Children of the Wolf
By Abby Gen
Ballantine, September 2026, 320pp.
The Short of It:
A demon filled story. Haunting and raw.
The Rest of It:
“As an adult, Liv leads a quiet life, tending to the beekeeping business that supports her and her brother. But when a dead body is discovered in her town, she is forced to grapple with a legacy of violence from when she was small.
As a child, she shared a home in rural Iowa with her brother Finn and their father Ulf. Swedish-born Ulf, a direct descendant of the infamous Erik the Red, raises his children as if they are Vikings. They are homeschooled, speak only Swedish, learn swordplay and archery, celebrate the Norse holidays, and worship the old gods with blood sacrifices.” ~ the publisher
Children of the Wolf takes time to fully invest the reader in its characters. Liv and Finn are shades away from feral. They live off the land, sharing a bond that is impossible to ignore, but they are very different. Liv is matter-of-fact, while Finn seems softer and more vulnerable.
After Finn suffers a brutal injury at the hands of his own father, he and Liv are separated from him when their father is taken to prison. Liv also begins to notice that men in the area have been disappearing. Could the two things be connected?
Twenty years later, Finn and Liv have started new lives in the US. The events of that fateful night are far behind them, but Liv cannot move past them. Should she share her suspicions with the authorities? Does she really want to relive everything in order to prevent the same violence they once fled?
Liv is an interesting character. She is observant, quiet, and definitely not meek. Her interactions with people seem innocent on the surface, but her feelings and intuitions run deep, making for complicated friendships and relationships.
Without giving too many details away, I can say that this story is dark, raw, and filled with emotion. There is a heaviness to it, but it feels right for the story.
This was my first time reading this author, and I would absolutely read her work again.
Recommend.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
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