Twilight of the Wolves by Edward J. Rathke

Twilight of the Wolves Reviews

• 
  David

  I do read fantasy from time to time, but I'm not normally very big on it. I'm not ignorant enough to think there is something wrong with fantasy inherently as a genre, but I'm just not big on how the form is often done. The elements that seem most important in the works I often see just aren't as important to me and the ones I care more about often have a lesser place. However, "Twilight of the Wolves" satisfies the elements I crave at the same time that it deftly handles the typical fantasy elements. It's a wonderfully imagined world, strange and familiar at the same time. Gods, blood, mythical beings. There is a slipperiness underneath, though. The revelations and connections are amazingly fluid and delightful to follow. I got that mythic feel from it, that feeling of being let in on secrets as opposed to just reading a Dungeons & Dragons module. Rathke writes with marvelous words in this one. As I've come to expect from him, there's always something more.
• 
  Paul Eckert

  I didn't know what to expect going into Twilight of the Wolves. The summary promises a lot, and yet again, Rathke doesn't disappoint.
  
  It's near impossible to describe the plot, because it doesn't really matter much. All you need to know is that there are wolves, gods, goddesses, men with steel body parts, wars, myths, deathwalkers, primal civilizations, invaders, and mythical creatures. Everyone and everything is woven together beautifully, and that's the best part about this tale: the art of bringing this alternative world to life through the immersion into the characters and their sensory perception of their world.
  
  The prose style wore many different hats. The perspective for some characters was lyrical and poetic, while other parts were revealed in a more grounded narrative voice. Each style fit the characters seamlessly and revealed nuances in a subtle way. It's rare that the art of language and style are coupled with good storytelling. Usually story suffers from the pretentiousness of style, or style is sacrificed in the name of good storytelling, but Twilight of the Wolves fires on all cylinders. There are times when the poetic sections can go a bit long, or get a little wordy, but the pace never felt like it was treading water.
  
  My main criticism is that a few threads were brought into the story but never realized their potential because they were too soon gone. Or at least, I wanted to know more, even if the author didn't think it necessary. There was also a long period of time between Part One and Part Two, and though Rathke does an admirable job catching the reader up with subtle clues, I still found myself wanting to understand a thing or two.
  
  This is the type of book you want to take your time with and absorb everything, lose yourself in it. I did, and it made the experience better.
  
  Rathke is turning out to be one of my favorite writers. Twilight of the Wolves is the type of meditation on life, myth, and art that is his trademark. His deft handle on storytelling and narrative voice have earned my trust as a reader, and I look forward to more of his work.
  
• 
  Edward Rathke

  I wrote this novel. I absolutely love it.
  
  More information about
  Twilight of the Wolves.
  
  I hope you love it.
• 
  Emily

  A fresh new vision which reads like an ancient ballad full of old gods and the white men half machines who destroy them. I wanted to sing it in an alternating upbeat tempo of wolves and old god joy and a slow and mournful tune that cries with the loss of innocence and light as I read it. Thank you Mr. Rathke for creating a feeling far different from anything I've read before.
• 
  David

  While it was sometimes intriguing, its style and subject matter mostly just come of as nothing more than pretentious, and shock for shocks sake.