Elitist Book Reviews

I was pretty torn when I read WOLFSANGEL, the first in M. D. Lachlan's historical fantasy series about the Norse god, Odin, and his eternal battle with the wolf, Fenrir. It had a whole lot that I loved and bundle more that really bothered me. Going into this book, I considered myself to be hopefully optimistic with a couple major concerns. Now that I’ve read Lachlan’s second offering, I again find myself torn but for completely different reasons. Because of this, I am going to do my best to give you my honest opinion.

FENRIR begins a number of years after the events in WOLFSANGEL, with the sacking of Paris by the Vikings. They've come to take the maiden, Aelis, from her brother, the Count of Eudes and emperor-hopeful of the Franks. With them comes a brother-and-sister pair of Odin’s priests that have their own reasons for finding the girl. Leshii, a trader of goods and services, is also accompanying a wolf-man from the north, sent by King Helgi of the Danes, to try and take Aelis back to him. From the French side, a crippled confessor and viewer of godly visions, Jehan, ends up being taken and pulled into the fray somehow as well, and it’s a good thing too, because...well, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

It's all sounding good so far, right?

Again, for those that haven’t read the previous novel, this series is shaping up to be a continual re-telling of the eternal battle between Odin and Fenrir.  Like the first novel, FENRIR is a fast-moving, action-packed story that's full of history and mythology, a plot that twists and turns, and a whole host of characters...

...characters that, for me, are one of the novel's big problems. There are so many characters in this story that I was all over the place trying to figure out what was going on for about the first half of the book. Everyone has their own reason for doing what they do, except for the main characters, who only seem to be dragged along by the rest of the pack. And nearly every single one of them are point of view characters. We get some King Helgi (though nearly all of it's flashback), Helgi’s sick/dying daughter, Svava, and the brother-priest, Hugin (which kills nearly all of the mega-evil juju the guy had going for him prior to getting PoV-time). There are also some random bits from a Danish farm boy and a healer, not to mention the fact that the head jumping is all over place.

So I kept asking myself "What is going on here?" Really the only major idea that came through for me was that all of the main characters from the first book had been reborn and I was supposed to figure out who was who. Honestly, it didn’t push my buttons, but I recognize that others may be able to really like the history and the fast-moving story.

Lachlan’s prose is really good when he sticks to a single character. I had the exact same comment in my review for WOLFSANGEL. One of the major concerns I had for this book was that if the story this time around didn’t naturally lend itself to characters being on their own a lot, then it’d get really confusing. And FENRIR does exactly that. Between the head jumping, and flashbacks within flashbacks, and vague hints as to who-is-who reincarnated, and even the main characters that suddenly make snap choices with no foreshadowing whatsoever, this book was a study in frustration for me. There didn’t seem to be any point to it besides the mystery of the character’s identities.

I would love to see this story done well. I think there’s so much potential here. Viking mythology? Uh-huh. Crazy-killer werewolves? Absolutely yes. Give it to me. FENRIR though was killed by the lack of a new story and the lack of focus to that story. And yet still, I find myself on the fence, torn.


So was this a mediocre book? Not really. I just don’t know how else to place it. Again, lots of good and lots of completely annoying. This time around, there was too much confusion and annoying for me to say that I liked it. Definitely not my cup of tea.  It's all going to come down to what you thought of the first novel, and whether the stuff I mention above seems like it's going to bother you or not.  You decide.


Recommended Age: 18+
Language: A handful of strong words
Violence: Sword-fighting, some deaths, cannibalism, got fairly gory
Sex: Referenced a few times but no detail

Want to read this book and series anyway? Here you go:
WOLFSANGEL
FENRIR

Honestly this novel was extremely difficult for me to rate. There was a whole lot of this book that I absolutely loved. Aaaaand a bundle of stuff that completely annoyed me. Thus, the experience ended up being akin to approaching an uber-hot blonde that doesn't shave her armpits or brush her teeth: you just can't tell you won't like it until you get close enough. So, did I like it? Mostly. However, let me elucidate.

WOLFSANGEL is M.D. Lachlan’s first foray into fantasy, though it’s fairly difficult to tell. Herein he gives us a story that is quite character-centric, with great world building, awesome atmosphere, magical interlopers, twisted plot--the works. Norse mythology plays a central role to the world, but the story feels fresh and new despite the fact. There is so much here to like and Lachlan gives it to us in large measure.

The story starts with King Athun, lord and leader of his people, who has gathered his ten finest men at the behest of his own prophetic ability and is off to steal himself an heir apparent from another village. But when he arrives, there are two boys, not one, and the king has to make a decision. With little choice, he grabs them both and their mother and journeys to the witches of the Troll Wall to ask them what he must do. Thus begins the tale of the two boys. Both sired by a god--one raised by a king, the other by witches and mountain men--to play a role central to the land and its peoples.

Sounds pretty good, yeah? Well, like I said, it was...for the most part. The beginning was really rough, with jumps from the head of one character to another, information and history dumped into our laps, and a whole lot of "Huh?" all bunched onto the page. It feels very much like a hazy tale from the days of oral tradition--very abstract, loose, and ultimately kinda meh. Then, after six chapters (and what seemed to me would probably better suit the book as a long prologue) the story leaves the king behind and leaps to the stories of the two boys several years in the future, then pretty much sticks with them for the duration.

It was at this point that I started to get into the story. The first of the boys, Vali, has a local love interest, gets included in a Viking-like raiding party, and has enough character to just make me cheer. Feilig, Vali's lost brother, loses his mentor and quasi-father, and begins to wander the world. Eventually they meet, Feilig starts to eye Vali's lovely girl, and the result is a ton more goodness. Through them, we immediately get a sense of the world and how it works. Kings with lands and villages beholden to him, frequent raiding parties, tests of strength and manhood. In short, the world is cold, hard, and without mercy. For the most part the pacing of the book is slow and methodical. Plot progression comes at the head of violence from multiple directions, and soon this becomes not only a story of growth and love, but of revenge and hatred as well.

The head-jumping persists, though in limited form. Those of you that OK with 3rd Person Omniscient PoV won't have much trouble here. It's very light, and very clear 99% of the time. Most of the time this PoV style isn't even noticeable since there's a whole lot of time with only minimal interaction between the characters, leaving but a single option. In these times, the book gets downright awesome. At the other end of the swing though stands the fact that when things are supposed to get exciting, like during battles and at confrontations, the head jumping can foster confusion and tension is quickly lost--this is a problem in most actions scenes in any novel using Omniscient. Lacking this single PoV issue, this book was probably one of the most amazingly good books I’ve read in a long time and would have brought on some serious “Love” from yours truly (with some serious agreement from the other reviewers here at EBR).

Well, if not for the ending, that is.

Because, you see, the ending of a book is supposed to be the part that is the MOST exciting and the MOST incredible out of everything else we’ve yet read, and based on what I’ve just told you, I’m sure you can imagine a bit of what happened. PoV shifts every couple of paragraphs, piled on top of repetitive backtracking to get everyone into the same cave, mixed with “plot-twist” revelation that makes you repeatedly say Huh?, and everything coming together in a crescendo of violence that left me disliking just about everything that occurred. And in these dozens of pages, the book went from a playing in the realm of “Love/Like” to solidly “Mediocre”. The change was THAT drastic and bizarre.

I discussed the ending with the Overlords here at EBR to see if I was nuts. They said yes, but it had nothing to do with the ending of WOLFSANGEL. Steve commented that the real ending of the book happened about 50 or 60 pages before the author's ending. Then everything was tacked on. Then it got even worse with the last 6 pages. It's OK to be weird in a story, but not so weird that you lose the readers who have LOVED 90% of the novel with and ending SO abstract and "out there". The ending is the last thing a reader reads. Obviously. So shouldn't it leave you smiling rather than grinding your teeth?

Some have said that the ending of a book will often dictate, to large degree, whether you like it or not. This was very much the case here. In the end, a good book that was held back from being great by poor 60-page "bookends". It is still worth a read for most of you fantasy lovers. Just be prepared for the head jumping (if that bothers you) and the really odd ending. Will I dive into the sequel? Yup. Though I truly hope it doesn't suffer from a repetitive story and the same ill-fitting bookends.

Recommended age: 16 plus, for violence
Language: Very little, though strong
Violence: Giant werewolf with a taste for gallons of blood: 1 + 1 = ??
Sex: Minor references

MD Lachlan’s blog