Wolf Moon

by Charles de Lint

His name when he was human was Kern, and it seemed he had been running forever, for he had become the most feared of beings, a werewolf! When the change had first come upon him, his parents had driven him forth with silver daggers. Later, lonely, Kern sough human companionship. But he could not hide the truth for long, and so he kept running until he ran headlong into the deadliest pursuer of all, a sorcerous harper bent on stealing his life away. By chance Kern was able to escape and find refuge at The Inn of the Yellow tinker, a warm and welcoming place where he might find a home if he guarded his dread secret well. And at the Tinker, Kern found the woman he was destined to love, but could he risk both human and harper vengeance to keep her?

Genres: Fantasy, Werewolves, Fiction, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, High Fantasy

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Charles de Lint is the much beloved author of more than seventy adult, young adult, and children's books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, he is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, conducted by Random House and voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100.
De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and he's been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. De Lint served as Writer-in-residence for two public libraries in Ottawa and has taught creative writing workshops for adults and children in Canada and the United States. He's been a judge for several prominent awards, including the Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon and Bram Stoker.

Born in the Netherlands in 1951, de Lint immigrated to Canada with his family as an infant. The family moved often during de Lint's childhood because of his father's job with an international surveying company, but by the time Charles was twelve—having lived in Western Canada, Turkey and Lebanon—they had settled in Lucerne, Quebec, not far from where he now resides in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1980, de Lint married the love of his life, MaryAnn Harris, who works closely with him as his first editor, business manager and creative partner. They share their love and home with a cheery little dog named Johnny Cash.

Charles de Lint is best described as a romantic: a believer in compassion, hope and human potential. His skilled portrayal of character and settings has earned him a loyal readership and glowing praise from peers, reviewers and readers.

Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best.
—Holly Black (bestselling author)
Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.
—Alice Hoffman (bestselling author)

To read de Lint is to fall under the spell of a master storyteller, to be reminded of the greatness of life, of the beauty and majesty lurking in shadows and empty doorways.
—Quill & Quire

His Newford books, which make up most of de Lint's body of work between 1993 and 2009, confirmed his reputation for bringing a vivid setting and repertory cast of characters to life on the page. Though not a consecutive series, the twenty-five standalone books set in (or connected to) Newford give readers a feeling of visiting a favourite city and seeing old friends.
More recently, his young adult Wildlings trilogy—Under My Skin, Over My Head, and Out of This World—came out from Penguin Canada and Triskell Press in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Under My Skin won 2013 Aurora Award. A novel for middle-grade readers, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, published by Little Brown in 2013, won the Sunburst Award, earned starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Quill & Quire, and was chosen by the New York Times Editors as one of the top six children's books for 2013. His most recent adult novel, The Mystery of Grace (2009), is a fascinating ghost story about love, passion and faith. It was a finalist for both the Sunburst and Evergreen awards.

De Lint is presently writing a new adult novel. His storytelling skills also shine in his original songs. He and MaryAnn (also a musician) recently released companion CDs of their original songs, samples of which can be heard on de Lin

Reviews

[Jakob J. 🎃]

The hunt for the best werewolf novel continues:

This cover absolutely cracks me up. You see that little splotch on the moon at about 2 o’clock? That’s a wolf. Not a werewolf, just a regular picture of a regular wolf shrunken down, cropped out, and superimposed over the scene.

Did it leap off that cliff? Why? Werewolves can’t fly, or is that the new upgrade in the lore here? If it’s for thematic purposes, why not put it up top, you know, at midnight on the full moon?

[Phoebe Prince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf Moon is classic de Lint. Books like this are why I dig around and keep reading de Lint. Wolf Moon focuses on Kern, a shapeshifter who finds himself hunted by a harper. To save himself, Kern jumps into a churning river and is saved by the fae folk (themes!). When the fae bring Kern to the Tinker (themes!), which is an inn, he finds himself attracted to the innkeeper, Ainsey, and wanting to live among the inn folk. However, the vindictive harper (and ho boy, is he an asshole) follows Kern to the valley where the inn is located. The tension in this story is unreal, and if you're not a de Lint fan, this would be a decent place to start for his high fantasy books set in other realms. I think the most powerful (for me at least) theme in de Lint's work is how, even when the world doesn't understand you and stomps on your sense of worth, that human decency can save the day. In the hands of lesser authors, the 'decency can save you' theme would be saccharine, and maybe some people still do find it that way, but good authors can sell this theme and make me feel all the powerful emotions. Wolf Moon is this theme distilled, and every character works in the story, which makes things even worse when one of the dies. Basically, if you're sold on the misfit family group early on, keep reading.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been having trouble finding a book to settle with lately. I'll pick up something, and it won't be quite what I want. Maybe I'm being too picky or maybe I'm just between genres at the momemnt and am finding it hard to settle.

I'll admit; I've been slow to warm up to de Lint. I'm not sure why.

I picked this up because it had a werewolf in it. I like werewolves. They are much better than vampires. Apparently, this was an early work by de Lint and one of his favorites.

It's not a bad little book. It features an nice inversion - good werewolf, bad harper (okay, today, it's not that much of an inversion). I found some of the characters to be a little stock, in particular the female lead. De Lint, however, gets points for making the women young, but not too young (both ladies are in their twenties); he gets bonus points for making the ladies friends.

The book isn't really deep, but it is nice, quick, fast paced read. De Lint writes in the back that he intended to focus on the "small" events instead of the big quest, the idea being that "small" events aren't small because we all live them. He succeds quite well.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when I was younger, but read at least 3 times or more from my local library. Quite enjoyable!

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf Moon is one of my favorites of the books I've read by Charles de Lint. Short but sweet, this book is a good example of de Lint's unique and fascinating style. He creates a world I love getting lost in and characters I really feel for.

The main character, Kern, is alone in the world, set apart by what some would call a gift, others a curse. He changes shape, going between wolf and human but is shunned by both, the wolves seeing only the humanity in him, the humans seeing only the wolf.

Finally, after years of wandering from place to place, Kern finds himself at the Yellow Tinker Inn, which is run by a group of people he feels drawn to. Thoughts of staying and making a home for himself arise, despite the well known risks. But are the possibility of a home and the love of a wonderful woman worth the potential danger, both to himself and the Inn's inhabitants?

This is definitely not your everyday, clichéd werewolf book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced and unique read.

[Ade Couper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Charles de Lint: conversely, I'm not big on "high fantasy", so this was an interesting read.

The story concerns the battle between a shapechanger (Kern) , & a mysterious harper (Tuiloch) who is pursuing him: which one is good, & which evil- & will either of them survive?

The tale has some excellent merits: although it has a high fantasy setting, there are no magical creatures other than Kern & Tuiloch's mysterious servant. As you'd expect from a writer of de Lint's quality, the characterisation is excellent, all the characters being well-drawn & having believable motivations.

De Lint also makes the landscape almost a character in the story: his descriptions of the snow-covered woodlands are economical but incredibly evocative.

This is a short volume, but the tale is incredibly well-told. Worthy of your time.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolf Moon was a very fast read (this coming from someone who takes forever on a book). It was enjoyable with very little "boring" parts; it's very easy to move through, not only with its slightly larger text and fewer pages compared to other novels, but also because of the events that unfold as you keep reading this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a short but enjoyable "werewolf" fantasy with a slight bit of romance.

Hopefully not to spoil anything, but I will say that the ending was a bit cheesy. I'm happy it ended that way, however, maybe it could've gone about it differently? I don't want to say why I feel that way so as not to spoil the ending, so I'll leave it at that.

Overall, I gave this book a four out of five starts, not so much for the cheesy ending, but because I thought the book was good or maybe very good, but not great or amazing.

[Logan Nathaniel Keseg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to get overwhelmed by larger series. The book is only a few hundred pages, yet packed with content. I love the fact that I'm reading about ordinary people as well. No, HERO DEFEATING THE DARK LORD BEFORE THE WORLD BLOWS UP, or anything like that. It's written well, and I enjoyed the characters and places. The book is also not as sexually graphic as some of the other series have been that I have read, which was nice. Definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys a good Fantasy/Medieval story.

[Adrianna [SypherLily] · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in 2010, and to this day I still think about it from time to time.

[Carolyn F.]

I just could not finish this book. I started skimming to see if it got any better but to me it didn't. This is my first book by this author and I'm a little disappointed.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one on my nostalgia list, as I used to reread it (or parts of it) as a teenager and a werewolf fan hankering for works where the monster was the protagonist. Thinking back, a lot of it wasn't just a fondness for monsters, but a craving for something that connected with a feeling of being Other and possibly reviled for it. It would take until late undergrad for me to come out, but all the love for monsters is pretty consistent with the queer experience, and I'm definitely not alone.

Charles de Lint is a strange one for me, though. Everything about him I should love: folklore, urban legend, music, and stories about the "hidden folk" among us and people processing their trauma. I can't remember if de Lint is one of the originators of "low" or urban fantasy, but he's definitely a household name; the Newford novels bulk out whole shelves of the fantasy section in libraries and stores, it seems, many of which with their lovely John Jude Palencar covers. It's these covers, too, that seem to promise something like a beautiful, quietly surreal folk song on the pages. And I suppose to some he perhaps achieves that. With me, I kept *wanting* him to achieve that. But in spite my literal decades of trying, I cannot get through a de Lint novel other than this one. Something about the notes he plucks are too cloying, too lingering on a certain weepiness of details like if it plays on them enough it'll eventually reach your heart through sheer persistence rather than genuine pathos. (Hilariously, I've seen a review of de Lint praising him for his "grittiness." Inclusion of trauma and modern urban trappings don't connote "gritty" for me alone.) It's hard for me to describe fully. I just read All My Puny Sorrows and Remember Me Gone, and was discussing the ending to King's It--which made me cry the first time I read it--with my friend. My day job is as a fucking therapist; sad, deeply emotional subjects with a hint of hope and humanity are not anathema to me. Some difficult to describe tone in de Lint just rises to such an irritating level that I honestly cannot make it through for very long. It's a bit like Ray Bradbury at times: He really, really wants me to feel wistful and tender and full of heartfelt awe for this one thing, and rather than feeling he's earned that from me, instead it seems like he's forcing it upon me by telling me how to feel.

Reading Wolf Moon as a teen, however, that tone felt mostly absent. Either that or I was too into the benevolent werewolf's dilemma of fitting in and trying to find home. It could be that, compared to the other novels, this one is short, and so there were fewer pages for me to endure the question that begins screaming in my head asking why I viscerally hate something about his tone more and more even though the writing is *fine* even though the stories are *fine.* But I do remember little to no internal shrieking in my teens for this.

As mentioned, the plot centers around a roaming werewolf named Kern, who in common non-evil werewolf fashion can change at will, and does so into a shape that more or less resembles a regular wolf, albeit red to match his human form's hair color. (This was written in the 80s, so you can go ahead and get the mid-00s cultural earworm that is Twilight out of your mind.) The setting is something like a fictional mishmash of the British Isles, especially the Celtic nations, though unlike most fantasy fiction you don't get any big announcement that the country is fictional rather than a real country with fantastic elements, and so names, remixed folklore references, and other cultural tidbits--apparently they worship a god related to the moon called Arn--or folksy turns of phrase are sometimes a little confusing as you try to place where events are happening. Either way, it's at least something like late medieval Britain and Ireland.

Kern has been roaming this not-Britain ever since he first transformed as a teen and his parents discovered it, leading to him being run out of his village. Some loose reference is made to a lover he found who reacted likewise to what he calls his "gift," and so he drifts from town to town, too burned by the betrayal of loved ones to let himself settle down. Somewhere along the way, he's pursued by a harper who wields a kind of magic with his music, and with it can conjure up a monster called a "feragh" that stalks wolf-Kern through the woods at the opening of the novel. It's while fleeing the creature that Kern flings himself off a cliff and into a river to escape, and so winds up battered and unconscious in the hands of a pretty, young innkeeper, Ainsy, and her friends and coworkers: Wat, Tolly, and Fion. Some elf or fae-like little people called kimeyn make an appearance to drag Kern out of the river, but otherwise their role in the novel is kinda scattered.

As you can see, though, this whole opening feels very...like an animated fairytale you've seen before. (Again, hilariously, the aforementioned review claimed that "Disney has no place in de Lint.") Which I guess is appropriate because fairy and folktales are inspiration and vibe of de Lint's work. It's just aged into a cliché, I guess. Yet, this is not so much the problem for me reading in my adulthood as how Kern and Ainsy are set up, like, immediately. So immediate that the tension is barely there, even though de Lint tries to make us worry for Ainsy's repression and, of course, Kern's fear of being rejected once his lycanthropy is discovered. Ainsy's conversations with Fion, the flirty barmaid and friend, mostly just revolve around men and how hopeless men are but also how Ainsy is too uptight to have a man and why can't she just relax and open her heart/get laid or something? (Incidentally, even as a kid I think I found Fion to be one of the characters I actually liked, though I can't recall any part where she and Ainsy pass the Bechdel test.) Then Kern shows up, and from the moment he rolls out of bed snarling because he still thinks he's a wolf and is deeply, mysteriously evasive of his background, Ainsy can't not have a tender romance with him. It's not totally Straight (as in hetero) Nonsense, because at least some stakes exist and I do feel some sympathy for Kern out of timeless queer/mythical monster solidarity, but it's damned close, and Straight Nonsense always feels worse these days for being in a story whose major theme is marginalization.

The other characters mostly exist as background to this, or shippers on deck, with one exception in particular that might be the only surprise of the novel. I kept forgetting about Wat in particular, possibly because my brain didn't want to register the now-problematic, ignorant cliche of the huge yet gentle manchild with an intellectual disability. It did strike me that perhaps de Lint wanted to be sure Kern had no male competition, as all the men in Ainsy's life seem deliberately nonsexual choices: Tolly is a teenager, Tomtim is her uncle, and Wat is Lennie from Of Mice and Men. Kern at least isn't depicted as a sexy sexy werewolf, but has some power of charm he makes reference to as some side effect of his gift. Regardless, the supposedly practical and no-nonsense Ainsy's hemming and hawing over whether she should allow herself to be taken in by this rootless redheaded stranger lasts all of a second, and then they're in cloying "please don't hurt my heart like the others" love that feels...underdeveloped. Unearned. It feels too like de Lint has to keep lingering with the characters' internal angsts in spite of their counterintuitive behavior just to hold the stakes that barely exist on their own together. So what we wind up with is a paradox of being stuck and overwrought and going too fast at the same time.

Anyway, as soon as Ainsy and Kern consummate--which occurs after he saves her uncle Tomtim from brigands by killing two of them as a wolf, something that's surprising for being his first time, but also a new source of manufactured angst--the harper, Tuiloch, inevitably shows up at the town festival. As a villain, the harper is fine, I guess. He's inexplicable, somewhat eldritch, and I do like the idea of an evil creature made by music. He not only torments Kern to his face with a tale about a vicious werewolf (how he knows Kern is the wolf he was chasing, idk) but also begins using the feragh to kill off townsfolk in an animalistic manner, sowing the kind of discord needed if anyone finds out about Kern's lycanthropy. It's this aspect and the increasing anxiety of Kern having to be like "lol werewolves can be okay maybe if you think about it. Not that I would know," that actually work for me more in my adulthood due to having parallel experiences as a passing trans person among cis people, minus the murder. At least Kern wouldn't be found out just from the moment he has sex with Ainsy. But Tuiloch does all the typical trollish villain things: he stays at the inn to torture Kern with his close proximity, he hits on Kern's girlfriend, etc. I've seen this movie a few times by now, but again perhaps in 1988 it was less of a thing. Even as I say it, though, this feels too generous, too dismissive of the decade my parents lived their twenties in. Thank god Fion is there to be the voice of reason calling the tropes as she sees them.

The beats you can pretty much expect. And I can't always be bitter about them because sometimes a story feels better for being familiar, perhaps especially a tale of a marginalized monster who, as you can guess, will probably not be rejected this time--or rather he will for a moment, but that'll all be fixed by the end. Yet if you're looking for originality, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a more complex and nuanced portrait of monsters and marginalization, just watch The Shape of Water. For all my kvetching, you probably think I hate this book, but I don't. At times an autumnal, sylvan atmosphere creeps up, you feel the brief tension of Kern's secrets, and you taste a bit of what I was hoping for from de Lint. I think that's the most agonizing thing: it's *right there* but it falls through because de Lint can't make stakes feel real, has to explain to you what you should be feeling in terms of the characters' dilemmas over and over again in vain hopes that it sticks. His characters have a faint breath of real people, but hidden inside garish cardboard that, in other books, mistakes trauma for personality. If I'm grumbling and snapping more for his work than anyone else's, it's because this potential galls me so much, and I was rooting for him so hard. Bad fiction doesn't piss me off; missing the mark by so narrow a margin and with the best of intentions does.

What this experience reminded me of in particular were the older trans people I know who went back and read things like Clive Barker's works they picked up in the 90s--Imajica being one--and were landmark for their identity formation at the time; most of them admitted that those books hadn't aged well, the gender-weirdness hardly that by now, and in fact stuck in archaic binary notions that felt nearly straight for all they were worth. 90s fantasy names like Barker and de Lint and even Sandman-era Gaiman also just share a similar dated cadence, even as we might look back on them fondly. Wolf Moon did a lot for me as a kid, to the point where I remember ripping off verbiage and scenes for my own werewolf stories, and fed that part of me that knew it had some unspoken difference that it didn't yet know how to articulate. As a reread, it's certainly an exercise in witnessing my own growth, but I just wish it were all better than it is.

[Ryan McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better bits of werewolf fiction I’ve read. De Lint has a really unique voice that I’d almost call Tolkien-esque, and the conflict in the story feels very grounded and honest. The antagonist reminds me faintly of the judge from blood meridian.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I try to be forgiving with older books, but this one jumped right into the weird stereotypes (about a disabled character too) and describing women in bizarre ways thing books from certain eras tend to do so I am just not going to stick with this one. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe I was reading Twilight in high school when I could have been reading this.

[Elfdart · Rating 4 out of 5]

this novel was well put together, i quite enjoy this author. so far everything i’ve read by him (to date probably 3 books including this one… but still) has been well written. he seems to know what words to use to best capture a feeling or mood or set the tone. characterization is also very well done.
this book is about a werewolf who comes across an inn and falls in love with a woman there and her family and tries to set up something of a life with them, but he has this evil magician on his tail who wants to kill him. the time in which the book took place has a kind of a solemn almost medieval mood too it, not with the knights n such, but the way in which the characters speak and the setting, it all has a ‘back then’ feel to it. so he tries to set up this life and it gets to be near perfect, which he longs for because in his past he hasn’t been accepted by neither humans nor wolves because of what he is. but here he has finally found a place where people accept him. then he goes to this party where the evil magician/ harper is and the harper moves in on his new found happiness.
i wish the author would have went into a bit more detail when concerning the actions of people not narrating, because i guess it’s too much like real life where we have to assume inner turmoil and motivation behind their actions, but besides this criticism this book was pretty good. even as i noted this i still very much enjoyed the story, only after i’ve finished do criticisms pop into my head, when i’m no longer under the author’s spell
a decent read on werewolves. there is a bit of romance, but it isn’t the focus of the story. it’s more about the werewolf himself and his struggle to find a place for himself in the world. it’s a pretty good one.

[C.R. Sedore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this book 2 stars out of 5 (spoilers)

When it comes to author Charles de lint, I find you must like lots of detail as a reader. He writes with a lot of description. His settings are richly described by adjectives and imagery. It's hard not to be able to feel like your there in the story. He takes advantage of the five senses in his writing to bring his story alive in your mind. He has a poetic flow to his description, sometimes producing magical metaphors.

Although it takes away the suspense in his writing. This is caused by very long simi-compound sentences. It seems to not allow you to stop long enough to absorb or comprehend the stakes of what just happened. The reader just hurry's past to the answer. The suspense then is lost in the paragraph.

If you like books with a lot of description then this book is for you. I got bored a lot because of a over load of detail that wasn't always necessary. The plot was very slow. Lots of information is given but nothing to really grab your attention till chapter 10 when Tolly dies and Kern the wolf is blamed. Then there is the problem of not being able to really feel for the characters.

In conclusion plot was lacking rising action and interesting dialog. The story was washed over by to much detail and description. The story wasn't very interesting and extremely easy to for shadow. I did like the premise of the book but even his fight scenes are over whelmed by detailed description. I do not recommend this book.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of de Lint’s earlier works, this tale takes place in a realm of his imagining that’s rather like old Ireland isn’t quite- it contains North American moose, for one thing. It’s a realm where bards roam the land and magic and werewolves exist.

The werewolf- Kern- is the protagonist of the story. Driven from his home by his parents when he first changed, he’s been on the run ever since. But when Kern is chased over a cliff into a river by a harper and his magical beast, the river (and some elvish people) takes him to a remote inn, he finds his resolve to stay a loner melting. He has finally made friends- and found love.

But the bard and his beast are still on his trail. Kern doesn’t know why the harper bears him ill will, but it’s clear that he’ll do whatever it takes to hurt Kern. How can Kern deal with this?

While this book doesn’t have the polish and fire of de Lint’s later stories, it does have magic. The isolated winter world he’s created surrounds the reader, and the peril that Kern faces is downright creepy. And the hero is a werewolf, while the honored bard is the villain. That’s something you don’t find very often!

[P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kern is being pursued by a mysterious harper and the feragh he controls. After surviving a plunge from a cliff into a raging river, Kern washes ashore near the Inn of the Yellow Tinker. He is taken in by Ainsy, the innkeeper, Wat, the gentle giant, Fion, the barmaid, and Tolly, the boy of all tasks. Kern is easily folded into the family and feels his secret of being a shapechanger is safe as he finds love and acceptance with Ainsy. Paradise is invaded by the insidious harper who is on a mission to destroy Kern and all those like him. With his magic, he seduces Ainsy, and blinds Wat, Tomtim, and Tolly to Kern's goodness. Only Fion is able to withstand the subtle power of the harper's music. Together Kern and Fion must figure how to free the valley from Tuiloch's insidious magic. This was a small fantasy story about a simple man's desire to find a place to accept him. It was not a broad epic of saving nations. I enjoyed the change of pace.

[Mical · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this novel a solid, "Ehhh...".

I was given this book as a gift from someone close to me last year and it's sat on my shelf for months. It looked interesting enough and it started interestingly enough, but the story really lacked depth.
The author had some really good ideas and some interesting plot hooks, but I felt he really needed time to develope the characters, to slow the progress down from a whirlwind. The frantic pace left a lot of questions and a feeling of disconnect with the storyline. The villian was a horrific villian, to be sure, but seemed one-dimensional. The same for the supporting cast.
I will say that the author has a LOT of potential. They just need a bit of polish and practice and to develope the story a bit more. It's like trying to bite into a mouthful of half-cooked spaghetti...it has the potential to be good, but the experience just doesn't make it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I began this book, I was a bit disappointed to find that it was more fantasy than horror--it reminded me of a piece of Lord of the Rings with a werewolf in it. However, once I got into it, the relationship between Kern (the werewolf) and Ainsy the innkeeper kept me interested. The characters were largely original and not LoR ripoffs. I've only read one other book by this author and I discovered that this was an earlier novel. I think it was intended more for adults than YA (where I found it), but the adult situations were vague enough that it is appropriate for a high school reader. As with most werewolf stories, the conflict between man and beast was central, but handled in a different way than most--here the werewolf was kind, and the "revered" harper was the true beast.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles de Lint...this is only my second of his books. First was WIDDERSHINS, part of the acclaimed Newford series, modern fantasy at its finest.


WOLF MOON is a superb fantasy set in a time of tinkers, mages, wee folk, harpers, and werewolves. The werewolf/shapeshifter aspect of the story was a new one to me, the way Kern became a werewolf. He was born a werewolf, no one else in his family is one, just him. He wants to fit in somewhere, but knows it's always just a matter of time before he is reviled and cast out or killed. Kern is on the run, finds refuge with the innkeeper, Ainsy and her friends and family. He thinks he is still on the run, but might be able to rest his soul for a bit with Ainsy who has enchanted him and maybe captured his heart.


Five fantasy at its finest beans......

[Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf Moon is a classic fantasy tale that is set in a medieval time period. The main character, Kern, is hunted for being different, he's a shapechanger, a werewolf. While being hurt he takes refuge at a small inn in the woods, there he meets the residents of the inn and learns to care for them, quite deeply infact. The hunter, a magical bard with hypnotical music, is looking for Kern and follows he's trail to the inn.

What will happen to Kern and the inn people?

The story is a bit short and I would have loved to read more, but it remains one of my favourite stories which I can read again and again. It's as I said before a classic retelling of the typical fantasy story, which doesn't work against the book but rather for it. It takes an old concept and makes it it's own.

If you like The Hobbit, werewolves, Sword in the Stone you will definetly love this too.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles de Lint never disappoints. I was skeptical after the first few pages and was worried that I wouldn't be able to get in to this novel, but before I knew it was ensnared in the story. It was odd for a story of his not to be based in Newford, and certainly not in a realm entirely of his design. The story was amazing and I fell in love with all of the characters, especially Kern. The description of his inner struggles, as well as his struggles with the harper, resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outcast. Highly recommended.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

First thing i have read from Charles De Lint. I loved this book, it was one of those reads that let you forget you were even reading and felt like you were part of the story. I forgot all about time and found myself looking at the clock 3 hours later shocked at how much time had passed. His writing is fantastic and eloquent. It's a really "believable" and human feeling were tale.

[Meranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"not another werewolf story" was honestly my first thought but as I started to read it, I realized that it wasn't like any werewolf story I'd ever read. It's not all about gore and sex, in fact there isn't much of either but it's about the magic of it all and the freedom. not to mention a different kind of antagonist: a magical Harper who can summon creatures with his instrument

[Searska GreyRaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still one of my favorite werewolf novels.

[Valkyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is eehh...

Nothing ever really happens, just poetic writing and gentle flow through the entire book, but not much in anything else...

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

We start this exciting, mythic-fantasy-fiction story with a hunt through the woods and it is a desperate chase because our narrator, our main protagonist is the hunted. Kern is a ware, and in his wolf form he is being hunted by a deadly combination. First is a monster from another dimension, hairy, strong and bearlike this creature does not belong in 'our' world at all. It is here and hunting Kern because it has been summoned by a harper who is using music and black magic not only to bring the creature across but also to leach away Kern's strength.

In a final act of desperation, rather than be killed by the monstrous, magical duo, Kern throws himself off a cliff into a river. And injured and battered by the encounter he comes to the Inn of the Yellow Tinker, where the small crew take him in and accept him as he is. For his part, Kern starts to become romantically involved with one of them. He wants to stay there, he feels like he could belong but his past shows that as soon as people discover his shapeshifter nature they turn on him.

While he is wrestling with this, the black magician harper appears in the village, bringing everything to a rather viscous climax.

I really love this author's work. This particular one is a lovely example of mythic writing, with it's underlying feeling of a folktale seamlessly melded into a modern fairy tale to charm anyone who likes this type of fantasy. With it's strong themes of finding yourself and your people and place in the world, of acceptance and responsibly, of standing up for yourself and for others it manages to satisfy a contemporary reading experience while STILL feeling very much like a fairy tale for grown ups.

[Andrew F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been wanting to read some fantasy so bought a few books, and thought this one (which was £2.39 new from Amazon) would be a quick and easy reintroduction. I like werewolves, I like fantasy stuff and I like pulp paperbacks.

What I got was a well written, evocative, vaguely new agey pulp fantasy romance paperback that runs about 250 pages (with big type). I finished it within two days which is a speed-run for me. Is it life changing stuff? No, but I was entertained and also impressed how De Lint managed to make a believably functional fantasy world in such a short book with no epic scope. This could easy have been set in actual medieval times, or as a western, but the fantasy element made for a nice pairing with the nice guy werewolf stuff (reminiscent of such direct to video schlock as Howling VI: The Freaks). The cover says it’s for Teens, and the large print seems to agree with that, but I didn’t feel like I was reading a YA novel once. The story even intimates a sexual assault took place (though it is not depicted). Decent suspense, strong characters and controlled tone. Solid read.

[P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kern is being pursued by a mysterious harper and the feragh he controls. After surviving a plunge from a cliff into a raging river, Kern washes ashore near the Inn of the Yellow Tinker. He is taken in by Ainsy, the innkeeper, Wat, the gentle giant, Fion, the barmaid, and Tolly, the boy of all tasks. Kern is easily folded into the family and feels his secret of being a shapechanger is safe as he finds love and acceptance with Ainsy. Paradise is invaded by the insidious harper who is on a mission to destroy Kern and all those like him. With his magic, he seduces Ainsy, and blinds Wat, Tomtim, and Tolly to Kern's goodness. Only Fion is able to withstand the subtle power of the harper's music. Together Kern and Fion must figure how to free the valley from Tuiloch's insidious magic. This was a small fantasy story about a simple man's desire to find a place to accept him. It was not a broad epic of saving nations. I enjoyed the change of pace.