History Literature / Wolfsong

* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: The werewolves aren't nudists, but are comfortable with spending quite a lot of time naked after reverting to human form. Ox adjusts to this quite quickly, but Chris, Tanner and Rico spend quite a lot of time asking everyone to cover themselves up as they aren't accustomed to being surrounded by a lot of naked people who are also related to each other.

* BigBad: Richard Collins is a psychopathic murderer who used to be Thomas Bennett's NumberTwo. In the past, when much of the Bennett pack was wiped out by human hunters, including Richard's parents, he blamed Thomas for his inaction. He sought both revenge on Richard and a way to become an Alpha wolf in his own right. His methods include torturing children, murdering anyone he comes across, and his main plan is to devour an Alpha to gain their power.

* DisappearedDad: Ox's and Gordo's fathers both abandoned them when they were children. Ox's father because he was an abusive deadbeat dad who didn't want the burden of a family, and Gordo's because he was [[spoiler: a sorcerer who'd gone mad with grief at the loss of his tether and went off to become a psychotic murderer.]]

* IWillWaitForYou: The main conflict of the last fourth of the novel is that the Bennett pack splits up for a long term separation. Much longer than any of them had anticipated, and Ox must take care of things until the others return. The words are [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging spoken verbatim when]], near the end of the novel, [[spoiler: Joe tells Ox he'll wait for him when he thinks Ox is just leaving to help a friend with a flat tire, when in reality Ox is going to face Richard alone and doesn't expect to survive]].

* ObliviousToLove:Ox knows that he and Joe are best friends, and that the whole Bennett family care about him, but he had no idea that Joe was interested in him romantically until he's in his twenties.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The Bennett family change into wolves around the full moon, but can change at other times as well. They can also attempt to resist changing on the full moon, though it is difficult to do. Also in this world, a natural-born werewolf requires a "tether" to their humanity in order to change back into a human. The tether is usually close friends or family members, or can be a strong emotional connection (home, love, revenge, etc.), but there must be ''something'' that connects the shapeshifter to their human identity.

* PrecociousCrush: It's clear to the audience and the Bennett family (though not to Ox) that ten-year-old Joe is head over heels in love with fourteen-year-old Ox. A crush that only gets stronger as the two grow up together.

* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He Is All Grown Up]]: When Joe is seventeen, Ox notices for the first time how attractive he's become … and then immediately has a panic attack because Joe is his best friend and four years his junior.
* SilenceOfSadness: The Bennetts left behind after [[spoiler: Thomas' death and Joe, Carter, Kelly, and Gordo's departure]] fall into quiet mourning. Mark grows quieter and quieter as time passes, and Elizabeth spends months in her wolf form, not wanting to face her grief with the full gamut of human emotions.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In the last chunk of the book, over half the remaining Bennetts go after Richard to make him pay for [[spoiler: murdering both Thomas and Ox's mother]].

* FamilyOfChoice: Ox considers the Bennett family to be this to him and his mother. He also explicitly refers to the guys at the auto-shop as his family, and during a panic attack refers internally to Gordo as his "father-brother-friend." Gordo was the one looking out for Ox and his mom after Ox's father left, and he, Chris, Tanner, and Rico were the first people outside of Ox's mother to accept Ox as he is. Later, [[spoiler: When Ox forms his own pack, he includes the humans from the auto-shop as well as Jessie and Robbie, who all see each other as family by that point.]] The Bennett's, for their part, also consider Ox and his mother as part of their pack.

* IHaveYourWife: Before the Bennett's met Ox, [[spoiler: Joe was kidnapped by Richard Collins and tortured solely for the purpose of hurting his father.]] Later, Richard tries this with Ox by [[spoiler: holding his mother hostage, and again at the end of the novel by holding human townsfolk Ox knew as hostages]].

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In the last chunk of the book, over half the remaining Bennett's go after Richard to make him pay for [[spoiler: murdering both Thomas and Ox's mother]].

* SilenceOfSadness: The Bennett's left behind after [[spoiler: Thomas' death and Joe, Carter, Kelly, and Gordo's departure]] fall into quiet mourning. Mark grows quieter and quieter as time passes, and Elizabeth spends months in her wolf form, not wanting to face her grief with the full gamut of human emotions.

* FamilyOfChoice: Ox considers the Bennett family to be this to him and his mother. He also explicitly refers to the guys at the autoshop as his family, and during a panic attack refers internally to Gordo as his "father-brother-friend." Gordo was the one looking out for Ox and his mom after Ox's father left, and he, Chris, Tanner, and Rico were the first people outside of Ox's mother to accept Ox as he is. Later, [[spoiler: When Ox forms his own pack, he includes the humans from the autos hop as well as Jessie and Robbie, who all see each other as family by that point.]] The Bennett's, for their part, also consider Ox and his mother as part of their pack.
* FireForgedFriends: Robbie Fontaine starts off as an outsider to the Bennett pack who was sent to be a political liaison between them and the current steward to the throne-- essentially as a spy. Jessie starts off as Ox's first girlfriend and RomanticFalseLead before she goes off to college. Chris, Tanner, and Rico were Ox's friends at the autos hop where he worked, but knew nothing of the supernatural. After several werewolf attacks, life-threatening situations, and rescues, Robbie shifts his loyalty from his employers to Ox, all of them are incredibly close friends, and [[spoiler: join Ox's new Green Creek pack]].

Ox knows this because his father told him so when Ox was twelve, on the night he left their home forever. He knows because the kids at his school call him names and push him around, even though he's bigger than all of them. The only people in Ox's life who care about him as he is are his mother, his father's old coworkers, and their boss, Gordo. Ox spends his early adolescence going to school, working under the table at Gordo's auto-shop, and trying to not to hear the echo of his father's parting words, ''people aren't going to understand you. You’re gonna get shit for most of your life.''

The Bennett family have some very obvious peculiarities that Ox takes in stride, like their habit of calling themselves a ''pack'', or the mysterious "family business" they attend to every full moon, or the fact that every so often, Ox sees their eyes flash to different colors, and their teeth become slightly pointed, or they growl when irritated--

And thus Oxnard is introduced into a world full of werewolves, witches, and monsters, learning the ins and outs of what it mean to be part of a ''pack'', discovering the traumas of the Bennett's past, and how, now that he has them, he would do anything to keep them all safe.

* BigBad: Richard Collins is a psychopathic murderer who used to be Thomas Bennett's NumberTwo. In the past, when much of the Bennett pack was wiped out by human hunters, including Richard's parents, he blamed Thomas for his inaction and sought both revenge on Richard and a way to become an Alpha wolf in his own right. His methods include torturing children, murdering anyone he comes across, and his main plan is to devour an Alpha to gain their power.

* CanisMajor: Alpha werewolves are larger than the rest of their packmates in their wolf form. When Joe grows up, his wolf is described as being eye-level with a 6'3 human.

* DevotedToYou: Joe became devoted to Ox immediately after meeting him for the first time, saying that he smelled like "candy canes and pinecones and epic and awesome." After, Joe gives Ox a beautiful carving of a wolf, which Ox accepts, unknowing that it was [[ChildhoodMarriagePromise essentially]] [[AccidentalMarriage a]] [[PrecociousCrush proposal.]]
* DumbStruck: After his traumatic ordeal as a child, Joe was incapable of speaking to anyone for over a year. This changed when he met Ox, and the fact that Ox got him to speak again is why the Bennetts accept Ox so readily into the family.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: A story about a [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga normal human with low self esteem suddenly being brought into a wealthy supernatural family due to a member of that family having an inexplicable interest in them, featuring werewolves that essentially imprint on the person they're romantically interested in]]. When Ox's human friends discover the situation, they specifically [[LampshadeHanging call Ox out for living in a shitty Twilight fanfiction]].

* FamilyOfChoice: Ox considers the Bennett family to be this to him and his mother. He also explicitly refers to the guys at the autoshop as his family, and during a panic attack refers internally to Gordo as his "father-brother-friend." Gordo was the one looking out for Ox and his mom after Ox's father left, and he, Chris, Tanner, and Rico were the first people outside of Ox's mother to accept Ox as he is. Later, [[spoiler: When Ox forms his own pack, he includes the humans from the autoshop as well as Jessie and Robbie, who all see each other as family by that point.]] The Bennetts, for their part, also consider Ox and his mother as part of their pack.
* FireForgedFriends: Robbie Fontaine starts off as an outsider to the Bennett pack who was sent to be a political liaison between them and the current steward to the throne-- essentially as a spy. Jessie starts off as Ox's first girlfriend and RomanticFalseLead before she goes off to college. Chris, Tanner, and Rico were Ox's friends at the autoshop where he worked, but knew nothing of the supernatural. After several werewolf attacks, life-threatening situations, and rescues, Robbie shifts his loyalty from his employers to Ox, all of them are incredibly close friends, and [[spoiler: join Ox's new Green Creek pack]].
* IHaveYourWife: Before the Bennetts met Ox, [[spoiler: Joe was kidnapped by Richard Collins and tortured solely for the purpose of hurting his father.]] Later, Richard tries this with Ox by [[spoiler: holding his mother hostage, and again at the end of the novel by holding human townsfolk Ox knew as hostages]].

* IWillWaitForYou: The main conflict of the last fourth of the novel is that the Bennett pack splits up for a long term separation (much longer than any of them had anticipated), and Ox must take care of things until the others return. The words are [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging spoken verbatim when]], near the end of the novel, [[spoiler: Joe tells Ox he'll wait for him when he thinks Ox is just leaving to help a friend with a flat tire, when in reality Ox is going to face Richard alone and doesn't expect to survive]].
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Joe lives right down at the end of the road that Ox lives on and would frequently wait for him at the turn off so they could walk home together.
* MageSpecies: Witch is a term for someone who uses magic, regardless of their gender. Werewolf packs will try to adopt a witch into their fold as the presence of a witch seems to both amplify whatever power werewolves posses and also serve as another tether for the pack to latch onto, as well as having the practical benefits of being able to do useful magic around the place. In the first 1/4th of the book, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Gordo is a witch who had once belonged to the Bennett pack as a child, only to reject them later]].

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The Bennett family change into wolves around the full moon, but can change at other times as well. They can also attempt to resist changing on the full moon, though it is difficult to do. Also in this world, a natural-born werewolf requires a "tether" to their humanity in order to change back into a human. The tether is usually close friends or family members, or can be a strong emotional connection (home, love, revenge, etc), but there must be ''something'' that connects the shapeshifter to their human identity.

* PrecociousCrush: It's clear to the audience and the Bennett family (though not to Ox) that ten year old Joe is head over heels in love with fourteen year old Ox-- a crush that only gets stronger as the two grow up together.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In the last chunk of the book, over half the remaining Bennetts go after Richard to make him pay for [[spoiler: murdering both Thomas and Ox's mother]].

* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He Is All Grown Up]]: When Joe is seventeen, Ox notices for the first time how attractive he's become... and then immediately has a panic attack because Joe is his best friend and four years his junior.
* SilenceOfSadness: The Bennetts left behind after [[spoiler: Thomas' death and Joe, Carter, Kelly, and Gordo's departure]] fall into quiet mourning. Mark grows quieter and quieter as time passes, and Elizabeth spends months in her wolf form, not wanting to face her grief with the full gamut of human emotions.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Wolfsong mentions a few minor elements that contradict information in later books. Some of it can be put down to Ox being an unreliable narrator who isn't given full details (such as the backstory Robbie gives in Wolfsong being [[CharacterizationMarchesOn far less traumatic]] than the one revealed in Heartsong). However, some things are harder to explain away, such as a witch character in the first book casually stating he turned down the werewolf bite when offered, whereas an important plot point in the later books is that witches ''cannot'' become werewolves as the bite would typically kill them, and a witch who does work around it is seen as a major aberration.

* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He Is All Grown Up]]: When Joe is seventeen, Ox notices for the first time how attractive he's become. . . and then immediately has a panic attack because Joe is his best friend and four years his junior.
* SilenceOfSadness: The Bennetts left behind after [[spoiler: Thomas' death and Joe, Carter, Kelly, and Gordo's departure]] fall into quiet mourning. Mark grows quieter and quieter as time passes, and Elizabeth spends months in her wolf form, not wanting to face her grief with the full gamut of human emotions.
* ThisExplainsSoMuch: When Rico, Chris, and Tanner find out that [[spoiler: their boss and childhood friend, Gordo]] is a witch, they start listing off things that probably should have tipped them off earlier.

* WitchSpecies: Witch is a term for someone who uses magic, regardless of their gender. Werewolf packs will try to adopt a witch into their fold as the presence of a witch seems to both amplify whatever power werewolves posses and also serve as another tether for the pack to latch onto, as well as having the practical benefits of being able to do useful magic around the place. In the first 1/4th of the book, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Gordo is a witch who had once belonged to the Bennett pack as a child, only to reject them later]].
* WouldHurtAChild: Richard Collins brutally tortured [[spoiler: Joseph Bennett]] when he was a young child in order to make his family suffer. When Richard returns to Green Creek, he threatens the life of another child in order to get Ox out in the open.

-->Chris: That actually explains a lot. Because of all his weirdness.
-->Tanner: Like how his [[AnimatedTattoo tattoos always seemed to be in different places]].
-->Rico: Or how when we all moved here, he always went around our houses, [[RitualMagic rubbing the walls and muttering things]].
-->Chris: Or how he didn’t think it was funny when I wanted to put up witch Halloween decorations at the shop.
-->Tanner: Or how he had daddy issues and never explained why. I always thought his dad was just a jerk. I didn’t know he was an ''evil'' jerk.
-->Rico: There were really a lot of clues. I’m slightly disappointed in us.

[[caption-width-right:350:Cover Art]]

Author Name: Creator/TJKlune

Author Website: http://www.tjklunebooks.com

Original Publish Date: June 20th, 2016

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Medium: Out of Print/Available as an e-book

Synopsis: To be written

!![Wolfsong] contains examples of:

* CrazyJealousGuy: Upon smelling the stench of another person on Ox, Joe would frequently get irritated at their presence to the point where he did not speak to Ox for three weeks after Ox hooked up with another male.
** Also shown when he chases his brother, Carter, and one of them is thrown against a tree for having kissed Ox when Carter was younger.
* DevotedToYou: Joe became devoted to Ox immediately after meeting him for the first time, saying that he smelled like "candy canes and pinecones and epic and awesome", followed by Joe giving Ox his carved wolf which for the wolves is a very important and symbolic gesture even tough Ox at the time was oblivious to its meaning.
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Joe lives right down at the end of the road that Ox lives on and would frequently wait for him at the turn off so they could walk home together.

Author Name: TJ Klune

* Crazy Jealous Guy: Upon smelling the stench of another person on Ox, Joe would frequently get irritated at their presence to the point where he did not speak to Ox for three weeks after Ox hooked up with another male.

* Devoted to You: Joe became devoted to Ox immediately after meeting him for the first time, saying that he smelled like "candy canes and pinecones and epic and awesome", followed by Joe giving Ox his carved wolf which for the wolves is a very important and symbolic gesture even tough Ox at the time was oblivious to its meaning.
* Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Joe lives right down at the end of the road that Ox lives on and would frequently wait for him at the turn off so they could walk home together.