By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle

There's hidden places all over this land, old, old places. Places with a chain for them to chain up the wolf when it's time.

A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins the admiration of the weaver's daughter, Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves.

There is an evil presence in the carver's life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people begin to die. Caught in the middle, Maddie must decide what matters most to her, and what price she is willing to pay to keep it.

The time and world of By These Ten Bones is one rift with superstition and folklore and the version of the werewolf told in this story is one that stems from original legend. That every full moon the man inflicted with the werewolf curse becomes a beast and hunts the ones he loves and unfortunately for our main character, Maddie, that’s her. Set in the medieval Scottish Highlands Maddie’s nameless, little village is visited by two travellers; one, a lazy drunk and the other an apparently mute wood carver with a terrible secret. From a very young age he was savaged with the curse of the werewolf and to prevent suspicion and harm from occurring he can never settle in one place for very long and has to chain himself up every night of the full moon.

Despite the lacklustre writing style and my initial inability to relate to the characters of By These Ten Bones I have to say once I hit my stride the book took no problem to get through. I was caught up with the story and anxious to see what was going to happen to the characters and how the story was going to end. And have to say although I completely predicted the climax I was tense while reading it because although for the majority of the book nothing wowed or compelled me about the writing there were various pockets of dark scenes that were written so well and subtlety I could feel myself being fearful and anxious.

I am happy that I read this book because being a fan of werewolf reads I find myself being very picky with what I like and have never come across a werewolf YA I really like until this one. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good old fashion werewolf story.