The Wolf and the Raven - Softcover

Paxson, Diana L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380765268 ISBN 13: 9780380765263

Publisher: Avon Books, 1994

Synopsis

Born to rival kings in fifth-century Rhineland, Sigfrid and Brunahild each learn the ancient arts of their heritage, until their powers surpass those of their teachers, and they are united in perfect love and glory. Reprint.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Another Paxson rattle and roll of a cluster of ancient tales and myths. Here, in the first of a trilogy, the author spotlights a heroic pair given fame by Wagner's operatic Ring cycle: Sigfrid and Brunahild of the Walkyriun, who--like Tristan and Iseult of The White Raven (1988) and King Leir of The Serpent's Tooth (1991)-- step out of the mythic mists with earthbound feet and overheated crania. After an essential Foreword, in which Paxson sketches a fifth- century background of a crumbling Roman empire amid the roiling movement of Germanic tribes, there's an eye-crossing roll call of characters (from the one-eyed god Wodan to Fafner, ``a berserker''), plus a Prologue and a view of the theft of the Gold from the river Rhenus. (The jury is still out on the joys of authentic spelling.) The young girl Brunahild, daughter of a Hun prince, will first see the image of Wodan as, with Gudrun, offspring of a Bergund chieftain, she peers into a sacred well. (Wodan will appear at other times and places.) So it's off to the Walkyriun for Brunahild, to be trained with the other women to defend the old ways and old gods. The storms through which they ride in battle are within--as is Brunahild's quest for her father, surely the One-Eyed. Meanwhile, Sigfrid is being raised by the smith Ragan to avenge a death by slaying the shapechanger Fafner, guardian of the Rhenus gold. He'll run with wolves, learn killing, receive his father's sword, etc. Then at the stony cold ``pyre'' on which Brunahild lies (punished by her peers for sparing an enemy), the two will thunderously lose their respective virginities. There are those who regret the leach of old gold out of old myths, but Paxson substitutes the happy clamor of invention--how can one kill a dragon that isn't there?--with ease and in a wink of Wodan's eye. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

The legend of Siegfried and Brunhilde--popularized in Icelandic sagas, the medieval German epic Nibelungenlied and Wagner's operas--is imaginatively retold in this lyrical narrative, the first installment of a projected trilogy. Tapping the myth's archaic sources and using alternate spellings for his characters' names, Paxson ( The Serpent's Tooth ) creates an untamed, down-to-earth young Sigfrid who studies shamanism, runs with a wolf pack and asks his beloved Brunahild, "What do you need a hero for anyway?" The self-searching Brunahild, a budding sorceress, belies the stereotype of the Wagnerian soprano with brass bra and winged helmet, although she does attend a Valkyrie training school and wear a raven-winged headdress. With her knowledge of herbs, runes and spells comes understanding, then love. As in Wagner, the theft of a treasure is the source of evil, but nonetheless the lovers achieve their long-desired union at the novel's close. Set in a fifth-century Rhineland aswarm with migrant tribes, gods and spirits, Paxson's detailed retelling distills an exotic brew from the famous myth.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0380765268
• ISBN 13: 9780380765263
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352