Kingdom of the Animals - Iron & Wine

Wolf Captured
Firekeeper Saga, Book 4

Author: Jane Lindskold
Pages: 709
Publisher: Tor

Brief Summary:
Firekeeper, Blind Seer and Derian have been captured by mysterious people. They are being sailed to some country they have never heard of, where they do not know the language. In this land, the people worship animals, particularly those of what Firekeeper calls the Royal kind. Animals and people live in harmony, all subscribing to the same religion of the elements. Having heard of Firekeeper, they want to know if she can interface more clearly with the deities.

Review:
If you've read my reviews for the previous books in the series, you probably know that I've been really struggling with these books. While the ideas have been interesting, the execution has been too long and lacking in enough action or drama to keep the pages turning swiftly. The books are slow, rather unsatisfying reads. In some ways, this one was better and in others worse.

First, the better. I really liked the change in setting, although I found the kidnapping scenario a bit far-fetched, given that the two countries had barely even heard of one another. How does word of such a specific nature get there and yet the Liglimom have no idea about Hawk Haven generally. Absurd!

Still, I loved getting to learn more about the animals. The religion they practiced was, to my agnostic brain, ridiculous, but still quite interesting. I found this book going a bit faster than the others, since my childhood love of animals spurred me on.

Unfortunately, the weak points of the other books are still here. Even though this book has romance, it failed to satisfy. Most worryingly is the love between wolf and human, which is now specifically referenced as being of a romantic variety. Yeah, unless they can work something out that is so not okay. Plus, Lindskold decided to curtail the one successful romance of the novel with a Whedon-esque no one can be happy moment.

I missed some of the other characters and hope the momentum gathered in some of this book will continue. However, I fear that I will have to suffer through more about Queen Valora of the Isles.

Note: I made it 250 pages into the next book, Wolf Hunting, and finally gave up on this series. It is not for me.

"Just where heaven calls
The kingdom of the animals
Scratching our heads
Where the wolf would go to lay"

A Knife in the Dark - Howard Shore

The Dragon of Despair
Firekeeper Saga, Book 3

Author: Jane Lindskold
Pages: 729
Publisher: Tor

Brief Summary:
Firekeeper and her friends are back, this time aiming to stop yet another foul plot of Melina's. After they left New Kelvin, the magical artifacts safely destroyed, Melina managed to marry The Healed One, a powerful figure in New Kelvin. Clearly, Melina with power cannot be a good thing, so the gang is sent to figure out what she is up to and, should it be bad for Hawk Haven (which it likely will be), how to put an end to it.

Review:
At this point, I am somewhat regretting having picked up free copies of the first five books in this series. Having done so, I feel compelled to read them all. Unfortunately, I am not any more enthused by this series than I was at the beginning, perhaps less so. For whatever reason, the characters and plots have never particularly interested in me.

My complaints here are similar to my complaints for the two previous books in the series. First of all, for an epic fantasy series, there is remarkably little action. Second of all, in addition to there being a dearth of action, romance lacks almost entirely as well. Without either of these, getting any real excitement going is tough. Not that there cannot be good books without these things, however, I do not think the writing and plotting are good enough to carry the reader without them in this case.

Speaking of romance, I am now three books into a six book series and there has been absolutely no romance, except for one mutual affection (upon which no action has been taken beyond talk), one unrequited crush, and some action for Melina, the bad guy. What the heck? This pretty much disproves one stereotype, the one that women are always more interested in romance than men. The Wheel of Time series has tons of romance in it, whereas, this one, penned by a woman, focuses instead on politics.

Two (maybe three, since, at that point, I might as well complete the series) books to go. I sure hope they get more interesting soon!

March of the Witch Hunters from Wicked

Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart
Firekeeper Saga, Book 2

Author: Jane Lindskold
Pages: 754
Publisher: TOR

Brief Summary:
With Bright Bay and Hawk Haven now allies, the danger lies in external forces, namely Queen Valora's Isles and New Kelvin. Queen Valora stole three magical relics from Bright Bay's coffers when she left, sending them with Waln Endbrook, who is to take Malina to New Kelvin where she will unravel the secrets of these items. Firekeeper's mission, revealed after an arduous trek followin a summons by the Royal Beasts, is to find these items and bring them back, as the Royal Beasts fear their magic.

Review:
Like the first in the series, Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart is pretty well-written and has some really neat worldbuilding. Nonetheless, I did not love it, nor did I hate it. They fall in the realm of just above meh. For one thing, they could be shorter; there are some repetitions, often in relation to Firekeeper and Blind Seer, which I could do without.

The larger problem though is what I pointed out in my review of the first: action is minimal and so is romance. Pretty much all of the drama is political. That's done well, but just does not enthrall me. If some more of the others were woven within it, then perhaps I would find this series as delightful as I had hoped.

The characters, too, have yet to grow on me. They are consistent across the first two books, which is almost unfortunate, since none of them do I love. I like a couple okay, but I'm certainly not invested in their fates.

The meeting of the Royal Beasts was pretty laughable, so I have to mention it. This tribunal was supposed to be monumental and somber, but the way the animals interacted was absurd. To prevent one character monologuing for pages, she had them trade off telling the story in an awkward, arbitrary manner, reminding me of nothing so much as passing reading stories aloud in an elementary school classroom.

Since I have five of the six books in the series, I will be slogging forward, and I do have some hopes of improvement, but they are definitively not high hopes. If you like political machinations and epic fantasy, this is for you!

"Wickedness must be punished
Evil effectively eliminated
Wickedness must be punished
Kill the Witch!"

Human Behaviour - The Decemberists

Through Wolf's Eyes
Firekeeper Saga, Book 1

Author: Jane Lindskold
Pages: 579
Publisher: Tor

Brief Summary:
Firekeeper had no idea she was human until a group of them venture into the forest where she lives with her wolf brothers and sisters. She knew she was different, of course, but still thought herself wolf. With the arrival of her biological kind, Firekeeper becomes intrigued and knows that she must learn about them. The group has arrived to look for survivors of an settlement created by a disowned crown prince. Firekeeper is the only one found, and they presume her to be the prince's daughter, as she is about the right age. Firekeeper, at first unable to speak any English, is caught up in the political maneuverings of Hawk Haven, one of many possible heirs vying to be named old King Tedric's successor.

Review:
In typical epic fantasy style, Through Wolf's Eyes is both long and filled to the brim with characters to remember. There are lots of battles and backstabbings, too. Additionally, there is a hint of magic, not the spell kind, but a subtler magic, talents certain people have for gardening or healing or working with animals. The world building here is excellent and I liked the idea of the girl raised by wolves and of the Greater animals. (There are Great wolves, the kind who raised Firekeeper, who are smarter and larger than regular wolves; the same is true of other animals, like falcons.)

The cast of characters, too, is quite likable, although I did not get too especially attached to most of them. Firekeeper is interesting, but not yet really a fitting heroine. She is too much wolf yet to have any romantic entanglements with her own kind or to involve herself too deeply. Derian, who becomes responsible for her training, is a good guy, who I think could become quite a good fellow later on. My favorite character by far is Doc, Jared; he's just such an intelligent sweetie pie. I actually quite liked King Tedric, as well. Lady Elise started out as a bit of an airhead, but grows into a much better character. Lady Sapphire is a bit tetchy and whiny, but kicks serious ass.

For those who do not read epic fantasy, I should warn that with this novel especially, but also the genre generally, the plot often moves kind of slowly. There will be exciting battles here and there, but there is a lot of necessary back story and plot development to get through, so there will almost always be some parts that drag and some completely irritating characters you have to follow along with. Through Wolf's Eyes definitely has slow parts and has less action than most, focusing primarily on the search for an heir to Hawk Haven, although I promise there are battles and such later on.

So far this is a good read, if a bit slow, and I look forward to reading the next, which is good, because I'm planning to read through the whole series.

"If you ever get close to a human
And human behavior
Be ready to, ready to get confused
And me and my hair

There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
To human behavior
And yet so, yet so irresistible"