Well, you may have heard about this book – a gay YA romance/thriller was supposed to be published either in late March or early April, got a lot of backlash because of supposed insensitivities to Muslims given its setting, and was withdrawn from publication by the author.

I, like many others, was granted an eARC by the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, shortly before the author withdrew the book from publication. I just finished the book last night, since my copy was still valid, and this is my honest review. It may not necessarily be unbiased, but it is honest.

First, I will simply assess the book itself. Then I will talk about the controversy surrounding the book. This book was a little over 300 pages. It is told from the perspective of James Mills, a black boy who is also gay and adopted. His parents are highly educated aid workers – his mother is a doctor, and his father is an engineer. They travel around the world offering their expertise, and they’ve brought their kids, Anna and James, along, so James has been around the world already. In the novel, however, Anna has already gone to college at Georgetown. He and his boyfriend wake up one day to find that James’s parents have gone missing, their home ransacked, and the town completely empty. A letter left behind reveals that his parents have been abducted, and that James and his boyfriend need to get to the embassy. This story is their attempted journey to safety.

The book alternates between James’s present-tense narrative and the letters he writes to Anna. It is in the letters we learn about James’s life before the Kosovo War and how his relationship with Tomas Sousa, his Brazilian boyfriend, started.

James’s voice is good and he is witty at times. The action in the present-day narrative is a stark contrast to the letters he sends to his sister, since life seemed very normal – going to school, exploring the town and surrounding area, hanging out with his classmates and slowly falling love with Tomas. His narrative is quite dark, as the story, at its core, is one of survival. James ends up killing at least two people on their journey to the embassy.

There is also violence, and it is graphically described. I thought it was kind of slow at the beginning, but picked up about halfway through the book.

The villain is suitably powerful and infuriating…and also brutal. Not much is said about the actual conflict that the boys get caught up in – the main antagonists are members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, an organization that existed in real life, and we see foreshadowing of the villain himself and their slow takeover of the town in James’s letters to Anna.

There isn’t a whole lot of what I would call SJW preaching, except for one incident with a stereotypically blond-haired, blue-eyed, sharp-jawed German boy named Georg, who basically calls Tomas a faggot in German, or something. James punches his lights out, and is disciplined by his parents for it. Also, James uses the phrase “toxic masculinity” in one of his letters, and I am pretty sure I didn’t hear that phrase until recently. Based on where James is at the time of the Kosovo War, which was in the late 90s, he and I would be roughly the same age, give or take a couple of years. I also read a lot of teen and women’s magazines…and no mention of “toxic masculinity.”

Since this was an eARC, there were some punctuation errors and other problems, most notably some incorrect word usage that I found a bit confusing. I had to guess at what the author actually meant.

As I said, it picks up about halfway through, and is quickly-paced, but that pacing seems to be interrupted by the letters to Anna. Near the end, you’ll just want to know what happens next, not the weird shit James wanted to share with his sister (such as the first time he and Tomas have sex…I don’t know about anyone else, but I have two sisters and we didn’t talk about our sex lives with each other…that would have been weird).

So the end…the climax is good and satisfying, but the actual resolution left me wanting. The Epilogue is told in the third-person, from Anna’s perspective, and then it ends.

I also read through the Author’s Note, and I pretty much agreed with what the author was trying to say – that, often times in conflicts such as the Kosovo War, nobody is totally innocent or totally evil. Not all Serbians were evil, and not all KLA members were good. I was, however, surprised that the author’s research was done with only three or four resources, all of which were listed at the end of the author’s note.

Not only that, I still don’t know why the author thought this particular incident warranted a YA thriller, beyond wanting more people to know about it. Did he have any sort of connection to the Kosovo War?

I would normally give this book three stars on the GoodReads scale…maybe three and a half, but I gave it four stars for having a nuanced message on the nature of war and such.

So now that’s the review of the book. Now I want to discuss the issues surrounding the book.

It is said that this book is insensitive to the Albanian Muslims that were supposedly genocided by the Serbians. The book doesn’t go heavily into the conflict, which makes sense, since James and Tomas are there as its happening. Furthermore, they’re both foreigners to the land. They probably wouldn’t have the deeper understanding of a native who’s been living there for a long time or their whole lives. I wondered why the author chose to make an American kid his main character, other than the whole “staying in one’s lane” nonsense. I thought it was even more baffling that he chose another foreigner as the love interest. It might have been more interesting if James’s love interest had been a local boy. That would have also required a lot more research, and might have made it far too political for a YA novel, so I dunno.

None of that warrants cancelling the publication of this book, however. The conflict itself is handled well and not in an offensive way. The only time we really get a whole lot of romance is in James’s letters to Anna. Whenever they are romantic to each other in the present-tense narrative, it’s in the context of, “we might die here, so we should die together” or “I am not leaving you behind.” Since they’re both trying to get to the embassy (and later on, to rescue James’s mother), there isn’t much time for making out or having sex. They’re trying not to get their shoes stolen, or shot by KLA goons, etc. They’re trying to survive in a foreign country during a violent conflict in the dead of winter. That’s how gritty it is. Oh, and both boys wisely stay as far away from potential spots of conflict, and for good reason, so we don’t really see much of the conflict – just their attempts to survive.

I don’t think it is insensitive to the people that suffered through it, unless you count a couple of foreigners being present during the conflict insensitive. I think the people that complained about this book were making a big deal out of nothing.

Now, about the villain. We first meet the villain in James’s letters. He describes his new teacher, Professor Beqiri, as an Oxford-educated snob who, nonetheless, is a good teacher and expects a lot of his students. His teacher is also very anti-Serbian and expects his political beliefs to be reflected in the work he assigns to his students. Yeah, we Conservatives won’t be surprised at that. After all, a great deal of our public school teachers basically parrot their political beliefs to their students and expect those students to regurgitate those beliefs in their schoolwork.

So, it turns out that his well-dressed, well-groomed teacher abducted his parents and some of the other foreigners, including Clara, a German girl with an ambassador for a father, to help in the KLA’s efforts. He became a professor to these foreigners so that he could get closer to them.

Beqiri is an extremist and a zealot, but for the KLA’s cause, which is independence. At no point in the novel is it ever indicated that Beqiri is religious, much less Muslim. His one and only goal is that of the KLA’s goal – independence for Kosovo. He’s not a Muslim terrorist, and in fact, I don’t think Beqiri is religious at all, especially given that he’s Oxford-educated. Now, I am sure that a great deal of the KLA might have been Muslim, but that does not mean all of them were religious.

Then again, the left seems to think that Islam is an ethnicity or race. It is not. A white, red-haired dude can be Muslim, you know. Anybody can be Muslim. It is a religion, not a race or ethnicity.

So, in conclusion, the critics are utterly full of shit. This wasn’t insulting to Muslims. It took a nuanced view of the Kosovo War, and since, in the eyes of these people, Muslims can do no wrong, because they’re rather high on the Progressive Stack of Victimhood. This is also one reason why they find 9/11 memorials so offensive. Who gives a shit about the people murdered by Muslim fanatics – Muslims everywhere might feel discriminated against, and that’s clearly more important than the memory of our countrymen!

Make no mistake – the attack on the book was politically motivated. The author did not show the proper deference to one of the left’s pet victim groups. The author, though he can claim Black and Gay Victimhood Points, did not check his Privilege. Therefore, he had to be punished.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book.

I'm sorry but at this time I don't feel comfortable reading and reviewing this title. If it should be revised and put back up for publication then I would be more than happy to give it a try.

I enjoyed the letter juxtaposition of this book with the present time aspect of the writing. I was severely thrown by the historical label of the book considering it's set in the 90s, I didn't know that it would take that soon. I also was thrown by the labeling as villain of the Muslim characters with the white characters as the good ones.

As I've seen the communication of the author that A Place For Wolves will be pulled from publication, it will be impossible to post my review of this title.

Per Sourcebooks and the author, this book has been pulled from publication thus it is not possible to give a review to a book that will not be published.

I will no longer be reading and reviewing this book as it's being pulled for a problematic premise. But I'll be looking forward to whatever the author comes out with next. :)

Unfortunately, this book was difficult for me to read. I found the depictions of the villain to be incredibly racist and could not get past that.

I will no longer be reviewing this book due to the author asking the publisher to withdraw the book. The early reviews regarding the insensitivity to Muslim readers was very worrying and this is not a place where I am able to lend a voice, as a white American reviewer. Thank you for the opportunity nonetheless, and I look forward to reading more from Mr. Jackson and Sourcebooks Fire in the future.

I don't feel I can adequately review this book. By 30%, there were many aspects that bothered me. I was thrilled at the representation (LGBT, POC), but found some of the conversations implausible, and the fact that anyone could be more concerned with their partner's kisses while bombs are going off and people are screaming and being killed around them is very disturbing and inconceivable. And then I saw other reviews on Goodreads. Admittedly, I'm very ignorant in regards to the war in Kosovo, but it seems as if the horrors of that war were dealt with very trivially in this story. Not having finished the book, I don't feel it's fair to post a review on Goodreads or Amazon.

Thank you for the opportunity to read A Place For Wolves.

I was very excited to read this, even have an e-arc and a regular arc, but in light of recent discussions surrounding the historical events in the book, I don't think I can or should. I hear the LGBTQ rep is wonderful... but it's not going to happen.

Thank you to netgalley for e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Update 26/02/19: After the recent reviews that have come to my attention, I will be doing more research into the Kosovo War and rereading sections from the book to draw my own conclusions. I did state in my previous review that I knew absolutely nothing of the war before this book (and I literally mean nothing, I had never even heard of the war) so I want to make absolutely sure I know enough to properly rate and review this book before the pub date.

My original review (in bullet points)

Things I liked:

-The LGBTQ+ characters (own voices) I loved the two main characters.
-This novel is told in 1st person perspective of our main character, James. James is adopted and has an extremely strong bond with his family, especially his sister, Anna. The story is told alternately through James's perspective in the present, and letters he sent to his sister in the past.
-In regards to the relationship between James and Tomas, I thought it was amazing and so heart-warming. What I really loved was that we had the pleasure of seeing a fully formed and emotionally invested relationship, while also seeing how their relationship grew through James's letters to his sister.

Things I didn't really like:
-I felt like the author threw us in at the deep end in terms of explaining the history of the war, I knew nothing so this aspect did confuse me.
-The abrupt ending, I am not a massive fan of ambiguous endings.

Full, revised review to come. Once I have researched.


Update 27/02/19: My revised review for this book:

First off, I want to start by saying that I literally had absolutely no clue about the Kosovo War before this book. I had never even heard of it, and while it’s a part of very recent history, it’s definitely a piece of forgotten history.

So, I did some research. I really wanted to do right the second time with my review.

The thing is, I am so passionate about reviewing diverse books. I do my best to pick up on any problematic things I find, I leave trigger warnings in all my reviews because I would hate the feeling that someone could potentially be hurt when going into a book without knowing. My main aim on this platform is to draw attention to diverse books and hype them up, I felt awful at the thought of inadvertently hurting someone with my review because I didn’t catch the bad things in the book.

But we all make mistakes. My mistake was not researching something that I didn’t really understand.

After researching all day about the Kosovo war, I went back and read some key moments in the book.

I stick by what I said in my previous review, I do feel like the writing style was amazing and entirely engrossing, the characters of Tomas and James were brilliant and the relationship and the queer rep in this book were done very well. The format of the novel, being in the present and letters in the past, worked brilliantly for our main characters development.

After researching and knowing the history, I now see the problem of portraying a Muslim man as the bad person in this story. I 100% agree with those who have stated that to have a Muslim man as the villain in this story and setting is extremely problematic.

If you do still decide to read this book, just be mindful and read some of the reviews by Own Voices reviewers. I am not an own voices reviewer for any of the rep in this book. Yes, I am in the LGBTQ+ community and the only reason I even picked this book up was because it featured two queer protags.

I really hope this is another large stepping stone for publishers to see the absolute importance that own voices reviewers and sensitivity readers have.

I had just finished reading the book when I stumbled across Own Voices reviews on Twitter. Instead of inserting my own voice into this, I am going to amplify theirs:
"Listen, Americans. I get it. There's a whole world out there with varied histories that you want to explore for your book. Thank you for being interested in our backgrounds.

But unless you're willing to center OUR voices, you don't get to tell that story.

Can you imagine having a book set in your country, set during a very real tragedy that happened to you or to people you care about, and it's not even about you?

It's one of the most insulting and demeaning things I can think of.

The author of A Place for Wolves essentially reduced the Kosovo War and the thousands of civilians who were murdered or displaced into a backdrop. A setting. A background for his two characters who are not Muslim, not Roma, not Albanian, not anything related to this tragedy.

And this isn't even distant history, mind you!!! Children from that time would be teenagers and adults in their twenties now. That's how recent it was.

Authors, do better."

-@yourtitakate

Edited 2/26: I have removed my rating and review in light of the book’s harmfulness, which I previously did not understand out of context.

I was very eager to read this book for its own-voice queer rep, but am willing to admit I knew very little about the actual Kosovo genocides that play as a backdrop for this historical fiction. After doing more research, it didn't take much time reading this book to recognize that it's been written in a very insensitive light. Despite the raging Islamophobia that surrounds us constantly, and despite the fact that Muslims were probably the single largest group of victims in the actual events this book is inspired by, this author chose to paint a Muslim man as a terrorist and the villain in this story, and that is something I cannot accept in good conscience. So, sadly, I will not be recommending this title.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. But it just didn't sit with me right.

Now, the gay rep in this book was own voices and was done fantastically.
However, I have and issue with the plot and the history behind it. Now, I know nothing of this war so I can't speak on the accuracy of it, but I had an issue with the MCs both being non-Muslim Americans and sort of "on the outside looking in". It just rubbed me the wrong way. It focused more on their pain and fear than on the actual citizens who had to go through it and couldn't just "run to the embassy".

I'm glad there is more POC LGBTQIAP+ rep coming out, and this book was cute in that way, but I just felt like the plot used in this book just wasn't done well, it came off a little disrespectful.

The romance in this book was great, but, I don't feel like it makes up for the disrespectful plot.

Stunning! It is not often that I enjoy historical YA fiction but this is the exception. Great character development and compelling storyline. A must read.

4.5 stars!

For the past two days I have been engrossed in this book. You know how I know it’s good? Because my 15 minute pumping (and reading) sessions started stretching to 20 minutes - even at 3 am!!!

This book is Aristotle and Dante meets How I Live Now. Two of my favorite books!! I loved James. I loved the way his story unfolded. I loved the letters and relationship he had with his sister.

Aw heck, I loved this book - everyone should read this!!

The setting could almost seem post apocalyptic except for it isn’t. It’s set in 1998 during the Kosovo war.

It’s a book about bravery and love and survival.

The authors note says it all ”in war, there are multiple sides to every story. All Albanians were not good. All Serbians were not bad, and as one can see, characters and people, can (and usually do) hold both alignments within them. Good people make bad choices. Bad people make good ones. And most people are somewhere in the middle…”

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS fire for an advanced copy of this book!!!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for this early copy.

This was well-written YA debut. I will be checking out more from this author in the future. It was a intense read with a beautiful romance. My full length review will be posted closer to the release date.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. This book is a totally unexpected gem about a gay, black teen who gets caught up with his aid worker parents and his boyfriend in the Kosovo War. The format, shifting back and forth in time between the letters James has been writing to his sister back in the U.S. since he and his family first arrived and eventually converging with the present timeline, added an extra element of mystery and suspense that I really appreciated. A dark and stressful read for sure, but I could barely put it down. It explores the duality inherent in all people (and all conflicts).

A great debut. I’m excited to see what Kosoko Jackson writes next.

You know this was not a very enjoyable read for me. I feel although with the diversity and plotline of the novel that it could have come really far but the execution hardly meet up to the expectation. Certain things that are blunt that come out of the narrator's mouth seem not appropriate at times.