dira | The Tempering of Men

So I just finished The Tempering of Men--the sequel to A Companion to Wolves, just out this week--and...

What an odd book.

I may be interrogating the text from the wrong perspective, but I can't help feeling that Isolfr's miserably persistent straightness (and persistent misery) is written in some kind of opposition to slash, which, having felt like the first book was a great big HERE, FANGIRLS, ENJOY THE DUB-CON GANGBANG WOOBIE ID CANDY WITH BONUS THREESOME HAPPY ENDING, was a bit... weird. There is, more or less, a romance--Isolfr's two husbands fall in love with each other mostly by dint of spending nearly the entire book separated and pining for each other (when they think to--about twice apiece), though we also get to see how they first reached rapprochement because the book starts before the last book ended but in a very--well, a very fanfic way where you know that people know the canon so you don't need to fill in the bits you're not interested in. I thought there was going to be another romantic sub-plot, between third POV character Brokkolfr (who? you say, yeah, I have no idea either, but he seems nice and at least he seems okay with sleeping with dudes) and Kari, but Kari just sort of appears to drop from Brokkolfr's attention immediately after they finish having Big Important Adventures together, just the two of them. So. Guess that's not where that was going, then.

The actual A-plot was... well, if this is the second book in a trilogy, okay, I guess it's that sort of A-plot. But since what I have seen mentioned as the intended title of the intended third book (Apprentice to Elves or something like that) seems to imply a book about Isolfr's daughter, whom he has promised to send to the elves as an apprentice, uh. I guess we're not going to see a resolution of the A-plot. So that's... an interesting choice. Come on, it seems to be saying, we know you're not here for the war. You're here for the wolf-bonded gay romance!

But we're all out of wolf-bonded gay romance, so it's just ...

I'm being maybe a little harsh because I wanted my goddamn wolf-bonded OT3 and didn't get it, and because they kept capitalizing allthing as AllThing. The ending of the book seems to suggest that it should, in fact, be read as the romance of Vethulf and Skjaldwulf and, okay, sure, it's a reasonably nice romance--but, seriously, what an odd book.

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I also finished this book and felt similarly... dissatisfied. I mean, after the first book where it was all Isolfr all the time it was kind of... odd? to have POVS from like, everyone EXCEPT him. I'm not sure how I wanted the resolution to work but... the romance elements of this book were definitely confusing.

I had the same bzuh? moment re: Brokkolfr/Kari. What happened there! I was all set to be all awwww! at them as a secondary pairing of youngsters! Also I feel like the very Big Event that happened to them (and, likewise, all the Big Events in the novel) resolved with a minimum of fuss. Ingrun's mating, for example, was like... what? Why... was that even in the book? It was almost unremarkable.

I kind of felt like... not a huge lot was at stake and things just happened sort of randomly until they were declared Important by someone? I think the question of how the wolfheallen will adapt now that they're not exactly necessary in the specific way their whole culture is designed is a worthwhile question, but the book kept posing that question and not giving a lot of difficulty for it until they kind of decided 'well what if they're just the national cop force, then?' at the end. Um... okay? I guess that was easy, err?

I am not sure how I feel about the female jarl? Like, he's socially male for political(ly misogynist) reasons, and seemed pretty content in that role, and I guess that was interesting? But it sort of felt like, 'hey let's put a trans person in this book!' but it wasn't about a personal gender identity the way we understand it, so idk how... relatable... it is to modern trans experience?

I mean, I was liking Vethulf/Skjaldwulf in the early part of the book, but by the time they have that tacked on last sex scene at the end I had mostly forgotten that they were supposed to have ~feelings about each other now. And I felt like Isolfr was so completely remote as to be unapproachable in this book. I couldn't really remember WHY these two guys were supposed to be in love with him, if that makes sense, though I haven't read the first book since it came out.

Anyhow, I'll read the next one, but I'm not hanging onto this one...

Yes. Yes to ALL of this. I am SO CONFUSED about what they were doing with the sworn-son jarl. It seemed to mirror, in some way, the by-honor mother among the elves, the male taking on the honored role of a female, but... none of that ever really seemed to go anywhere except "look! we're doing a thing with gender roles!"

And, yeah, the whole resolution of their Existential Quandary is "hey guys, I have an idea, let's keep doing what we're doing"? Wha? Meanwhile--are there more collared wyverns out there? Why was the bear starving in the middle of summer? Isolfr decides his father should be konunger and that's that?

I think the most sort of elegant and yet maddening thing was having one character ask "What happens next?" and Skjaldwulf reply, "Everyone dies, and everyone who doesn't gets married." So there you go, that's what happens next, now you don't need to worry about how this whole huge conflict gets resolved--except, authors, to the exact extent that you have made us care about your characters, we fucking care what happens to who and how.

Huh; I actually quite enjoyed this one. I can live with the notion of Isolfr as someone who loves his wolfpack but is generally speaking more into women than into men; and I really liked the Skjaldwulf/Vethulf romance and the way it bracketed the book. For some reason I keep picturing Skjaldwulf as basically Severus Snape in wolfcarl form, which amuses me.

And I am perfectly happy to slash Brokkolfr/Kari; I read the two of them as basically text, even if we never got to actually see the action there.

And yeah -- I think book 3 is going to have a lot to do with the svartalfar, with Alfygfa (Isolfr's daughter) going as an apprentice to the elves, and probably with the tension that's now been set up between the elves of the north and the ones we just met here who use trellish magic to make their dens pretty. But I have no spoilery information on that -- I'm just guessing...

I didn't not-enjoy it as much as this post probably sounds; I did like Vethulf and Skjaldwulf's romance, and in principle I like the idea of Isolfr just being straight and them all dealing with that. But then I want to see them actually deal with it, the way we saw Isolfr actually dealing with things in the first book, and not have it all taking place somewhere vaguely off-page. I don't know, I felt like Isolfr just disappeared in this book, which was weird and confusing.

And, again, yeah--clearly to some extent Brokkolfr/Kari IS text, but then... where did he go? Even aside from the pairing that was just weird structurally, to have the character disappear like he did.

I do look forward to book 3, seeing Alfgyfa grown up and learning more about the alfar, but--it does mean there's no directly-following third book to tie up all the ways in which this is so very the middle book of a trilogy, so. In that respect it's a bit Not What I'm Looking For. *g*

Interesting. When you said you were reading it I had the random thought, as I rushed out the door that morning, that I should download the ebook to read on the train (although I also had the thought that it might not be suitable for train reading, given the previous book's very explicit content *g*). Now I'm... ambivalent. I like the idea of Vethulf/Skjaldwulf a lot, but... yeah. Maybe I'll wait.

It's significantly less inappropriate for the train than the last one. *g*

But, uh, yeah. This is me, reminding myself that Nate IS my fix-it fic for this canon, I do not need to go also writing actual fix-it fic. Unless someone requests it for Yuletide.

(Other things I do not need to go writing: A GK hockey AU where first Nate and then Brad wind up, for reasons that do not need exploring at this juncture, leaving the NHL to play in the Swedish Elite League, and then getting outed as a couple and being the first male hockey players to come out during their actual careers. Because. Um. Who needs that story anyway. Other than me.)

Yeah. If this is just the middle book of a trilogy, and some of the plot gets dealt with in book three, then it's still kind of a hot mess but in a way that's mostly excusable in a middle book. But if book three is set as far in the future as it sounds like it'll be, then I am Disappoint.

I twitched on your behalf every time I read AllThing. I mean, and on my own behalf as well, but I thought of you.

That didn't bother me nearly as much as the randomly-lexicalized nominative /-r/.

That one I remember from your review of the first book, lo these many years ago. :)

I wanted my goddamn wolf-bonded OT3

Me too. I was already annoyed about being made to wait for a paperback. Now I'm not sure I want to read this book at all. POUT.

Yyyyyeah, it was not the Story of Isolfr Learning to Love His Husbands As Much As They Love Him that I was expecting. Um. It was still interesting? In other ways?

It was kind of... 2/3 of a book. Like she set up the big scenes; the troll fight, the thin bear mystery, even the Vethulf/Skjaldwulf reunion sex scene. And then instead of actually *writing* them, simply wrote *about* them.

And I assume the ~~Romans~~ Rheans will show up in the third book. But it won't surprise me for their defeat to be a done deal in the third book and all we get is stories about the defeat.

Yyyyyeah, I'm guessing the next book is going to be set ten-plus years later, as it's said to be YA focusing on Isolfr's daughter, so... right then.

The Tempering of Men

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