The world is wrong. I’m just doing my part to fix it.

It’s been over 10 years since the Nazis won WWII. 18-year-old Yael has one mission, to kill Hitler. The only way she can get close enough is to take the place of Adele Wolfe, the only girl ever to win the Axis Tour, a motorbike race from Germania (formerly Berlin) to Tokyo. Yael is in a unique position; after years of tortuous experiments carried out on her, she was left with the ability to change her appearance. She just has to win the race…

Alternate histories where the Nazis won the war seem to be quite popular at the moment. In games there’s Wolfenstein and in telly there’s the adaptation of The Man in the High Castle. Wolf by Wolf is a welcome addition, including a supernatural twist. I’ll just add, try to keep your alternate histories to one at a time, as I found myself getting the backstory confused with that of TMitHC.

Born Jewish, Yael was sent to a concentration camp when she was just six years old. She is experimented on by a doctor, clearly modelled on Auschwitz’s Josef Mengele, among whose horrific experiments included attempts to change eye colours of his subjects. Yael is subjected to numerous injections to change her hair, skin and eye colour. Little do the Nazis know that they gave her a gift, one that could bring them down.

At the start of the book, Yael has finished having her camp tattoo covered up with five wolves, each representing someone important to her. As the core story unravels, Yael remembers each person which reveals her backstory, from her heart-breaking time in the camp to how she became involved in the resistance.

I liked Yael. She starts off hardened to the world, having lost so many people she holds on to the hope that she can change things. She starts the race prepared to be ruthless, to see the competitors as the supporters of the very thing she wants to bring down. Yet she is capable of empathy. She’s not exactly had that many long lasting relationships in her life, and her desire to form bonds leaks through even though it would be impossible to continue them beyond the race. And she’s not stopping in a crucial point to moon over any boys.

Near the start I was a bit concerned it was going to spend lots of time talking about motorbikes, but thankfully it wasn’t the case. The race is harsh and Yael soon has a clear enemy. I was a little sad not to learn more about what was going on in the other competitors’ heads, although it would have been hard to do considering the context. It’s not exactly an environment to open up in.

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Also reviewed @ Snuggling on the Sofa | prettybooks

Book Source: Illumicrate