Getting the Geek Out
So firstly, I apologise for missing a week. In hindsight putting additional deadlines on myself during the last three weeks of school might not have been the brightest idea, hopefully; however, I’ll be able to wean myself into a routine by summer.
But down to business: In accordance with my editorial calendar I’ve decided that in addition to movie reviews, one of the posts in my five-post rotation shall be a book review! I have so much fun with movie reviews; I figured I could challenge myself with their formidable forebears. I find writing review’s not only gets the geek out of my system (or gives me a chance to vent), it also keeps me analytically challenged, which I think is important when a person writes predominately fiction-as I do.
Book: A Companion to Wolves
Author(s): Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear
Genre:: Fantasy (Though I want to, and there are m/m sex scenes in it, I cannot call this novel a “romance”. More on that under the cut.)
Synopsis: Trellwolves are wolves that hunt trolls, and there are those that have bonded with men. Men and their bonded wolves live in packs known as “wolfheallan”, for a bonded wolf and man pair is no longer man, and no longer wolf, and accepted by neither. The wolfless men fear these men for their wildness but rely on their strength to protect them from the trolls; they tithe young boys every spring to keep the wolfheallan’s numbers strong. Isolfer, tithed despite his father’s wishes, bonds a Konigenwolf by name of Viradechtis, a bitch-pup who will one day lead her own pack, and he is about to face more than just mere trolls, for bonding a bitch-pup is difficult enough; bonding a konigenwolf is world-changing.
Men have fought trolls for as long as any can remember, but something has changed. Something is causing the trolls to flee their northern trellwarens in numbers that are swiftly overwhelming the men of the south. Now a wolfmaegething has been called, and all the wolfheallan’s are gathering to make plans for war.
So first up this is not a story for anyone averse to sex in prose, especially that of two men, for while it isn’t particularly explicit, in this story it is as brutal (and necessary) as battle. This, of course, was the initial selling point for me. I believe I first heard of A Companion to Wolves in The Slash Pile, (which is why I won’t be x-posting this there) and was immediately drawn to the idea of battle-hardened men forced into sex with each other when their bitch-wolves went into heat. But I've read this book at least three times now (in the three years I've owned it) and the reason is the sex is secondary to the plot. The sex is quick and dirty, and oftentimes fades to black, but what you’ll find yourself reading for is the story: will the wolves and men survive the war? Will Isolfer and Viradechtis survive? And it is a hard, bloody war.
For lovers of blood and battle, honour and death, this is a must read. Monette and Bear have created a world that reads like a Norse fairytale-and just as blunt and battle-cold as you would expect one to be. The language alone is gripping and once you get used to the the tongue of the Norsemen (of the werthreats, and wolfmaegethings, and werbrothers, and wolfheofodmans) you’ll find yourself pulled deep into the story.
An additional note: Monette and Bear did write a sequel, The Tempering of Men, just this year, and while it’s a good read and worth picking up you’ll be disappointed if you think it’s going to be another Companion to Wolves. While Isolfer does play a prominent part, it is no longer his story. Instead his wolfjarls, Vethulf-in-the-fire and Skjaldwulf-snow-soft take the story. There’s also supposed to be a third in the series, and I’m hoping it will tie things back to Isolfer. Personally, I think the cold bastard made the first book what it was. He’s a strong, independent character that I completely sympathized with. I think Monette and Bear lost something when they decided to cut the focus from him for a while, even though I do, immensely, enjoy reading about Skjaldwulf and Vethulf’s dysfunctional wolfjarl-ship.
But down to business: In accordance with my editorial calendar I’ve decided that in addition to movie reviews, one of the posts in my five-post rotation shall be a book review! I have so much fun with movie reviews; I figured I could challenge myself with their formidable forebears. I find writing review’s not only gets the geek out of my system (or gives me a chance to vent), it also keeps me analytically challenged, which I think is important when a person writes predominately fiction-as I do.
Book: A Companion to Wolves
Author(s): Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear
Genre:: Fantasy (Though I want to, and there are m/m sex scenes in it, I cannot call this novel a “romance”. More on that under the cut.)
Synopsis: Trellwolves are wolves that hunt trolls, and there are those that have bonded with men. Men and their bonded wolves live in packs known as “wolfheallan”, for a bonded wolf and man pair is no longer man, and no longer wolf, and accepted by neither. The wolfless men fear these men for their wildness but rely on their strength to protect them from the trolls; they tithe young boys every spring to keep the wolfheallan’s numbers strong. Isolfer, tithed despite his father’s wishes, bonds a Konigenwolf by name of Viradechtis, a bitch-pup who will one day lead her own pack, and he is about to face more than just mere trolls, for bonding a bitch-pup is difficult enough; bonding a konigenwolf is world-changing.
Men have fought trolls for as long as any can remember, but something has changed. Something is causing the trolls to flee their northern trellwarens in numbers that are swiftly overwhelming the men of the south. Now a wolfmaegething has been called, and all the wolfheallan’s are gathering to make plans for war.
So first up this is not a story for anyone averse to sex in prose, especially that of two men, for while it isn’t particularly explicit, in this story it is as brutal (and necessary) as battle. This, of course, was the initial selling point for me. I believe I first heard of A Companion to Wolves in The Slash Pile, (which is why I won’t be x-posting this there) and was immediately drawn to the idea of battle-hardened men forced into sex with each other when their bitch-wolves went into heat. But I've read this book at least three times now (in the three years I've owned it) and the reason is the sex is secondary to the plot. The sex is quick and dirty, and oftentimes fades to black, but what you’ll find yourself reading for is the story: will the wolves and men survive the war? Will Isolfer and Viradechtis survive? And it is a hard, bloody war.
For lovers of blood and battle, honour and death, this is a must read. Monette and Bear have created a world that reads like a Norse fairytale-and just as blunt and battle-cold as you would expect one to be. The language alone is gripping and once you get used to the the tongue of the Norsemen (of the werthreats, and wolfmaegethings, and werbrothers, and wolfheofodmans) you’ll find yourself pulled deep into the story.
An additional note: Monette and Bear did write a sequel, The Tempering of Men, just this year, and while it’s a good read and worth picking up you’ll be disappointed if you think it’s going to be another Companion to Wolves. While Isolfer does play a prominent part, it is no longer his story. Instead his wolfjarls, Vethulf-in-the-fire and Skjaldwulf-snow-soft take the story. There’s also supposed to be a third in the series, and I’m hoping it will tie things back to Isolfer. Personally, I think the cold bastard made the first book what it was. He’s a strong, independent character that I completely sympathized with. I think Monette and Bear lost something when they decided to cut the focus from him for a while, even though I do, immensely, enjoy reading about Skjaldwulf and Vethulf’s dysfunctional wolfjarl-ship.