my fifth call home
I finished Wolf Moon last night. It was actually OK.
Just like Mulengro, this was one of de Lint’s atypical works, and as such one of his better ones. It’s set in a nonspecific medieval town, and centers around a family that runs an inn in a remote valley. Two new people come to their small community: a werewolf named Kern, who falls in love with the dour and shy innkeeper’s daughter, and a harper/wizard who is not a very nice guy, but uses his magic and natural charms to convince people otherwise. The story is pretty standard fare: the werewolf, Kern, is basically a nice guy, and never hurts anybody, but the harper uses lies mixed with the truth to sow fear and hatred for the werewolf, and his magic to charm the inn folk to do what he says. This is made worse by the fact that Kern never told them he as a werewolf, and so when the harper reveals that fact, they are quite upset. Of course, love conquers all, the hero wins the day, etc. Overall it was not a bad book, for a light read.
Now I’m reading Expanded Universe, a huge collection of Robert A. Heinlein’s short fiction. It’s great stuff.