A Companion To Wolves

A Companion to Wolves, a coming-of-age saga by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, delivers a rich and intriguing fantasy world, but not one for the faint of heart. The defining characteristic of the book is its unflinching honesty and willingness to incorporate all aspects of being human into the story. Family, loyalty, death, war, sexuality, birth and religion are all woven into a coherent culture. It's messy, dirty and graphic which makes the moments of triumph and companionship all the more important.

As the story unfolds, the settlements of men in the world of the Iskryne are beset by trolls, who come down from the northern mountains to raid and destroy. The villages and keeps are defended by the wolfhealls, a brotherhood of warriors bonded to the great fighting wolves. Njall Gunnarsson, son and heir of the ruler of the keep at Nithogsfjoll, is sixteen and, over his father's strong protests, is given in tithe to the nearby Wolfheall to become a wolfcarl, a warrior. Njall goes to the wolfheall where, in due time, he is bonded -- not only to a fighting wolf, but to a konigenwolf, a female who will in time form her own pack and, with Njall, whose name is now Isolfr, form a new heall. As the attacks of the trolls become more frequent and more serious, Isolfr must discovers what is driving the trolls south and put an end to the trolls for good.

The universe created here is a fascinating one, drawing heavily on Germanic folklore and set in a grim, cold, unyielding world that reflects the dark cast of Norse mythology. The society envisioned is coherent, if somewhat undeveloped, except in the case of the wolfhealls and their politics. The narrative is fluent and absorbing, the characters engaging, the storyline moves along briskly, almost too briskly. It is over before you know it, leaving you wanting more.

The part of the story where some readers may become uncomfortable surrounds sexuality. The wolfcarls, matching the warrior cultures on which they're modelled, are exclusively male. The wolves, of course, are not. However, the emotional bond to wolves is very strong and intensely described. When one of the females comes into heat, there's an orgy of both sex and violence as the male wolves fight for precedence and then take their turns at mating. The human brothers, so strongly linked to their wolves and the pack mentality, do the same. The feelings of the 'wolfless', towards homosexuality are strongly negative, and that's the culture Isolfr was raised in. He's nearly as horrified as his father by the idea of having sex with a man and considers it particularly dishonorable and womanly to be the one on the bottom. When he bonds with a female wolf, that's exactly what Lord Gunnarr most feared. But the alpha females, the konigenwolves, are the leaders of the wolf pack, and their brothers are therefore the ones who can keep peace and settle problems between the men as well. The brother of the pack konigenwolf therefore holds an odd position of power within a wolfheall, not the leader in war but the leader in many other respects. This puts Isolfr into a female role of peacekeeper and pushes him towards a role almost like a wife, but at the same time, Viradechtis, his sister-wolf, is dominant and will eventually lead her own pack. It's a role with some fascinating crossover sexual dynamics that plays with and questions the division between male and female roles in a society.

Isolfr struggles with this role for the entire book. It's the source of many of the most honest and uncomfortable challenges in the book but it is also one of the best parts. Although graphic in detail (Isolfr prepares himself to survive what feels uncomfortably close to an imminent gang rape), it is not exploitative. Every shock feels necessary to the story. It's a far stronger and more believable test of Isolfr's bond with Viradechtis than simple warfare. It's difficult, it stays difficult, it's not what Isolfr wants, but he learns how to handle it anyway.

It is hard for me to say whether you will love this book as much as I did. Parts of it, particularly around sexuality, I expect will be difficult for many readers, and I must also admit that it doesn't go far afield from the standard coming-of-age plot. But it struck a deep chord with me, using the pure fantasy magic of psychic bonding with an animal in a way that feels thoroughly real and not just escapist.

An Interesting concept. The ending seem abrupt, but still good.

There are some books that I just randomly pick up off of shelves and buy because they seem interesting. 3 out of 5 times I don't necessarily like them, but I can honestly say that I do not regret picking up this book. There are parts the are devestatingly beautiful and it's heartwrenching in others. Monette and Bear delve into a universe and a culture they have created that is as brutal as it is loyal.

I loved this book and wish that they would write another book in this verse as it has very quickly become one of my favorites of all time.