This was such an incredible read, but definitely not one for the faint of heart!
If you enjoyed Watership Down I think you’ll definitely be a fan of Blacktail. It’s a very similar vibe in that we follow the journey of Blacktail as he seeks out the Forest God to carry out his revenge against humans after they killed his mate and unborn pups. There’s a LOT of different stories from different animals that Blacktail encounters on his travels, telling tales of how humans have destroyed their homes, their families, and their lives. It’s incredibly graphic and brutal at times, but the worst part about it is these animals’ stories feel like they could so easily be real.
There’s something so raw about books written from the perspective of animals, and I think Scott Hawkins perfectly captures the different animals’ natures and how they handle their experiences with humans. Their stories range from good(ish), to bad, to downright horrific and it’s hard for me to fully put into words how deeply they all hit me. Each chapter follows a different group or individual that Blacktail meets on his journey, and I love how I was made to feel such different emotions for each of them. I felt a lot of sympathy towards Mercy’s pack in particular, I found that a particularly hard chapter to get through knowing how things would likely play out. 🥲
I was a big fan of Old Kitty Mother and her coven of cats that pop up wherever Blacktail goes. I love how even in this world they’re seen as magical and mysterious creatures and everyone respects and fears them. Their names also gave a very much needed little bit of comic relief in an otherwise quite grim book!
This is a book that’s going to sit with me for a long time, it was a difficult and uncomfortable read at times but I think it was definitely a worthwhile one.
TW : Be warned there are quite a few graphic scenes of animal violence, death, and abuse, and I personally found some of them quite hard to get through with how detailed it got at times. So if this is something you struggle with this may not be the book for you!
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