The Warden and the Wolf King Review

The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson is the last book in his Christian middle grade fantasy Wingfeather Saga. This is the conclusion of the story of Janner Wingfeather and his family as they come against, not only the armies of the Fangs of Dang, but Gnag himself.

This book gets 4 out of 5 stars. It is heart wrenching and intense. There were twists that I never could have seen coming. For most of the book I had no idea how Peterson was going to resolve the story. I kept wondering how it could possibly end well, how they could succeed, etc. And yet the ending was well crafted and came out the bitter-sweet that is so common for truly memorable stories. I was especially pleased that it wasn’t just a “bad guy is stopped and all is well” kind of resolution. The fact that he showed that there is damage to be repaired and that healing is a process that begins with the fall of the bad guy was very well done and felt very true to life.

It was really nice to see how the characters continued to grow and develop through the events here. Peterson has a way of showing people as they are, the crazy mix of good and bad and everything in between. He shows our flaws, but at the same time gives us hope that we can rise above them to be the people we were created to be.

There are some powerful messages in this story (both this book itself and the series as a whole) that reflect the Christian faith. Things like what love looks like in action, and the value of sacrifice, and how we let ourselves perceive others as well as how we treat them.

What a conclusion to this truly “epic” tale. The only thing I wish he had done was give a more solid epilogue. He hints at some things in it that I would have preferred to know in a definitive way. Perhaps he means us to take it as granted that the things implied do indeed take place, but, without asking Peterson himself, there is no way to know if that is true or not. If I was just looking at this book (on it’s own) this really wouldn’t matter to me. But in looking at this as the ending to the whole series, it makes a really big difference to me which way it goes.

Overall this was such a wild ride. I feel quite drained, but in that good kind of way that leaves me content with the story coming to a close. I am so happy that I discovered this series and hope Peterson will go on to write many more stories.