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Ghost World #4
Ghost Spell
Under a freezing Arctic sky, a wolf carries a baby to a remote village.
Taken in by the villagers and named 'Vulchanok' or 'Little Wolf', the lost baby grows into a happy little boy.
But night after night, his dreams are walked by his rescuer, the wolf-witch. She leads him to the Ghost World and makes him a shaman.
The villagers begin to fear him and he grows into a lonely man -- until a young wolf-witch comes from the forest and claims him as her mate.
But Vulchanok longs for more human company and, by firelight, looks for visions in the spinning of an ice-apple.
In a distant city he sees a lovely girl as lonely as himself, imprisoned in a small room. Shrugging on his falcon skin, he flies to find her.
When a falcon drums its wings against her window, Kristiana opens it -- and is astonished when the hawk lights on the floor and turns into a man. But she and Vulchanok are soon in love.
But Kristiana's brother, Glev, will never allow her to marry a dirty northern huntsman -- and Vulchanok's wolf-wife is fiercely jealous.
Can the lovers survive the hatred and jealousy surrounding them?
A Gothic Romance
Book 4 of the Ghost World sequence
Taken in by the villagers and named 'Vulchanok' or 'Little Wolf', the lost baby grows into a happy little boy.
But night after night, his dreams are walked by his rescuer, the wolf-witch. She leads him to the Ghost World and makes him a shaman.
The villagers begin to fear him and he grows into a lonely man -- until a young wolf-witch comes from the forest and claims him as her mate.
But Vulchanok longs for more human company and, by firelight, looks for visions in the spinning of an ice-apple.
In a distant city he sees a lovely girl as lonely as himself, imprisoned in a small room. Shrugging on his falcon skin, he flies to find her.
When a falcon drums its wings against her window, Kristiana opens it -- and is astonished when the hawk lights on the floor and turns into a man. But she and Vulchanok are soon in love.
But Kristiana's brother, Glev, will never allow her to marry a dirty northern huntsman -- and Vulchanok's wolf-wife is fiercely jealous.
Can the lovers survive the hatred and jealousy surrounding them?
A Gothic Romance
Book 4 of the Ghost World sequence
117 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2017
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
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April 25, 2023Susan Price's The Ghost Drum from 1987 was one of the most formative reading experiences of my young life. It's a story of Russian Czars and shamans and snow and magic; a dark fairytale of ghosts and revenge - to this day I still think of it as so important to me. She went on to write 3 other books, not direct sequels but set in the same world, with this most recent story from 2017.
Vulchanok is orphaned as a baby, rescued by wolves, and then brought up by villagers. As he gets older, and a wolf witch guides him into his wolf and shaman powers, the villagers start to shun him and he grows lonely.
Meanwhile in the city, noblewoman Kristiana is locked up in a shabby apartment, waiting for her brother to arrange her marriage. All she has is her books and her patience (very reminiscent of Ghost Drum, actually) until Vulchanok, in the guise of a bird, knocks on her window.
None of the sequels have quite lived up to the original for me, and it's the same for this one, though I did like it! "All life is sorrowful but also very sweet," Vulchanok says to Kristiana, and this story is both of those things.
Vulchanok is orphaned as a baby, rescued by wolves, and then brought up by villagers. As he gets older, and a wolf witch guides him into his wolf and shaman powers, the villagers start to shun him and he grows lonely.
Meanwhile in the city, noblewoman Kristiana is locked up in a shabby apartment, waiting for her brother to arrange her marriage. All she has is her books and her patience (very reminiscent of Ghost Drum, actually) until Vulchanok, in the guise of a bird, knocks on her window.
None of the sequels have quite lived up to the original for me, and it's the same for this one, though I did like it! "All life is sorrowful but also very sweet," Vulchanok says to Kristiana, and this story is both of those things.
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