Packing the same visceral punch as book one, A WOLF APART is Maria Vale's second book in the Legend of All Wolves series. This is a gritty book that does not hide from the realities of life as a wolf shifter, such as bloody gore all over one's muzzle from prey or the high likelihood of being shot by a hunter to end one's life prematurely. Fans of Anne Bishop's The Others series will revel in the profound sense of other-ness that Vale creates in her wolf shifters.

Elijah Sorensson is the Alpha wolf of the 9th Echelon. He's been living away from his Pack for 30 years, operating at a New York City law firm in order to shepherd the interests of his Pack through human affairs. The prolonged separation from his Pack, broken only once a month for the mandatory moon-called change that every wolf undergoes, has been wearing on his sanity. I love how deftly Vale draws the strokes to show Elijah holding on to his mental state by the tips of his fingers. Er, I mean claws.

Elijah then meets a human that he falls in love with. Thea Villalobos seems almost other-worldly herself and is an intriguing character in her own right. Elijah and Thea's romance causes all kinds of political issues, as wolves are forbidden to consort with humans. The political machinations between Pack members as well as between the Pack and their enemies are constantly roiling, providing a great deal of suspense and action.

A WOLF APART continues to flesh out the surprising world of shifter culture, with the concepts adding a great jolt of new blood to the old and sometimes stale ideas in the genre. A WOLF APART can stand on its own, although the richness of the wolf world is more fully appreciated when the books are read in order. A stark and feral read, Vale's A WOLF APART continues to bring a bloody yet appealing realism to the shifter genre.

Book Summary

Can a human truly make room in her heart for the Wild?
Thea Villalobos has long since given up trying to be what others expect of her. So in Elijah Sorensson she can see through the man of the world to a man who is passionate to the point of heartbreak. But something inside him is dying...

Elijah Sorensson has all kinds of outward success: bespoke suits, designer New York City apartment, women clamoring for his attention. Except Elijah despises the human life he's forced to endure. He's Alpha of his generation of the Great North Pack, and the wolf inside him will no longer be restrained...

She sizes me up quickly with eyes the color of ironwood and just as unyielding.
"Thea Villalobos," she says, and it takes me a moment to get my breath back.
Thea Villalobos. Goddess of the City of Wolves.

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