Iron To Iron by Ryan Graudin Book Review

Iron To Iron (Wolf By Wolf #1.5)

Publisher: Little Brown Books For Young Readers

Release Date: March 8, 2016

Pages: 120

Summary:  Once upon a different time, there was a boy who raced through a kingdom of death.
Sixteen-year-old Luka Lowe has one goal in mind: Win the 1955 Axis Tour and become the first Double Cross victor. If he can accomplish that, maybe his father will finally see him as a worthy son. He’s completed the grueling trek from Germania to Tokyo before, but this time is different. Luka never expected to meet Adele Wolfe, another racer posing as her twin brother and with a singular dream–to live life on her own terms.
When Luka and Adele form an alliance, an unlikely bond forms, and even possibly love. But only one person can win the Axis Tour….Can everything Luka and Adele built together survive the race?

My Rating: 

My Thoughts:

 Iron Calls To Iron.

This novella takes place 1-year prior to the events of Wolf By Wolf centering around the relationship that develops between Adele Wolfe & Luka Lowe! (so while the title may be 1.5 this is definitely a prequel to WBW)

I loved getting more backstory on Adele+Luka, considering it was hinted they had history prior to WBW!

Overall I loved Luka! I really felt I understood him so much more than in WBW (though I did love him in that book too!!)

I better understood his motives for winning the race + why he has a mysterious aura about him in WBW when Yael enters!

Before I get into the plot, the only minor issue I had, was with the pacing. The plot, characters, descriptive setting, tone etc. are all perfect ❤ There were just a few moments here and there where the pacing could have picked up a little.

In WBW Luka is a very secretive but intriguing character & it was great to get more back story on him.
He competes in the Axis Tour (1955) with his one and only goal: To win!
If he does he will receive a Double-Cross and hopefully, respect from his father.

He has created an armor around himself both on/off the track.
We get more backstory on what led him to become not only the person he is in this story, but who we see in Wolf By Wolf!

When he was younger his mother taught him to draw & it created a special bond between them, but his father never approved.

Now he is a lone-wolf looking only after himself. Until he meets Felix (Adele) Wolfe!

They form an alliance in order to take out the toughest racer in the competition Tsuda Katsuo with the promise to break their alliance once they get him out of the way!

But that all changes when they begin to form a relationship.
While both characters connect w/ eachother throughout this novella, Luka can’t help but begin to realize he’s falling for Adele.

When all looks well, Luka realizes that his trust/faith in Adele to get rid of his armor cost him more than he thought!

While resting in Tokyo before the last leg of the race, Adele betrays him and takes the victory for herself and Luka vows he will reclaim his title & get his revenge!

Graudin’s writing style delivers an action packed and wonderfully developed characters in quite a # of pages and will definitely leave readers who haven’t read WBW curious as to what will happen with Luka + leave fans who have read Wolf By Wolf, eager to what’s to come in Blood For Blood and see how it wraps up!