Not a book review...

[thistlechaser]

I'm reading such a good book, and I can't stop thinking about it. It's one of those times where I stay up late reading and end up leaving for work late because I'm going to read "just for a moment" before I go. I'm really, really wishing I had brought my Kindle to work with me, though wisely I knew better and left it at home.

A Companion to Wolves by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette.

It had sat in my To Read pile forever, because I knew it was "problematic" (oh how I hate that word). Now I feel stupid for having listened to that and read other things before it.

It's sort of like a mix of Dragonriders of Pern and that old Elfquest comic from the 80s:

(Boy is it hard to find not-awful Elfquest artwork!)

I haven't read the Pern books in decades, so I'm not sure how closely A Companion is to that world, but the basics seem the same. A wolf chooses a person to bond with, and a mental connection forms between the two. They live and fight together, with a group of other bonded men.

Unlike Pern, all the people who bond with wolves are men. Like Pern, there's a bleeding over of reactions during breeding times (female wolves going into heat). Related to that: I've never seen such detailed male/male sex in a published, non-erotic book before!

It's killing me to not be able to read others' reviews, thoughts on it, details about the next books. I want to dive in and read EVERYTHING online about it... but I don't want to get spoiled.

...okay, maybe this is turning into a book review. I better end this post now, or I'll have nothing left to say once I finish it and write the official review! :P

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying A Companion to Wolves! I like Sarah Monette's stuff, and EBear's, also, although this book is probably my favorite as far as EBear is concerned. (What was supposed to be problematic about the book? Or was it just EBear that was supposed to be problematic?)

I've read this one and A Tempering of Men (though I liked the first book more), and have the third one in my to-read pile, waiting for me to feel like second-world fantasy again - but I definitely like the series overall, and think it's doing some interesting things. And the psychic werewolves with their scent names are just great!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I thought I've read Bear's stuff before, but I checked the other things she's written, and apparently not. Her name is so familiar though... And I never heard of Sarah Monette before this book -- I'm totally going to check out more of her stuff!

I think the 'problematic' stuff was about the main character being less able to fight because he was bonded to the female wolf (or maybe it was he bonded to her because he can't seem to fight as well as the other men...). Also, I suspect it was the "gang rape" stuff too. When I finish the book, I'm going to google and see if I can find out exactly what the issues were. I just don't want to do it now and risk spoilers.

I have both of the next books in my To Read pile too, which makes me so happy! I love having the next ones there and ready. (Though I wonder if there's more beyond the third one...)

Yessss I love their scent-names! I just wish all the other names weren't such tongue-twisters...

[hamsterwoman]

Bear has been getting some buzz with her most recent book, Karen Memory (steampunky American West sort of thing narrated by a "soiled dove"; I'm reading it right now, and it's enjoyable, though this type of fantasy is not really my thing). Her name might also be familiar from the original Racefail stuff from 2009, if you were following that.

Sarah Monette wrote the Melusine books (a quartet of second-world fantasy starting with this one); I've read them and found them enjoyable, although they are rather too dark for my taste -- or, rather, one of the two protagonists is coming from a place of such deep and prolonged trauma that it took three books before I could really enjoy his sections (the other narrator is totally delightful, though). She is also the author of The Goblin Emperor (as Katherine Addison), which, conversely, is adorably fluffy. But is even harder on the reader than the Iskyrne books in terms of names and fantasy loanwords :P

main character being less able to fight because he was bonded to the female wolf (or maybe it was he bonded to her because he can't seem to fight as well as the other men...)

Huh... That seems so random, if that's the reason! I didn't get the sense that the female wolf-bonded brothers fought less well, or that Isolfr did, although he is, of course, less experienced and hardened than the older wolfcars, at the beginning of the book especially.

I don't think there is anything beyond the three books, but as I haven't read the third one, I don't know if it's got an open ending or what.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Now that I've finished the book, I don't see that the fighting could have been the issue wither. I'm wondering if it had been the sex... seems likely.

The blurb on Amazon's page for Karen Memory makes me want to read it so much! I love the character's voice! I've read next to no steampunk, but what little I have, I did enjoy. Going to grab a copy of that!

While I do enjoy dark books, Melusine's Amazon page didn't really grab me so much. I'm going to keep my eyes open for more things from her.

Unrelated, but both Monette and Bear both look like such nice women! Like people I'd love to hang out with.

[hamsterwoman]

The POV voice in Karen Memory is just great! I haven't got far enough to know what I think of the plot, but the narrator is delightful, and the worldbuilding seems neat, too. I definitely hope you enjoy it!

I've been following Bear's LJ for a while and have read a couple of blog posts from Monette (she's on LJ, too, as truepenny, but somehow I never checked out her actual LJ), and they do seem like they would be fun people to know!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh thanks! I love it when authors are active on LJ! *friends*

Edit: Ack! Too late! I friended her, so she'll get an email, but now she'll see my review and I didn't say all good things and eeeek I hope it doesn't bother her. I should have just bookmarked her instead. Hopefully I won't have hurt her feelings.

[elfy.livejournal.com]

I looooooooooove Elfquest :) Grew up with it :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Same! It was such a fun idea, such great stories in it!

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Elfquest! Oh my goodness, it has been a long time. I used to be so into that back in the day. I had peacock feather earrings, just like that evil elf lady, haha.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Me too! I had all the books and carried them around in high school (you can imagine how popular that made me...). I wonder how the story holds up now? As poor as the art looks to me today, I think I should probably just let my good memories of it remain. :P

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Yeah...really weird to look at that art and realize that I can draw better than that now.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You're lightyears ahead of it! The picture I used took me a while to find -- that was the very best example of the official artwork I could find online! (I almost used fanart as my example for it, since that was generally better.)

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I used to copy those drawings, haha. I thought they were so cool.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It really is a cool idea! I can fully understand how younger us were into it. :)

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not familiar with the author, but I looked it up, out of curiosity. I think I'll avoid this one- the 'problematic' content would probably bother me, especially because it's not relevant to how real wolves behave anyway, so it seems just gratuitous. And honestly I was taken aback how EXACTLY like Dragonriders of Pern the initial premise is. That would annoy me too!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was surprised at just how Pern-like it seems. It's really Pern with wolves instead of dragons (and only male "dragonriders," though I suspect by the end of this book that will change).

Yes, if you're looking for a book where the wolves are more realistic, this likely wouldn't be a good match. (To be fair to the book, they're not really wolves, they're that world's version of wolves -- horse-sized psychic warbeasts.)