Spoiler-free
My journey to mastering the genre of historical fiction is very much at its begining. I don't have too much experience, but after hearing countless recommendations from The Brothers Gwynne over on Booktube, I decided to give The Wolf Den a go. And boy, am I glad I did!
The Premise
The Wolf Den is set in ancient Pompeii and follows the story of Amara - The daughter of a doctor, now forced into slavery, living in a brothel under her master's roof. However, Amara's sheer drive and ambition won't allow her to succumb to these helpless circumstances. Everything in this city as its price. But how much will her Freedom cost? And under the rule of men, can a woman ever truly be free?
The Lupanar in Pompeii had two meanings for the Romans - both brothel and den of wolves, just as the word Lupa could mean both prostitute or she-wolf.
The Review
Given the sensitive subject matter of slavery and sex work, it's safe to say that there are plenty of trigger warnings for just about everything. Elodie Harper doesn't shy away from portraying the brutality of these times, alongside the repugnancy of men. The portrayal of the hopeless feeling of being entirely owned and ultimately worthless is heartbreaking. To simply have your own agency is the greatest gift of all. Unfortunately, this gift is unachievable under the power of men. However, power lies in all things, you only need to know how to weild it. This complexity of power is what makes the plot so compelling.
I loved the setting of ancient Pompeii! A lot of this book seemed to play out on the set for Plebs in my mind, which is quite the contrast to the gritty tone. Nevertheless, it's clear that Elodie Harper did a lot of research into this time period, in order to perfectly transport us back. There were several instances where I had to google what certain objects were, so that was fun.
Now, it probably sounds like this book is a hard read, given the horrible subject matter, but I can assure you it's not all doom and gloom. This is largely down to the sisterhood of the she-wolves. There are 5 whores at the brothel, who each have their own distinct character traits and intentions. These women are what carry the story and make it so compelling. So who do we have?
- Amara is our main character and perspective for the entire book. She is a badass. You know how sometimes when you're reading from a character's perspective and are constantly frustrated by all the silly decisions they're making? Yeah, you won't get any of that here. Amara is well educated and extremely calculated. The fact that she is forced into this helpless narrative with no agency is the frustating part. This underdog storyline really helps you get behind Amara's journey to freedom. It's impossoble not to root for her every step of the way. She's witty, cunning, and not to be underestimated.
- Dido - The pure one. Amara's closest friend. Dido comes across as incredibly beautiful and innocent, which makes her circumstances all the more harsh. The bond that she shares with Amara is really sweet and touching.
- Victoria - The quasi leader. She knows the game and plays it well. After Amara, Victoria's storyline was the most interesting to me. There always seems to be another layer to her hidden underneath. To their master, Victoria no doubt is the perfect whore, but is anything as it seems?
- Cressa - The slightly older one, who is incredibly loving and caring, despite the loss of her child.
- Beronice - The love stricken fool. Beronice is portrayed as being very ditsy. She is teased by the other girls for being in love with one of men at the brothel. It's all done in jest and with love.
The girls' shared humour is what brings them all together, even in their darkest moments. Witnessing how the various bounds of the she-wolves develop over the course of the book is yet another reason why I was eager to turn to the next page. There are plenty of other characters involved too, but I will let you discover them for yourself.
Side note - Alana can play the Lyre and sometimes uses this skill to entertain. This was so funny to me, because when I was younger I wrote a book, which had a similar plot line. A slave playing the lyre in an attempt to earn freedom. To see this part of my own book actually written well for once felt really nostalgic and made me smile. Just thinking back to 17 year old me, typing away...
There's so much to unpack in this one: Sisterly bonds, manipulation of power, cunning plots, impossible romance and devilish intentions. I will save the rest of my thoughts for the spoiler chat below. I am so glad this is only the first part of a trilogy. And even more glad that there's no wait time to borrow them all from the library!
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 5 Stars!
Spoiler Chat
Felix is such a dick. I hate him so much, which weirdly makes me love him as a character. He really got under my skin, but I have no doubt that Amara can outsmart him. I get that we got more of his backstory, basically the abused becoming the abuser, but it didn't really change my opinion of him. What did change my opinion, was seeing how tender and loving he was towards Victoria. For sure, I thought that Victoria was manipulated into delusion. As it turns out, it seems that there is something there between the two of them, which only makes me feel worse for Victoria. Or, now that I think about it, this could still just be a wicked ploy, to keep her wrapped under his little finger.
Speaking of romance, we have Amara and Menander. Right, so we knew from the start that this was never going to work. However, seeing Amara break his gift, along with his heart, right infront of him and Rufus was hard to read. I have no doubt that Menander understands completetly why she was forced to act this way, but it still must be so crushing for him. Being slaves, they spend their entire time being reminded of their worthlessness, yet finding Amara, Menander no doubt found some sort of value and purpose. To have that all come crushing down infront of him, reminding him once again of how worthless his life is, was brutal. I'm intrigued to see if he'll come back in book 2, or if that's his chapter closed. I imagine he wouldn't want to ruin the opportunity of Amara's new found freedom.
Cressa... It all happened so fast. I had to go back and reread it, incase I missed something but no... One page she was there, the next she was gone. Killing herself to save her son the terror of the world, perfectly incapsulates how hopeless they all must feel. Losing Cressa was the first big blow.
It was also a big blow for Britanica. So she's a Briton and is described as being very brutish and feral. I wonder how much of this is true and how much is skewed by the she-wolves perception of her, and possible preconcieved sterotypes of Britons. Anyway, I loved her character, despite little still being known about her or her past. Turns out she can speak a little latin now though, so we should get some more answers soon!
Dido's death was so shocking! As soon as the fight between Felix and the Satyr mask man broke out it wasn't looking good. I appreciated how there was zero hesitation from Amara to rush in and try to help her, even if the likelihood was minimal at best. It really goes to show how close their relationship was. I was shipping them to be honest.
Now that Amara is seperated from the Wolf Den, she's going to miss having the sisterhood and support from the other she-wolves. While her new life with Rufus is much better on the surface, I don't trust him in the slightest. I don't trust any of the men actually. Maybe only Menander. It's interesting how Rufus' uncle, the admiral, was the one to buy Amara's freedom, giving her the name of 'Gaia Plinia Amara, Liberta'. This does seem like a clever workaround to please all parties, most importantly Rufus' horrible dad. However, no doubt, something wicked will come from it.
Urgh, Paris sucked! He was awful. He hates women more than anyone else in this whole damn book. He basically hates women because it should be them who are getting raped and not him. Urgh, disgusting.
As for book 2, it seems as though Amara is to make new bonds and relationships, with people much less loving than Cressa, much less pure than Dido, much less honest than Victoria and mush less trusting that Beronice. She's going to hate who she hangs out with. I'm interested to see if Freedom is as she thought it would be, or if it's only a cruel illusion.
The saving grace for Amara will probably be Drusilla. She seems like a real girls' girl, who just wants to do everything within her power to help a woman out. I hope I'm right about her, because I don't think I could handle her being evil. Also honorable mention to Philos, Rufus' slave. I feel like he gave Amara much more information than was ever required of him, but it also make me even more weary of Rufus. And for good reason. Truth is, I'm not even worried for Amara because if Rufus is going to play a battle of wits with Amara, he doesn't have a chance in hell.
So the book ends with Amara sending Felix a statue of Diane, which is of course a warning. Amara is free. And she's coming for you. I think this feud between them two, will be much more politically and business charged, than that of Felix and Simo. Maybe Amara will try and buy him out eventually, or at least some of the she-wolves herself. I can see Amara going undercover in the baths, and manipulating as much information as she can. This could be the long term plan, but I have a feeling there'll be more pressing matters to attend to, closer to home...
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