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Promise of the Wolves: A Novel
Promise of the Wolves: A Novel
Promise of the Wolves: A Novel
Ebook338 pages5 hours

Promise of the Wolves: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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The first in The Wolf Chronicles trilogy, brilliantly weaving together original research, lovable characters and a dynamic, thoroughly engaging plot, Promise of the Wolves is a historical adventure story in the tradition of Clan of the Cave Bear and Watership Down.

Set 14,000 years ago in what is now Southern Europe, Promise of the Wolves is told from the point of view of Kaala, a young wolf born of a forbidden, mixed-blood litter. An outcast after her mother is exiled, Kaala struggles to earn her place in her pack. But her world is turned upside down when she rescues a human girl from drowning. Kaala and her young packmates begin hunting and playing with humans—risking expulsion from their pack and banishment from their home in the Wide Valley.

When war between humans and wolves threatens, Kaala learns that she is the last in a long line of wolves charged with keeping watch over humans in order to prevent them from losing touch with nature and thus destroying the world. But to do so she must solve the great paradox of wolfkind: though wolves must always be with humans, humans cannot abide the presence of wolves, and every time the two come together, war ensues. Kaala must choose between safety for herself, her friends, and their human companions and the survival of her pack—and perhaps all of wolf and humankind.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 3, 2008
ISBN9781416570219
Promise of the Wolves: A Novel
Author

Dorothy Hearst

Dorothy Hearst is the author of the Wolf Chronicles trilogy. She loves writing about canine characters, birds, and other creatures who can give us the chance to see ourselves in new ways. She is an acquiring editor, a martial artist, a self-defense instructor-in-training, an avid hiker and reader, and a dog lover. She is not entirely domesticated, but is very food motivated.

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Reviews for Promise of the Wolves

Rating: 3.5882353892156864 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

102 ratings7 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An excellent book. I love wolves to begin with, and am therefore attracted to any fantasy book that has wolf in the title. Not everyone can carry it off, though. Dorothy Hearst can. I think the strength of this book are her characters. Kaala and Ázzuen in particular are easy to love. Her second strength is the bond between the characters. At first the bonds exist only between the wolves. It is heartening to see Kaala and Ázzuen become like siblings. Marra also joins their group, but most of the time she's a bit of a nonentity. Filler, you might say. Later on, the humans get into the mix. The bond between the wolves and the humans almost makes me jealous. Who wouldn't want such a partnership? Combine all of that with mystery and danger, and you end up with Promise of wolves. I'm looking forward to the next book!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    You know, I didn't actually hate this. When I got it in the mail to review, I kind of went "oh god, not some damn book about talking animals," but it was really pretty interesting. Definitely an easy read*, and clearly sets up a sequel, but a lot better than I expected.

    If you're going to read one anthropomorphic-wolf novel this year, it should probably be [book:A Companion to Wolves] by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, but if you have it in you to read another one, this wouldn't be a complete waste of time.

    Oh and also, it has a blurb from [author:Temple Grandin], so she must have gotten the wolf pack behavior stuff right.

    *Also, for my teen librarian friends out there, this would be a great crossover book for YA readers. In fact, I'm not sure why they didn't just publish it as a YA novel in the first place.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Had I read this 10, 8, even a few years ago, I might have rated it higher...then again, since I'm sure I'd found Tamora Pierce, at least, quite some time ago, maybe not. Not bad, but nothing special in the realm of human-animal magical communication/friendship/whatever, not all that original or well-written, but again not terribly-written and while it shares many common elements of this sort of book, it at least isn't too much like any one book in particular, as far as I can tell. Probably good for younger readers though, and for teens I'd sooner recommend Tamora Pierce's Immortals series (of which Wild Magic and Wolf-Speaker would have most in common with this series). Or, actually, a closer match is Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, which is better-written, more inventive, and has an altogether more complete world, plot, and cast of characters. Paver's books also feature a human-wolf pair, a prehistoric world, magic, etc--but, as I've said, better. I know this is a review for Hearst's book, but I don't plan to read the next in the series, and anyway, whether you keep on with this series or not, you'd best take a look at Palmer's series if you haven't yet.

    Oh, and though it features cheetahs rather than wolves, Tomorrow's Sphinx, by Clare Bell, is another YA book of a similar breed, and well worth the reading (as are her other books).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Promises of the Wolves is an endearing tale of a misfit wolf because of her parentage. Kaala struggles to be accepted and become "pack". But the pack leader is too afraid of what may become of the wolves if she is allowed to become a full member. The Great Wolves have prevented Ruuqo the pack leader from killing Kaala out right. THe Great wolves hold secrets that the others do not know about and it is their secrecy tht might ultimately cause the destruction of wolves and humans as well. Told from the point of view of the young wolf Kaala, gives some insight into the follies of humans and wolves alike. While the story moves quickly enough, the climax temds to be somewhat anti-climatic. Considering this is the authors first novel, some leeway can be granted, but I would have liked to see a more defined ending.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As someone who isn't of the millions of dog-lovers in the world, I had less of an affection for this book and more of an understanding of it. To love this book I think you must be more than just indifferent to dogs.

    I could not find my suspension of disbelief for how intelligent these wolves are; I don't think animals' minds process in the same way as ours do and cannot appreciate when a human makes it seem so. If this writer, who has a lovely story and good ideas, were to make the narration and actions closer to how a wolf might think, I could get behind it. As it stands in the canon of YA fantasy works, I am less than impressed and feel there are many issues that should have been resolved and ideas that might have been more carefully planned and developed.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wanted to like this book more than I did. It's narrator is a wolf pup in prehistoric times, marked with an ominous moon crescent. At the time, wolves and man keep separate because once when wolves helped man, man learned to hunt in packs and become a far more effective killer and wolves got nothing in return. The problem with having such a young, naive narrator is that they don't have much to add to the mix. And the overall descriptions of the forest and life weren't enough to make up for the simplicity of the characterizations and repetitiveness of the plot. There were few surprises and a tiny bit of mysticism. This is not clan of the cave bear with wolves, this feels more like a book for 5th graders. I was disappointed. C+
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book suffers from all the weaknesses of a first person narrative. The narrator, a young wolf, knows far more than it is logically possible to know, and events are awkwardly constructed to allow her to gain more information. The close observation of wolf behaviour is very interesting; on the other hand the wolves talk to each other. The naturalistic detail does not mesh comfortably with the quite human conversations.The story line is predictable, and suffers from the added weight of a prequel, supernatural forces and characters who may or may not be wolf "gods". In short, this was a good story idea that with closer editing and a stronger focus might have succeeded better.

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Promise of the Wolves - Dorothy Hearst

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