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Book: The Wolf of Winter
They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this book definitely played a major part in why I picked it up in the first place. The tall dark maiden in flowing red robes glancing despairingly yet with such an air of determination, at the fortress up ahead. And as if that were not enough to lure me into the book, it is written from the villain’s point of view.
The story begins with Lord Varis, our villain, and through his eyes we see his unappealing present, soon to become a past that will shape him in the future. The reader follow him as he, a weakling, discovers the power of necromancy through which he can overset the heirs of the Ulor Throne and grasp it for himself. And perhaps the most fascinating thing about the book is that it explores the reality of magic, it is not merely a swish of the wand or a spell cast, it is taxing on the soul and after all anything in excess is harmful. So we follow Varis as he gathers power and knocks off heirs blocking his way to the throne, but it is not so simple, two heirs, a boy and a girl, escape out of his grasp before they can be terminated.
Far away from him they grow up and he too forgets about their existence but of course the heroic leader of light returns (as he must) to bring down Varis. But it is not he who intrigues Varis, rather Varis’s niece Selina who, unknown to him, has in the darkness of an island library, already tasted magic.
Captured and held in Ulor Varis’s fortress Selina is both fascinated and repelled by her uncle and his necromantic arts. So far away from her heroic brother and so dangerously (yet perhaps fortunately?) close to the villain responsible for so many deaths… And what about Varis, he is the darkness and darkness cannot triumph over light, can it?
It is a must read for fantasy-lovers, it is going to keep them glued to its pages all afternoon and lead them to a very touching end that will vibrate in your thoughts for quite a long time.
Kehkashan Khalid
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