≫ Read Free A Companion to Wolves Iskryne Elizabeth Bear Sarah Monette 9780765318169 Books

A Companion to Wolves Iskryne Elizabeth Bear Sarah Monette 9780765318169 Books

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A Companion to Wolves Iskryne Elizabeth Bear Sarah Monette 9780765318169 Books

First, There is nothing "gay" (The main character is many things but gay is not one of them.) or remotely romantic or even kinda sorta erotic in my opinion in this whole book. None, zilch, nada.

This is an almost note perfect cut & paste of the old Dragonrider series... I would never in a million years hold Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series as any type of "sacred ground" that is off limits to anyone in the slightest so have fun. It's not like McCaffrey did not try her hardest to run the whole series into the ground so it's not like anyone else will ruin it for me like her last few books sure did.

But... it gives me some great ways to compare and contrast this book so guess what I am about to do.

1) The Dragonriders were riding dragons that could fly. So the whole big bad wolf thing might have worked if it was a unique idea like they rode the wolves around or something but the real problem using wolves actually stems from one other werewolfy thing. Wolves are considered pretty dang monogamous in fiction. That's why there is that whole werewolf romance thing going on so wolves are not the best choice for the whole multiple mate selection deal which kinda falls flat right there at the very start. Mind you, the humans come across as big old boat anchors. These wolves remain on the ground like real wolves but are bigger, stronger, faster, and it seems pretty dang intelligent so why do they need slow assed humans following them around like so much extra baggage again? What's the benefit of this setup besides the psychic friends deal?

2) The names... OMG THE NAMES! The guys did not keep the "vaguely viking sounding" name given to them at birth. No, you get a new name with your new wolf and yet another name if you replace said wolf and I am sure another at "the drop of a hat" or whatever reason not mentioned. At no time was this pointed out during conversations or anything. So... you had the same characters popping up with random names and places with blah blah blah this "vaguely viking sounding" name and positions with blah blah blah that "vaguely viking sounding" name. All of which you were expected to just absorb and move on with little if any "vaguely viking sounding" reasons given.

3) If there is one thing Anne McCaffrey did get right was her dragons selected riders psychic wise that not only they could get along with but that worked sexually with their social position. Non-consensual sex could still happen but not full on sexually mis-matched situations. You might regret who or what happened the morning after but you were not shocked by the fact it happened. Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette chose to go face first into non-con violent sex territory here folks. Oh yeah, this book is all that and a bag of cringe inducing chips.

4) Last but not least Isolfr the icy cold remote main character. Let's be clear halfway through this book the sexual violence turns our straight frat boy hero into a bitter, nasty, ugly, victim. He was warned what would happen, they did spell it out for him and it was even explicitly stated he could have walked away at any time no T, no shade, no pink lemonade. Let me point out again he was told what would happen, he even had a gay sex scene with an older wiser man to prepare him for what would happen... yet he still decides to make everyone including the reader pay for his victimhood. Oh boo hoo, Isoflr makes the latter half of the book awkward and weird.

5?) Oh, by the way... two women wrote this book so why are all the female characters basically mothers or nurses? Just asking.

So in summary I gave this book two stars because I have to admit I can get through half of it because it reminds me of another book I liked better... as far as wanting more, I aint up on reading the further adventures of Isoflr The Resentful Ass.


Tags : A Companion to Wolves (Iskryne) [Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div><div> A Companion to Wolves</i> is the story of a young nobleman, Isolfr,  who is chosen to become a wolfcarl -- </i>a warrior who is bonded to a fighting wolf. Isolfr is deeply drawn to the wolves,Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette,A Companion to Wolves (Iskryne),Tor Books,0765318164,6820270,Fantasy fiction.,Wolves;Fiction.,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,FICTION Fantasy General,Fantasy,Fantasy - General,Fantasy fiction,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction Fantasy Contemporary,Fiction-Fantasy,GENERAL,General Adult,United States,Wolves

A Companion to Wolves Iskryne Elizabeth Bear Sarah Monette 9780765318169 Books Reviews

What do you get when you have soul-bonded companion animals?

Really weird sex, if you think about it.

This book is like a pair of excellent storytellers sat down to spin out what might happen if you put together some norse legends and some porny fanfic. What you end up with is kind of a reflection on the different kinds of power that exist in a society. There is the power of force, of acknowledged leadership, of persuasion, of peacemaking, of gossip. In a relatively tight story, Bear and Monette manage to represent all these different styles.

The story itself is an interesting sort of hero's journey, with the leaving home, the mentor, the trial, the coming of age. I enjoyed how that played out more emotionally than geographically (although there was some of that, too)

Read if You like coming-of-age stories. You have always gotten snickers thinking about Herald Nookie. You can handle reading questionable-consent sex scenes.

Skip if You have triggers around depictions of rape. You would not enjoy thinking about the mechanics of not!viking sex. You are looking for much in the way of philosophy.

Also read Eagle of the Ninth (Bookworms Library) for having to get over what you grew up knowing.
This was the first full length novel I read about "lovers of men" as they say in this series. The combination of the Nordic culture, historical inferences, Scandinavian names and the fantasy races as well as the original nature of the groups of wolves and their men is immersive and glorious. You follow Isolfr as he and his wolf navigate pack politics and bigot fathers and the deaths of dear companions as they fight to end the threat against their people. You also get not one but two men to swoon over as they... well you'll see.
I'm halfway through this book and I'll update if my opinion changes, but here's what I think so far...

I knew going into this that there was some homosexuality in the book, which I totally didn't mind. The part I have a problem with in this book is that the homosexuality seems absolutely pointless. It would be one thing if the main character fell in love with another man, but it kind of felt like these two writers sort of thought "hmm how can we write about a society where men have to sleep with other men. Ooh I know, we'll add wolves and make it a fantasy, then people would love to read it!"

There's holes in the whole plot of the book. Why do the wolves need their brothers to sleep with one another to breed as well? If there are wild trellwolves, how do they breed without this? Why are there only men in this clan and no women. If this was during viking times, there were very respectable women that were warriors/shieldmaidens. This was actually a very key thing for this culture as many other cultures did not allow such a thing. So WHY pick vikings of all things and not have powerful women? Especially when this book was written by two women? Maybe my questions will be answered when I finished reading and I'm being unfair reviewing this prematurely, I'm just very annoyed.

The other thing I dislike about the book are the viking terms. I understand this book is during viking times, but these are just ridiculous. They use a ton of scandinavian (excuse my ignorance if I'm wrong on which language) without explaining what they mean and the words are so made up that I can't even google them. If you have no background on these languages, good luck because I'm pretty sure some of the words are made up and we're supposed to as readers gather what they mean from their original origin. Example- Wolfmaegthing- I think it means a gathering of multiple wolf clans.

The vikings names? Oh jeez, these are difficult to follow. I find myself looking in the front of the book trying to remember their wolves' names in hopes I can remember which character is it (some names are painfully similar) and just when you think you figured out a character, they go and change his name. I've read some difficult books, this one is top 3 easily on just the names alone.

Aside from the unnecessary sex and the horrendous names, I do find the story interesting and enjoy the main character and his konigenwolf.
First, There is nothing "gay" (The main character is many things but gay is not one of them.) or remotely romantic or even kinda sorta erotic in my opinion in this whole book. None, zilch, nada.

This is an almost note perfect cut & paste of the old Dragonrider series... I would never in a million years hold Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series as any type of "sacred ground" that is off limits to anyone in the slightest so have fun. It's not like McCaffrey did not try her hardest to run the whole series into the ground so it's not like anyone else will ruin it for me like her last few books sure did.

But... it gives me some great ways to compare and contrast this book so guess what I am about to do.

1) The Dragonriders were riding dragons that could fly. So the whole big bad wolf thing might have worked if it was a unique idea like they rode the wolves around or something but the real problem using wolves actually stems from one other werewolfy thing. Wolves are considered pretty dang monogamous in fiction. That's why there is that whole werewolf romance thing going on so wolves are not the best choice for the whole multiple mate selection deal which kinda falls flat right there at the very start. Mind you, the humans come across as big old boat anchors. These wolves remain on the ground like real wolves but are bigger, stronger, faster, and it seems pretty dang intelligent so why do they need slow assed humans following them around like so much extra baggage again? What's the benefit of this setup besides the psychic friends deal?

2) The names... OMG THE NAMES! The guys did not keep the "vaguely viking sounding" name given to them at birth. No, you get a new name with your new wolf and yet another name if you replace said wolf and I am sure another at "the drop of a hat" or whatever reason not mentioned. At no time was this pointed out during conversations or anything. So... you had the same characters popping up with random names and places with blah blah blah this "vaguely viking sounding" name and positions with blah blah blah that "vaguely viking sounding" name. All of which you were expected to just absorb and move on with little if any "vaguely viking sounding" reasons given.

3) If there is one thing Anne McCaffrey did get right was her dragons selected riders psychic wise that not only they could get along with but that worked sexually with their social position. Non-consensual sex could still happen but not full on sexually mis-matched situations. You might regret who or what happened the morning after but you were not shocked by the fact it happened. Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette chose to go face first into non-con violent sex territory here folks. Oh yeah, this book is all that and a bag of cringe inducing chips.

4) Last but not least Isolfr the icy cold remote main character. Let's be clear halfway through this book the sexual violence turns our straight frat boy hero into a bitter, nasty, ugly, victim. He was warned what would happen, they did spell it out for him and it was even explicitly stated he could have walked away at any time no T, no shade, no pink lemonade. Let me point out again he was told what would happen, he even had a gay sex scene with an older wiser man to prepare him for what would happen... yet he still decides to make everyone including the reader pay for his victimhood. Oh boo hoo, Isoflr makes the latter half of the book awkward and weird.

5?) Oh, by the way... two women wrote this book so why are all the female characters basically mothers or nurses? Just asking.

So in summary I gave this book two stars because I have to admit I can get through half of it because it reminds me of another book I liked better... as far as wanting more, I aint up on reading the further adventures of Isoflr The Resentful Ass.