Leo Carew

What a ride Leo Carew’s debut novel “The Wolf” is. Reading this book was like jumping down a giant spinning funnel and not giving a hoot where it went. It was so much fun. From the get go you know you are in for a ride.
Where to begin on this review. Once every few years a young writer comes along that grabs you by the collar and throws you into the deep end of the pool. Well. Not only does Carew do this, he puts his foot on your head while you are trying to come back up for air and shoves you back down into the murky depths.
There have been a hefty amount of comparisons to Carew with Martin. Both are good writers, but Carew seems to have tossed Martin into that pool and allowed us readers of low fantasy to catch our breath and be thankful he is in our corner.
The Wolf is an excellent novel that takes us somewhere we have not been but puts our feet in a place that many fans of British History and Mythology might be familiar with. The contrast between the two warring factions and their opposite spectrum of belief and ways are put out in a way which allows the reader to almost root for them both. The Northerners are awe inspiring. Imagining such a race of men who live for hundreds of years, filling a battlefield opposite men more like ourselves is a cool contrast. The bravery on both sides and particularly the southern side evokes some stark images simply because we know they are facing almost certain death by standing their ground against opponents nearly twice their height and bred for total war taught through lives that span centuries. Both sides are flawed but neither of them are cowards. It is almost an image of Connor McLeod standing in front of The Kurgan for the first time. "MOTHER OF GOD"
The writing in this first volume is smooth, very little filler and the characters are all memorable. Each player in The Wolf will pull on the reader in different ways. Great pacing and buildup to combat, the event along with the decompressing and downtime of the troops afterwards is splendid. The Northerners are always ready and willing to war the drop of a dime. The South...almost, but not quite. Trickery is afoot and deceit abounds on both sides of the dividing river between North and South. Read this book but do not get stuck on the wrong side.
Carew is one of the only writers that, I feel, could take Robert E. Howard’s Hyborean world and do it justice. If you love the work of Howard you will surely enjoy The Wolf.
The only thing negative I will say; and it is not really negative because it is present in 99.9 percent of fantasy and that is the naming of characters. It seems that it is apparently impossible to for any writer to create names for individuals that don't sound they were taken out of a TSR manual. (The Witcher and Wheel of Time being the worst of the lot) But in this case Carew does an amazing job of "almost completely" side stepping that pitfall. Bravo Zulu to him. I am currently about halfway through "The Spider" and it is quite obvious that Carew is one those writers that will only get stronger the more they write.… (mehr)

This is the best book I have read this year (so far). I was hesitant to pick it up once the Game of Thrones comparisons were thrown at me. I am not a GOT fan. I'm also not typically a fantasy fan. This novel walks a fine line between fantasy and historical fiction. If I had to, I would make comparisons to Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series. If I had to. Keep in mind I love Uhtred. Roper is no Uhtred. He's not the rouge Uhtred is. Roper has the potential to be smarter and more conniving than Uhtred.

The novel's finest battle scene is one on of the finest I've read. There was really only one thing that didn't really work for me. The development of Bellamus and the Suthern people was a little lacking. I'm hopeful this will be addressed in the coming novel.

If you are looking for something a little more than just historical fiction, I would recommend picking this novel up… (mehr)