Book Review – Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart by Jane Lindskold

Author: Jane Lindskold
Cover Artist: Julie Bell
Publisher: Tor
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: August 2003

Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart is the second of a series of six books by Jane Lindskold featuring the wolf-woman Firekeeper. I reviewed the first book Through Wolf’s Eyes in December 2007, one of my first BSC reviews, but I never got around to a full reread of the series. After my girlfriend read the series recently, I decided to return to it again. No promises for other reviews though, the to read stack is still pretty large at the moment. I liked this second book a bit better than the first, Lindskold really starts to explore her creation in this book. With Wolf’s Head Wolf’s Heart she delivers a very satisfying fantasy novel.

We pick up Firekeeper’s story a few months after the events in book one. The kingdoms of Hawk Haven and Bright Bay are to be reunited, a pact sealed by the wedding of the heirs to the thrones Princess Sapphire and Prince Shad. Not everybody is happy with this outcome of course. The first nasty surprise comes when the new king of Bright Bay discovers a number of magical items have been removed from the treasury by the previous queen Valora. Under the agreement that reunites both kingdoms, she has been granted a new and smaller kingdom comprising of a number of islands of the coast of Bright Bay. To make the political situation even more complicated, an assassination attempt on both heirs is carried out during the marriage ceremony in Bright Bay. In short, the new union is far from stable.

In the mean time Firekeeper is called back to the wilds by the Royal Beasts. She reluctantly obeys their call. Even more than the humans in Bright Bay and Hawk Haven, the Royal Beasts fear the magic that could be unleashed by the artifacts Queen Valora stole. They charge Firekeeper with recovering them so the Royal Beasts can make sure they are destroyed. This is of course more easily said than done and it strains Firekeeper’s new found loyalties to various humans. She agrees to undertake the quest though.

Queen Valora in the mean time is busy as well. She needs to fins a way to secure her new realm and to do that she wants to capitalize on the capture of the magical artifacts. Knowledge of magical things has been firmly suppressed in the century since the plague that struck the magicians hardest. Few would admit to having any knowledge on the subject at all. One of those who may be able to help her is Lady Melina Shield. Events in Through Wolf’s Eyes have made clear her loyalty to Hawk Haven is not unshakable. Queen Valora sends the ruthlessly ambitious Waln Endbrook to Hawk Haven to sound her out.

In this book Lindskold begins to explore her world beyond the two kingdoms described in the first book. This is probably a good thing since neither is all that interesting. The Fantasy genre is filled with Kingdoms like Hawk Haven and Bright Bay. A large part of the story is set in the neighbouring state of New Kelvin, by the standards of Hawk Haven a rather exotic society. Unlike Hawk Haven and Bright Bay the ruling class of New Kelvin is trying to recover as much magical lore as they can manage. The main New Kelvinese character in the book, a high-ranking official by the name of Grateful Peace, is thirsty for magic and at the same time absolutely clueless about it. His political games are very shrewd though. The contrast in his character and the realization that he has been chasing smoke for most of his life make him on of the most interesting characters in the series.

I thought Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart was a bit better written too. The first book is plagued by a number of poorly executed info dumps. I mention the one a the end of the first book, listing the entire peerage of Bright Bay, in my review but there are a couple more. This book isn’t entirely free of it, especially in the early stages, but it is a lot less noticeable. She manages her rather large cast with what seems to be greater ease in this book. Lindskold doesn’t make the mistake of presenting Firekeeper as a human character either. Her keeper Derian has done what he can, but essentially she is still a wolf, with a wolf’s outlook on life. After her trip the to the Royal Beasts her language and manners regress again. I thought that was a very nice touch. Although Firekeeper’s understanding increases in some areas, she still uses wolf analogies for just about anything to understand her new world.

The only real problem I have with the story is that it is very focused on event’s surrounding Firekeeper’s party and Lady Melina. It seems very unlikely to me that the disappearances of the artifacts as well as the two heirs to substantial tracts of land in Hawk Haven and the vanishing of another noble woman who’s loyalties are questionable, would not provoke a greater response from the monarchs of Hawk Haven and Bright Bay. While I realize adding this to the story would bloat it beyond what could reasonably put into one volume it does take away something from what is otherwise a very intricate plot. Apparently intelligence services have not yet been invented in Hawk Haven. Something for Sapphire to look into.

All in all Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart moves away a bit from the rather standard fantasy tale Lindskold offered in the first book. Adding more depth to the history of the Royal Beasts and the kingdoms of Hawk Haven and Bright Bay, and exploring a the nation of New Kelvin make this in my opinion a more satisfying read than Through Wolf’s Eyes. Of course those who prefer the classic epic fantasy tale with a big battle at the end may see things differently.

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