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    Black Wolves
    Black Wolves
    Black Wolves
    Audiobook28 hours

    Black Wolves

    Written by Kate Elliott

    Narrated by Richard Ferrone

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "SOME CHOICES CAN NEVER BE UNDONE. He lost his honor long ago. Captain Kellas was lauded as the king's most faithful servant until the day he failed in his duty. Dismissed from service, his elite regiment disbanded, he left the royal palace and took up another life. Now a battle brews within the palace that threatens to reveal deadly secrets and spill over into open war. The king needs a loyal soldier to protect him. Can a disgraced man ever be trusted?"
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 3, 2015
    ISBN9781470380427
    Black Wolves
    Author

    Kate Elliott

    Kate Elliott has been writing science fiction and fantasy for 30 years, after bursting onto the scene with Jaran. She is best known for her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series and the New York Times bestselling YA fantasy Court of Fives. Elliott's particular focus is immersive world-building & centering women in epic stories of adventure, amidst transformative cultural change. She lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes & spoils her Schnauzer.

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    Reviews for Black Wolves

    4/5

    62 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Black Wolves. Where to start? Several friends recommended this book to me, so I figured it was about time I picked it up and gave it a read. This is the first Kate Elliott novel I've read, and I promise I'm not exaggerating when I say I've realized I am missing out. It may seem daunting--coming in at 780 pages--but it reads smoothly and quickly. It's so engaging and well-paced on every single page.
      The book starts with a story that sets up the plot. We're introduced to several of the major players--especially Captain Kellas and the princess, Dannarah--and then advance to 44 years later. Dannarah's nephew is king and the whole situation of the kingdom has changed. Part of me wants to describe all of the various players and subplots that are going on a this point, but I really, really don't want to spoil anything. The story is so wonderfully written, and the reveals of the various twists and turns are so magnificent, I don't want to steal their thunder.

      I'll suffice it to say that if you're a fan of epic fantasy, I think you'll enjoy this one. There's also a bit of mystery, intrigue, betrayal, and all the other trappings that make any story about nobility transcend setting. And some incredibly complex and strong characters. Pick this one up and check it out!
    • 5/5
      Let the rating read 4.5

      This book came as a surprise. The scope and complexity of the plot were an order of magnitude greater than what I had imagined either from the blurb (which is totally inaccurate) as well as the initial chapters.

      Kate Elliott has gotten quite a few things right in this book. She has constructed a very interesting and varied cast of characters, she has built a complex, layered and interesting world, she tells her fascinating story through an intricate and detailed plot - but what surpasses all of these is the way she has presented all of these things to the reader.

      There are no clumsy infodumps. On the contrary there is along drawn out, gradual, delicate seeping of information about the characters, history and world - through flashbacks, memories, passing statements, hints - the charm of this process is that the more you read the larger and more complex everything seems and earlier assumptions about the book are called into question. As a diehard fan of Malazan which exemplifies the non-infodump approach, I cannot but admire the delicate intricacy through which Elliott has constructed her narrative.

      There are things in there which I should have or came close to disliking. The story is about how a more or less egalitarian society in terms of gender and religion is regressing into an authoritarian and unequal one. Its very sad to read, and sometimes I did wonder if all the political machinations were really necessary where some bladework and blood might have simplified things. Also I am a bit allergic to "woman uses intelligence and non-conventional resources to steer her way in an unequal setting" trope as I believe gender equality gives the characters and their actions greater scope, but the compelling unfolding narrative kept me hooked throughout.

      This book is highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      I ended up marathoning through the last half of this, until at 5 AM I had to admit I didn't know what those little black marks were anymore, because I was certain, CERTAIN, that I could see terrible things about to happen just around the corner. OK around the next corner. Well around this next one for sure.... Oh. That's not what I was expecting.

      A great book in all its death flag defiance (until not) (maybe) and old people kicking butt and then just catching their breath for a minute it's fine. I vaguely remembered points from the Crossroads books, and want to read them again now, but I think it'd be fine to come cold into this one.
    • 5/5
      I made a huge mistake starting this one before the next ones are out.
    • 4/5
      I am a bit torn about this book.

      The world and the story is rich and wonderful - some of the character interactions are a bit odd. Characters react to news with complete and utter shock way too often and they also also seem to be able to read other people like open books from time to time. Small issues like this trouble the first half of the book, but eventually the story and the world takes over.

    • 4/5
      Trigger Warning: RapeThis may be my favorite read yet from Kate Elliott, and I have the feeling that this trilogy will become one of my all time epic fantasy series. If non-Western epic fantasy with loads of ladies who do things sounds like something you’d like, then you need to read Black Wolves.The first hundred pages of Black Wolves introduce many of the central characters, but everything then changes after a forty-four year time skip. King Anjihosh saved the Hundred from demons and conquered it in the process. The story starts with Kellas, a captain of the Black Wolves, the king’s elite unit of soldiers and spies. The king’s son, Atani, learns of a family secret and soon after disappears. Kellas is tasked with his retrieval. The first section ends soon after. In the time skip, Atani both became king and was murdered on one fateful night still shrouded in questions and mysteries. Now Atani’s son is king, and he fears that no one around him can be trusted. His aunt Dannarah enlists a now elderly Kellas to return to safeguard her nephew and his kingdom.However, Kellas is just one of many protagonists, all of whom have their own storylines. Dannarah is a Marshel of the Reeves, an ancient military order who’s members are chosen by and bonded to giant eagles. Under her nephew’s rule, she’s seen her power diminish, and she fears for the Reeves as a whole and their traditions.Lifka is the adopted daughter of a poor carter, who just wants to help her family survive. But the Hundred’s conquerors have become increasingly oppressive of the native culture as the generations have worn on, and new taxes, religious mandates, and forced labor endangers her family. On top of all that, Lifka might just be one of those orphans who has a secret past…The last couple of major characters are a couple in fact — Gilaras and Sarai, two young people who end up (from her own design in Sarai’s case) in an arranged marriage. Gilaras’s father betrayed Atani, and the family seeks an alliance with a wealthy merchant clan to stay a float. Sarai’s people usually do not marry outsiders… but Sarai is mixed race and has never been fully accepted by her own family members. She’s spent her entire life inside the family’s rural compound, and she wants out. Her girlfriend’s already left, so there’s not much left for her besides spending her days cataloging plants and growing old. When she sees the chance of an escape, she jumps at it.I was not expecting the time skip at all. I was pretty confused for the first hundred pages! I kept looking at the back of the book and being like, “This doesn’t fit at all what’s happening?” Of course it didn’t. The back blurb was describing events forty-four years later! It was an unusual choice for Kate Elliott to make, and I don’t know how much I liked it. I think it led to Black Wolves having a slower start than it might have otherwise, and I’m not sure it was entirely necessary. On the other hand, it was interesting to have the characters and my assumptions about them shift so radically from one page to the next. Dannarah went from a naive teenage girl to a mature leader, and Kellas went from a young badass male lead to, well, a badass grandpa.I actually really liked all of these characters. Plus there were some great supporting cast members as well! There’s so many women doing things and being generally amazing… and they interact with other women doing things. Women doing things and interacting with other women isn’t a high bar, but it’s something a lot of fantasy series fail at. Black Wolves gloriously passes that bar.And the cast of characters is diverse in many different aspects. The majority of the cast are POC and all of the POV characters are. The culture seems to have been based on East Asia but it’s original enough that I can’t pick out any specific influences. Oh, and Sarai is bisexual! Her culture doesn’t allow women to meet with unrelated men before they’re married, but since she’s bi that doesn’t stop her from having a romantic and sexual relationship before she enters into the arranged marriage with Gil. This had the bonus effect of putting her and Gil on more equal footing since they both came in with some prior relationship experience.Actually, I think Gil and Sarai’s relationship was one of the best arranged marriage plotlines I’ve seen. I tend to hate these plotlines. You know how they go. There’s some naive young woman who has no experience with men or marriage who is suddenly married off (usually unwillingly) to a handsome and super worldly man who is in a more powerful position than her. Of course, he tends to turn out to be the embodiment of perfection and she falls in love with him. Black Wolves changes the equation. Sarai is in her early twenties, not particularly naive, and arranges the marriage herself. Plus, she retains control of all the financial assets she brings to the marriage, so she’s not helpless in comparison to Gil.I really enjoyed Black Wolves. It just has so much of what I want from fantasy. A world that feels unique and tangible, characters I love, and a plot I find exciting. And I’m going to reiterate this point: it has loads of ladies doing things and some of them are queer. Basically, Black Wolves is everything I love in the fantasy genre wrapped into one awesome package. I’m sure I’ll be recommending this one a ton in the future, and I can’t wait until Kate Elliott releases the next book. It’s slated for spring 2018 and it can’t come out soon enough!Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 4/5
      Kate Elliot’s exemplary worldbuilding skills aren’t really tested in this much appreciated return to the lands of the Hundred, from the recent ‘Crossroads’ trilogy. The tale opens just 15 years after the conclusion of ‘Traitor’s Gate, to introduce Captain Kallas, a soldier of the titular ‘Black Wolves’, whose cohort ranges the Hundred, eliminating enemies of King Anjihosh, the Great Unifier. In Toskala, the complexities of Anji’s family are laid out for the reader, the incipient cracks in the edifice waiting to widen.

      The narrative skips forward forty four years, whence the seeds of the doom for the nation founded by Anjihosh after his victory over the chaos caused by corrupt Guardians, have sprouted and taken root in those very cracks. Anjihosh is dead, and so is his successor Atani, killed 22 years before by traitorous Lord Seras, in a suspicious ambush which led to the disgrace and disbanding of the ‘Black Wolves’. Atani’s son Jehosh now rules, but his absences fighting border wars, palace intrigues and the increasing meddling of the troublesome imported priests of Beltak the Shining One are crowding out the old ways of the Hundred. The Seven Gods have been pushed to the margins or suppressed, as a darker canker hides beneath.

      The tale is told from the POV of Kellas, the old soldier who returns reluctantly to duty from that of Sarai, an outcast Ri Amarah woman, thrust into a political marriage to Gilaras the wastrel son of the regicide Seras, and Dannarah, daughter of Anjihosh and marshal of the reeves, whose charges are again under threat from those who covet the power of the giant eagles who are the reeve’s partners. This is the first instalment of a planned trilogy, so ends in a tantalising cliffhanger, and promises to reveal more of the underlying rationale of this fascinating world, and in particular, the role of the hitherto mysterious Ri Amarah.

      Eligible for the Hugo award in 2016, and on my list of nominees
    • 4/5
      Kate Elliott writes chewy, intricate fantasy series. Black Wolves is the start of another, a trilogy this time rather than her typical four or five.This is an absorbing read but a complex one, and it requires a lot of patience with uncertainty. New, apparently unrelated characters and events are introduced throughout the first half. It is not until roughly the halfway point that the various threads begin to be tied together. And unlike many first-book-in-a-trilogys, this does not end with even a temporary resolution. Instead, the final chapter sets up another new twist, leaving the story very much in the middle of things. It's not quite a cliff-hanger, but it's close.Recommended, for readers who are comfortable with not knowing how things are going to fit together for the first several hundred pages.