The Wolf of the North

I have been looking for a fantasy book to enjoy since it is the start of the fall and winter seasons, and when I saw that this book was part of an entire trilogy that was on sale in a box set, I jumped at the chance to get it. Also, it was read by Simon Vance. I had listened to him earlier this year, so I was excited to hear him read fiction, as opposed to a non-fiction history book. Now that I have finished this book I think that I am glad that I got the entire trilogy on sale, as opposed to paying full price.

In this book, we meet Wulfric, a young teenager who is known for being the son of his village's First Warrior. He is also known as being nothing like his father, as he is fat and timid, never wanting to fight at all. Then, one day, he pounds a bully for saying something about a girl he likes, and his life is changed forever as he journeys to take his father's place as the first warrior of the village.

This can be something like How to Train Your Dragon, as it is very Viking-esk, with small villages, swords and shields, and the like. We see Wulfric go through some interesting trials to become the warrior of his village, which is something I enjoyed seeing. Also, the action scenes are written well. And I'm also a sucker for young couples, as Wulfric and Adelaide grow closer as they get older.

Yet, there are many issues with this book. The most noticeable is that nothing happens in terms of a plot. It is very much a set-up book, as much of what happens here is just a preview for the next book. This is to the point where I honestly put this down to listen to something else, which is criminal, considering how short the book is. This makes me wonder if the next book is worth listening to despite the narration.

And let's talk about that narration for a moment. While, yes, Simon Vance is excellent at reading books, and his voice naturally lends itself to an epic fantasy tale, the longer it went on, the more problems I found. One of the biggest was that he didn't have the best range. For example, he had the same accent as all the male heroes. If they were men older than Wulfric, but still old enough to fight, then they all had this gruff Scottish accent. If the men were too old to fight then he had the same old-man voice for each of them. The women all had a softer, more willowy accent. This made it legitimately confusing to know who was saying what at times.

Then there are the side characters. They get little to no development. Even Wulfic's love interest Adelaide, gets little to do, other than going off to school for a large chunk of the book. This made me wonder who they were and why I was supposed to care about them.

The final nail in the coffin for me was how much of this type of fantasy I had read before. Now, to be fair, I begrudge the author one point: it can be difficult to write any truly original fantasy book at this point, but here, it felt like I had seen everything before. We have the elders of the village, who are on a council. Wulfric uses ordinary weapons to fight. Some monotheistic priests are healers but they also study magic in their spare time and offer their wisdom to Wulfric and company. That plus more makes this fantasy book a copy of tales that I have read before.

All this makes for a difficult book to recommend. While yes, this book has a good narrator, I just cannot help but give this book a pass. The only reason why I MIGHT continue with this series is because I own it, so I might as well finish it. I give this book a two out of five.