Wolf Moon [Paperback]

Charles de Lint (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1988

Wolf Moon is one of the rarest of Charles de Lint's novels, first published a decade ago as a paperback, and out of print since. We're proud to publish the first hardcover edition of this rare fantasy, bound in full-cloth, with a full-color wraparound dustjacket. Limited to 1000 signed numbered copies!

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Fleeing from those who would destroy him for his shapeshifting nature, Kern Kindregan finds a home and security with the gentle folk of a wayside inn until a harper with malice in his song and hatred for "werewolves" in his heart shatters Kern's fragile peace. The author's skill at reshaping old themes into new forms makes his latest novel a good choice for fantasy collections. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"[This is] a prose ballad with lyrical grace, and readers will gladly pass their time by the fire as the harper strums landscapes and characters from his strings and spins the tale."-Rambles

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Roc; First Edition edition (August 2, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451154878
• ISBN-13: 978-0451154873
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,646,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles de Lint and his wife, the artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, and The Onion Girl, have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice early work by de Lint, February 21, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolf Moon (Mass Market Paperback)

Kern, a werewolf shapechanger, barely escapes from a harper-hunter and finds himself in a home. Since he turned werewolf, Kern has been on the run, hated and feared by everyone--both human and wolf. Now, he keeps his secret close, pretends to be purely human, and gradually falls in love with Ainsy, the innkeeper. He even makes friends with the inn's dog--by becoming were by night, establishing dominance, and then going for a purely canine hunt.

Just when Kern is starting to think that he can have a normal life, he gets word that the harper, Tuiloch, plans on spending the winter in the neighborhood. And Tuiloch can see through any disguise. Tuiloch doesn't just want to kill Kern, he wants to destroy him, starting by eliminating the trust and love that Kern had created with his new family. And Tuiloch, with his harper magic, can do just that. It isn't long before Kern is on the run again, but this time he has friends to worry about--friends that Tuiloch hypnotically controls, and that Tuiloch doesn't at all mind using in Kern's destruction.

Author Charles de Lint has carved out a niche for himself as a leading writer of contemporary fantasy. WOLF MOON is an early book (set in a medieval-style fantasy world), lacks some of the sensual nature of his more mature writing, and is a fairly linear story. Although it is simpler than de Lint's later works, he does a fine job establishing Kern's problems and making the loss of his new family all the more poignant for the fact that he knew it would have to happen. WOLF MOON is a compelling quick read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One of the few werewolf books which can be called "charming", August 12, 2001

By 

rat fan (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf Moon (Paperback)

Kern the werewolf is first met running through the woods in wolf form, desperately trying to escape from a sinister harper and the sorcerous monster the harper's music creates. Kern escapes, but is injured, and he winds up in the care of a pretty tavern owner, Fion. From there, the book deals with Kern's ambivalence : He desires friendship with the book's engaging cast of characters, and his feelings for Fion are even deeper. But he knows that shapeshifters are hated and feared...how can he win friendship, much less love, without revealing his secret, which he believes will cause his new friends to hate and fear him, perhaps even try to kill him?

And then the harper shows up in the valley, and proves to be a sorcerer possessed of a maniacal, genocidal hatred of shapeshifters...and a willingness to kill even a shapeshifter's 'normal' friends and family...

The book has some sex 'n' violence, but it's fairly lighthearted, and the hero is about the least selfpitying werewolf in the genre.( A genre which one magazine reviewer described as consisting of," 'Why me?' Growl/kill!") And who can resist a werewolf book in which the lycanthrope makes friends with a terrified, hostile dog who senses his 'differentness' by first establishing dominance over the hound, and then taking the hound out for a deer hunt...two quadrupeds running and playing in the moonlit winter night? Or in which the werewolf hero, again while in wolf form, wonders if he can't convince his farm hand friend to groom his furry pelt along with Stram the hound?

I hope this book comes back in print. If not, werewolf fans would be wise to seek this book out second hand. It's worth a search.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Straight up fantasy, reasonably well done, October 9, 2004

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wolf Moon (Mass Market Paperback)

I was disappointed in this early de Lint, and my first idea was to give it a poor rating. However, I realize that my reception of this book is suffering because I'm comparing it to his later work which is probably not fair-- apples and oranges.

De Lint largely writes complex fairy-tale based urban fantasy with a strong dose of dreaming and different levels of reality. Wolf Moon, on the other hand, is a fairly straight up fantasy novel which deals with the idea of shapeshifters in a fairly static fantasy universe. Had it been a book by anyone other than De Lint, I think that I would have found it okay-- standardly entertaining, some moments of spark and promise, pleasingly dark.

So. If you are a de Lint fan because of the later work, there is a good chance that you are not going to be very happy with this book. If you are picking up this book because you want to read something by de Lint, bear in mind that this is not representative and that it probably is not the place to begin with his writing. If you are a fantasy reader who reads across the genre, you are probably going to find it enjoyable enough-- maybe even enjoyable enough to pick up some of the later de Lint books that everyone keeps talking about in these reviews.