Wolfbreed is one of those novels where you read it and go: “That’s different.”
Because, let’s face it–werewolves have been done.
And done.
And done.
But what it seems S.A. Swann did with Wolfbreed is say: “Hey, how can I take a unique approach on a standard story” and the solution ends up being setting. By establishing the story in a time period and land that is at once familiar and yet completely alien, Swann thrusts you into a world that you can’t help getting caught up in. The fact that this world has werewolves is almost comes across as a bonus (and it is a key element, but Swann does such a good job weaving it into the history that you’re almost surprised every time “werewolf” makes an appearance).
Of course, this is my impression from reading it, first in manuscript form as a second pair of eyes for Anne, and then later with the finished product.
Luckily, Swann describes the inspiration for the world of Wolfbreed, and Anne talks about working on it.
I will mention, too, that if you like Wolfbreed, make sure to check out the next book set in this mythos, Wolf’s Cross when it hits stores at the end of this month.
“On Friday, March 16th 2007, I had an idea for a novel. It had been bubbling in my head for about a week after watching the anime Elfen Lied. Since it wouldn’t leave me alone, I decided to just write the thing out of my system even though I had other things I was supposed to be working on. Little did I know what I was getting into. By the start of April, I was forty thousand words into the thing. That was the point I took a breather and started realizing that this was more than just getting an idea out of my system.
This was also the point where I decided to change the setting. You see, Wolfbreed didn’t start out as a historical novel. It began life– at least the first half did– set in a nondescript generic fantasy realm. When I took my breather and looked at the half a novel I had written, I saw a great story languishing in a setting completely lacking in any depth. I thought of ramping up the world-building to fix it; but the only fantastic element in the setting was the presence of werewolves. That the case, I had to wonder why I needed to use stock Eurogeneric Fantasy Kingdom #5. If I wanted to do the story justice, I should rework it into an actual historical setting.
But that presented a unique problem, given my existing plot. What I had written required an extremely specific setting if I didn’t want to start from scratch. I needed a monotheistic empire in the process of conquering a less advanced, tribal, polytheistic culture; a theocracy in the process of converting the natives. The technology needed to be medieval in terms of weapons and armor, and it needed to be more or less northern European in landscape. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of anything in the real world that fit the bill. I did some research anyway and was amazed to discover that due to luck, or some subconscious memory of the period, I had pretty accurately channeled the early part of the Northern Crusades of the 13th Century. The fit was so clean that I was able to use almost all of what I had written with just some name changes and altering some geographic references.
The payoff for the change was priceless. Not only did the setting gain a depth and resonance which was lacking in the stock fantasy world, but the characters became deeper themselves as they grew into the politics and religion of the time, and even the plot– straightforward as it was– gained additional wrinkles as the werewolves became part of a larger tapestry of relations between the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Teutonic Order.”
–S.A. Swan, July 2010
“One of the hard things about paranormals–especially as the market becomes more and more crowded–is finding a completely unique take on the standard handful of creatures. But S.A. Swann managed this brilliantly in his novel, Wolfbreed. Partly it was the unique historical setting–13th century Prussia, during the eastern crusades: a fascinating time period that I, personally, knew very little about. And partly is was the unique approach to his wolfbreed heroine–adopted as an infant by the Christian Church and turned into a living weapon against the pagan unbelievers. But I think what most won my heart was the love story between our two wounded heroes–the wolfbeed Lilly who must reconnect to her own humanity after years of abuse at the hands of the Church, and the one-armed Uldolph, who must learn how to be whole emotionally, even if he never will be physically.
I am a giant sucker for wounded characters finding true love and happiness, so I was instantly hooked. But I do remember the agent-sanctioned conversation I had with the author in which I basically said that I loved the book and that I wanted to buy it, but on the condition that he was willing to turn it into a bit more of a romance than it was. (In the submission draft, the descriptions of violence almost verged on horror, with lots of ripping, gouting and tearing. We toned a lot of this down in the final version.) Fortunately, the author was amenable, and I still remain insanely proud of the final version, and Booklist was kind enough to say that it: “may be the werewolf book of the year.” So, yay!”
–Anne Groell, Senior Editor, Spectra
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