Books: Through Wolf's Eyes

Through Wolf's Eyes
By Jane Linkskold
Copyright 2001
596 pages

Excerpts on the authors site are here.

Fantasy author Jane Linkskold takes on the myth of the feral child raised by wolves in this first book of a six-part series.

Firekeeper is a girl who thinks she is a wolf. Her family was killed in a fire when she was two, and the wolves, with the help of some mysterious speakers, take her in and raise her.

When she is 15, the land is visited by humans who are searching for a banished prince and his family. The old king is in need of an heir because his other two children have died.

The humans find the remains of the prince's encampment. They also find Firekeeper; or rather, Firekeeper and a wolf named Blind Seer and a peregrine falcon named Elation find them.

The men assume she is the prince's young daughter.

Derian, a red-haired youth of about 19, is given the task of civilizing the young girl for a short time before she is presented to the king as his granddaughter.

The book is filled with political intrigue as the many cousins who wander about the palace attempt to curry favor with the king in order to be named his heir. But the king has a nephew who was raised in a distant land, a child who was supposed to bring the two kingdoms together. He decides he should meet this relative before he makes up his mind.

Firekeeper, meanwhile, attempts to learn the ways of the courts and civilized society yet she continues to converse in her manner with the wolf. She roams the woods and will not wear shoes.

She does not learn to read and she has trouble with the language. Her dialogue throughout the book is stilted, though it gets better toward the end. Hopefully this will go away in the next book; I found it a bit aggravating at times though I understand why the author used dialogue in this manner.

This book is strong on character, a little short on magic, and full of webs of intrigue. The world has good backstory and supporting characters are interesting in their own right. I look forward to picking up the next books in the series.