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Title: Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson ISBN: 5-555-53103-6 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: January, 1993 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Take a journey into purgatory with an unusual friend.
Comment: I've read several of Dickson's novels, including the famous "Dorsai" books, but my favourite is "Wolf and Iron." It loosely falls into the post-apocalypse genre but focuses on one man's struggle to survive in an era when everyone has turned on each other. Interestingly, Dickson has not relied on nuclear attack or disease to erase society but simple economic collapse, (to my mind, a much more likely cause).
Jeeris Belamy Walthar, or Jeebee, was a scientist researching quantitative sociodynamics. Despite foreseeing some sort of collapse, he finds himself less that perfectly prepared for the harsh new world born of riots, murder and isolationism. He is not one of the sort who takes to the times with such fervour; those who's morals are subservient to self-interest. Despite this, he pushes toward his brother's ranch, on the other side of the country. There, he hopes he might preserve his studies and thereby protect the future from continuing the otherwise inevitable cycle of growth and collapse.
There are many stories told of loners fighting against incredible odds. What makes this one special is Jeebee's tentative travelling companion, a semi-domesticated Wolf. The two of them are thrown together following a narrow escape from a town that looked too good to be true. Wolf chose Jeebee on the tenuous basis of his smell, a result of his wearing a scavenged leather jacket, previously owned by Wolf's dead owner. Over time they managed to form a supportive arrangement that benefits them both. However, this relationship in no way resembles pet and owner.
I particularly enjoyed the way Dickson researched wolf behaviour and how that behaviour translates in combination with humanity. Wolf turns out to be just as important a character as Jeebee and because of that, the novel is almost a buddy story. Perhaps being a science fiction author has inclined Dickson to treat Wolf as a fully-fledged entity, much like one might approach an intelligent Alien race. Wolf may think differently but he has the same rights we are due and is just as worthy of respect. This is not a Disney story but many readers will see the folly of placing humanity on a pedestal above the Animals. No matter what we like to think, we are not so different.
Rating: 1
Summary: A waste of time
Comment: Gordon Dickson has written one of the most boring books of all time. The story moves at a snails pace, lacking supporting characters, our main character is Jeebee (what kind of a name is that!) he is to weak a character to carry the story by himself. The other main is Wolf (again, what kind of a name is that?) He is just an animal, Gordon doesn't even make him special, just a wolf. The story ends in a most unsatisfacory fashion, there is no hope for a future, no real redemptive quality.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Comment: I read this book for the first time about 10 years ago. I have read it twice more since. It is simply one of the most enjoyable reads I have ever had. I have been hoping that Gordon comes back to these warm, great characters of Jeebe & Wolf and gives us a second book. It is just a great book. If you share my view of this try to find a copy of Sterling E. Laniers "Hiero's Journey" another great tale of comraderie between a man and his best friend who isn't quite human...
Gordon Dickson's a great writer.
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