"Wolfsangel"

Title: Wolfsangel

Author: M. D. Lachlan
Genre: Fantasy

Plot: 6/10
Style: 5/10
Cover: 6/10 
Final: 6/10

You know the goosebumps you get when reading a really good story? When you can't go to sleep 'cause it's gonna be just one more page... This book doesn't make you feel like that. It's long, and seems to be even longer. It took me a month to finish it. A month! It wasn't overly bad, so I kept on reading, but I just couldn't get into the spirit.

The story evolves around the tale of two brothers, twins, who were separated after their birth. One is to become the prince of the Nordic kingdom. The other a beast, the avatar of Fenrir the Wolf. The Devourer of Gods. Odin and Loki are directly involved in their destiny. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? A story of bravery, loyalty and love, spiced with battles and witches. The perfect recipe for a bestseller based on history and mythology. Still, the arm of addiction reaches towards you, missing just by an inch. It continues further on, never gripping and drawing in, so the sea of the plot is unable to absorb you. You turn the last page with the hunger for more adventure, for the thrill of losing contact with reality. All the ingredients were there, just a pinch of salt more... or maybe of pepper... and it would be the best meal of the month. But the plate is empty and the meat was just slightly too raw and chips not crunchy enough.

It's a mediocre novel to read on a bus. Not overly demanding, not soporific either. The very short chapters make it possible to go through, as it's always the case with short bits of text. However, many retrospections present in the middle of the action slow the book. The moment you get excited, you're sent back to some events long past. When you come back to the actual storyline, you have already managed to forget why it was fun. I guess if you shuffled with the order of some chapters, it could actually create a more entertaining story.

I could also grumble about the way the female characters were marginalised. Or maybe not marginalised per se, but strongly categorised in the old Lewis & Tolkien way. For there are only so many patterns for a female character to follow: either a weak but loving dame in distress or a bad and evil queen. Unfortunately, Wolfsangel does not get creative in this field.

Lachlan could have done better. Actually, his editor could have done better. The story has a potential and the author has a talent. Still, what's worse than a wasted skill and time?