she is trained to be an assassin she still has a good heart and tries her best to do what she feels is right. There isn't really any romance which is refreshing. I didn't really know where exactly the story was headed
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so it kept me very interested. Felix was also another character I really liked. Hopefully the next book is just as good! Highly recommended if you like YA historical fiction.
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LibraryThing member AKBouterse
I love alternate history so this book was write up my alley. I don't love the whole "axis forces won wwII" story in alternate history but I thought this book was great. I thought this idea was very intriguing and I liked the mystical, fantasy elements of shape shifting mixed into this very
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realistic story. I liked all the main characters and I also really enjoyed learning about all the people in the resistance movement as well as all of the other racers. The reason I couldn't give the book the last star was because this book never made feel the way I thought I should. For instance I was never very nervous at the times where I thought I should or excited or anything. Don't get me wrong, I did feel strong emotions while reading this book. For instance in the last parts I really just wanted to flip to the back and read the last chapter to see what happened because I was so anxious about the ending but there were certainly lots of times I wish the book had made me feel more. I also figured out the plot twist at the end pretty early on. I'm not someone who thinks that it's the worst thing in the world when you can figure out the twist ending but it did take away from the suspense quite a bit in this case. I am excited to read the next book ( I am in the middle of so many series right now I'm never going to finish them) and I am intrigued by how this story ended and what will happen next so I hope to pick up the next book soon.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
Gah, ok, so this is a book that is incredibly hard to put down -- fast paced (like a bullet train is fast paced), alt-history motorcycle race and a plot to assassinate Hitler. Great main character, too, in the shifting Yael, with her spy's lack of self.

I personally found the very concept of a world
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where Hitler won to be so horrifying that I couldn't put that aside and enjoy the book. The underlying darkness and despair is pretty much impossible to shake, and I recognize that as fantastic writing, even as I walk away from this series. Too much for me, but don't let that stop you.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
I avoided this book for the longest time, which I now regret because it was SO amazing.

ISBN

0316405124 / 9780316405126
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