Kind of just...meh? Didn't grab me especially. The concept was fun, but the execution was a little lackluster, and the characters felt a bit like cardboard cutouts. I didn't absolutely hate it, but it start to wear on me halfway through.

I did enjoyed the book the wolf by Leo Carew, a good bit of fantasy, and a well build world, although it was a bit waffley at times.

I've been reading more fantasy than ever lately so was eager to try The Wolf as it sounded like something I'd love. Whilst I did thoroughly enjoy the incredible world-building and complex characters, something fell flat for me. However, I can imagine other readers will easily give this one five stars. Please try it if you're unsure!

The Wolf for me is a lot like Bernard Cronwell’s The Last Kingdom. The story is very familiar from the TV-series, for me.

The Wolf is a story about two men, both young, both ambitious, and even if they fight each other, they respect each other as well. Bellamus is a Southerner and Roper is Anakim. Bellamus is a ambitious captain, who wants to prove to his king and queen, that he is good enough to be a war chief even if he is not high born. Roper is just twelve, but after his father’s death on a battlefield, he has to take his place as a chieftain, but there are others who want the place and will not give it to him willingly. So they both have something to prove, Roper has to grow up quickly and Bellamus has to prove that he is irreplaceable with his knowledge about Anakim.

The story is filled with political games, secret attacks, wins and losses. It starts slow, but with this slow start the story sneaks under your skin and when the story is over you want more. When you think back you realize that all of this is just a start, introduction, but at the same time there are so many things happening it’s filled with information and actions and never a dull moment. Looking forward to the next book.

Good read.

On paper, Leo Carew's The Wolf (review copy from Headline) ought to be right up my street. It's billed as "a thrilling, savagely visceral, politically nuanced and unexpectedly wry exploration of power and identity", which is catnip for a reader of my taste. But I bounced off it fairly on, and this one languished in the did-not-finish pile.

The premise is a good one. War between the North and the South thrusts Roper, a young man, into power unexpectedly quickly when his father (the King of the Northern, Anakim people) is killed in battle, and he must struggle to gain authority early on or risk being deposed. Meanwhile, Bellamus, a common-born upstart Sutherner who can run rings around most of the Suthern nobles, is fighting for renown, aided by the private patronage of his lover, the Queen.

Unfortunately, this book hit far too many of the buttons that turn me off a novel. I even tried putting it down for a bit and coming back to it, to see if it would help. It didn't.

The problem was that I didn't buy the fundamental premise. Roper, the new King of the Anakim, is presented to us as a politically naive young man who finds himself having to fend off the ambitions of a wildly popular and successful soldier called Uvoren. But it just didn't ring true for me. By rights, Roper should have been being groomed for his future role for his whole life, yet he acts like someone who's never even thought about it and doesn't have the first clue about his country, let alone running it. This is someone who would have been raised in the highly political environment of his father's court, yet he acts like someone who's just arrived, doesn't know anyone and doesn't have the first clue how anything works. I just don't buy it. And Roper shows little or no grief or reaction to the death of his father. Which I also don't buy.

The politics in the novel falls foul of one of my particular bug-bears. It's something that only Bad People do. Not Roper, who is a Good Man. Politicking becomes a lazy marker for someone the reader is meant to identify as a villain, so they can enjoy despising them.

There are issues with the world-building too. This is yet another fantasy world where we are expected to believe that countries can field armies in the scale of hundreds of thousands of troops. But the economies seem to be based on subsistence farming, and there is no convincing sense of how the landscape or the economies can support a military-industrial complex of that size, including all the support services and industries required to maintain it, and the logistics involved in moving armed forces of that scale around the country.

And there was just something in the prose style that grated too. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was like nails down a blackboard.

All in all, too many things on my list of pet peeves, all in one place in The Wolf. While this isn't a book that's actively bad, there was just too much that kept throwing me out of the story and if I can't suspend my disbelief I can't carry on reading a book. I'm sure there is an interesting debut in there, and Leo Carew will continue to develop as a writer, but this isn't the book for me.

Goodreads rating: 2*

Violence and death have come to the land under the Northern Sky. The Anakim dwell in the desolate forests and mountains beyond the black river, the land under the Northern Sky. Their ancient ways are forged in Unthank silver and carved in the grey stone of their heartland, their lives measured out in the turning of centuries, not years. By contrast the Sutherners live in the moment, their vitality much more immediate and ephemeral than their Anakim neighbours. Fragile is the peace that has existed between these very different races – and that peace is shattered when the Suthern armies flood the lands to the north. These two races revive their age-old hatred, and fear of each other. Within the maelstrom of war, two leaders will rise to lead their people to victory. Only one will succeed.



Fantasy is often filled with tales of two sides bordering a land where sadly opportunities for war are ever likely. In this debut from Leo Carew we have the mighty Anakim (over seven-foot-tall, internally armoured strong giants) versus Sutherners (the humans). Intriguingly the series is more likely to have to you cheering on the giants for a change!

The story starts with the Anakim having their greatest ever defeat at the hands of the Sutherners in their own land. Subtle tactics and technology allow the Anakim to be mown down and their ruler Kynortas The Black Lord is slain. His son Roper seeing that his mighty army risks complete destruction orders the remaining army to do an unheard-of retreat into their fortress stronghold. This allow the Suthern nobles aided by a wily human Bellamus to start taking over more and more of the Anakim land. Roper, however returns to his citadel in disgrace not just for being viewed as a coward but also finding former friends of his father now seeing him as a mere obstacle to their own ambitions for the throne. Can he quickly learn the art of leading?

I think a reader who enjoys reading about different societies to humans will enjoy this book. There is a lot of focus on the Anakim way of life. A group of giants who can live two hundred years easily with no real written language, but an abundance of stories chanted down over the years really do across as different than just tall humans. Their way of life ranging from it’s secret societies to their views on war and fighting are made to stand out. It’s very much Roper’s story and we see him move from a simple henchman to someone who can command multiple factions and when his loved ones are threatened he is capable of exacting terrible revenge. It has a resemblance to the Godfather as the kind son slowly hardens to war and bloodshed. Over the border we see his opposite number Bellamus himself work to his own goals as a commoner working to get nobles to do his bidding. Bellamus has studied the Anakim for many years and very much wants his own army to see him as a leader in waiting. The story attempts to contrast their rises in power working out various factions.

A strong part of the book is Roper’s internal battle with the mighty warrior Uvoren who has decided Roper is not suitable to lead and his own power base is more than ready to bring the new Black Lord down via loss of public support and if that fails more deadlier means. Roper gets tacit approval from The Anakim’s secret order that protects the wider integrity of society The Krptea and their archivists the Academy to try and beat Uvoren who they feel would be a disaster for the people. But he must do it on their own. Carew really makes the society come alive and when the action focuses on these little group and bits of court drama the story feels most vibrant and watching Roper change over the course of the events is a curious mix of encouraging him on and then saying to yourself oh no don’t go down that path!!

There are however two main issue that get in the way of the story. The first is that a lot of the time Roper gets to win things easily. Starting off in total disgrace he swiftly gets allied to a major faction and married to one of the more interesting characters in the novel – the funny, clever and charming Keturah who swiftly proves an equal at leadership to Roper. But its all done in a single scene where Roper’s good intentions win over a powerful backer. A lot of the time there is no doubt that Roper’s plan (although often a cunning one!) will succeed. That lack of tension does make a lot of the threats he has to fend off a less than satisfying experience. The idea of focusing on politics and winning the people is one I wish more books took to heart but its not as well developed as I’d have liked to see.

The other issue is the pacing. There is a lot of wandering in fields as Roper prepares to fight the Sutherners and sometimes the way characters tell stories of the past to inspire leadership or explain the plot again suck the energy from the tale. Often these scenes are to help Roper decide what action he must next take but it feels mechanical that a tale about an army prank leads to his stunning victory. A slightly tighter pace would allow the story to soar past these moments and often you can see the pieces being moved around the board. Hopefully as the series progresses Carew will now find that after setting the world and factions up he can focus more on the story than explaining the world.

It’s a promising debut with some original ideas and a desire to be more than just a tale of two armies killing each other. A focus on how a society operates with political intrigue is always welcomed but I think in future tales there needs to be a bit more danger to our leads if a few more risks are taken in future novels it could become a much more interesting series to recommend.

Rating: ★★ (2/5)

Review:

This book had all the makings of a book I would love. The blurb spoke of a fantasy land and two age-old races who have revived their hatred for each other. However, I personally found this book too political and with too many wars in it for my personal tastes.

One thing I did enjoy at the beginning was the two perspectives, one from each sides of the warring races. The Anakim, the race with all the typical makings of the bad-guys, are given a backstory and are developed in a way that make them more fleshed-out than you average ‘bad’ race. The Sutherners are more your typical good-guys, the human-like race who normally are seen to be on the ‘right’ side of the war. Through the two perspectives you come to realise that actually the Anakim want to just live their lives and it is the Sutherners who are attacking them through fear. This made for a pleasant realisation and I thought that Carew was going to turn the trope on it’s head. But, this is where my enjoyment of the book ended.

I couldn’t love the characters, yes there was some decent character development but there are so many characters all of whom are on their own side and have their own arc to keep track of that you soon begin mixing them together. I found that I didn’t care for the characters in the end.

Also, the format of this book is essentially politics, a battle, more politics, another battle, yet more politics and then more fighting. It became tedious very quickly and I found myself skipping over much of the detail as it was just too much for me. I didn’t care for the story and it felt almost shallow as the entire book is purely focussed on these two aspects.

I loved this book so much I can't write anything proper O_O
It's amaizng.
It has a lot of action and amazing characters who I loved. Yes, OMG, I loved it!

The Wolf was in parts a challenging read for me and yet by the end I came to admire it.

The Anakim as a race, a culture, as characters are probably some of the most intriguing I have come across in a while. Entirely geared towards war, their bodies are quite literally built for battles, and war is something they take great pride in, and yet, with the exception of a few too ambitious characters, they keep a very level head about their way of life. The Anakim value their culture, their homes and their country on a very deep-rooted level.

The Sutherners, who share the border with the Anakim, are polar opposites. The Sutherner’s lifespan is shorter, they don’t have the same values or live quite in the same environment as the Anakim. Their country has been developed by the ways of a more ‘modern’ man whereas the Anakim life is more down to earth. I couldn’t help but think how this was kind of like a clash in between modern culture against the more nature-loving way of things.

The two peoples have clashed throughout history although I couldn’t quite figure out, or perhaps I missed it, why exactly would the Anakim want Surtherners’ lands or vice versa. Neither side had hardly enough of that burning desire to occupy the land that was so different to their own. The Anakim are a culture that settle, firmly and permanently, and the Sutherners would hardly manage in the harsh conditions that the Anakim thrive. Then again, all it takes sometimes is just being so starkly different to ‘warrant’ conflict.

When the fragile peace in between the two opposing sides is fractured yet again, many lose their lives, their respect and not the leaders or their army Captains can really be sure their own country doesn’t want to eliminate them in the process. But no matter how devastating the outcome of a war in between two countries is, adding a civil war into the mix ratchets things up another notch.

And so, The Wolf explores the alliances formed, loyalties tested, grudges eliminated…

The world building alone is rich, especially that of the Anakim, and Carew left no stone unturned to give readers the full experience. I do have to say, though, that at times there was perhaps too much information in certain parts. Yes, it was relevant to the particular scene but somehow it still disconnected me from the present timeline of ongoing events. But as I mentioned earlier- after reconsidering the overall reading experience- I can only admire this book as a whole. The everything that it gave me as a reader, the unfolding of events which at times were fast forward, at times slower to enable me to plant myself into the moment…

The Wolf is not at all dialogue heavy, it’s more of a descriptive read and I do believe a picture formed in my head exactly, or quite close to, as the author envisaged it- the bloody battles fought with swords and bows, the chaos of the battlefield. The Anakim and their larger than life war-hardened presence. The Sutherners with their many politically driven ambitions. This is war!!! And yet, there were also moments that reflected the very base human feelings, like fear of dying, proving one’s worth and heartbreaking sadness of losing a loved one.

And now that the scene is set, I quite look forward to the perilous journey the Black Lord will take me next…

didnt deliver on the promise. so many other books in the genre with more originality and suspense

I really struggled with this book. I am not sure why, i was bored out of my mind and ended up skipping pages to finish it quicker.

Its split into 3 seasons and 3 parts to cover the conflict. The Sutherners break the peace treaty they have with the Anakein in Albion and war breaks out. You read from the perspectives of 2 main characters, Roper in the North, and Bellamus in the South.

I found it really hard going, there were no characters i gelled with, or related too and so because i couldnt get behind anyone, i wasnt rooting for anyone and so found it really difficult to trawl through it.

If you like really heavy military fantasy this might be for you, but i am not really a big war kind of person, i love fantasy, but this was more military fiction to me.

It starts with a clandestine meeting in the dark and the rain, which results in a battle where a boy loses his father. Ambition of two separate people fuels their joint desires and a race is at risk of being annihilated.

This book would most likely suit someone who likes comprehensive world stories which include the battle systems, politics and lifestyles of the people populating the world.

The book is written mostly in the first person of Bellamus from the South and Roper in the North. They each have their ambitions for battling the other. Roper an untested boy lately on the throne and Bellamus an upstart with a secret supporter who has the kings ear. They clash in battle against one another, each trying to come up with the greater strategy to beat the might of the other. Strength of numbers is not enough in this battle, cunning and planning are essential. Especially when those who should be your allies may be your greatest foe.

I enjoyed the whole structure of the story, it was engagingly written, even the battles and usually I tend to get bored with those! The politics didn't go rambling on and make me lose track of the story. The characters were well crafted and believable. I anticipate the next book and look forward to reading it.

When I read the synopsis, I couldn't wait to get into the book and devour it. Since I didn't know much about the author at the time other than the fact that he is an anthropologist. He proved his wealth of knowledge in creating peoples of various places and how their life worked. I think, in this case, that's his highest selling point. The author has really thought it through when it comes to the cultures and its peoples. The way they have their religions and belief systems is so wonderfully shown, I am eager to know more about the Unhierea in the later books. (Or at least, I hope I get to know more about them.)

The characters are fairly good. I mean, I can understand their impulses and their decisions, I love Pryce and I absolutely loved the way Gray was written. I can't say enough about Keturah and Roper, they are awesome and fun to read about. They are all well-formed characters with quirks of their own, personalities that are worth remembering even after you are done reading the book. There's one more character that I would love to know more of, I hope in the next book we get to see him more. Bellamus, he's an interesting character and somewhat hidden from us throughout the book, in that, we don't really know much about him. I guess, that's why I am more interested than normal. You know, it's typical that a character with little information is all the more interesting because of it. 

Politics, this book reminded me a lot of ASOIAF series, in that, it had a lot of politics in it. At times, it overpowered everything else. Or at least, that's how it seemed to me. I loved the fact that there were people with their own agenda who were working the scene but the thing is, with this book, it mostly didn't work well. I do not want to compare ASOIAF with this book but the thing is, with ASOIAF, I can read about the politics, it's bearable and even interesting at times but with this one, it just didn't click with me. I think part of the problem is me doing the one thing I told myself I wouldn't. Comparing it with other works with different setups. 

Another problem was the fact that I skimmed through some portions of the book, yes, I am that terrible. It wasn't that it was boring but it was more that sometimes, I just couldn't care enough about it to continue with the same amount of attention. (It's probably my problem and not the problem with the book.) 

What else? Oh, yeah! I am not sure if it's something the author intended or it's something that just is but the way the world is described in this book, it all happens in the a small portion of the world. I would love to know more about the places outside of the contained area, also, I don't really know how such vastly different races are living so near each other? It's not something I understand. (My bad.) 

Overall, I think this book is worth reading if you are into high fantasy and would love to read about politics and awesome characters. If you liked ASOIAF then you might like this.

I did enjoy this book. Taken on its own terms, at face value, it’s a perfectly good high fantasy with exquisite detail as pertains the two races. Where I came a bit unstuck was that the world building was sketchy in places. This added to the feeling that some of the (admittedly excellent) action sequences were disparate, unconnected episodes. Enjoyable in the moment but lacking in terms of a deeper connection to the whole. It’s worth bearing in mind that I read this right after reading Malice by John Gwynne and I’m not certain that my view of that didn’t take something away from The Wolf. I think it’s one I need to cogitate over. I really liked Ketureh as a character, and I have no difficulty reading books with a predominantly male cast, but it becomes very noticeable when you have one very developed female character and the others aren’t paid much attention in terms of detail. It just felt like there could have been more. While I’m sure that fantasy with traditional male/female roles adds to believability, or at least this is what we are led to believe, I am growing tired of it. Historically it turns out that there were far more women in positions of power, in armies and navies, playing political games and ruling countries through sons and husbands than we were ever allowed to see. The fact that a group does something largely covertly because the world was set up in a way to stop them accessing it, doesn’t mean that only outlier succeeded because as it turns out, they weren’t outliers. They just didn’t get buried by historians. I really want to see this reflected more in fantasy, especially fantasy written by men, even if they think they’re writing for men. (Newsflash 80% of you readership is female.) So yes. Great high fantasy GoT style but missing something for me. Despite that I still want the next book.

This was a fantastic introduction to this new epic historical fantasy. Once I'd started reading I was hooked and didn't want to put this book down. The plot is compelling throughout, with some great action scenes and political intrigue. I love books that deal with political intrigue and/or military elements and this book delivered on both those things. I enjoyed seeing our main character, Roper, become a leader. At first I did wonder at how quickly he seemed to settle into the role, but I think it is partly due to the society he lives in and so it actually makes sense. Yes he is only 19 but he has been groomed for this task. There is a great cast of characters, although I did want to see more women in this book. There are women present in this book, one of which is one of my favourite characters, but this is a very male orientated cast. The characters are very well written though, and there are so many great characters that I want to see more from. Unfortunately I thought the world building was a bit lacking. I wanted to know more about the land in which these characters live and more of the history of the world. In terms of the writing, in general it was good, but perhaps a little too heavy on descriptions at times and repetitive. I have to admit to skim reading some sections of this book due to this. Overall I very much enjoyed this book and would highly recommend checking it out. I will definitely be checking out the next book in this series.

This book may resemble Game of Thrones. There are couple of differences between the two for me but most important is that I found myself skim-reading this book. Okay GoT books were long, but they made you float alongside. You didn't skip a single sentence.
Don"t get me wrong, this is not a bad book at all. It just feels exhaustively long.
There is yet another fantasy world, and we follow the newly appointed northern 'Black Lord' through his struggle to protect his land from Southerners.
3 stars our of 5 for me.

Caveat time. I do not normally read this kind of military heavy fantasy. So, all of the below will be my personal preference and doesn’t necessarily reflect how someone who reads the genre more will find this book. Take your own personal preferences into account when you read this!
I think one of the reasons I couldn’t get into this book was the lack of relatable characters. I don’t just mean the fact that there were maybe three women who did anything of significance (in one case that significant thing was ‘get poisoned’ but that’s not the point here). I can relate to a male character as much as the next human being. In fact, there were times when I found myself strongly feeling for Roper (one of our male POVs) as he struggled to find his footing as a new leader. Those moments of vulnerability and insecurity were the strongest, followed closely by the plots and plans which subverted the need for battle, people taking the Odysseus route has always filled me with joy.
My problem was largely the length of this book, or perhaps the pacing (I got through Name of the Wind I’m not opposed to a lengthy tome). The chapters themselves are incredibly long and switch POV within chapter so it feels like it could have been divided a bit more to give the reader a sense of clarity and of progress. I found the latter 30% or so to be a real struggle to plough through.
Perhaps the most ‘personal preference’ thing that bothered me was the sheer number of battle scenes and the length of description of them. This just isn’t something I am interested in, it’s not something that draws me in or captivates my attention. I would have appreciated a couple more instances of battles being dealt with or depicted in another manner. You know how in LOTR (the films) they sometimes have the thick of battle shown and later it’s a slow motion shot with song over it just to give your mind a break? I needed the book equivalent of that break.
I think this book tackles some interesting themes, including the idea of how two races would interact if one lived for a lot longer than the other. The idea of understanding ones enemy and the differences between you was also well considered. Overall, however, there wasn’t too much to distinguish this book from other similar titles. The one aspect of the setting that I really enjoyed was the descriptions of the fortress in which the Anakim spend most of their time when not campaigning. Clearly the author had a strong concept for this, which showed through in the detailed description.
Should you read this? If you enjoy fiction which focusses heavily on military exploits then you will should pick this up. Personally it wasn’t for me.
The Wolf releases April 5th 2018
My rating: 2/5 (probably a 2.5 if I’m honest)
I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

War has come to the land of the Northern Sky. Those in the north are wild and eschew any form of wealth or comfort. Those who live in the south are cunning and ambitious, above all they desire power.

Only one side can win.

The Wolf by Leo Carew is the first book in the Under The Northern Sky series. Leo Carew has been hailed to be the next George R R Martin or David Gemmell but they must have been reading a different book to me. Unfortunately, The Wolf was one of those books I just couldn’t bring myself to finish, I stopped reading it at 9%.

The prologue was promising and had all the elements you would expect from a book with so much hype.

“It rained as though the world was ending. In a cobbled street made dark by the clouds then covered by the moon and stars, a hooded figure struggled towards the door of a stone house, dragged back by a bitter wind.”

This was followed by a secret plot to provoke war between those from the north and those from the south.

Unfortunately, the first chapter was mind numbingly dull. It was a struggle for me to even make it to 9%.

This definitely wasn’t the book for me.