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“Ancient grudges and ruthless schemes are simply business as usual to the Faerie court in Bear's complex and involving contemporary fantasy. Campbell-winner Bear ("Worldwired") overturns the usual vision of Faerie, revealing the compelling beauty and darkness only glimpsed in old ballads and stories like 'Tam Lin'."--"Publishers Weekly "on "Blood and Iron" by Elizabeth Bear "Set in the wondrous city of Melusine, Monette's extraordinary first fantasy novel focuses on two captivating characters from two very different worlds. Monette is a highly original writer with her own unique voice.”--"Publishers Weekly" starred review of "Melusine" by Sarah Monette
Product Description
"A Companion to Wolves" is the story of a young nobleman, Isolfr, who is chosen to become a wolfcarl - 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 honour lies, and discover the lengths to which he will go where it, and love for his wolf, drive him.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I must admit, I bought this book, inspired by some hilarious reviews on Good Reads. Unfortunately, those reviews mislead me about the seriousness of this book - or better yet how seriously it takes itself. That is portrayed mainly in the main character's "values" and views on the world he is in and his personal duties. And so I shall start with the BAD things about this book:
- (non-graphic) SPOILERS -
1) Serious issues with sexual consent. The protagonist is, for a lack of better description - straight. He isn't even bisexual , he is straight. He, personally, does not wish to have sex with men, doesn't find them particularly attractive etc. If for a moment the reader wonders about a spark between him and a secondary character in the book, all hope is crushed soon enough due to conflict or just lack of interest on the protagonist's part. And yet, since he is mated to the "alpha" bitch wolf of the pack, he gets mounted whenever she gets mounted because it is his "duty". Even if I was fully aware that the authors were aiming for some sort of appeal in the sex scenes, I saw none. It just wasn't clear how being sexually used like a bitch for his wolf's benefit was "honour" for the straight main character. One scene of what I can only describe as a 'gang-bang' was particularly difficult for me to swallow and this is coming from a dub-con fan.
2) No M/M romance. Naturally, this links to the protagonist's sexual orientation. This isn't a book about two men falling in love, it's about one hetero man forcing himself to bend over for a bunch of guys. I do not enjoy.
3) The names of most of the characters were difficult to distinguish due to their similarity. If that's not enough, the names of their wolf companions are thrown in as well and half the time I was left wondering who the hell the authors were referring to and if it was a human or a wolf.
4) Character development. Many of the characters simply weren't developed enough. They got brought in, some seeming very promising too, and then just mentioned again after a whole bunch of pages without actual detail.
5) The reasoning. I honestly feel that the authors could have been more successful about why the main characters do what they do. "My wolf companion is worth sacrifices and I shall give them because it's my duty." is not enough of an explanation even if it is repeated about 100 times using different words/expressions. Where was the depth? The inspiration? The opportunity for the reader to think "I can relate."??
What was GOOD about this book, and it was enough to salvage the situation and get a third star:
1) The writing. Aside from the names issue, I have no complaints with the writing. It flows, it makes sense etc.
2) The main idea. I love the idea about bonding to an animal , having a telepathic connection with it, fighting side by side with it. It's a special kind of bond that I've wished I had many times.
3) The other fantasy elements. Now, I may not be a fan of trolls, but it was neat reading about people hunting and fighting them, even if some scenes dragged on for quite a bit.
Anyway, sorry if this review is too long and if it disappointed future readers. Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and even though I didn't particularly enjoy this book (and will not be reading its sequel) you still might find more stuff appealing.
- (non-graphic) SPOILERS -
1) Serious issues with sexual consent. The protagonist is, for a lack of better description - straight. He isn't even bisexual , he is straight. He, personally, does not wish to have sex with men, doesn't find them particularly attractive etc. If for a moment the reader wonders about a spark between him and a secondary character in the book, all hope is crushed soon enough due to conflict or just lack of interest on the protagonist's part. And yet, since he is mated to the "alpha" bitch wolf of the pack, he gets mounted whenever she gets mounted because it is his "duty". Even if I was fully aware that the authors were aiming for some sort of appeal in the sex scenes, I saw none. It just wasn't clear how being sexually used like a bitch for his wolf's benefit was "honour" for the straight main character. One scene of what I can only describe as a 'gang-bang' was particularly difficult for me to swallow and this is coming from a dub-con fan.
2) No M/M romance. Naturally, this links to the protagonist's sexual orientation. This isn't a book about two men falling in love, it's about one hetero man forcing himself to bend over for a bunch of guys. I do not enjoy.
3) The names of most of the characters were difficult to distinguish due to their similarity. If that's not enough, the names of their wolf companions are thrown in as well and half the time I was left wondering who the hell the authors were referring to and if it was a human or a wolf.
4) Character development. Many of the characters simply weren't developed enough. They got brought in, some seeming very promising too, and then just mentioned again after a whole bunch of pages without actual detail.
5) The reasoning. I honestly feel that the authors could have been more successful about why the main characters do what they do. "My wolf companion is worth sacrifices and I shall give them because it's my duty." is not enough of an explanation even if it is repeated about 100 times using different words/expressions. Where was the depth? The inspiration? The opportunity for the reader to think "I can relate."??
What was GOOD about this book, and it was enough to salvage the situation and get a third star:
1) The writing. Aside from the names issue, I have no complaints with the writing. It flows, it makes sense etc.
2) The main idea. I love the idea about bonding to an animal , having a telepathic connection with it, fighting side by side with it. It's a special kind of bond that I've wished I had many times.
3) The other fantasy elements. Now, I may not be a fan of trolls, but it was neat reading about people hunting and fighting them, even if some scenes dragged on for quite a bit.
Anyway, sorry if this review is too long and if it disappointed future readers. Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and even though I didn't particularly enjoy this book (and will not be reading its sequel) you still might find more stuff appealing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In an alternate Nordic World, the humans are menaced by bands of Trolls who spend their time destroying villages and slaughtering the men women and children (and eating them...).
To counter the Trolls, the humans have set up separate halls staffed with fierce male warriors, each of whom bonds with an equally fierce Wolf.
The story is on one level a Norse Saga (with added Trolls) as our hero (a young nobleman who is taken off to the Wolf Halls as a tithe against his father's wishes) struggles to fight off the Trolls, and ends up raising an army. It is well written and the action sequences are exciting and vivid. The coldness of the landscape echoes through the paragraphs - one shivers to read it!
On another level the book is an exploration of the collaboration between Man and Beast. The Wolves are to a certain extent the dominant partner in the relationship - each one bonding with a young man soon after birth. The wolves and men communicate telepathically, and this [if you have ever been owned by a dog!] is entirely believeable - the emotions of the animals are expressed through their faces, their tails, their scents and, in some way, through limited words expressed mentally.
There are also some fairly graphic descriptions of the Wolves' mating sessions which are consummated simultaneously by the men bonded with the wolves. This is a bit shocking to start with, but is an essential part of the story.
This is quite a different book to Elizabeth Bear's other novels - the Hammered sequence (an elderly female cyborg in 2062), or the Blood and Iron (Roc Fantasy) series (with Humans and Faeries), let alone Chill (outer space).
Highly recommended, unless you feel a bit queasing about male-male bonding.
To counter the Trolls, the humans have set up separate halls staffed with fierce male warriors, each of whom bonds with an equally fierce Wolf.
The story is on one level a Norse Saga (with added Trolls) as our hero (a young nobleman who is taken off to the Wolf Halls as a tithe against his father's wishes) struggles to fight off the Trolls, and ends up raising an army. It is well written and the action sequences are exciting and vivid. The coldness of the landscape echoes through the paragraphs - one shivers to read it!
On another level the book is an exploration of the collaboration between Man and Beast. The Wolves are to a certain extent the dominant partner in the relationship - each one bonding with a young man soon after birth. The wolves and men communicate telepathically, and this [if you have ever been owned by a dog!] is entirely believeable - the emotions of the animals are expressed through their faces, their tails, their scents and, in some way, through limited words expressed mentally.
There are also some fairly graphic descriptions of the Wolves' mating sessions which are consummated simultaneously by the men bonded with the wolves. This is a bit shocking to start with, but is an essential part of the story.
This is quite a different book to Elizabeth Bear's other novels - the Hammered sequence (an elderly female cyborg in 2062), or the Blood and Iron (Roc Fantasy) series (with Humans and Faeries), let alone Chill (outer space).
Highly recommended, unless you feel a bit queasing about male-male bonding.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This was an excellent book and one that's getting a re-read as soon as my backlog of books it slightly more cleared and I have time (what's that you say? Given university that'll be years? No!). To give a quick synopsis, CtW combines aspects of Pern (such as bonding - in this case to animals called trellwolves, basically huge wild wolves long ago bonded to men) with aspects of Norse mythology (trolls, wyverns, icy wastes, and svartalfs) and it takes on some interesting concepts such as sexuality and gender.
The story is a good one; Njoll goes to the wolfheall despite his father's wishes and, bonding with Viradechtis the bitch-wolf, becomes Isolfr. Fighting of trolls ensues and full-blown war breaks out... with all that entails. It's told from Isolfr's point of view in third person, but of course the bond with Vriadechtis and the wolfheall pack gives us a whole extra set of perspectives... and an interesting set of senses; or perhaps an extension of senses that we don't exercise and use that much. The bond with Viradechtis is well-used and well-developed, with an interesting note in there. Viradechtis is not intelligent, per se; oh, she's not your average wolf, and is smart, but she's actually not intelligent. Very personlike, and actually very personable - try reading the book and not, so some extent, falling in love with Isolfr and Viradechtis both - but the latter remains a trellwolf throughout.
The book's very vivid; you feel as though you are Isolfr whilst reading, and that means you're sucked in. This could be a problem for some readers in certain scenes - the nature of the wolfheall and bond means male-male sex is a non-minor feature of the book - but those scenes are described as much in terms of feelings as actual physical acts, and they make interesting and rapid reading whilst not taking over the book or turning it into porn. Battles are bloody and you can, in fact, get that feeling, which is very powerful; but Bear & Monette control the action and don't let it go on too long, because this isn't a book about battle or war or sex or anything but Isolfr and his love for Viradechtis and the wolfheall.
I mentioned earlier that this book takes on gender-issues; the svartalfs are genderless. The effects of this, and implications, aren't well covered - and similarly, the effects of meeting a genderless peoples on Isolfr are little-covered, but in a book that stands at little over 300 pages dealing with that would have taken time not really available. However, since a sequel seems to be in the works, and possibly one focussing on the svartalfs, that might change; I can but hope, yes?
The one criticism I might have of this book is that it seems to be very densely packed and some of the ideas aren't as well-developed as one might like or expect; that may well be to do with the format of the book - 300 pages isn't enough time to explore the aspects of all the new ideas within the story, only to look into them at best briefly (the genderlessness of the svartalfar doesn't shock Isolfr as much as I might expect, probably because the story has to keep rolling on over it, for instance). However that doesn't detract much at all from the reading experience!
All in all thoroughly recommended; I had a wonderful time reading this book.
The story is a good one; Njoll goes to the wolfheall despite his father's wishes and, bonding with Viradechtis the bitch-wolf, becomes Isolfr. Fighting of trolls ensues and full-blown war breaks out... with all that entails. It's told from Isolfr's point of view in third person, but of course the bond with Vriadechtis and the wolfheall pack gives us a whole extra set of perspectives... and an interesting set of senses; or perhaps an extension of senses that we don't exercise and use that much. The bond with Viradechtis is well-used and well-developed, with an interesting note in there. Viradechtis is not intelligent, per se; oh, she's not your average wolf, and is smart, but she's actually not intelligent. Very personlike, and actually very personable - try reading the book and not, so some extent, falling in love with Isolfr and Viradechtis both - but the latter remains a trellwolf throughout.
The book's very vivid; you feel as though you are Isolfr whilst reading, and that means you're sucked in. This could be a problem for some readers in certain scenes - the nature of the wolfheall and bond means male-male sex is a non-minor feature of the book - but those scenes are described as much in terms of feelings as actual physical acts, and they make interesting and rapid reading whilst not taking over the book or turning it into porn. Battles are bloody and you can, in fact, get that feeling, which is very powerful; but Bear & Monette control the action and don't let it go on too long, because this isn't a book about battle or war or sex or anything but Isolfr and his love for Viradechtis and the wolfheall.
I mentioned earlier that this book takes on gender-issues; the svartalfs are genderless. The effects of this, and implications, aren't well covered - and similarly, the effects of meeting a genderless peoples on Isolfr are little-covered, but in a book that stands at little over 300 pages dealing with that would have taken time not really available. However, since a sequel seems to be in the works, and possibly one focussing on the svartalfs, that might change; I can but hope, yes?
The one criticism I might have of this book is that it seems to be very densely packed and some of the ideas aren't as well-developed as one might like or expect; that may well be to do with the format of the book - 300 pages isn't enough time to explore the aspects of all the new ideas within the story, only to look into them at best briefly (the genderlessness of the svartalfar doesn't shock Isolfr as much as I might expect, probably because the story has to keep rolling on over it, for instance). However that doesn't detract much at all from the reading experience!
All in all thoroughly recommended; I had a wonderful time reading this book.
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