Renee's Book Addiction

2009 Re-read Challenge (February): A Companion to Wolves

February 28, 2009 at 7:00 am 22 comments

A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear

This was one of my favorite reads of last year, and was so compelling and thought-provoking, I knew right away that it would be part of the 2009 Re-read Challenge.

Here’s the back cover description:

What lengths will you go to — for your honor and for the love of your wolf?

In a harsh northern land, the towns of men huddle close around the walled keeps of their lords. those keeps, in turn, look to the wolfcarls — men bonded to huge fighting wolves — for their safety, when the trolls and their wyverns come down from the icy mountains to prey on manflesh.

Isolfr is a young nobleman who is called to the wolf pack. His father is hostile to the wolfcarls and refuses to send his sons, but Isolfr is deeply drawn to the wolves. When the konigenwolf, Vigdis, comes to visit with her human brother Hrolleif, the young man chooses to disobey his father and answer her summons.

Young Njall (who takes the name Isolfr when he becomes a wolfcarl) grows from a sheltered, privileged young man, to a warrior and leader in the wolfheall, male-only enclaves where the wolfcarls live with their wolves according to a pack culture. It is not an easy path, and some of the wolfheall’s practices make for uncomfortable reading. However, the violence (which is sometimes sexual in nature) never feels gratuitous. Rather, it serves to unflinchingly mimic the wolf pack culture.

Some of my review touches on things I mention in my Best of 2008 post, but my opinion about some points have changed since I’ve re-read the book.

Here are some things that really stood out to me upon reading A Companion to Wolves for a second time:

The idea of “honor” and the decisions Isolfr must make to keep his.

Awesome quote #1:

Are you ready, Njall?”

“I suppose,” he said and then in a low-voiced rush, “Ready for what?”

“To attend the tithing. To become a man of the werthreat if you should be chosen. To defend Nithogsfjoll, keep and steading, with your life.” She sighed and pushed an escaped tendril of wheat-fair hair behind her ear. “It is not the path to manhood I would have chosen for you, but it is an honorable path.”

“Father said . . . ” But he could not speak the word “nithling” to his mother. He blushed and mumbled at his boots, “Father said it was my choice, but I fear I have chosen wrong.
…
She kissed his brow swiftly and said, “You must decide what your honor is, Njall, and hold to it.”

Isolfr’s father is homophobic, and disapproves of the male-centered lives the men of the wolfhealls. So when Isolfr decides to become a wolfcarl to help protect his family and village against the encroaching trolls, his father disowns him and cuts him off from the rest of his family.

Isolfr is chosen by the wolf Viradechtis, a future wolf pack leader. His bond with her quickly becomes the most important thing in his life, and he’s willing to do anything to keep, care for, and protect her.

Here, Isolfr reflects on his new life and the choices he’s made —

Awesome quote #2:

He couldn’t explain, couldn’t find words that even got near the tangled lump of fear and sated pleasure and shame and delight, power and weakness, the terrible feeling of having come adrift from what he had been and not knowing how he was going to become what he had to be — for the wolfthreat (the wolf pack), for the werthreat (the men in the wolfheall), for his family, for Viradechtis. One made choices in going to war, and sacrifices. Because one had to. Because the alternative was not to stand between Halfrid and Kathlin — and even his father and Alfleda, and those who wouldn’t forgive his choice — and the cold north and the trolls.

“No on will force you to remain with the wolfheall, Isolfr,” Hrolleif said. “Though we will mourn you if you go, and none so more than Viradechtis. And I for one think she’s chosen well.”

Hrolleif’s voice trailed off, embarrassed, and Isolfr realized that the wolfsprechend was babbling, trying to make things all right. Finally Isolfr took pity on the man and answered, because there was nothing else he could say, “She’s worth it.”

For Isolfr, Viradechtis and protecting his village and family are worth any price.

One of the more though-provoking aspects of the book is its depiction of sexuality. Sexual expression — how people express themselves as sexual beings, sexual orientation — a person’s innate gender preference of a sex partner, be they of the same or opposite sex or either), and sexual choice (IMO, these are three different things.) While I read ACtW, the term I kept thinking of was . . .

Sexual fluidity.

While Isolfr’s father labels the wolfcarls as “nithling” (what seems to be a pejorative term for homosexual,) things just aren’t that straightforward.

The author’s identify Isolfr as heterosexual, but when he participates in the wolfheall’s mating rituals, it has little to do with “straight” or “gay”.

SPOILER ALERT!! This review is difficult for me to finish without spoilers, so if you don’t want to read some spoilery quotes and comments, just skip to the links at the bottom.

Awesome quote #3:

It is time for you to learn,” Hrolleif said gently, “what happens between werthreatbrothers when a bitch is in season.” His mouth quirked. “And at other times as well.” He leaned down, still gently, his blue eyes full of kindness as well as heat, and kissed Isolfr on the mouth.

This time it was not a chaste kiss. Hrolleif’s mouth was strong, demanding, and Isolfr found himself parting his lips, welcoming Hrolleif’s tongue into his mouth, his hands coming up to steady himself against the wolfsprechend’s shoulders.

He knew the heat in his lower belly as it started to kindle and spread, had felt it many times before in Alfleda’s bed at the keep, and sometimes in the dark of the roundhall as well. He and Sokkolfr, he and Frithulf, had helped each other, as boys do.

But this was not what boys did.

Isolfr, and some of the other wolfcarls do have women lovers. Yet, within the wolfheall, Isolfr knows his future will include a committed consensual same-sex relationship that mimics Viradechtis’ with her chosen wolf consort.

While some mating practices of the wolves (and thus, the wolfcarls) are violent, there are also moments of tenderness. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Isolfr realizes that Skjaldwulf (unlike many of the wolfcarls) doesn’t want Isolfr to gain position within the wolfheall. He want’s Isolfr for himself.

Awesome quote #4:

But then Isolfr felt something, or Viradechtis gave it to him, with the smell of sunlight that was her love and regard, and the sharp sulfur of hot springs that was Mar’s name. And he almost choked on the scent, because what she gave him was Skjaldwulf, filtered through Mar, and it was unmistakeable. Although Mar (Skjaldwulf’s brother-wolf) would be quite pleased to be consort, Skjaldwulf didn’t want to be wolfjarl.

He wanted Isolfr, and he would take the damned job that went with it, if he could win it, if that was what it took.
…
He (Isolfr) felt raw — had felt raw since Eyjolfr had accosted him, and it was worse now, knowing how Skjaldwulf felt, knowing that there was something in him that was . . . even mentally, he choked over the word “desirable.”

For me, this book really threw my expectations out the window. The characters were who they were, regardless of any kind of sexual “designation.”

Pack and family dynamics.

Some of the most dramatic parts were Isolfr’s interactions with his father. His father’s rejection was heartbreaking. Isolfr must follow his own path doing what he feels is right, and hope that eventually his father will understand the choices he’s made.

The Pack dynamics are just as fascinating. Because Isolfr will someday be a wolfheall leader, he studies the relationships between the wolves and the men, and finds he has a talent for keeping peace and harmony within the sometimes fractious wolfheall.

The authors’ talent for writing great action scenes.

I can appreciate a good battle scene, but can sometimes get impatient for the story to get back to the relationships and character development. Not so, with ACtW. The scenes were just enough to be satisfying, and really exciting.

Awesome quote #5:

He screamed, and the trolls were screaming, and the force of blows struck and blows parried made his arm ache and rocked him from side to side. He looked up once to see a trellsow looming over him, and saw her fall when Hrolleif took her head with a stroke that confounded understanding. Other than that, there was blood, and he fought now beside Frithulf, now beside Ulfgeir, and then beside wolves and men whose names he barely knew, men of Thorsbaer and Bravoll and he knew not where.

The author’s have taken an often used plot device (the animal/human bonded companions) and breathed new life into it. Recently, they’ve announced two sequel’s to ACtW, A Reckoning of Men and An Apprentice to Elves. I can’t wait!

Only one warning about this book: the names of the men can be quite confusing. The mass-market paperback does have a “cast of characters”, but even then I felt compelled to make notes on this list to help keep everyone straight. I honestly don’t remember if the hardcover library edition I read last year had this list, but either way, be prepared to have a lot of names with Ulf-, -ric, -olfr, etc.

This is a book I know I’ll be re-reading again and again.

• Publisher’s site.
• Sarah Monette’s site.
• Elizabeth Bear’s site.
• Excerpt for A Companion to Wolves.

Note: Much thanks to AmyC at Romance Book Wyrm, who also read and reviewed ACtW this week. We had much fun emailing back and forth, and it really helped me to articulate some of my thoughts about the book. Her review is excellent. Go check it out!

Entry filed under: 2009 Re-Read Challenge, awesome quotes, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction. Tags: A Companion to Wolves, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette.