Customer Reviews

The Wolf of Tebron (Book1) in The Gates of Heaven Series

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This is book one in "The Gates of Heaven" series by C. S. Lakin. The cover of the book states it is "a fairy tale." With that said, I was prepared to be drawn into a tale along the lines of the Brothers Grimm, C.S. Lewis, and others from my childhood. What I was not prepared for was the depth of emotion for the characters I would feel or for the mixture of allegory and metaphor blending fairy tale and scripture.

The "EndNotes" in the back of the book state the following from the author:

Elements from "The Enchanted Pig" (Grimm's Fairy Tales) provided the inspiration for the story.

Quotations in the book are from the following sources:

C.S. Lewis (mostly from Mere Christianity), G.K. Chesterton (mostly from Orthodoxy), Emily Dickinson, Carl Jung, T.S. Elliot, Friedrich Nietzsche, William Wordsworth, George MacDonald.

The Scriptures alluded to by Sola and Ruyah are found in the Holy Bible in John chapters 1 and 4; Matthew 8:20; James 1:25; and Hebrews 4:12, 13; 6:19.

The song sung by the bard comes from a Robert Burns poem: "A Red, Red, Rose" (1796), as adapted for the movie "Fly Away Home", entitled "10,000 Miles," sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

The hero, Joran, lives in a small village called Tebron, working as an apprentice to a blacksmith. Joran has the ability to "mind speak" with animals and never really felt a complete part of his family. His wife, Charris, works as a weaver but Joran sent her away in a fit of anger. But Charris disappeared while traveling to her hometown and now Joran is troubled by terrifying nightmares every time he falls asleep. In the nightmares, Charris is trapped and he is unable to free her.

Even though angered with Charris, Joran feels compelled to search for her after learning of her disappearance. He encounters a huge, silver-coated wolf with a foot caught in a trap. Joran rescues the wolf, named Ruyah, who becomes his traveling companion on what turns out to be a journey unlike any Joran could ever imagine.

I could go on, but I am afraid I would end up giving away the story. This book is an experience and journey not just for the mind, but for the soul. As the story unfolds, the reader is entertained, mesmerized, & reminded that God loves us and is devoted to our personal growth and salvation.

This book is one that will appeal to readers of all ages and I highly recommend it. I am very eager for the second book in the series to be released, "The Map Across Time."

Joran is a blacksmith who longs for a peaceful life and to not feel like an outsider in his family and community. He has a fight with his wife and in a fit of anger, sends her back to her family only to find out she never made it there. Joran sets out on an epic journey to find her and is joined by a wolf, Ruyah, who helps him. Joran's quest to find his wife leads in him find out a lot about himself.

Joran is such a human character. He makes grave mistakes and assumptions, he whines more than he should and wallows in his own misery. Regardless of all that, I liked him and was very sympathetic to his situation. While I liked Joran, I really loved Ruyah. He was such a loving and patient character and his sacrifice is just beautiful.

As with the characters, the fantasy elements of this book are great. Ms. Lakin's descriptions of the journey to the houses of the Moon and the Sun and the trip to the cave of the South Wind are wonderful. Joran's ability to telepathically speak to animals is very cool and is one of my favorite parts of the story.

The Wolf of Tebron is a really good fantasy novel. I enjoyed Ms. Lakin's writing and am looking forward to her next book: The Map Across Time.

Content: Violence

I've never been a fan of fantasy with the (major) exceptions of "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis and "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien. And then I met the writing of C.S. Lakin.

In "The Wolf of Tebron," Joran, a young blacksmith with a history he's unaware of, sees his wife Charris in the close and mutual embrace of a neighbor. He's so angry that he sends her away, back to her family in another town.

She never arrives. Then Joran's nightmares begin, haunting his sleep with images of Charris trapped behind a window of ice. And then an odd local resident called the Goose Woman tells him he's trapped his wife in a dream, and three keys must be unloosed to free her. But time is running out.

Joran, alone of his family, has the ability to speak (or mind-speak) to animals. As he struggles with whether or not to believe the Goose Woman, he meets a wolf named Ruyar whose paw is caught in a trap. Ruyar will accompany Joran on the quest to save Charris.

What follows is an extraordinary journey to the House of the Moon, the Palace of the Sun and the cave of the South Wind. The journey becomes a kind of pilgrim's progress, as Joran learns from each new experience and from the direct teaching of Ruyar and his "wisdom of the wolves."

To say more would give the story away, and it's simply too good to be spoiled like that. But it reads so right, so true, that the reader eventually comes to understand that this is a story of both salvation and redemption for all of the characters. It is not only Charris who needs rescue.

"The Wolf of Tebron" is a wonderful story, richly imagined within a world that is both recognizable and yet otherworldly. It can be read by adults, by young adults, and even to older children. Lakin has created a fascinating story, and she just might turn me into a fan of fairy tales after all.

This enthralling tale, a combination of an allegory and a fairy tale, would make a wonderful read aloud for your older children.

In the village of Tebron, surrounded by forests and peaceful mountains, Joran works as an apprentice blacksmith because his unusually sharp ability to mindspeak with animals has made forestry, hunting, and fishing too painful an occupation. He is painfully aware of his difference from his brothers, whom he loves but is unlike. Joran is slender, gentle, contemplative, and quietly desperate, wishing above all things to feel true happiness with his beautiful wife Charris, to feel that he belongs.

When Charris betrays Joran, he sends her away in a fit of passionate anger. But then come the dreams, tormenting him night after night: dreams in which he climbs to a sandcastle above the sea where Charris is trapped in ice, and he struggles to free her while sweeping blackness clutches at the back of his neck and the lunatic moon looks on and laughs. And then come the encounters: the great wolf watching him from the fringes of the wood, the crazy old goose woman with her riddles, and finally the most frightening encounter of all -- the discovery that Charris, sent home to her relatives, has disappeared into thin air.

Unable to live any longer with himself and without answers, Joran sets off on a journey, joined by the giant wolf Ruyah, that will take him to the ends of the earth -- to the Hovel of the Moon, the Palace of the Sun, the Cave of the Wind, and finally the Unimaginable Sea -- and to the depths of his own dreams. His is a search for his wife, for the truth, for answers, and for peace. The way is made bearable by Ruyah's wise, playful, and always caring presence, a presence that means far more than Joran can imagine.

The Wolf of Tebron by C.S. Lakin is being hailed as a modern-day fairy tale, which it certainly is at heart, though its characterization is richer than a typical fairy tale's. Joran's struggles with himself are intensely human. In an irony that struck me as particularly true to the Christian life, Joran does not want to be a hero and in fact would not be one were it not for Ruyah pushing, leading, and saving him at every step. Every spark of heroism in him rises in response to the heroism of another. At the same time, he is a likable hero, with pain and struggles that are poignant and relatable.

Not a simple allegory, The Wolf of Tebron nonetheless employs allegory and symbol in great measure, and Ruyah's wise sayings -- "It is said among wolves . . ." -- come from sources as varied as C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Carl Jung. (Chesterton, I think, would have enjoyed being a wolf.) It's a book meant to inspire thought. Its story of redemption is thoroughly Christian at heart, though some of the allusions to life as a dream, reality as a matter of the will, and looking inside yourself could be just as easily interpreted through a non-Christian lens. It's also a thoroughly enjoyable adventure story, with exotic settings, unpredictable turns, a terrifying enemy, and unexpected humour.

Lakin's work is stylistically beautiful. The exotic locales are vivid, from dark north to burning desert to misty jungle: I found myself looking forward to each leg of Joran's journey just so I could experience another part of her story world. The Wolf of Tebron is the first in The Gates of Heaven series from Living Ink Books (AMG Publishers). I'm looking forward to The Map Across Time, Book 2 in the series.

- Rachel Starr Thomson, author of The Seventh World Trilogy, [...]

Rhianne's spirit had gone, but her grayed eyed babe resting in the cradle knew nothing as his father wavered between his grief for his wife and concern for the safety of his son. The wizard created a cocoon to keep the evil from entering his son, Joran. He called to the bear to take the child to a safe haven in Tebron. A new mother and father, Oreb and Shyra, took in the child, a child who would always be strangely different from other children, one who didn't look like his three brothers or sister. Joran noticed he was able to mindspeak with animals. It was an unusual happenstance and "He did think it odd, though, that most animals wanted to speak with him, whereas they bluntly ignored the rest of the villagers." It would prove to be a special connection that would one day serve him well.

As he grew to manhood, his life revolved around his young wife, Charris. He was an apprentice blacksmith with the Elder Tabor. Their life had not yet begun to go ahead when saw her in the arms of another man. He knew that shawl anywhere. The pain and the shock roiled through his veins and there was little to do, but send her away. He would later claim to the Elder that she was visiting family, but he knew better. Earlier he had been accosted by a crazy old woman who pressured him saying, "You must save her before the sand slips through the glass. You must loose the three keys and open the lock. You will have no peace until you do this." He knew in his heart that something was amiss. Joran had to figure out the riddle and he had to find Charris.

Joran began his journey, a journey that would take him to the far reaches of the world in search of a woman whom he had sent away in anger. He sensed the urgency of his search as did a lone "mystery wolf" of twenty cycles named Ruyah, a wolf who stayed by his side during his quest. The Moon had trapped Charris and the only way to release her was to unravel the mysteries that would come before him. He would be given a moonshell, a sunstone, and a silver circlet, but what did they mean? The Wind spoke to him and said, "Joran, life is a treacherous journey." He was searching for the truth, but where would he find it? The journey seemed to be endless, but how long could he continue this inane quest? Would he have to continue until his life blood left his human body?

This is a highly unusual fantasy/fairy tale that will mesmerize the reader with its dramatic originality. We're not looking at your average fantasy, but rather an allegorical tale that incorporates many of life's lessons that are only learned by moving past obstacles that hold us back from understanding ourselves in relation to God and other people. These lessons, many drawn from the writings of C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesteron, Nietzche, Carl Jung, and others, range from the simple to the more erudite. For example, the South Wind claimed that "Men close their minds to the truth in their search for happiness, and because of that, happiness eludes them."

I actually became quite excited once I realized what the author was getting at in this work and was anxious to continue on to the end. The age listing should be bumped up a notch from the young adult to the college age/adult crowd as some of the concepts in this allegory are beyond the reach of the youth audience. If you are looking for fantasy in the Harry Potter genre you will be sorely disappointed, but if you want to think and travel along with Joran and Ruyah in their search for life's lessons you will be stunned at the depths this author will take you!

This book courtesy of AMG Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Wolf of Tebron

I enjoyed going on this hero's journey with Joran and Ruyah, in this fantasy that contains elements of fairy tale and myth. Joran is an unlikely hero who sent his wife, Charris, away in a jealous fit, and Ruyah is a huge silver wolf who has long watched Joran from the woods and hills nearby.

Joran does not know why, but he has the ability to talk with animals, whether a goat on his farm or a wolf or wild songbird.

The outward purpose of the journey is to rescue Charris, who is magically imprisoned in ice in an unknown place. The author skillfully interweaves the hero encountering danger with passages where wisdom is shared and beauty is seen.

Lakin includes lyrical descriptions, characterizing the essence of light itself as "liquid joy", and the wolf leading the way as "But he set his attention on Ruyah's tail, which floated on the fog like a disembodied swatch of fur."

The travelers are forced to visit Cielle, the moon's sister, then Sola, the sun's mother, the South Wind and finally the Sea, and face despair, fights and the threat of death as they journey toward Charris. Sola says that the moon is a jealous being and won't give up Charris.

I am not going to give away any plot here but I recommend that you read this fantasy which intertwines dreams and reality, and enjoy the journey.

This is the first book in the Gates of Heaven series.

Long ago, and far away, an apprentice blacksmith named Joran is tormented by nightmares. He claws his way up a sand-strewn cliff battered by ocean waves, desperately trying to reach his imprisoned wife. Every night, he fails, sucked under the dark, roiling water as a baleful moon looms overhead, mocking him.

It's just a dream, isn't it? That's what Joran thinks, until he discovers that the wife he sent back to her relatives in a nearby village after a heated argument never reached her destination. She's vanished without a trace, and Joran sets off to find her. His quest will take him to the very boundaries of his world, in the company of an extraordinarily strange ally, to grapple with forces beyond his imagination. He needs all the help he can get-Joran will soon discover that the most merciless, relentless enemy of all lurks closer than he ever thought possible.

The Wolf of Tebron covers a lot of territory--It's an adventure, it's a romance, it's an heroic quest, it's a meditation on the relationship between dreams and reality, and it's a journey into the tangled garden of the human mind and heart.

Above all, it's a fun read. Ms. Lakin is a masterful storyteller. She plunges us quickly into Joran's adventure-we share his struggles and heartache, and we see the wonders and hazards of the lands beyond the homey environs of Tebron through his eyes, in vivid detail. Joran is above all a human hero who must overcome his own flaws and weaknesses to achieve his goal, and it is not, by any means, an easy road. He learns the dangers of self-centeredness and the power of self-sacrifice. His companion on the journey, the noble wolf Ruyah, is a character both powerful and unique. Readers familiar with Christian fantasy will recognize echoes of C.S. Lewis' themes in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but Tebron is not Narnia, and Ruyah is not Aslan. Ms. Lakin deals more heavily in metaphor than Lewis, and trying to make tidy connections from The Wolf of Tebron to people and places in our world would be both misleading and frustrating.

I found The Wolf of Tebron a thoroughly enjoyable tale that, though not aimed at children, will appeal to readers (and listeners) of all ages. Ms. Lakin doesn't settle for simple entertainment. This story engages and challenges its audience, providing fertile ground for thought and discussion long after the last page is turned.

I began reading some of the Christian fantasy/allegory books several years ago by picking up C S Lewis' Chronicle of Narnia series for the first time in my life. Though I enjoy reading a good Christian fantasy/allegory now, my education in the Bible and my passion for the Truth tends to mean I find as much disappointment as pleasure, however, in many of the stories I read.

As I began Lakin's book, I became apprehensive about its message while at the same time enthralled with the majesty of her descriptive ability. Anyone who has ever had a pet parakeet that can talk will fall in love with Bryp. Anyone who talks to their pet cat or dog will adore the wolf, Ruyah. Joran's encounters with the Moon, the Sun, and the South Wind, however, made me wonder where Lakin was trying to take me in the allegory department. Had not her poetic writing style continued to hold me, I would have tossed the book about the time Joran met the South Wind because I was pretty sure at that point that Lakin's commitment to the Truth was not high enough.

Joran's journey is a beautifully realistic look into our own soul as we battle with the doubts and fears we face even when we know what we are to accomplish. His final test of obedience that would see his task completed was poignant and believable. The revelation of the true relationship between Joran and Ruyah, though slightly calming my fears on the Truth issue, seemed somewhat contrived.

In the end, the question is whether or not I will pick up the rest of the books in this series. Weighing Lakin's truly gifted writing ability against the passion for the Truth - probably not.

This book is subtitled A Fairy Tale, and that is what it is. The notion made me curious at first, because it appears to be for children and grown-ups equally, and I wondered how it could be done. Yet the author accomplishes this with a wonderful ease of style that reaches out and wraps the reader in another world, one of telepathic animals and personified powers of nature.

Joran, a blacksmith's apprentice, has lost his wife in a peculiar set of circumstances and determines to set out to find her. No sooner has he set out than he meets the great wolf Ruyah, whose life becomes so entwined with his own. Rescued from a cruel trap, the powerful wolf refuses to leave him, and so they journey on together to the four corners of the world: the houses of the Moon and Sun and South Wind, and the sea.

The man and the wolf encounter various dangers along the way, and Ruyah helps Joran discover the power in his own dreams and how to use it. One most notable lesson occurs when Joran falls ill: never, never ever stop caring. If you care, then you can always go on somehow; but if you let apathy and lethargy take hold, they will drag you away and imprison you.

Sleeping and dreaming are of great significance in this story - the need for rest, the subconscious that remains awake, and the power of dreamed emotion and danger.

The Wolf of Tebron is a grand, sweeping tale of one man's journey to the truth and to rescue his true love. While I joined the dots fairly early on as to the wolf's true identity as well as what he represents in the story, it is carefully constructed to allow different readers to discover the connections at their own pace. This fanciful, whimsical, wild tale can truly inspire you to perseverance - highly recommended. My personal tip: watch this author, she's going places!