dark fantasy | Lorelei By Starlight

A good werewolf story is hard for me to resist, and M.D. Lachlan’s Wolfsangel manages to combine two things that I enjoy: werewolves and Norse mythology. Twin boys, Vali and Felig, are the center of the tale, one of whom carries the dark legacy of changing into a wolf, while the other is destined to be his brother’s captor and killer. At the center of it all, is a young girl, Adelisa, who loves both of them in her own way. Authun, the king of the Nordic settlement, is searching for a child said to be stolen from the gods and who will bring glory to his people and restore their kingdom. He finds more than he is looking for with these two boys, and unknowingly stumbles into something much bigger – a cyclical story that has been playing out for centuries and which will continue to play out until some future bloody end.

I love the Norse influence in this book and Lachlan uses runes throughout his work. The Witch Queen in his story learns these runes, but while the first rune she gained was not too difficult and showed her to be “chosen”, in order to gain use of more runes she must go through horrific physical trials to prove herself worthy. Once this has been accomplished, she is able to visualize them and call upon their powers. There is, however, a special rune – wolfsangel – that becomes important in the story.

The brothers, Vali and Felig, both fall in love with Adelisa, which is complicated to begin with, but the situation becomes worse as Felig gradually becomes more and more wolf-like. When Adelisa is captured, Vali and Felig team up to rescue her. These characters and their increasingly complex relationship are well-written, and their story is both bloody and tragic. Added to the mix, is a mysterious trickster figure appearing off an on throughout the story who may or may not be the boys’ father.

This book is incredibly dark, and I absolutely love Lachlan’s writing. There are scenes – mostly with the trickster character – that I find unbelievably magical. He does a great job of entwining story with myth, and he has a nice variety of characters and creatures: witches, a werewolf, and Viking berserkers. I enjoyed the book enough to also read the second in the series, Fenrir, which is actually even darker and bloodier than the first. The most clever part of Lachlan’s writing, though, is in his shifting of the roles the characters play in the ongoing tale of Odin, Loki, and Fenrir and the constant attempt to bring about Ragnarok. In order to fully enjoy this part of Lachlan’s writing, you need to read at least the second book, as well.

Finding the third book, Lord of Slaughter, was a bit more difficult, but it looks like it is available now and I have it on my list. I think this was probably due to some of the poor reviews that the first two books received. Quite honestly, I would say that the poor reviews are undeserved. The main problem with these books is that they are not easy reads. Lachlan writes in an interesting prose and he doesn’t babysit the reader. If you are not familiar with Norse mythology, you may not get as much out of what is going on, and he doesn’t stop to fill you in. Actually, to me, that was part of the fun of reading these books – figuring out on my own what he was doing, making those connections on my own to the myths, and then seeing how he had the story play out. So, if you are up for a slightly more challenging read, these books are worth the time!

I am a Dresden Files addict. I am, frankly, more than a little in love with Harry Dresden. Recently I re-read Storm Front, the first book in Jim Butcher‘s series. I love this series so much that I have actually read all of the books, but this was for a new book club that I’m in, and I was very happy to refresh myself on how Harry’s exploits began, because I truly feel that this series is urban fantasy at its best.

Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire in Chicago. Far from being superhuman due to magical prowess, he is a wonderful “everyman” character, who suffers from many of the same flaws as typical mortals. Often, things don’t work out quite right for him, he gets beat up a lot, and many times finds himself in at best uncomfortable and at worst life threatening situations. In this first book, he goes up against a rogue necromancer who is killing people and who eventually gets around to threatening Harry’s life. To complicate matters, Harry routinely works with the police force, especially the cop Murphy, who has little time for the complexities of how the wizard world interacts with the human world. And to complicate matters further, on this particular case Marcone, the local crime king, has specifically asked Harry not to investigate. Somehow, throughout it all, Harry manages to save the day, navigating as best he can between all of the different priorities and life threatening situations, making hard decisions, fighting off giant scorpions and toad-like demons, while always keeping what is right at the forefront of his mind.

One of the reasons that I fell in love with this character was because of his constant struggle to do the right thing. He is often accused of using his powers for nefarious means (especially by the Warden Morgan from the White Council of wizards), but in reality he always makes decisions based on the needs of others, even if the cost for himself may end up being high. Butcher does an excellent job of keeping the pressure on just enough to keep the story going, while allowing the reader to get to know Harry and understand him. He doesn’t use his magic for personal gain, and for all of his strengths there are weaknesses that balance him out. For example, his powers interfere with things that run on electricity, so no fancy car or computer for Harry. Instead, he drives a beat up old VW and does a lot of his detective work the old fashioned way, with just a little help from some locator spells. He is also not the best at relationships. Often this is a problem that is caused by him having to weigh out what information he can share, such as with Murphy or his potential girlfriend, Susan. We see everything through Harry’s eyes, though, so we can understand his struggle and cheer him on, because we can see that he’s essentially a good guy. One of the best.

The setting for these books is good, too. Using the fairly familiar backdrop of Chicago gives us a way to envision Harry’s world. However, there is also an alternate realm, the Nevernever, that houses all manner of fae creatures. Harry is able to open a doorway into this world, if needed, but as with all interactions of the fae kind, it is dangerous and tricky. Throughout the series, Butcher develops this part of the storyline more deeply, and there is a really nice balance between the “real” and the fantastic. Possibly the best that I have seen done in urban fantasy.

Character development throughout the series is good, too. History is created between different individuals – mortal and fae – and often this comes back in both helpful and detrimental fashion. The relationship between Harry and Murphy is an interesting exploration of partnership. And, there are some fun characters in the books, too, such as Bob, the incorporeal being who sometimes advises and assists Harry, lives in a skull, continually wisecracks, and loves to indulge in steamy romantic novels.

If you haven’t checked out this series yet, I highly recommend it, but must caution you – you may become addicted! Now is a great time to start, since there are 15 books in the series so far with the most recent, Skin Games, having just been released.