A compelling start to a historical fantasy series about a troubled warrior seeking redemption.
Spader tells the story of a tormented medieval wolf demon in this debut novel.
In this first installment of a fantasy series, the year is 782, and King Karl of the Franks attempts to consolidate his hold on Saxony, converting the Saxons to Christianity and stamping out the last vestiges of paganism. Enter Gerwulf, a half-Frankish, half-Saxon Wulfhedinn (wolf demon): “His mother baptized the boy a Christian, but that did not drive out his father’s beast. She sent him to the monastery to shield him from the demon, but the boy defied God and embraced the wolf spirit.” Forever seeking a way to purify his soul and quiet the beast within him, Gerwulf sneaks into Karl’s camp, hoping to steal a holy relic, but a chance encounter with a mad monk leads him to change his plans. The monk recruits Gerwulf to serve Karl: the king sends the wolf demon on a mission to track down Widukind, the last rebellious Saxon lord. Widukind is rumored to be hiding out at an old sacred site deep in the Teutoburg Forest, surrounded by his own band of wolf warriors and protected by the magic of a powerful witch. If Gerwulf can help bring Widukind to heel, Karl promises that the tortured Wulfhedinn’s soul can be saved, in this world and the next. But to find salvation, Gerwulf must first embrace his own demon. Spader writes in an easy, rambling prose that luxuriates in all the medieval details of her world, from the weapons to the textiles to the smells of camps and woods. Gerwulf is plagued by an interior monologue that represents the heathen inside him, rendered as free verse and a bit reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon poetry: “I approach the king, high upon his throne / …abandon the wolf pelt / Stripped to fresh pink skin, my back whole / Kneeling.” The book strikes an appealing balance between historical fiction, sword and sorcery, and a noirish detective story, with quick pacing and just enough worldbuilding to lend weight to the plot. Sequels are planned, and they are welcome: the reader should be eager to see what other secrets Spader’s vast medieval forests might yield.
A compelling start to a historical fantasy series about a troubled warrior seeking redemption.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9971535-0-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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