A Companion to Wolves (Iskryne)

by Elizabeth Bear

2008

Status

Available

Publication

Tor Fantasy (2008), Edition: 1st, 320 pages

Description

A Companion to Wolves is the story of a young nobleman, Isolfr, who is chosen to become awolfcarl --a warrior who is bonded to a fighting wolf. Isolfr is deeply drawn to the wolves, and though as his father's heir he can refuse the call, he chooses to go. The people of this wintry land depend on the wolfcarls to protect them from the threat of trolls and wyverns, though the supernatural creatures have not come in force for many years. Men are growing too confident. The wolfhealls are small, and the lords give them less respect than in former years. But the winter of Isolfr's bonding, the trolls come down from the north in far greater numbers than before, and the holding's complaisance gives way to terror in the dark. Isolfr, now bonded to a queen wolf, Viradechtis, must learn where his honor lies, and discover the lengths to which he will to go when it, and love for his wolf, drive him.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sanguinity
A marvelous and much-needed send-up of the "telepathic companion animal who chose MEEEEE!" genre. Ever found yourself wondering how the competitive mating flight of gold and bronze dragons always translated into a romantic, passionate evening between Our Heroine and Her True Love? And never
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something more nasty or brutish wish someone(s) other than Her True Love? Have you ever found yourself wondering how mating flights affected the (always male) riders of green and brown dragons?

If you are invested in the fourteen-yo-girl SQUEE that is so deeply embedded in the companion-animal genre, bypass this one. But if you were a fourteen-year-old who has now grown up, and wonders what you were thinking back then--? Then Companion to Wolves is a must-read.
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LibraryThing member surreality
Plot: It's a plot that starts out well, then proceeds to jump several genres to meet the deus ex machina, then hops back again, leaving you wonder what just hit you. It all gets quite muddled after the midpoint, and a number of small plots aren't resolved. Neither is the main plot, actually. The
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pacing is off, which is not surprising given that Monette is one of the authors. No progress in the first half of the book, then a sudden rush when too much story had to get crammed into too few pages.

Characters: Far too many characters in there, with names which sound so similar that it is impossible to keep them apart. In half the cases it's not plain whether this is a wolf or a human, and the tendency to change names doesn't help either. Characterisation is not done too well, as a result - there are too many characters to sketch, so nobody gets enough attention to make them truly interesting. Motive remains a mystery even in the central character's case, and it leaves them lifeless.

Style: Nordic. Got that (and if I hadn't, the apparent permanent snow cover would have been a heavy hint). Still, some of the more colourful mythology could have used a lot more build-up. As it is, it's just shoddy worldbuilding that relies on the reader having at least a vague idea about trolls and the Edda version of elves. Also, the sex could have had more interesting causes than "gee, my wolf went into heat" and "oh my gosh, she's doing it again".

Plus: It's an interesting underlying idea.

Minus: It's a story that tries too much on far too few pages. Nothing gets fleshed out properly. The worldbuilding is rudimentary, with far too many sudden, convenient solutions. Too much telling, not nearly enough showing.

Summary: Nice idea, badly executed.
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LibraryThing member Chamelline
So very good! Like several people have mentioned, this is more about the question of sexuality in a culture where two important social groups hold conflicting theories on what's "right" and "appropriate." The main character made me a little bit sad and a little bit hopeful, especially towards the
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end when I wished desperately that he would have a happy ending but was certain that his life would continue to be determined by his inner conflicts. Also, the whole bit with the trolls made me so curious as to where the authors would go with it, should there be another book -- for which I am crossing my fingers. Overall, a good read, which I was tempted to pick up and begin all over again as soon as I had finished. Plus, it introduced me to other works by both Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear.
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LibraryThing member xicanti
A young man living in a harsh northern land bonds with a wolf.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the names in this book really tripped me up at first. I have a longstanding interest in Norse mythology, and I'm usually very good with names, but these ones threw me. I found myself referring to the
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dramatis personae every couple of pages. There are scads of characters, and it took me a little while to sort out who was a human and who was a wolf. And when you consider the number of people whose names begin with or contain either "Ulf" or "Hro", and the way that several characters change their names within the first fifty pages, I was pretty lost.

But what initially seemed like a major challenge quickly faded to the status of a minor impediment. Tricky names aside, this is a wonderful book.

I can't pinpoint the moment it happened, but I sank straight into the story. I became immersed in the politics of the wolfheall. Despite the characters' status as warriors who stand between their people and the trellish threat from the north, this isn't really an action-oriented book. The novel's driving force comes from its characters and the things that happen to them between the battles. I thought the authors did a fantastic job of examining how these people would deal with the situations they find themselves in. The character dynamics are excellent, and I loved how the authors dealt with the bond between these men and their wolves. It was completely absorbing. I didn't want to put it down.

This was a great piece of stand-alone fantasy. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to reading more by both authors, separately or together.
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LibraryThing member EffingEden
The first book of the Iskryne World series, the second of which due to be published this summer, is set in a Nordic fantasy world where villages and towns are protected from the predation of trolls and wyverns by groups of warrior men and their huge wolves. These packs of warriors are looked upon
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with awe and distrust by most, rumours of what goes on in their halls seething in the mind of one Lord Gunnarr.

The story follows four years of Lord Gunnarr’s son, Njall, who is taken as tithe at the age of sixteen and trained as a wolfcarl and bonded to one of the alpha female’s cubs. Instead of having a distinct plot it runs more like a slice-of-life, as is Monette’s style. This might annoy some who depend of structure, but it never feels slow in pace or lacking in direction.

I have been an avid fan of Sarah Monette’s, ever since I picked up the Doctrine Of Labyrinths series, though I was a little hesitant to purchase A Companion To Wolves, as I feared a co-written novel would lack quality. I am so glad I decided to ignore my worries.

It is one of the only co-written books I have read, and fully expected the perspective to swing back-and-forth between two (or more) characters as Havemercy did, but unlike Jones and Bennett, Monette and Bear have only one main character. It suffers none of Havemercy’s failings (though did have several of its own) as it didn’t read like a glorified role-play. It was smooth and polished as a work and gritty and rough as an experience. The realism of it made it beautiful. The only creatures described with any beauty were the wolves, the men all had lice, the women were worn from the harsh life and imposed gender roles. And the character development is slow but natural.

A few of the faults lie in the action. The battlescenes are quite bland and hollow, not described or fraught with tension at all. It is a shame, as that would have made the novel perfection. Another problem I had with the book was the names of people. I am not good with them to start with, but faced with hoards of side characters with difficult to pronounce, difficult to remember names I strain to keep them all aligned. It doesn’t help that, once the tithe boys have bonded with a wolf, they choose a new name for themselves. This isn’t really a fault with the book, as the names reflect the Nordic influence on the world, but a minor grievance with my own mind.

Overall, I enjoyed every page. While it is a coming-of-age tale, it didn’t feel like it. It is more an exploration of the meaning of honour and love, with gay Vikings and huge kickass wolves. Actually, not gay. I don’t think Njall thinks much of either gender, and is still working through the maze of his father’s disapproval, his she-wolf’s needs and his own desire. By the end he finds a kind of peace though he is still on the fence. But yes, this is one series I will be following with great attention and eagerness. Bear has seemed to have tempered Monette’s lust for angst, and I will also be looking out for Bear’s other novels too. I am very impressed by them both.

Characters: 9/10
Setting:8/10
Plot: 8/10
Dialogue: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
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LibraryThing member were-duck
I've read a lot of animal-companion books of varying quality over the years, and I loves me the gays, so having an intelligent send-up of this subgenre that actually tackled homosexuality head-on, rather than prancing around the topic, was really good. Most of the characters are men, but this is a
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homosocial environment, the women we do see are sympathetic and strong, and the main character, Isolfr, due to his bonding with an alpha bitch wolf, is a really interesting depiction of masculinity if it has to play the role of the traditional female. I also loved the last scene in the book, which clinched the feminism for me perfectly.

The depictions of scenes and life within the wolfthreat were really engagingly drawn--I was almost sad when the plot picked up and the main character wasn't going to be going about learning his place in normal life there.

The trolls made me uncomfortable, and I was glad near the end when he made the decision he did. War in fantasy can all too easily be just about the humans battling the monsters, it's much more engaging when the monsters are human enough that the war, like real-world war, becomes objectionable.

I recommend it. But not if you're prurient about sex. The book has some very rough and conflicted depictions of sex between men. But I appreciated it, because it rang true for me. This is what sex can be like if you do it out of a sense of duty or social compulsion. There's also a thwarted rape scene, which I think gets handled well, and I was really pleased about the arrangement the main character ends up in--it made sense. Also not for you if you get frustrated by lots of confusing nordic/anglo-saxon names and terms. There were a couple of places when I had to read a passage several times or refer to earlier pages to get the names figured out, but I do like the atmosphere that the words lent.
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LibraryThing member imayb1
A brutish tale set in Norse-mythos, teaming men with telepathic wolves to fight trolls. It's a story that is very concerned with survival and the strong conquering the weak.

On a different level, the story is very concerned with gender roles. The main character, Isolfr, is a man bonded to a female
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wolf and he, son of a homophobic jarl, takes on more of a woman's role among his wolf-bonded fellow fighters. In contrast, the women of his own culture are strong and worthy of respect. The other races' cultures-- enemy and ally-- show greater equality between the sexes. I believe the end tried to emphasize a desire for gender equality and that this was the essential purpose of the book.

However, I felt the book came across like a cultural anthropology text: an analytical view of events. The main character consistently feels shame, embarrassment, or apologetic and it's all wrapped up in gender role confusion. While he cares for the (many, many) characters around him, he does it it an 'I'm responsible for them' way. Throughout most of the book, his choices are made by others or by circumstance and he reacts or rolls with the punches. Even in the conclusion, the writing style led toward 'happy ending', but Isolfr was waiting to be hurt again, rather than finding contentment. Each time he triumphed, he felt terrible, and by the end, I could only feel pity for this odd character doing all he could just to survive within his culture.

It's an interesting tale, if you read it like a gender study, but don't expect to get close to any of the characters because IF you can keep all those similar names sorted out, a third of them change, and many of them will die over the course of the book. Even then, the main character is emotionally distant and everything filters through him.
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LibraryThing member zjakkelien
This is probably the third time I've read this book. I realize immediately that it is not for everyone, but I love it. The wolves in this book are wonderfully life-like and realistic. The bond they have with the humans is great, as is the pack-sense, their method of communication. Yes, there is a
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lot of violence and sex, sometimes of a dubious nature, but it is completely functional and fits in with the story. There is an overall brutality to this world, but I can clearly see the beauty of it as well. The only thing I believe would really improve the book is the names... They are very difficult to remember and there are quite a lot of them. I managed it though and for me it is worth the effort. I was glad to see there is a sequel, so I'm continuing in that one!
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LibraryThing member ryvre
A Companion to Wolves is a wonderful, engaging story. I couldn't stop reading- I stayed up all night and finished it in one sitting.

The characters- both human and otherwise- are all interesting and complex. I loved that the non-human characters didn't think or act like humans.

The book took a lot of
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traditional fantasy tropes and turned them on their heads. If you're tired of quests, over the top romance, and happy fuzzy talking pets, then you'll love this book.
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LibraryThing member nilchance
Great worldbuilding, good characters. I found it a little muddled at times, too many strings crossing over each other, but the sociology of the wolf culture was fascinating. Recommended for those looking for unusual male/male romance, for Norse-influenced fantasy, or (alternately) people who love
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to read about animal behavior.
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LibraryThing member TseMoana
The story takes place in this Norse-based culture where Wolfcarls, men who bond together with a wolf, protect the villages from trolls. In return, when a she-wolf has a litter, they choose a number of boys from the villages to join them and eventually bond with the new pups.
This happens to the main
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character of the book, Njall. Njall is the oldest son of a jarl and destined to follow in his father's footsteps and lead the villages. Until the wolfcarls knock on their door. Njall is fascinated by the wolf accompanying the wolfcarl and decides to join them. This is only the start of his new life in which he does not only find new friends and bonds with a wolf of his own, but in which he also learns that life is not as black and white as he grew up believing. Things are not always what they seem.

I love the fact that it uses Norse mythology, history and culture as a base, I've always been a mythology/history nut so... :D I also love the fact that they obviously researched their stuff. The names, culture, behaviour (of men and wolves)... The attention given to the trolls and elves to make them both fit the mythology/culture and keep them different from those generic fantasy trolls and elves... It all created such an interwoven whole that sucked me right in and kept me there.
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LibraryThing member solanges
I read this book in one sitting. While I really loved the story and the setting and most especially the idea behind the plot, I found myself becoming continuely lost in who was who. There are so many names to keep track of in this story, I gave up trying at one point. It's an excellent book,
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though. I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys m/m fantasy.

If there is another story in this universe, my only hope is that there will be fewer names to keep track of so that I can concentrate on the beauty of the story and relationship between the warriors and their wolves.
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LibraryThing member Mendoza
An excellent fantasy that travels where I have not read before. As with another reviewer, I think my only beef is the overuseof complicated names. It was extremely difficult thruout most of the book to differenciate between characters.

I was not bothered by the m/m aspect as the fantasy was foremost
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for me and everything that followed made perfect sense with the story.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
This is an R-rated take on the "magically bonded animals" genre - it takes some of the things that are lightly touched on in the Pern books, namely the consequences of being empathically bonded with an animal with an estrus cycle, and makes them oh-so-explicit (including the necessity of
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readily-available lube and proper preparation.) The actual plot is very thin, and nearly everyone is examined as a potential mate rather than a fully-rounded character. There are hints of some interesting gender-role examinations very late in the book, but they're never fleshed out.

That sounds sort of negative, doesn't it? I really quite liked the book - the emotional situations were fairly compelling - but it really is more romance than fantasy. Gay male sex doesn't do much of anything for me, alas, but if it does, this is doubly a book to pick up.
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LibraryThing member kishazworld
Disclaimer: I got this book from the public library and have received no compensation from the author or publisher for this honest review.

I want to first say that this book was nothing like what I thought it was going to be and then turned out to be more in some areas.

I know, I'm talking in circles
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but this book threw me for loops at every turn. I do want to say up front that if you are against m/m pairings or anything related to m/m romantic elements, you might not like this book.

With that being said, the writing by both authors was a work of art. Once I started reading, I very reluctantly put it down (and that's only because I need to sleep) but quickly resumed reading the next day.

Watching Isolfr grow up and navigate his new life as well as the adventure/battle aspect of the plot was worthwhile. I can't really say more because I'm afraid of giving out spoilers.

I will be reading the next book in this series because I'm interested in the world that these two authors have created.

Would I recommend this? Only for those not squeamish about certain topics.
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LibraryThing member fred_mouse
This is not a nice book, and it needs a pretty explicit content warning. And it does not engage well with the topics which require said warning. But it is solidly written, in a way that caught hold and made it hard to put down.

Fascinating world building at the higher level, a bit icky lower down
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(and the feminist message of "maybe we don't respect our women enough" got a bit heavy handed at one point), some interesting explorations of gender, engaging characters.

Really should be four stars based how I felt when I finished it, but the problematic parts preclude that.
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LibraryThing member Noeshia
If you're sensitive to homophobia, or confusing sexuality, or questionable consent, then this is not the book for you. Do I like it? As a fantasy and not a reality it is interesting. But it has major issues.

This one is set in a Norse-like fantasy world where psychic dire wolves bond with
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human(male) partners unto death. This came to being because Trolls regularly come through slaughtering people and the wolves, so they allied themselves for the cause. There's a catch though because only men bond with the wolves as it is described, and the men also end up bonding to each other when their wolves mate. This instills a sort of magical bisexuality in the guys that the main character is uncomfortable with because his father is homophobic and bitter and because as far as I can tell he's either straight or bi and deeply uncomfortable with it. So you have a main character who definitely needs therapy, in a world where he's not going to get it. On the one hand, interesting concept and I'd probably be less critical of it if this were written like a smut book, but on the other it isn't written like smut and there are some deep uncomfortable bits for the character and reader alike. I'm interested in how the world works, but at the same time confused as to what the author was going for with this world-building and plot. Maybe just an investigation of a patriarchal world in which sexuality and gender definitions outside the norm are recognized but not the way they are here? I don't know. Maybe in the second book we get something that shows us he's bi and just needed to work through his feelings on it, though even that is a bit uncomfortable to think about since he does have suitors and so on before he's really ready. I don't know.

I think I've talked myself into almost lowering the stars on this one even though I was kept in this story well enough to give it the four I originally put up. I'll leave the four, but be wary of this one. Interesting concept, but difficult themes. Only pick it up when you're in a good place to do so.
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LibraryThing member lquilter
A fairly slight story, compared with, say, Monette's Melusine books. The central conceit of the story -- companion animals with all male companions, i.e., queer Pern with wolves -- was fun but not enough, really, to build a novel on. But, the world-building and characters were entertaining enough,
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and Monette and Bear added in a few other enjoyable layers: I liked the ecological elements underlying the story -- the different species jostling for space, in response to the weather shifting. I liked the protagonist's unease with slaughtering all the available members of an intelligent species. And I liked his growing awareness of gender roles. So, a quick but entertaining and enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member sageness

First, let me say that I am so glad I bought it instead of getting it from the library. This is a book I want to reread.

Also, let me say that I'm totally squicky about noncon, having been warned in advance. I didn't read sadism in the sex, although there's always a chance I'm reading it that way
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intentionally and I can't know how I would have read it cold, without being prepared for the subject matter.

I wish ACTW were a bit longer, maybe by two short chapters, and that those chapters were located in the early-middle and the full-middle. I would have liked to see more of life in the werthreat, to prevent all these guys from becoming a litany of unpronounceable names until they show up again a hundred pages later.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the names themselves. I suspect I wouldn't have any issue if they were in any language I already know how to transliterate (Japanese, Russian, any Latin-based language, and some Greek, if in Roman alphabet), but all I know of Norse-Germanic is to turn j's into y's. And that made the reading process feel like stubbing my toe on 75% of the names in the book. (Ow.) Luckily, the story held my interest and eventually my wacky brain started coding the names by color, shape, etc., so I could remember the important people and places. Maybe it's odd, but I needed a character list (which is provided) way less than I needed a pronunciation key. /dork.

I also think the ending came a little too soon, but...*sigh* Everything I would add seems gratuitous when I think about it. I just want MORE. More of the 'verse. More detail. More color. More stories. More adventures. More sex. More snark. More people loving and protecting each other as well as they can. I like that in a book. A lot.

All in all, I enjoyed the hell out of reading -- I didn't want it to end. And that's a rec, assuming you dig fantasy, gay not-Vikings, wolves, wolves bonded to men, lots of sex, trolls, dungeon crawls, huge battles, etc. I just wish there were more.
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
If you are a woman who enjoys sexual fantasies about bisexual Norsemen, then this book is for you.
Not the best work from either Monette or Bear, and at times the characters do get hard to tell apart, but if this is your thing, it's definitely enjoyable.
LibraryThing member Isana
I give it 4.5 but I rather round down than up.

I never wanted to stop. The concept was just fascinating and very well done. The writing was also very good. I felt like I was in the story most of the time. Sometimes the politics and everything was a little tiring but it was still interesting to read
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about because it helps shape the idea of the world. An enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member being_b
Best when focusing on the werthreat, the wolfthreat, and their interactions with the wolfless. Weaker (and somewhat heavyhanded) when trying to make points about gender equality-- it's difficult to take a book that's 95% about Men being big muscly sweaty blunt violent Men with other Men and try to
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make a point that women are awesome yay. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
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LibraryThing member slothman
Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear team up to create a Norse-themed fantasy centered around the folk who defend human civilization from raids by trolls and wyverns: men who can join in the telepathic connection among packs of not-quite-verbal trellwolves. The packsense gives them enough of an
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advantage in a fight that humans can win-- but the trolls are coming south in numbers previously unseen, and it looks bad for the humans.

The writers are consciously answering themes in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, but the book stands on its own quite well. The hero is embroiled in multiple levels of politics, with a life complicated by everything from his relationship with his estranged father to the reflections of wolfpack interactions on their bonded humans.
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LibraryThing member flemmily
As other reviewers have said, the best summary here is gay vikings! A cliche, definitely, but still well written. War, sex, and wolves, what more could you want in a fantasy novel?
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Njall is the teenage son of a jarl when he is inducted into the world of the wolfcarls--warriors who have psychically bonded with trellwolves in order to fight the encroaching trolls. The transition is hard for Njall, because wolfcarls are completely devoted to the fight. They do not own land, they
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do not marry or raid for glory--and when their wolves mate with other wolves, their wolfcarls mate with each other. Njall has to adapt from being in control of his own life, choices and sexuality, to being an object of lust and subject to the needs of the wolfthret. It takes him the entire book to come to terms with this, and I appreciated that he stumbled several times while trying to maintain both his honor and his sanity.
I was less impressed with the wolfthret and the generations-long war with the trolls. There are far too many characters, and Monette and Bear don't write compelling battles. The trolls crush the wolves and humans throughout, razing their villages and forcing them to retreat at every turn, but I never really got the feeling of approaching doom. The writing and plot are a bit uneven; I wish the authors had focused a little more, either on the ramifications of becoming part of the wolfthret or on the war.
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Awards

Lambda Literary Award (Finalist — 2007)
Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (Winner — Fantasy — 2007)
Gaylactic Spectrum Award (Nominee — Novel — 2008)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2007-10

Physical description

320 p.; 4.27 inches

ISBN

076535778X / 9780765357786

Barcode

1602441
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