Wolf's Blood [Hardcover]

Jane Lindskold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007 | Series: Wolf

Raised in the wild by intelligent, language-using wolves, in her teens Firekeeper was abducted back into the lands of men, where her upbringing as a wolf helped her survive the deadly intrigues of human beings.
 
One of the first things she learned in Hawk Haven was that magic was a thing to be feared and despised. Long ago, all the human kingdoms were ruled by powerful sorcerers. Then a plague came and the sorcerers died.  Nobody misses them. Much was lost--but still, nobody misses them.
 
Yet as Firekeeper has travelled and grown wiser in the ways of human beings, she's learned that the true story was more complex. In coming to the country of the Liglim, she, Derian Carter, and Blind Seer discovered that magic is still working in the world, and that it isn't always the evil they'd been warned against. But it also turned out that the old plague specifically targeted magic users.  And when Firekeeper and her friends learned to open the gates between worlds, the plague came back with them.
 
Firekeeper, Blind Seer, and Derian Carter survived the plague: not unchanged, but still themselves. Now Firekeeper is determined to learn the nature of the plague--and if she can, to end it forever. What happens next will be the culmination of the remarkable fantasy epic that began with Through Wolf's Eyes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lindskold's fantasy saga about Firekeeper, a young woman raised by intelligent, talking wolves and destined to save her world, concludes in this intricately plotted sixth adventure (after 2006's Wolf Hunting). Long ago, the sorcerers who ruled the Old World beyond the magical gates were destroyed by a terrible plague—one which Firekeeper and her allies accidentally freed when they reopened the long-closed gates between New and Old Worlds. In the aftermath, which left New World magic users damaged or crippled, Firekeeper is compelled to learn the source of the plague and how to destroy it once and for all. Meanwhile, the kingdoms around her home in the Nexus Islands prepare to fight to get the gates—necessary for trade—reopened, no matter what. While a complex backstory obliges new readers to start with an earlier entry point in the series, this volume rewards patience with a thought-provoking tale of magic and politics, enlivened by Firekeeper's wry and wolfish point-of-view. (Mar.)
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Review

Praise for the “Wolf” novels of Jane Lindskold
 
“What do you get when you mix lost magic and feral children with dynastic politics, wolf social dynamics, treason, and over-ambitious, social-climbing parents? You get Jane Lindskold’s new novel Through Wolf’s Eyes and another stay-up-to-finish-the-last-page read.” —David Weber
 
 “Her characters live—they’re real, but they are different. And the world they live in lingers in the mind; heroic, squalid, exotic, everyday. I was convinced that it went on by itself when I turned the last page. Bravo!” —S. M. Stirling on Through Wolf’s Eyes
 
 “Exciting!” —Publishers Weekly on Wolf Captured (starred review)

 

“Watching Firekeeper learn about humanity and still maintain her identity as a wolf makes for compelling reading.  Intricately plotted and written, Lindskold’s latest creates an utterly fascinating world that readers can thoroughly lose themselves in.” —Romantic Times on Wolf Captured

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765314800
• ISBN-13: 978-0765314802
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Firekeeper Expands Horizons, September 14, 2007

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wolf's Blood (Hardcover)

Wolf's Blood (2007) is the sixth fantasy novel in the Wolf series, following Wolf Hunting. In the previous volume, Firekeeper and Blind Seer foiled a group of Nexans attempting to open a gate to escape from the island. Afterward, those from the New World called a general meeting of the Nexans to decide their next move, giving them the choice of cooperation or exile. Meddler asked for a favor from Firekeeper, taking a kiss to allow him to manifest on Nexus.

In this novel, five months later, the conquerors of Nexus are stymied due to the dangers of querinalo -- the Fire Plague -- to any newcomers with magical abilities. Having no way of identifying those with magic, reinforcements cannot be brought in from the New World. Since Blind Seer caught the illness, they are even afraid to bring in more yarimaimalom.

Meddler interrupts Firekeeper's dreams to suggest that she search for the source of the illness. The Nexans start looking through their archives, but the ruling council also sends Firekeeper to the New World to ask for assistance from the maimalodalum. The combined searches indicate that querinalo is really a curse developed by a sorcerer named Virim. Firekeeper and Blind Seer set off to find Virim or his descendents.

Firekeeper and Blind Seer travel back to the New World through a gate terminating in New Kelvin. After exiting the gate, they discover Grateful Peace and Citrine waiting for them. Explaining their presence, they arrange for periodic contacts through the gate and resume their journey.

In this story, the Old World nations discover that the Nexus gates are blocked. King Bryessidan of Mires is one of the first to be informed and he calls a meeting of interested parties to discuss the situation. Six other nations send emissaries to the meeting in the Kingdom of the Mires.

The ambassadors, emissaries and Once Dead at the meeting conclude that the government of Nexus has changed hands. They decide to force the gates and invade Nexus. King Hurwin suggests a simultaneous sea invasion of the island. Planning and plotting begin immediately.

This story brings several plot threads to resolution, but not to any final conclusion. Magic seems to be destined to play a more prominent part in the expanded culture of the Old and New Worlds. The new plot elements really deserve a sequel.

Highly recommended for Lindskold fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of magical powers, realpolitik and unusual relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent End, April 30, 2007

By 

Lynn Hazard "get_the_point" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf's Blood (Hardcover)

I just wanted to write to say how much I have truly loved this series. I find myself now at the end of it feeling that wolf society is perhaps a bit better than the human society I have so long clung too. I'm of course being silly, but I suppose what finally hit me in this last book was just how well written these books are in terms of Firekeeper being of a completley different society in that fundamental things that we just naturally expect in human society don't apply to her and I thought Lindskold did a great job in really seperating that out. I think it's quite challenging for an author to protray a culture that is so different, an animal culture as it were, and to be able to keep them distinctly and honestly different. I'm not sure if I'm being clear but at the end of this book it finally hit me how different firekeeper really is, how different she's always been, and now I just want to be able to read more and more about her.

I will say though that it's probably a good thing the series is coming to an end as I'd found both with this book and with Wolf Hunting that the beginnings of the books were becoming more strained or at least more difficult to get into. But thankfully once I did get into them I was utterly entranced.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not what I expected, May 12, 2007

By 

Ande (Wyoming) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf's Blood (Hardcover)

Wolf's Blood isn't really what I expected. I couldn't wait to read the others in the series; but this one seems to have gotten off track some how. I read 3 other books while reading it. Kinda a let down.