The debut novel of Leo Carew and the first in a series titled Under the Northern Sky, The Wolf joins a plethora of historical fantasy works that have sprung up in the wake of the success of Game of Thrones.
Taking place on the island of Albion, the Black Kingdom of the Anakim is thrown into turmoil after an uneasy truce is shattered by an invasion by the Sutherners, along with the unexpected death of their king in the first battle and the ascension to the throne of his inexperienced son Roper.
The Anakim are a fantasy version of Vikings, while the Sutherners stand-in for the Anglo-Saxons, which at the very least makes a change from the Celts versus Romans setup that usually plays out in this kind of setting. Equally unusual is there not being very much in the way of action, the focus instead being on Roper’s growth from a cowed youth to the confident leader of a nation. While it’s far more interesting to see a character gradually attain power through diplomacy and intellect rather than brute force and intimidation, there is little sense that Roper truly earns the respect and loyalty he manages to attain in a few key allies, the best explanation being that he’s simply a more appealing prospect than Uvoren, the high ranking soldier and vicious thug who opposes him.
There are skirmishes between the two opposing armies, but the main confrontation is saved for the climax, to the extent that a major midway battle sequence is completely omitted, the narrative leaping directly from the build-up to the aftermath. The skip is so jarring one wonders if the thirty pages or so detailing what just happened haven’t somehow just fallen out of the book.
The pieces are all there for the weaving of a historical fantasy epic, but in the decision to focus on the character study of its principal protagonist, fundamental aspects of worldbuilding become secondary considerations. Details of groups such as a shadowy organisation of spies and assassins or an all-female sect of secret-keeping historians get brief introductions but not much else, while the antagonistic side of things fares little better. Bellamus, the ‘upstart’ lowborn leader of the Sutherner forces, is easily the most interesting character, yet his strategic intellect and anthropological investigating are afforded a fraction of the attention granted to Roper and his scheming.
Perhaps now that the plan for the saga has been laid out, subsequent volumes of the series can work on expanding the scope of its developing narrative, but as it stands The Wolf is a mildly intriguing but ultimately flawed introduction.
THE WOLF / AUTHOR: LEO CAREW / PUBLISHER: WILDFIRE / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 5TH
