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amym84's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at Vampire Book Club
Captain Kellas has been one of the most loyal of the Black Wolves. First, under the great King Anjihosh who freed the Hundred from the rule of demons. And later, under Anjihosh’s son King Atani who championed peace and mercy. The day when Kellas fails at his job, resulting in the death of King Atani, he is banished and the Black Wolves are dishonorably disbanded. Some, like the King’s sister Lady Dannarah, believe Kellas may not have been as loyal as he seemed and conspired with demons to kill Atani.
Twenty years later and Atani’s son King Jehosh still sits on the throne. But all too quickly the unrest in the Hundred is coming to a boiling point and threatens the peace set forth years ago by both Anjihosh and Atani. When it becomes apparent that there are those who oppose Jehosh’s rule and mean to usurp him, he tasks his Aunt Dannarah with brining Captain Kellas back to help restore order in the kingdom.
I really loved the structure of Black Wolves. There’s all this build up about what transpires regarding the death of King Atani. It is the central point about which much of the present day conflicts revolve around. It’s that one instance where everything changed, the butterfly effect if you will. Yet Kate Elliott doesn’t just simply tell us what happened that fateful day, we relive it through the memories of those who were there (or should have been there as the case may be). I thought it was an extremely clever way to go about telling the story. I didn’t want to stop reading because I just wanted to find out what really happened. And as the characters go about trying to bring order back to the Kingdom, the events remind them of their actions so long ago, each glimpse at the past providing another layer of information.
Of course, being quite the epic fantasy book, it’s not always easy reading. There are numerous, and I mean numerous, names and places to remember. And you would be sorely mistaken to think that anything is throw-away. Every person who is mentioned or appears briefly has the potential to pop up later with significance. Because of this, I really didn’t mind the repetition we get in terms of mythology about the Hundred. It was needed and I’m glad Kate Elliott obviously understood this too.
I need to mention the two stand-out characters for me: Kellas and Dannarah. To be fair, each main character is striking and unique with qualities I both love and hate, but these two seriously make the book. They are so central to what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. On their own they are intelligent strategists who aren’t easily fooled by people. I loved seeing how they handled their situations. What their ultimate agenda may be.
Since it’s clear this is a trilogy, a lot of things are going to be left hanging. I was all right with where we leave off, but the end did feel like it dragged a little bit. Overall, Black Wolves was a solid read from Kate Elliott. If you’re someone who is unsure about epic fantasy but you’ve always wanted to try it, I think Kate Elliott is a good author to start with.
Captain Kellas has been one of the most loyal of the Black Wolves. First, under the great King Anjihosh who freed the Hundred from the rule of demons. And later, under Anjihosh’s son King Atani who championed peace and mercy. The day when Kellas fails at his job, resulting in the death of King Atani, he is banished and the Black Wolves are dishonorably disbanded. Some, like the King’s sister Lady Dannarah, believe Kellas may not have been as loyal as he seemed and conspired with demons to kill Atani.
Twenty years later and Atani’s son King Jehosh still sits on the throne. But all too quickly the unrest in the Hundred is coming to a boiling point and threatens the peace set forth years ago by both Anjihosh and Atani. When it becomes apparent that there are those who oppose Jehosh’s rule and mean to usurp him, he tasks his Aunt Dannarah with brining Captain Kellas back to help restore order in the kingdom.
I really loved the structure of Black Wolves. There’s all this build up about what transpires regarding the death of King Atani. It is the central point about which much of the present day conflicts revolve around. It’s that one instance where everything changed, the butterfly effect if you will. Yet Kate Elliott doesn’t just simply tell us what happened that fateful day, we relive it through the memories of those who were there (or should have been there as the case may be). I thought it was an extremely clever way to go about telling the story. I didn’t want to stop reading because I just wanted to find out what really happened. And as the characters go about trying to bring order back to the Kingdom, the events remind them of their actions so long ago, each glimpse at the past providing another layer of information.
Of course, being quite the epic fantasy book, it’s not always easy reading. There are numerous, and I mean numerous, names and places to remember. And you would be sorely mistaken to think that anything is throw-away. Every person who is mentioned or appears briefly has the potential to pop up later with significance. Because of this, I really didn’t mind the repetition we get in terms of mythology about the Hundred. It was needed and I’m glad Kate Elliott obviously understood this too.
I need to mention the two stand-out characters for me: Kellas and Dannarah. To be fair, each main character is striking and unique with qualities I both love and hate, but these two seriously make the book. They are so central to what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. On their own they are intelligent strategists who aren’t easily fooled by people. I loved seeing how they handled their situations. What their ultimate agenda may be.
Since it’s clear this is a trilogy, a lot of things are going to be left hanging. I was all right with where we leave off, but the end did feel like it dragged a little bit. Overall, Black Wolves was a solid read from Kate Elliott. If you’re someone who is unsure about epic fantasy but you’ve always wanted to try it, I think Kate Elliott is a good author to start with.
druv's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't read this book for a few years, because I was real upset at some characters at the end of the Crossroads trilogy. Now I really regret it! This is one of the best fantasy books I've read that deals with the intersection of cultures and countries, and how conquest looks very different for different classes. A big, epic war might end, but the country, the people, carry on.
This book also has enjoyable protagonists, and a deep magical mystery I hope we'll get some more information on.
This book also has enjoyable protagonists, and a deep magical mystery I hope we'll get some more information on.
meghan111's review against another edition
4.0
Giant eagles, women's rights, the role of religion in a fantasy society, long and involved and I liked it immensely.
tmarthal's review against another edition
5.0
Really interesting introduction to a series with great worldbuilding. The characters are interesting, with a good mix of demographics amongst the protagonists. Political intrigue and understanding of events are major causes of action. The time hopping and flashbacks are an interesting writing technique; which make the narrative, but I could see how some readers may find them jarring.
readerpants's review against another edition
5.0
Well, that was epic! I gave myself a snow day and read the whole thing in one sitting, which is notable because it was VERY LONG.
I have to admit that I've tried a few other titles of hers in the past and wasn't terribly into them. But I think Black Wolves lives up to the hype. Fantastic characters, especially fantastic lady characters. A sharp interrogation of power, in terms of class, gender, and sexuality. Meaty, thoroughly drawn, and diverse worldbuilding. Oh, and queers, really well-done! And no sexual violence -- or even threat of sexual violence, I think, though after 700 pps I'm a little foggy on the details -- against women, although sex and violence are certainly part of the storyline and a male character is (shockingly) raped by another male character. (Lots to say about that part - need to think it through.)
I'd recommend it for the GRRM fans, I think, and others who like their fantasy epic, extremely detailed, political, and long. I'm looking forward to #2 in the series, though I have to say, I have no idea how I'll keep the convoluted plots in my head that long and I'm not eager to reread the whole thing. Hopefully there will be some very detailed reviews I can read closer to the pub date of #2 to remind me of all the details!
I have to admit that I've tried a few other titles of hers in the past and wasn't terribly into them. But I think Black Wolves lives up to the hype. Fantastic characters, especially fantastic lady characters. A sharp interrogation of power, in terms of class, gender, and sexuality. Meaty, thoroughly drawn, and diverse worldbuilding. Oh, and queers, really well-done! And no sexual violence -- or even threat of sexual violence, I think, though after 700 pps I'm a little foggy on the details -- against women, although sex and violence are certainly part of the storyline and a male character is (shockingly) raped by another male character. (Lots to say about that part - need to think it through.)
I'd recommend it for the GRRM fans, I think, and others who like their fantasy epic, extremely detailed, political, and long. I'm looking forward to #2 in the series, though I have to say, I have no idea how I'll keep the convoluted plots in my head that long and I'm not eager to reread the whole thing. Hopefully there will be some very detailed reviews I can read closer to the pub date of #2 to remind me of all the details!
rebeccazh's review against another edition
I don't know what possessed me, but I suddenly wanted to read this book, although I DNFed it months ago. But anyway, I'm glad to have picked it up again. Kate Elliott is one of my favorite fantasy writers, and this mammoth of a book does not disappoint. A rich fantasy world, a big cast of characters each with their own minds and own desires and own agendas, dramatic and revelatory secrets and plot twists, a brisk and action-filled pace... So fun to read. I devoured it. Now I'm so eager for the next book. I'm going to try my luck with the Court of Fives series while I wait.
I forgot to mention that I love Dannarah, although it's saddening to see how her personality and her beliefs are slowly setting her apart from the good guys (Kellas and Mai and gang). I'm not sure if she's going to become a semi-villain type of character who goes out in a blaze of glory, but I sure as hell hope not. I love that Elliott's books give me wonderful female characters.
The forty four year time skip is a bold move, but it allows a mix of old and young characters, and I love the interactions between the old and the young. I particularly like Gil. He's so fun to read about.
-----
This is possibly one of those on-hold-forever books. I stopped at 20%. I am just NOT a fan of big casts; I don't feel connected to stories where main cast is bigger than three or four. This book seems fascinating and very well-written, but the dizzying cast of main characters really put me off (the reason why I skimmed the second and third books of the author's Jaran series).
But despite the big cast, I really enjoyed what I'm reading so far. The culture and mythology is rich and fascinating, as expected from Kate Elliott. The thing that makes me happiest is the queer romance between Sarai and Elit. I was incredibly happy when I read it. I skipped ahead a bit and saw that they don't stay together which honestly sucks but Sarai seems to be bi which is great, and I don't think Elit is killed off, which is even better.
Anyway, I might delve back into this book because I quite like Dannarah. (I really loved how she was, especially with her brother, back in the first part of the book. I wish I had the chance to see her mature.)
I forgot to mention that I love Dannarah, although it's saddening to see how her personality and her beliefs are slowly setting her apart from the good guys (Kellas and Mai and gang). I'm not sure if she's going to become a semi-villain type of character who goes out in a blaze of glory, but I sure as hell hope not. I love that Elliott's books give me wonderful female characters.
The forty four year time skip is a bold move, but it allows a mix of old and young characters, and I love the interactions between the old and the young. I particularly like Gil. He's so fun to read about.
-----
This is possibly one of those on-hold-forever books. I stopped at 20%. I am just NOT a fan of big casts; I don't feel connected to stories where main cast is bigger than three or four. This book seems fascinating and very well-written, but the dizzying cast of main characters really put me off (the reason why I skimmed the second and third books of the author's Jaran series).
But despite the big cast, I really enjoyed what I'm reading so far. The culture and mythology is rich and fascinating, as expected from Kate Elliott. The thing that makes me happiest is the queer romance between Sarai and Elit. I was incredibly happy when I read it. I skipped ahead a bit and saw that they don't stay together which honestly sucks but Sarai seems to be bi which is great, and I don't think Elit is killed off, which is even better.
Anyway, I might delve back into this book because I quite like Dannarah. (I really loved how she was, especially with her brother, back in the first part of the book. I wish I had the chance to see her mature.)
chirson's review against another edition
4.0
More like 3.5 stars, although I was gripped and I loved it (and yet all my tiny complaints are about to get lodged below, this is not really a review, these are my personal reflections and an expression of suffering ;))
I feel like I need a comfort read after this (why hasn't the new Courtney Milan come out yet?!)... Not really what I expected. While it's definitely got signature Kate Elliott's touches, it was also immensely difficult to read for me, to the point of putting it down repeatedly because of how raw the grief of the novel felt. Atani, representing the possibility of making a positive change in the world, is the emotional centre of this novel, and it's brilliant but also actually painful.
Putting aside my bad boy crush on Anji leftover from early parts of Crossroads (which, truth be told, finally suffered a real blow towards the end of this book when we find out about him closing Devourer's temples), I just couldn't get behind the older male protagonist. I know that Kellas is a clever trope reversal and yet I think I might have liked him better without the flashbacks, without his early interactions with Mai (and much as I loved Mai in Crossroads, here her presence, even though it was strategically deployed, still seemed somewhat strange. She was too perfect, I guess?), because the relationship between them just didn't strike me as convincing - and the more the book tried to sell them to me as the OTP, the more I disliked it. She told him to find a way to see her and he was into it because of how beautiful she was and because he was risking his life and that's hot. Not to me :/ (I kind of really wish Mai was the bisexual storyline in this novel. That could have been fun.)
Storylines of Gil and Lifka don't quite go where they are to go yet, in my opinion - I suppose the payout there is to come. For now, Lifka is adorable and interesting, but Gil didn't really endear himself too much. Not bad, but nothing terribly memorable.
The storylines of Dannarah and Sarai, predictably, made the biggest impressions. I've read that Kate Elliott had some readers complain about Dannarah being too "unlikable" and I obviously disagree with that assessment, but I think there is something to be said about her storyline being unpleasant to a certain extent... Especially compared to Kellas's (who, while being a decent if somewhat shallow guy, basically stumbled across love and purpose thanks to his erection pointing in the right direction at the right moment) - in turn, Dannarah is very driven and I appreciate how her privilege and hero-worship of her father blind her, and yet it feels like her life is shown in awfully grey tones. She had lovers, but nothing terribly lasting. Her first (and perhaps one of the most relevant, if we are to judge by her early PoV and blushing) sexual experience was coercive on her part, and she regrets it (sometimes). Her beloved brother didn't trust her and lied to her and then died, her father didn't love her enough to do for her what the emperor of the Sirkanian empire is willing to do for his daughter, she dropped the baton on staying in touch with the rest of her family, her influence on the reeve halls seems to be pretty negligible, she keeps betting on the wrong horse and making the wrong choices and she doesn't even seem to have much good to live for, and then she makes the obviously incorrect choice at the end, despite all the chances to open her eyes (why didn't she talk to her brother's widow(s) more?). (I suppose her being a reeve should be that positive element, and her chosen family, but other than Tarnit who is that? How close are they? She doesn't even seem to have that much of a bond with her own eagle, and that's another complaint I'd have, the eagles weren't terribly emotionally convincing this time around.) So generally, I liked her, but I kept feeling very sad for her.
And my other favourite storyline, Sarai, had a great conclusion (which reminded me of Cat Barahal's adventures a little), the heroine was overall amazing, and yet it also made me sad because, regardless of the brief reappearance of Sarai's ex, Elit, towards the end (to reaffirm the bisexuality and avoid the appearance of Lesbian-Until-Graduation undertones, a cynic might say), that storyline begins with a well-depicted queer woman who then basically passes as straight and has a straight-ish storyline. And I *like* arranged marriage stories, but the fact that all main romantic relationships of this novel are opposite-sex, putting a bi character in one of them (a bi woman who lets go of waiting for her almost-lost female lover to be with a man for pragmatic reasons and yet finds love there) just rubbed me the wrong way. The worst part was when she says that she loves him because he didn't care about her shame and so on. So is this something Elit never gave her? :(
Overall I really, really loved the writing, the style, the structure and the characters and the worldbuilding. But I wish it hurt slightly less and was slightly more satisfying and that the relationship between Sarai and Elit didn't seem to be alternatively backstory / a plot contrivance.
(And now on to the most important complaint: when does the sequel come out I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.)
I feel like I need a comfort read after this (why hasn't the new Courtney Milan come out yet?!)... Not really what I expected. While it's definitely got signature Kate Elliott's touches, it was also immensely difficult to read for me, to the point of putting it down repeatedly because of how raw the grief of the novel felt. Atani, representing the possibility of making a positive change in the world, is the emotional centre of this novel, and it's brilliant but also actually painful.
Putting aside my bad boy crush on Anji leftover from early parts of Crossroads (which, truth be told, finally suffered a real blow towards the end of this book when we find out about him closing Devourer's temples), I just couldn't get behind the older male protagonist. I know that Kellas is a clever trope reversal and yet I think I might have liked him better without the flashbacks, without his early interactions with Mai (and much as I loved Mai in Crossroads, here her presence, even though it was strategically deployed, still seemed somewhat strange. She was too perfect, I guess?), because the relationship between them just didn't strike me as convincing - and the more the book tried to sell them to me as the OTP, the more I disliked it. She told him to find a way to see her and he was into it because of how beautiful she was and because he was risking his life and that's hot. Not to me :/ (I kind of really wish Mai was the bisexual storyline in this novel. That could have been fun.)
Storylines of Gil and Lifka don't quite go where they are to go yet, in my opinion - I suppose the payout there is to come. For now, Lifka is adorable and interesting, but Gil didn't really endear himself too much. Not bad, but nothing terribly memorable.
The storylines of Dannarah and Sarai, predictably, made the biggest impressions. I've read that Kate Elliott had some readers complain about Dannarah being too "unlikable" and I obviously disagree with that assessment, but I think there is something to be said about her storyline being unpleasant to a certain extent... Especially compared to Kellas's (who, while being a decent if somewhat shallow guy, basically stumbled across love and purpose thanks to his erection pointing in the right direction at the right moment) - in turn, Dannarah is very driven and I appreciate how her privilege and hero-worship of her father blind her, and yet it feels like her life is shown in awfully grey tones. She had lovers, but nothing terribly lasting. Her first (and perhaps one of the most relevant, if we are to judge by her early PoV and blushing) sexual experience was coercive on her part, and she regrets it (sometimes). Her beloved brother didn't trust her and lied to her and then died, her father didn't love her enough to do for her what the emperor of the Sirkanian empire is willing to do for his daughter, she dropped the baton on staying in touch with the rest of her family, her influence on the reeve halls seems to be pretty negligible, she keeps betting on the wrong horse and making the wrong choices and she doesn't even seem to have much good to live for, and then she makes the obviously incorrect choice at the end, despite all the chances to open her eyes (why didn't she talk to her brother's widow(s) more?). (I suppose her being a reeve should be that positive element, and her chosen family, but other than Tarnit who is that? How close are they? She doesn't even seem to have that much of a bond with her own eagle, and that's another complaint I'd have, the eagles weren't terribly emotionally convincing this time around.) So generally, I liked her, but I kept feeling very sad for her.
And my other favourite storyline, Sarai, had a great conclusion (which reminded me of Cat Barahal's adventures a little), the heroine was overall amazing, and yet it also made me sad because, regardless of the brief reappearance of Sarai's ex, Elit, towards the end (to reaffirm the bisexuality and avoid the appearance of Lesbian-Until-Graduation undertones, a cynic might say), that storyline begins with a well-depicted queer woman who then basically passes as straight and has a straight-ish storyline. And I *like* arranged marriage stories, but the fact that all main romantic relationships of this novel are opposite-sex, putting a bi character in one of them (a bi woman who lets go of waiting for her almost-lost female lover to be with a man for pragmatic reasons and yet finds love there) just rubbed me the wrong way. The worst part was when she says that she loves him because he didn't care about her shame and so on. So is this something Elit never gave her? :(
Overall I really, really loved the writing, the style, the structure and the characters and the worldbuilding. But I wish it hurt slightly less and was slightly more satisfying and that the relationship between Sarai and Elit didn't seem to be alternatively backstory / a plot contrivance.
(And now on to the most important complaint: when does the sequel come out I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.)
lady_mel's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was rather confusing. There are so many different plot points, and, unless I missed something, none of them had anything to do with the ending.
That said, my two favorite characters are Kellas and Dannarrah. Being of a certain age myself, I found myself nodding in sympathy at every creaking joint, achy hip, and sleepless night.
That said, my two favorite characters are Kellas and Dannarrah. Being of a certain age myself, I found myself nodding in sympathy at every creaking joint, achy hip, and sleepless night.
birte's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
emeraldreverie's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely a world and system and characters I'd love to explore more. Womp.