This is pretty much every slash fanfic cliché ever, all written into one cracktastic book, complete with telepathic wolves and gay Vikings. I think it's best enjoyed if you want to wallow in those tropes—the prose is competent, but not astounding, the characterisation not particularly engaging, and the world-building rather bland. I get that it was supposed to be a response to the companion-animal tropes and resultant gender issues that crop up in a lot of fantasy fiction; not having read much in that line, though, I was lacking most of that context, and was instead frustrated that modern Western conceptions of sexuality had been mapped onto an early medieval world with no thought given to how different societal needs might have changed thoughts about sexual relations/recognised social partnerships. They did hint at some interesting explorations of masculinities, but I thought the novel was too brief to sustain the framework of what they were attempting.

There were hints of things that I would like to have seen explored in much more depth—the worlds of the trolls and the svartalfr—but they were very much at the periphery of a rather stock faux-medieval world. The introduction didn't help; the authors stated that their use of 'Norse' words and names (and my god, were there ever a lot of names, and there are canonical name changes, which made it even more difficult) were an amalgam designed to create a period feel, and it showed.

Basically: if you want to read a book about buff gay Vikings in which psychic-wolves-made-them-do-it, this is the book for you. If not, I wouldn't really recommend it. ( )

Weirdly, or not, I was way more interested in the peculiar nonhuman cultures than all the gay sex, which I found kind of dull. Also, not sure I bought the various quick cultural transitions Isoldr went through, from promising young man to belle of the ball to recognizing the concept of genocide. ( )

Great worldbuilding, good characters. I found it a little muddled at times, too many strings crossing over each other, but the sociology of the wolf culture was fascinating. Recommended for those looking for unusual male/male romance, for Norse-influenced fantasy, or (alternately) people who love to read about animal behavior. ( )

So very good! Like several people have mentioned, this is more about the question of sexuality in a culture where two important social groups hold conflicting theories on what's "right" and "appropriate." The main character made me a little bit sad and a little bit hopeful, especially towards the end when I wished desperately that he would have a happy ending but was certain that his life would continue to be determined by his inner conflicts. Also, the whole bit with the trolls made me so curious as to where the authors would go with it, should there be another book -- for which I am crossing my fingers. Overall, a good read, which I was tempted to pick up and begin all over again as soon as I had finished. Plus, it introduced me to other works by both Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear. ( )

A brutish tale set in Norse-mythos, teaming men with telepathic wolves to fight trolls. It's a story that is very concerned with survival and the strong conquering the weak.

On a different level, the story is very concerned with gender roles. The main character, Isolfr, is a man bonded to a female wolf and he, son of a homophobic jarl, takes on more of a woman's role among his wolf-bonded fellow fighters. In contrast, the women of his own culture are strong and worthy of respect. The other races' cultures-- enemy and ally-- show greater equality between the sexes. I believe the end tried to emphasize a desire for gender equality and that this was the essential purpose of the book.

However, I felt the book came across like a cultural anthropology text: an analytical view of events. The main character consistently feels shame, embarrassment, or apologetic and it's all wrapped up in gender role confusion. While he cares for the (many, many) characters around him, he does it it an 'I'm responsible for them' way. Throughout most of the book, his choices are made by others or by circumstance and he reacts or rolls with the punches. Even in the conclusion, the writing style led toward 'happy ending', but Isolfr was waiting to be hurt again, rather than finding contentment. Each time he triumphed, he felt terrible, and by the end, I could only feel pity for this odd character doing all he could just to survive within his culture.

It's an interesting tale, if you read it like a gender study, but don't expect to get close to any of the characters because IF you can keep all those similar names sorted out, a third of them change, and many of them will die over the course of the book. Even then, the main character is emotionally distant and everything filters through him. ( )