Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves

Rising fantasy stars Monette (Mélusine) and Bear (Whiskey & Water) subvert the telepathic animal companion subgenre so thoroughly that it may never be the same. The inhabitants of a cold and perilous world grounded in Norse/Germanic mythology depend upon the brutally violent wolfcarls, men who bond telepathicallywith huge fighting trellwolves, to protect them from monstrous trolls and wyverns from further north. When the northern threat suddenly intensifies, Isolfr, a young wolfcarl, and his wolf-sister, Viradechtis, a Queen wolf destined to rule her own pack, are thrust into key roles in their civilization’s desperate fight to survive.

Looking at the amazon synopsis of A Companion to Wolves, I can pretty much admit that the primary reason for me to pick up this book was my recently-found love and adoration for Sarah Monette’s work. I didn’t really have too high expectations when I started to read this book, because I’m personally not a great fan of collaborations and then was waiting for the next Labyrinthine book, pretty sure that this one wouldn’t be as heavy on the LGBT side as Monette’s other works.

Well, damn. I was wrong.

And luckily so. In retrospect I think that A Companion to Wolves has been one of the best books I’ve read this year and has quickly become one of my all-time favorites. With a little more than 300 pages this is a short, but plot- and character-packed standalone (though I really wouldn’t mind a sequel in general ) that pretty much stands our common animal-companion fantasy perception on its head.

The outcome of what Elizabeth Bear says on her website was originally planned as a satirical novella is a harsh and beautiful book about loyalty and honor and for everyone who knows Sarah Monette’s Labyrinthine books certainly will recognize the intricacy with which the authors deal with sexuality and character relationships.

I daresay A Companion to Wolves probably isn’t for everyone as it’s very explicit in terms of content and generally brings up some issues that will probably put off anyone who expects this book to be a light, entertaining read. It definitely raises some questions about issues more traditional fantasy just doesn’t deal with and that is exactly what makes this book so intriguing along with both authors’ talent in creating a fast-paced plot propelled by the compelling relationships of its characters – human and nonhuman alike.

Even though the book is definitely a standalone, whether Bear and Monette plan to work on a sequel remains to be seen. I’ll keep my eyes open, because the sad thing about short books like A Companion to Wolves is that they’re over much too soon and leave you wanting for more

Profanity

Okay, everyone who’s read Light, especially the edited version knows that I love to use profanity and its wonderful f-compounds in wild abandon where it’s in character.

At places it’s appropriate, as it’s pretty much present in every-day speech patterns. Now. Can I just say I’m really NOT a fan of the commonly popular American way of making up replacement words for profanity? I think we’ve had this discussion before.

Now again, excuse me please when I want to yell at and shake a certain author. I mean come on. You really can use the f-word without going straight to hell, but even if you don’t want to, just use ’screwed’ etc. Don’t make up entirely random replacements.

*sigh*

By the way did you notice how I totally abstained from wielding the f-word et alia?

See, even I can do it.

If I have to.

Just a little irritated aside.

Kate Elliott – Kings Dragon

The Kingdom of Wendar is beset by civil war between brother and sister for the throne, by two hostile nonhuman races, by ghosts roaming the streets, and by enough other plots and counterplots to fuel the average Balkan war. Key to successfully resolving the overly fraught situation are Alain, a young prophet who needs to learn his parentage before he can act safely, and Liath, a lifelong fugitive sheltered by her father from worldly knowledge that she must acquire before she can act.

Okay, let me tell you this: excessive worldbuilding really isn’t one of my personal favorite things in fantasy. That might explain why it took me a while to warm up to Elliott’s style. Everything starts out as your standard epic fantasy archetype: We have a country at war with a mysterious, non-human race, while said country also is at the brink of a succession war on the inside. The main characters are stereotypes at first, but they soon turn into more. That and tons of religious background, but doubtlessly great worldbuilding make for a little bit of a slow start and it made me realize how long it’s been since I started reading The Wheel of Time & Co. since I’ve been a little ‘out’ of epic fantasy on the big scale.

Again, before I get all the Elliott fans ranting and raving at my utterly deluded judgement – this is just a personal thing. I’m not much of the worldbuilding type, but more of a plot- and character-oriented reader so what gets me hooked is an intriguing character and there my loves, I damn-well can’t complain!

I didn’t really care for Liath’s character much in the beginning, but by the time she meets certain other characters I loved her sections. Alain starts out as your typical ‘good, naive village boy’ character, but he undergoes some changes and gains some nifty abilities that make me want to read more. Oh and did I mention that I’m totally looking forward to getting to see more of Sanglant in the sequel, Prince of Dogs? Yeah, in the end I got hooked and intrigued and wanting for more – so guess where I’m stopping by to pick up at least the second one of this seven-volume series? You got it – Nym’s getting another book-fix today

I guess I’m sort of finding my way back into epic fantasy, even though I have to admit I’m skipping some of the all too excessive worldbuilding to get things going.  Does that tell you anything about my writing style? You bet.

YES! HURT ME MORE!

Yeah, I’m getting good at taking critique

Especially if people of awesome point out things I’ve been meaning to work on anyway and then they tell me exactly what is wrong with it.

I love my critters.

Thanks guys for accepting my alternative methods of personal fulfilment

I am mighty!

Hahaha, thanks to Sira for showing me this

Ever down about your writing? Having a bad day? Need an ego boost?

Click here

but only if you have your speakers on

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Yay for progress :D

In the end, I really had a blast with this chapter and yes, I finally finished it today

There was action and dialogue and plot-twists and characters with rampant personality issues (yes, we all love those). Got some really nice plot- and character development here

That was really fun to write

Let’s hear it for the awesomeness of complete rewrites!

Take my novel by its ankles and shake the change out of its pockets…

Seriously, I love it when someone poses a very valid question regarding the logic of something in my writing and I notice plotholes that need to be stuffed. Happens all the time, especially in the editing phase and of course it isn’t always a pleasant thing to do. But today one of those questions inspired an avalanche of thoughts and inspiration that don’t only stuff plotholes and add some more detail to the first book as a whole, but also gave me an idea for an awesome opening for book two, Clairvoyance.

So far I’m still planning to launch book two during this year’s Nanowrimo and will work on getting all those random and not-so-random ideas all structured and orderly to be able to be able to do so.

Oh and yay for supercomputerized flammable voodoo dolls!

…yeah…

Don’t ask :p

Cover Art

So humor me for a minute. My bookguy (trans: independent bookseller with whom I love to have SFF-related discussions) had me borrow a book from him to ‘take a look at it’. It’s the 1970-edition of Katherine Kurtz’ Deryni Rising featuring this kind of cover art.

Uh…yeah…Do I need to say more? Let’s just say I skimmed through it just for the heck of it and yes, the book definitely lives up to his hideous cover art… For anyone who thought the Wheel of Time covers were bad or is ranting about the cover art for the upcoming Scott Lynch book – may this cover be burned into your retinas Back in 1970 (or nowadays if you purchase Russian translations like Steven Erikson’s Deadhouse Gates) things were much worse.

It still doesn’t remedy the fact that most fantasy covers are horrendously cliched and don’t reflect the book at all (though I have to admit that I did like the equally cliched coverart for Shadows Return, but that’s just because Seregil is real eye-candy and because Michael Kormack generally does an awesome job) Let’s hear it for awesome fantasy artists and covers that we don’t need to hide in public.

Maybe I should make an effort at getting into photoshop and work on creating my own coverart? Hm.

David Gemmell – Waylander

All of Waylander’s instincts had screamed at him to spurn the contract from Kaem the cruel, the killer of nations. But he had ignored them. He had made his kill. And even as he went to collect his gold, he knew that he had been betrayed.
Now the Dark Brotherhood and the hounds of chaos were hunting him, even as Kaem’s armies waged war on the Drenai lands, intent on killing every man, woman, and child. The Drenai soldiers were doomed to ultimate defeat, and chaos would soon reign.
Then a strange old man told Waylander that the only way to turn the tide of battle would be for Waylander himself to retrieve the legendary Armor of Bronze from its hiding place deep within a shadow-haunted land. He would be hunted. He was certain to fail. But he must try, the old man commanded–commanded in the name of his son, the king, who had been slain by an assassin…
Waylander was the most unlikely of heroes–for he was a traitor, the Slayer who had killed the king…

Wow, I actually liked this a great deal more than I thought on first impression. Yes, I seem to go through books like candy lately, one a day or so, especially if they’re fast-paced like this one was – which gets me to write a bunch of reviews lately, basically helping me to keep track of what I read and not forget to post a few lines here.

Anyway, I’ve been planning on getting into David Gemmell’s work for quite a while now, but somehow I wanted to start with something shorter that can be read as a standalone – I also have his Parmenion books (Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince), but for now I wanted something different so I picked up Waylander on a whim, after the manifold recommendations from two people whose opinion in books I’m holding in quite high esteem I certainly wasn’t disappointed, when I picked up Waylander this morning.

What begins as your stereotypical fantasy-setting – country on the brink of war, well actually quite in the thick of it, characters make a rather unlikely alliance and set out for a quest to retrieve magical(?) item of awesome – pulls you into a fast-moving fantasy tale, rich in plot and character-depth. Oh and let’s not forget sarcastic and utterly hilarious lines like Waylander talking to the ‘priest’ Dardalion:

“Your kind likes to suffer – it makes them holy.”

or:

“Go away, I want to die alone.”

Since I’m a newbie to Gemmell’s books, I daresay that Waylander, though part of the Drenai series, can very well be read as a standalone and serves as a great introduction in Gemell’s unique, often sarcastic and character- as well as dialog-driven style.

Waylander is one of those darker, but awesome fantasy books whose premise reminds me a little of Stephen King’s Gunslinger, while I’d say that Gemmell definitely portrays the loner Waylander in a less abstract and more comprehensible way. I remember a friend talking about his character being “kinda…uh…neutral?” and I guess that pretty much sums him up. Yes, we have our standard assassin here who ruthlessly kills for money and he doesn’t really have qualms about it until it’s already too late, but nevertheless he’s that sort of character that just keeps you reading, because you want to find out more about them.

As far as I know there are at least two more books in the Drenai series that feature Waylander and I’ll be sure to pick them up next time when I go to the bookstore, because I definitely want more of this now