The Wolf Bell

Children of Ynell #2

by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

In the world of Ere, the child Seer Ramad seeks a mysterious runestone with the aid of an ancient bell that enables him to control and communicate with the thinking wolves of the mountains, who become his friends. But will they be a match for his enemies, the evil Seers of Pelli, who are determined to control Ramad's mind and through him, to obtain the stone for their own dark purpose?

A Kindle edition of this book is available in an omnibus titled The Shattered Stone .

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1979

About the author

Shirley Rousseau Murphy is the author of over 40 books, including 24 novels for adults, the Dragonbards Trilogy and more for young adults, and many books for children. She is best known for her Joe Grey cat mystery series, consisting of 21 novels, the last of which was published when she was over 90. Now retired, she enjoys hearing from readers who write to her at her website www.srmurphy.com, where the reading order of the books in that series can be found.

Murphy grew up in southern California, riding and showing the horses her father trained. After attending the San Francisco Art institute she worked as an interior designer, and later exhibited paintings and welded metal sculpture in the West Coast juried shows. "When my husband Pat and I moved to Panama for a four-year tour in his position with the U. S . Courts, I put away the paints and welding torches, and began to write," she says. Later they lived in Oregon, then Georgia, before moving to California, where she now enjoys the sea and views of the Carmel hills.
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Reviews

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the early fantasy series that really haunted me. I thought it was very good.

[James]

In the world of Ere, the child Seer Ramad seeks a mysterious runestone with the aid of an ancient bell that enables him to control and communicate with the thinking wolves of the mountains, who become his friends. But will they be a match for his enemies, the evil Seers of Pelli, who are determined to control Ramad's mind and through him, to obtain the stone for their own dark purpose?A Kindle edition of this book is available in an omnibus titled The Shattered Stone.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy is born who can ring the wolf bell and talk to the wolves. (The second book in The Children of Ynell series).

[River · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite being the second novel in the Children of Ynell, it's actually set prior to the first book, so we can see the origins of some of the things and actions that took place in the past. Ram is a far more interesting character than any of the other three from Book 1, and his mother is a delightfully terrible person; rebellious young woman who instead of being married off to some older man by her father, goes and has a fling with some randy on a certain mountain that housed a group (reads like a cult) that's extinct, she's pouty and smug about it until her father kicks her out and she has to figure things out like a big girl.

She's still quite lucky though, since the plot deems her the mother of "the chosen one" and gets help from a wise woman of sorts. From there we end up in a town I'd like to not go back to again, Burgdeeth (the village of very religious people from book 1) but before it became as such. There is action from the get-go and then it all stops in Burgdeeth, of course. I don't like Burgdeeth. Why? Because that's the spot that drags plots. It did in the first book and does now in the second. However, they did add in some better characters and more interesting motivations.

Despite all this though, I couldn't actually finish it. I DNF'd at 70% because it felt like reading Ring of Fire again, lots of over the top descriptions of random stuff, very fever-dream like, the mind reading/psychic powers I found were not described enough ironically. On the positive side, the typos are gone in this book, the action is better paced and the cover is pretty cool.

[Jaime Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in the series. The writing was intense for the young reader I was at the time (1980 I believe)...and I was fascinated with the child Seer Ramad and the bell that gives him the ability to communicate with wolves.

Great read. This book was loved until the binding fell apart. Get it, read it--you won't regret it.

[Kristyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in the series is set in the distant past of the first book, and that was intriguing--knowing what eventually happens, how the events set in motion here eventually play out, but not quite knowing for sure which way events would go, for good or ill, for in our lives too, the details of the distant past are not known in the present.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read anything else in the series. Having read the previous book would probably have helped. It was still a pretty good read, but just very obviously in the middle of things.