Iskryne
with Sarah Monette
A Companion to Wolves
A Companion to Wolves is a novel that happened by accident. My friend and writing partner, Sarah Monette, and I were swapping emails one night, and we were talking about companion animal fantasy, and some of the stuff we find problematic about it. And we started, on a whim and to blow off stress, to write a novella that we intended as something of a satire of the subgenre.
Two hundred pages later, we figured out that this wasn't going to be any novella. Nor was it exactly a satire anymore, because our young protagonist had miraculously turned into a complex and conflicted young man, and his world was developing a kind of richness and depth and internal consistency that fascinated us both.
And then there were the wolves. You see, my mother is a professional breeder of champion show dogs (like it says in the commercial); I more or less grew up in a dog pack. And the wolves were quickly becoming one of my favorite things to write in the world. The Trellwolves are not like earth wolves; for one thing, their social structure is not exactly like that of a familiar wolfpack. But before long, they and their dynamics took on a life and a reality of their own, so that Sarah and I knew more or less without asking each other how they would react in any given circumstance.
So this is the book that resulted. Not your kid sister's companion animal fantasy. This is a grown-up book for grown-up readers: no unquestioning soulmate understanding and boundless ego-feeding here. But instead a hard-nosed look at what it might entail to choose to live among a pack of alien animals, to adopt their social structure and deal with the consequences, in the dark and the cold of the arctic winter, because the alternative is the destruction of your family, hearth, and home.
Here's what the publisher said about it:
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 honor lies, and discover the lengths to which he will to go when it, and love for his wolf, drive him.
Here's what Publishers Weekly says about it:
Starred Review. 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 telepathically with 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. The meticulously crafted setting and powerful, often moving rendition of characters and relationships—human and nonhuman alike—result in a brutal and beautiful novel about the meaning of honor. Never blushing as they consider the ultimate sociological, sexual and moral underpinnings of a what-if often treated as coy wish-fulfillment fantasy, the authors have boldly created a fascinating world that begs further exploration. (Oct.)
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Here's the Booklist review:
In a culture in which villages are protected by men bonded to giant telepathic wolves that constitute the key line of defense against trolls, who come from the north and leave devastation in their wake, those wolf-brethren are respected—and used as bogeys to scare misbehaving children. Njall, a jarl's son and heir, is chosen to fill his family's duty to the wolfheall. He goes, despite his father's disapproval, because the wolfheall is the only thing standing between his people and death. Chosen by a trellwolf bitch, he enters into the strange, brutal, ultimately fascinating world of the wolf-brethren. Monette and Bear pull no punches, neither with violence or sex. The world they depict is fraught with a sense of wonder rare even in fantasy, also with the traumatic aura of a place where nearly every custom is foreign. They have taken one of the most escapist of fantasy subgenres, in which humans and animals meld, and turned it into something powerful and surprisingly deeply human; certainly, both human and wolf politics play magnificently well. Schroeder, ReginaAnd here's the Library Journal review:
Monette, Sarah & Elizabeth Bear. A Companion to Wolves. Tor. Oct. 2007. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1816-9. $24.95. FANTASY
Njall Gunnarson, son of Lord Gunnar, is chosen to join the wolfcarls, warriors who bond with wolves and dedicate themselves to protecting the nearby villages from the ravages of man-eating trolls. Bonded with the female wolf pup Viradechtis, Njall receives a new name—Isolfr—and learns the requirements of living closely with a soul-bonded wolf, including sexual bonds between wolfcarls whose wolves choose to mate. When one winter brings a flood of trolls, the wolfcarls and their wolves take to battle, though it may be their last, using everything they have built through living as a pack. Coauthors Monette (Mélusiner) and Bear (Blood and Iron) combine their literary talents in a saga of warriors whose love for their wolves and for one other serves to bind them together into a band of fierce protectors. Graphic sexuality may limit the audience for this well-written and emotionally powerful quasi-Nordic fantasy. Recommended for adult-themed fantasy and fiction collections.
There may be a sequel or two to this one someday, other commitments permitting.