Brothersong

TJ Klune
Completed 3/15/2025, Reviewed 3/15/2025
5 stars

Oh my oh my oh my.  I thought the fourth and last book of the Green River series would simply more of the same.  Well, it was, but it was also so much more.  Not only does it provide a dramatic conclusion to the threats to the Bennett clan, but it is also perhaps the best character study of all four.  This one details the life of Carter, the oldest brother of the family, Beta to his Alpha, little brother Joe, but illuminates the growth and conflicts of a pansexual person.  A pansexual person is attracted to another regardless of gender.  It overlaps a bit with bisexuality which means being attracted to both genders.  Here, Carter, who had always dated women, finds himself falling in love with Gavin, an Omega wolf who is a man.  It explores his own internalized homophobia despite his embracing of his gay brother Joe and his asexual brother Kelly.  It’s also an astounding story of what someone will do for the person they love, even if it means the ultimate sacrifice.  

In the last book, we found that Gavin was the son of the evil witch Robert Livingstone, who has lost all his power but has now become a ten-foot-tall uber-Alpha, and the half-brother of Gordo, the witch for the Bennett pack.  To prevent Livingstone from destroying the Bennetts, Gavin acquiesces to his father’s desire to have him return to him, even though he has been living with the Bennetts for several years, albeit in wolf form.  Gavin finally appeared as a human at the very end of the book as he returns to his father, and breaks Carter’s heart.  This book begins with Carter deciding to go look for Gavin and bring him back to the pack.  He succeeds, but also unleashes the fury of the Livingstone who is now determined to completely obliterate the Bennett pack, wolves and humans alike.  It builds up to a final astounding climax which requires sacrifices for success.

In the previous two books, I thought the internal journey of the main characters took too long, getting a little repetitive here and there.  However, Carter’s journey of love and self-affirmation was so well done, I didn’t mind the length at all.  It seemed natural and necessary.  He struggles with his love for Gavin, never having been in love with a man before.  He’s afraid of the magnitude of his love, that Gavin may never shed his Omega confines, and of course, the mechanics of loving another man.  Yet his love for Gavin is so great, he risks his own return to the feral Omega state by leaving the pack for over a year to search for him.  Then when they return, he struggles with his own demons and doubts just to be able to express his profound love, verbally, emotionally, and sexually.

What I like best about all the books in this series is that the dialogue and first-person narration is so natural.  It reads like thoughts and conversations with real, earthy people.  While the prose is wonderful, it’s the narrative that shines.  I was constantly astounded by word choices appropriate for Carter, as well as all the other characters around him.  And by this book, the number of characters featured has increased greatly.  There’s even a few characters from the town, non-clan, who really shine as well.  The townspeople are also like another character themselves.  By the end of the second book, the people of Green River are told the true nature of the werewolves and the extended Bennett Family.  In the third book, Carter becomes mayor and Kelly the sheriff.  The Bennetts and the townspeople become so intertwined, they become an unofficial part of the clan themselves.  One townsperson, the crochety Will, tells Carter when the latter tries to get them to leave town before the big confrontation with Livingstone, that they won’t.  They will defend the town and the Bennetts.  “You are our wolves.”  It nearly brought a tear to my eye.  

And that’s not to say that tears don’t fall throughout the book.  The steamy scene where Gavin and Carter finally consummate their relationship is just as emotionally devastating as it is exhilarating.  And Gavin’s journey back to humanity, through the eyes of Carter, choked me up a few times as well.  

I give this book five stars out of five.  It’s simply breathtaking.  I give the whole series five stars as well.  As a whole, it’s a masterpiece of world building, mythology, and storytelling.  It’s the best werewolf with gay relationships I’ve ever read.  And I read a fair number several years back when I was curating my LGBTQ+ Resource List for Worlds Without End.  Klune continues to be one of my favorite authors.  While I’ll be taking a break from him to read the Nebula and Hugo nominees as they come out, I look forward to returning to his mind, especially for his series he himself laughingly calls “Shrek erotica.”  And just for reference and linking, the earlier three books in this series were Wolfsong, Ravensong, and Heartsong.