Warriors of the Red Wolf
A poetic, rhythmic campfire tale that moves at a quick, tense pace, Warriors of the Red Wolf is an engrossing community origin story.
In Nicholas Varner’s fabulistic novel Warriors of the Red Wolf, warriors seek safety from a malicious shapeshifter.
Though the young members of his tribe expect to hear a funny story with an obvious moral lesson, Ho-e has other plans: He wants to share their ancestors’ story of overcoming obstacles through mutual reliance and trust. Channeling a great raven, he reveals that before their tribe became known as the Warriors of the Red Wolf, a few people left their homeland because their leader had conspired with demons. These Warriors of the Hilltop traveled west with empathic magical dogs and the blessing of the Sacred Wind. Their travels lasted for seasons, taking them across dangerous lands and other realms. In time, they faced cannibalistic, shapeshifting demons too.
Ho-e’s poetic, rhythmic campfire tale moves at a quick, tense pace. The short chapters often end with cliffhangers; they begin with action. Most include moral lessons that are slipped in amid explosive fight scenes and thoughtful conversations.
Throughout, the Warriors of the Hilltop evolve, confronting challenges like a footrace with a rival tribe and dwindling food supplies. They send arrows against armies of demons, resulting in thrills; they are also tender to one another, as when an elder chooses to stay behind to relieve her group of some burden. Indeed, the tribe’s success is reliant on more than physicality in the end; teamwork, kindness, sacrifice, and consistency are required if they are to overcome the threats they face. And while the conclusion of their travels feels foregone from the start, the story of how the tribe survived without sacrificing faith in each other, allegiance to their ancestors, and the loyalty of the Sacred Wind holds attention.
Drawing on Indigenous mythology, the worldbuilding is vibrant, with attention given to the stark life on the lands the tribe passes through and to otherworldly threats. Herein, magic derives from, and is evinced by, qualities like compassion, and evil from the lack thereof: The shapeshifters, for example, are masters of emotional manipulation, making themselves look like dead loved ones and weak strangers. Sensory details illuminate the world further, as with descriptions of the wind blowing through a cactus forest, evoking the sound of a sleeping giant’s breath.
In the epic novel Warriors of the Red Wolf, a beleaguered tribe of warriors seeks safety past the place of their origins.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
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