Title Wolf Moon Series --- Author Charles de Lint Cover Art Cliff Nielson Publisher Penguin Books - 2004 First Printing Signet - 1988 Category --- Warnings None Main Characters Kern, Ainsy, Tuiloch, Fion, Tolly, Wat, Tomtim Main Elements Werewolves, Harpers

Wolf magic, harper spells...

His name when he was human was Kern, and it seemed he had been running forever, for he had become the most feared of being: a werewolf. When the change had first come upon him, his parents had driven him away with silver daggers. Later, Kern sought 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 harper bent on stealing his life away.

By chance Kern was able to take refuge at the Inn of the Yellow Tinker, a warm and welcoming place where he might find a home if he guarded his secret well. And at the inn, Kern found the woman he was destined to love. But could he risk both human and harper vengeance to keep her?

This is the first Charles de Lint book I've read, and I don't know what took me so long to get around to reading one. He is truly a modern day storyteller, weaving the tale with words the way the haper weaved his magic with music.

I think the author sums up his own book the best - "I remember thinking (even back then in the 1980's) how many high fantasy novels were big stories involving nations, worlds, races of men and magical beings. I wanted to read a smaller story about more ordinary people - people whose destiny wasn't to save the world, but rather to make some sense out of their own small lives (which for each of us is the big story)."

He succeeded wonderfully. The entire tale takes place virtually in one setting, and involves very few characters. No one else was even aware of the events unfolding at the Yellow Tinker but those who lived there, and he who wished them harm. It was indeed a nice change from the epic fantasy. These were ordinary people who didn't suddenly have to develop unusual powers to foil the great evil and save the world. They just wanted to save their own skins any way they could. To learn how to tell difference between the perceived evil and the true evil. And how to come to terms with the life you were dealt. Nothing more. Then again, does anything else matter but that?

I suggest you read this book while I go out and find myself more books by this author. If the rest of his books are anything like this one, then I'm hooked.