Sonderbooks Book Review of Wolf Wing

Reviewed November 4, 2003.
Dutton Children’s Books (Penguin Young Readers Group), New York, 2003. Originally published in Great Britain in 2002. 229 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF LEE).

I’m not sure why I thought that Wolf Queen was the final volume in the Claidi Journals series. Now the flap of Wolf Wing says that this is indeed the final volume, and it’s a much more satisfying ending than Wolf Queen gave.

At last Claidi is married to the love of her life, but there is still a mystery to be solved. They have another journey to make, but they won’t be able to do all of it together.

In this book, the wild science/magic didn’t seem quite as jarring. Though it still seemed hard to believe (especially if called “science”), I was used to the idea now. Calling it some sort of psychic power this time made it a little more plausible. I decided that perhaps the reason I had trouble with it in the second volume was that there was little warning in the first volume that such wildly powerful magic would come into the story later, so it was jarring and unexpected. Now that I understand the rules of that world, it’s easier to accept the amazing powers of the mysterious Ustareth.

This book ties up some loose ends, even telling us what happened in the House that Claidi left as a servant in Book 1. It gives a satisfying ending and a happy future looming for Claidi.

I recommend all four of these books as a fun fantasy adventure series with a feisty heroine. Yes, maybe Claidi gets a bit whiney in spots, but for the most part I like the way she’s not willing to simply accept things, but makes things happen around her. I will want to read this whole series again some time, and I have a feeling I’ll like them even better. It’s an interesting fantasy series not quite like any other.

Reader comment: An anonymous reader gives this book 5 stars, with the comment: "Greatest ever"!

Another reader gives the book 1 star, with the comment:
The book is relatively hard to understand since it's hard to know what claidi and the other characters were at the beginning.
The cover's picture is two horses, but at the beginning, it said that they could fly and they were divided into some sort of tribes, making it much harder to read than usual.

Reviews of other books by Tanith Lee:
Wolf Queen
The Dragon Quintet

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Wolf Wing*

The Claidi Journals Book IV

by Tanith Lee