Wolf's Cub: A Fantasy

By Mackay Wood

Eighteen-year-old Herric, youngest son of the Wolf King of Athgar, never wanted power, and certainly not his father's crown. But in a land threatened by invading barbarians, Herric believes he has no... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188517330X
• ISBN13: 9781885173300
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Write Way Pub
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

A stirring fantasy epic.

Wolf's Cub rises several tiers above typical fantasy fare. The plot is driven by the diverse forces of historical precedent, cultural predjudice, politics and the personalities of the protagonists. Young Prince Herric's finds his desires thwarted and his destiny tangled in an war rooted in age old hatreds, a deep mire of distrust which grows ever more treacherous with each drop of spilled blood. Trying to extract himself and his kingdom from this fatal bog, Herric learns that swords on make grudges stronger, and making peace is harder than making war.

A great read and more than what's obvious!

At first glance Wolf's Cub is a typical "Sword 'n Sorcery" tale, with kings, princes and princesses, knights and warlords, much sword play, and evil magicians. However, a deeper look into this tale of the forced growth of a teen-aged prince into a powerful and beloved warrior king, and the prices he pays to reach this, reveals a detail of character and humanity and level of complexity uncommon to most "S'nS" books. The characters of Prince Herric, his arranged marriage bride, Princess Elaine, and the courtiers, lords and ministers, ladies in waiting, and even down to the churls in a hut where Herric takes shelter from the rain after battle, are sharply drawn, human, and ultimately can be identified with by any reader. One does regret that the characters of the "bad guys" are not so equally balanced and human. This is a story and saga that will suck you in to a story at first fanciful and escapist, but eventually as frustrating and real as life. The reader shares every blow in battle, every fatigue and disappointment in politics, every frustration with a willful and egocentric father, and every day's despair of the war-racked populace. Consequently, you are engrossed in the events of Herric's struggle. But there's another reason besides good writing and a great read, to buy this book. The reader will realize by book's end that he's also just read an allegory about many of the ills we live with today--acid rain, drought and flood, natural disasters, strange, unpredictable weather, and inexplicable enemies, for the world of high Athgar suffers from many of the same. Through the story a theme can be discerned, the theme of the Pattern of the World and its growing imbalance. Then the story becomes one of attempted reconciliation of two long-alienated parts of humanity, the human, practical, logical side, and the magickal, intuitive, psychic side. Then it becomes the story of the new millennium, and the attempts to put those two parts together again. In Wolf's Cub there are two magickal kingdoms: black magic Zalkyrth, and white magic Melgorna. But magic is found in Athgar, too, despite the cultural prejudice against it. So we have the A of Athgar set against the Z of Zalkyrth, with the M of Melgorna balanced between them in allegorical style, and the author's solution is not that one defeat the other, but that like long-separated siblings, they come together to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Highly recommended!

The blurb is right--I could not put WOLF'S CUB down. I found this medieval world completely believable, and I rapidly became attached to the characters, especially the hero, Herric. He is everything a fantasy hero should be, but deeply human, too. The climax is heart-pounding, moving, and real. This is the best kind of fantasy because, while it's an epic adventure, resonant with dangerous magic, subtle intrigue, and age-old prophecies, it reflects our world's joys and difficulties, and what it says feels true. I guess this is a small publishing house, and that's too bad, because WOLF'S CUB will get less attention that way, and it deserves a LOT. This is a fabulous read. Buy it. You'll be glad you did.

A really great fantasy

All teenage Prince Herric wants out of life is to be a scholar and to marry his beloved Gwyneth. As the third and youngest son of Athgar's Wolf King Alric, Herric's idyllic life seems to be a sure shot. However, his oldest brother is killed and the middle sibling is incarcerated for dabbling with forbidden powers. As the heir, Herric has become a political pawn and no longer controls his life. Alric arranges a marriage between Herric and Princess Elaine. This arrangement leaves Herric with a powerful enemy in Gwyneth's family, but he does what he believes is the right thing for his kingdom. Even though he and his spouse Elaine(a latent but powerful magician just coming into her own) are forced into war , Herric seeks peace with the barbarians at the gates of his kingdom. Unbeknownst to the young prince is that his true enemy remains hidden, manipulating events like a Machiavelli form the side lines. Readers of fantasy who enjoy their novel to occur in a realistic plane in which magic is another aspect of physics need to read the charming WOLF'S CUB. The story line is filled with magic and legendary fighting, but what makes this reviewer believe that this novel is the right way to go with fantasy is the depth into the political side of the prime characters and the bleak impact of war on even the mightiest of rulers, warriors and wizards. Mackay Wood proves a fresh face that makes Athgar feel both magical and mundane as if it is a land located on our planet.Harriet Klausner