Customer Reviews

Wolf Captured (Firekeeper)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this latest story, Derien, Firekeeper, and Blindseer are kidnapped and taken to another country where the humans and Wise Animals (intelligent self aware animals) live in respectful harmony, but obediant to their omens and interpretations of the divine. Firekeeper's ability to speak directly to the Royal Animals of her land has been noted and she and her companions are considered important to the future of Liglim where the Wise Animals are considered conduits of divine will -- but beneath the peaceful surface of the Animal Temples lies dark conspiracies in the Year of the Jaguar. Old enemies and new have joined forces to gain power and riches and power for themselves, and only Firekeeper and her loved ones stand between a coming dark age of blood sorcery and the people who are both captors and friends.

As well as the religious and political dangers that swirl about all our heroes, so too are there dangers to their hearts. The beautiful Raniseeta, servant of the Temple of Cold Ones (reptiles) has caught Derien's eye with both her spirit and strength, but will she choose the marriage bed of the exotic red haired foreign man or the needs of her country? Firekeeper too has her romantic troubles as a strong and beautiful wolf bitch Moon Frost makes her interest in Blindseer known. Though wolf in heart, Firekeeper despairs that her human form is too great an obstacle to the love that lies between her and her pack brother. Meanwhile, Dark Death, a prime male Wise Wolf with deep secrets of his own has seen the beauty and strength of Firekeeper and considers her worthy mate material, Blindseer too will meet challenges for the heart of Firekeeper, as in this new foreign land the difference and content of physical form matter less than those of heart and mind.

five stars from meeeeeeeeeeee... *heart, love, heart*

Wolf Captured (2004) is the fourth fantasy novel in the Wolf series, following The Dragon of Despair. In the previous volume, Firekeeper was called by the Dragon and arrived midway through Melinda's incantation. While the others fought those enchanted by Melinda, Firekeeper, Citrine and Grateful Peace spoke to the Dragon.

After explaining the costs of commanding the Dragon to Citrine, Grateful Peace used the Dragon's correct name and ensorcelled the beast to himself. Melinda tried to attack him and Firekeeper permanently removed her from the scene. Even Citrine didn't object to the killing. Later Grateful Peace sent the Dragon back to its original environment and adopted Citrine as his daughter.

In this novel, strangers lure Firekeeper, Blind Seer and Derian from a public dance, capture them, and take them down the river to the sea. Firekeeper frees herself from her cage and breaks the chains and cage holding Derian and Blind Seer. Then they overcome their kidnappers, but the nearest ship holds more intruders and swiftly overtakes the riverboat. The three of them have little choice other than surrender.

One of those aboard the ship is Waln Endbrook, who has no love for the threesome, and a few other Islander sailors. The ship, however, is commanded and manned by members of an unknown colony far south of Bright Haven. As the ship sails south, Firekeeper and Derian are allowed to give their parole and taught some of the language of the foreign colony by Harjeedian, an interpreter of snakes, and Barnet, a former minstrel in the Islander Navy.

When the ship reaches Liglim, Firekeeper learns about the yarimaimalom, the Wise Beasts, who are the equivalent of the Royal Beasts such as Blind Seer. Yet these intelligent animals are much more integrated into Liglimom society. They had been hunted by the Old Country masters to use as sacrifices to the Deities. But the Divine Retribution of fever and death drove out the masters and forever changed the relationships between Liglimom and yarimaimalom.

The yarimaimalom are now seen as speakers for the Deities, but the disdum who interpret for the yarimaimalom don't always understand their meanings. Since the Liglimom first learned of Firekeeper, they have sought her out to teach them to speak with the yarimaimalom. Still, Firekeeper doesn't think that she can teach them to talk to the Wise Beasts in the way that she does.

In this story, Firekeeper and Blind Seer meet Truth, a jaguar who divines the futures by swimming through the possibilities. Truth tells her of Misheemnekuru, the Sanctuary Islands, where many of the yarimaimalom live and keep watch against the return of the masters from the Old Country. Soon Firekeeper and Blind Seer are on their way to Misheemnekuru to meet the Wise wolves.

Meanwhile, Derian meets Varjuna, the chief keeper of the Horses, and exchanges tales of horses and their care. Soon he is visiting u-Bishinti, the main stables of Liglim. There he is introduced to Varjuna's family. He is also offered a ride by Eshinarvash, a Wise Horse. Derian is thorough enchanted by the experience.

Derian receives another ride by Eshinarvash to meet a jaguar and a puma who have something for him to see. Outside the main city, hidden in jungle, is a short ziggurat being used to sacrifice animals to the Deities. After witnessing these sacrifices, Derian starts a conspiracy to destroy this cult.

This story broadens Firekeeper's experiences with humans and Beasts. She also learns something about herself and about her family. She even meets someone who knew her father and mother.

Highly recommended for Lindskold fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of intelligent animals, feral children, and magic.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The Royal animals, sentient beings that use language to communicate with one another, are thought to exist only in myths and legends. Firekeeper knows that is not true as she was raised by wolves, who loved her and treated her as a pack equal. She believes that she is one of them trapped inside a human body. When people find her in the western lands, they take her and her wolf friend Blind Seer to Darien Carter, who teaches her how humans behave. She is adopted into the royal family and given a noble title.

In the south, the Liglimoshti people know about the Wise animals; Members of their priest caste kidnap Firekeeper, Blind Seer, and Derion because she is the only known human who can speak with the sentient animals. They want her to teach them to do so too. Derion must find a way to stop a blood sacrifice cult from flourishing. Firekeeper must refuse the one thing she wants most in the world of turning into an actual wolf because that requires blood sacrifice. At the risk of her life, she must also stop an old enemy from revealing truths that could harm the Wise animals.

Jane Lindskold has written a fascinating fantasy about a land where humans and animals, sentient and non-sentient, live for the most part in harmony with one another. The wise animals play an important role in human society, as they communicate portents and omens to the priest caste, whose superegos of importance prevent them from allowing Firekeeper to teach the commoners besides leading to unemployment. WOLF CAPTURED is another great installment in this fine series.

Harriet Klausner

Having been a fan of Lindskold's from back when she only had two books written in the series about Firekeeper & Co., I was pleased to find them in digital copy on Amazon for my Droid X. I recently purchased the first book in paperback, reigniting my desire to read the series again and continue on in the new books in the series. Since the first book, the rest I have purchased in digital form. The second book in the series was excellent, with few mistakes. The third book, mistakes occurred more often, but not enough to ever really detract from the meaning, and would only annoy bookworm editors like myself, and probably English teachers.

However, this book (Wolf Captured) contains many, many errors in the digital copy. One blatant recurring error is found in the character "Waln Endbrook." Waln, as learned in the previous book, is so named because his original name (of which he was ashamed) was "Walnut." Not too much question, then, as to the spelling of his name. The digital copy spells his name as "Wain" over half of the times he appears in this book (seemingly, I admit I didn't count), and there were multiple places where the correct spelling and incorrect spelling were both found in the same paragraph.

There were numerous other misspellings, some minor, some egregious enough to require some amount of thought to realize what the original word or phrase was intended to be.

All in all, if I had known such poor editing would occur in the digital copy, I would have purchased the hard copy, because I do like the series and the author. If I am paying the same price (sometimes more, with good Borders sales) on the Kindle edition as I do on the paper back, I expect the quality of editing to be the same.

As a recent fan of Jane Lindskold's tales of the wolf-girl Firekeeper, I was impressed by the engaging manner in which this novel, the fourth in the saga, began. In contrast to the preceding novels, Wolf Captured begins in the midst of action and intrigue, and the reader's heart races from the very first sentence. Although, due to the nature of the story, some well-known, well-loved characters are sadly absent, Lindskold more than makes up for this by introducing us to new and interesting characters, both human and Beast.

Once again, we find ourselves in the midst of a battle involving magic, political intrigue, strange cultures, and, of course, new friends among the Royal Beasts! New relationships are established between human and Beast. Questions about Firekeeper's mysterious past are answered. Once again, the reader is left panting for more.

Jane Lindskold is one of the best storytellers in modern Fantasy, and this is one of her best works!

Ok that was kinda corny, but I really loved this book. I loved the previous books from this series, but what I really loved about this one is that it seems like without all the other characters (Elise, Doc, Edlin, etc) you really get a chance to enjoy Firekeeper, Blind Seer, and Derian. In the other books there's alot of jumping around from one character's perspective to another's. There is still some of that in this book, but it's mostly focused on Firekeeper and Blind Seer, and Derian. In this book, we finally get a chance to delve deeper into Firekeeper's and Blind Seer's relationship. I can go on and on about this book, but suffice it to say that it's exciting, poignant, funny, and I definitely recommend it.

-Just as a side note Rahniseeta got on my nerves. She was too melodramatic and .... needy/weaker/self-absorbed (?). She wasn't anything like Firekeeper and Elise and Wendee Jay and Sapphire, which is probably a good thing because it is a change but unlike other readers I wasn't disappointed with what happens in the end. I'm not saying what because I don't believe in ruining the story for others. So finally...ENJOY!!!!

WOLF CAPTURED continues the saga of the wolf girl Firekeeper and her wolf companion Blind Seer as they and their `keeper' Derian are kidnapped by people wishing to learn her secret for talking to the Royal animals.

This volume concentrates on these three characters and we only hear reference to their other companions of the first three volumes. Possibly a bit wordy and drawn out at times it does a good job of exploring Firekeeper's relationship with the Royal wolves and Blind Seer in particular. There is also a credible romantic subplot involving Derian. The way the ending separates the three companions is somewhat unnerving and jumbled, I suppose how effective it is will depend on any following volumes. I will say the resolution of the Derian's subplot did leave a bad taste in my mouth but again it will depend on what happens later as to whether it is even relevant or just another dead end story snippet.

If you were under whelmed by DRAGON OF DESPAIR but are still interested in JL's wolf series then this volume may please you. I RECOMMEND it, I won't say it's a real strong recommendation, but it's still recommended.

Up until now firekeeper has been learning to deal with human society, now humans want to learn to communicate with the Royal animals. As both student and teacher Firekeeper must now try to discover the truth of what's happening with the Royal animals, bringing both her worlds together.

I admit that I really did NOT like the stories related to New Kelvin (the previous two books). But, I found Liglimom and the related adventures to be fascinating and engaging.

I find myself comparing Jane's world and character descriptions very favorably to Robert Jordon -- without Robert's tendancy to fill chapters (and books) with meaningless plot distractions.

The lands and their people feel real. The people talk, look, and THINK differently from each other.

I'm going to miss these characters while we wait for the next book.

I love the Firekeeper series and this book has to be one of my favorite books from it. The storyline and the characters are amazing. This book is definitely a page turner and it will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. Jane Lindskold is one of my favorite authors and I can't wait to read Wolf Hunting.