Wolf of Withervale
by Joaquín Baldwin
An ambitious, sweeping saga. As epic as it is queer.
Lago was only a child when the shapeshifter entrusted the wolf-like mask to his care—an artifact so powerful that it could come to shape the entire world of Noss. Now that he is coming of age, Lago is becoming ever more fearful of the ominous relics influence, of the empire who has scented its trail and is coming after it. Coming after him.
Aided by his best friend, an enigmatic scout, and his trusty dog, Lago seeks refuge in the vastness of the Heartpine Dome. The eighty-mile-wide structure had remained sealed for centuries, safeguarding more than mere secrets. Now that the domes entrails are stirring, the mysteries of the long-vanished Miscam tribes are coming to light, and the shapeshifting animal spirits are making their return.
Powers untold hide behind the blinkless eyeholes of the canid mask, powers that could tip the balance in the war. Lago is barely beginning to learn how to wield the dark visage, but he can already feel its potential. And he can feel a different change coming, deep in his marrow.
Wolf of Withervale is the first installment of the Noss Saga, an epic LGBTQ+ fantasy series.
SPFBOX – Our Reviews
John Mauro
Wolf of Withervale by Joaquín Baldwin is a queer epic fantasy about Lago, a boy who has been entrusted with a lupine mask that he must try to understand and protect. Wolf of Withervale pulls in too many incongruous directions, which ultimately makes it feel directionless. Much of it is written in a young adult style that may feel insulting to the intelligence of adult readers. For example, consider this passage where one character explains the meaning of the word “analogous”:
“Analogous. It means something similar. But who knows? Life could be completely different out there. We have no idea.”
Then, for no apparent reason, there will be an explicit sex scene—I won’t call them romance scenes, because there was absolutely nothing romantic about them—inevitably with body parts described in a rather disgusting amount of detail. The sex scenes were all gratuitous and, frankly, quite gross considering the age of the protagonist.
On the positive side, Wolf of Withervale shines in its worldbuilding, especially with its shapeshifting magic:
“Shapeshifting is achieved through a particular state of mind. It is about intention, but it’s also about detachment and about awareness. Self-understanding and self-acceptance are most important. It is about knowing not just who you are, but who you are trying to become, and understanding that that form is and always has been a part of you, even in you hadn’t realized it before.”
However, the exceptional worldbuilding of Wolf of Withervale is sabotaged by its lack of a compelling plot. The main story doesn’t begin until about a third into the book. Even then, the plot just crawls along for the remainder of this very long book.
Wolf of Withervale, unfortunately, falls into the common trap of conflating length with being epic. Simply making a fantasy book long doesn’t make it more epic. It just makes it long. Wolf of Withervale is an unnecessarily long book and could be easily cut in half without losing anything key to the story.
Unfortunately, worldbuilding alone couldn’t sustain my interest in a book that left me alternating between boredom and revulsion. Wolf of Withervale is a major miss for me.
