Debriefing - #BloodofWolves

 Blood of Wolves has been live in the wild for a week, so it's time for a debriefing. Spoilers abound! Turn back now if you haven't read it yet. 

You can grab it HERE on Amazon, and I swear I'm getting it ready for BN and Kobo, too.

The book picks up right where Edge of the Wild left off, with Oliver and Erik trying to get down off the mountains, and with the Sels anchored in the harbor back at Aeres. With threats looming all around, it was a book that demanded more-or-less nonstop action on all fronts, all of our characters caught partway through seasons of change and growth. 

Oliver was always braver than he seemed, but his chronic illness, and his previous station in society left him more of a wallflower by necessity. Now, though, elevated at Erik's side, bonded to a drake, and his illness seemingly cured - we'll talk about how that works later on in the series; there's still much to explore about magic, drake and otherwise - he's allowing his confidence to shine through and taking a more active leadership role. He's coming into his own, and all the things Erik admires about him in private are growing visible to everyone else. 

Erik struggles a bit in this one, though. His natural inclination is to keep Oliver safe under lock and key, and to forbid him from doing something as dangerous as ride a dragon. But he respects him, and he knows he's strong enough - it's just a bit hard letting go. He's also having some King Struggles: feeling like he can't keep his family safe; wracked with guilt because he wasn't at the palace when it was attacked; feeling stuck, while Oliver flies ahead, and Ragnar closes in from behind. He's every inch the martyr, and a stubborn one at that, convinced he can and should take on the world. 

Like Oliver, Tessa's stretching and adapting to the current situation. She would never have wanted to learn how to handle weapons on her own, but under the circumstances feels like she must. I liked getting to use Estrid as the devil - er, Northern shieldmaiden on her shoulder. Where Revna and Rune try to assure her she doesn't have to be like them, Estrid challenges her. It's a push she needs: the North is harsh, and so too are its people. Estrid provides her a sink-or-swim moment, and she rose to the occasion. 

I wanted to include more of Amelia's POV, but given all that needed to happen up North, it didn't make sense to weave her story in alongside that of the others'. We do get an update from her, one chapter's worth, and get to meet two more Southern lords. It's been fun seeing readers debate whether she'll end up with Connor or Reginald, and, well, let's just say there's much more banter between the boys like what we glimpsed in this chapter. I do love an unlikely couple, and Amelia's far too concerned with the drakes and the war effort at the moment to worry about romance. 

I suppose we have to talk about Leif, don't we? *hee hee* I had the strongest urge to spoil that twist ahead of time because I loved it so much. I love that he's the quiet, patient, dutiful nephew, the ideal prince, and then this happens. I love the idea of his new internal war: the conflict between new, aggressive instinct and his previous placid nature. It's a bit of a hyperbolic look at what it means to be a prince: A man who would be king must be able to balance kindness with ruthless strength, but the skinwalker element dials that inner turmoil up to eleven. I can't wait to explore all his change will mean for him going forward - including his relationship with Ragnar. Ragnar is one of my favorite characters in the series because even he isn't sure what his ultimate motives are. He's petty, and power hungry, and jealous, and vindictive; callous and cruel - but there's a part of him that truly does love his cousins and craves their acceptance. I've gotta have at least one character in every series I write that smacks just a little of Loki. It's a personal rule. 

My other favorite, my most favorite, really, is our dear little shithead Corpse Lord. He's such a gremlin, and I love him. When we first met him in book one, he was cocky and self-assured, showing off for everyone at the feast. By book three, he's well and truly exhausted; the magic he used to animate the dead at the end of book two was the last straw on top of an already weakened system. With fatigue, the Corpse Lord veneer wears thin, and we start to see the real, 16-year-old boy beneath: one who hates his life, his responsibilities, is terrified of his own magic, and who's been pining after his Dead Guard captain for most of his life. Mattias loves him back, painfully so, but is trying so hard to uphold his duty. Book four is titled Demon of the Dead, which is the old Norse meaning behind Nali's name, so we'll be seeing MUCH more of those two, and the Fault Lands themselves, there.

Originally, I wanted books three and four to be all one book - but that was going to be a monster of a book, for starters, and I also felt like what happens at the Fault Lands, and at Aeres in the aftermath of the siege, needed to be separate from the action of Blood of Wolves. The combined book would have been disjointed, and it felt right to end on the note that this one does. 

Let's talk drakes! I absolutely love Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, in which the dragons are intelligent, speaking creatures, but I didn't want my dragons to talk. Nor did I want them to be agents of evil and chaos, like Smaug. Nor absolutely massive like Dany's dragons. I wanted them to feel like real animals, and in that case, it was important that, just like even the most fearsome and awe-inspiring of animals, they have playful sides. That they be affectionate. That they feel tangible, in that way. There's a bit of dog influence there, but mostly the drakes in this series are styled after horses. That's kind of my area, after all. 

I told a reader on Twitter a few days ago that I very nearly didn't publish Heart of Winter, because this series is quite self-indulgent. I'm glad I went ahead and took the plunge, though, because the response has been wonderful, and because it's a really fun, much lighter series to write...though I will warn that things are going to creep toward a darker bend, as we progress. Epic fantasy is my first love, and I've gotten to drop some little Easter eggs here and there. This book contained both a nod to Helm's Deep, and the very end scene, in the great hall, was inspired by that one Thranduil scene - you know the one. I couldn't resist the drama of it. In book two, Connor says, “The last anyone saw of me, I was floating face-down in the river, bristling with arrows.” That was inspired by that visual of Isildur floating face-down, studded with arrows in the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring. 

As far as epic fantasy tropes go, the Drake Chronicles leans away from Tolkien with regards to magic. In LOTR, Middle-Earth is a place of dwindling magic. The old kingdoms have crumbled; it's a time for mortal men, while the magics, light and dark both, have withdrawn. With the Drakes, the magic is reemerging; it's a magical renaissance, if you will. Book one was only whispers of magic, and by the end of the series...well, you'll see. 😉

There is so much left in store for this bunch of characters. I'm not sure when DOTD will be out next year, I've got other irons in the fire, but I have a feeling Nali fans are going to love it. 

Thanks for reading, and please consider leaving a review if you enjoyed Blood of Wolves!