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Yael is on the run. The world watched her shoot and kill Hitler, but the truth of what happened turns out to be far more complicated than the resistance imagined. The consequences are deadly.
Yael and her unlikely comrades have no choice but to dive into enemy territory. They’re desperate to turn the tide against Hitler’s army, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost.
Amid the chaos, Yael’s past and future collide when she comes face to face with a ghost from her past. A romantic spark with a fellow racer begins to grow into something more. But a future is impossible, unless Yael and the resistance can end this war once and for all.
The Third Reich has promised there will be blood. Blood for blood. An entire world of it. And Yael knows she’s at the top of their kill list.
Blood for Blood wraps up the Wolf by Wolf duology, and while I’m glad I finished it, I definitely enjoyed the first book more. Wolf by Wolf had an end goal that led to hope. In Blood for Blood, however, what little hope the characters possessed was shattered. It was replaced with a desperate, gray plot and an overall depressing tone.
The high-octane race is exchanged for a daring cross-country escape through enemy territory. Without the time-sensitive deadline of the race, the pace of the story seems to drag toward the middle, though it leads to an explosive ending.
While the atmosphere and the portrayal of this “what if” history are brilliantly executed, it’s also a gritty, action-packed roller coaster not for the faint of heart. There is an incredible amount of death, gore, betrayal, and gut-punching emotion — even more than the first book. And even though I was satisfied with how this young adult fantasy book series ended, thinking about this still hurts.
Rated: High. Harsh topics, countless deaths, horrific violence, blood, and gore. Profanity includes 37 uses of moderate language (all of which are in German), 42 uses of mild language (30 of which are in German), and 6 uses of the name of Deity (four of which are also in German). An attempted assassination leads to the killer committing suicide (the scene is relived from an event described in the first book). Characters are shot, the aftermath of massacred villages and families witnessed, and bodies are piled in streets from skirmishes and mass executions via firing squad. Stories are told of experimented children dying of fever, madness, or on a scientist’s table. Their files are gone through and some horrific details are listed. Prison camps hold not just Jews, but homosexuals, political prisoners and their families, and anyone viewed as a threat or imperfect among the Third Reich society. Characters are tortured and beaten, and bones are broken. Sexual content includes the mention of a boy accidentally walking in on a girl showering, and references are made to male body parts. Characters kiss.
