The Gray Wolf Throne (Seven Realms #3)

Reading high fantasy is always an investment. You have to invest your time, since fantasy is one of the most long-winded genres there is. You have to invest your patience, because there’s a good chance the author will jerk you around for several hundred pages before s/he makes a plot development you’ve been holding your breath for. And you also have to invest your emotions, because if the series is good, much loved and very important characters will die, move on, or exit the stage (actually, nobody important has died yet in the Seven Realms series, so at the moment my investment is pretty safe). There’s also the simple fact that after 1000+ pages, you get attached to people and places and conflicts.

I am very much attached to the Seven Realms series, and I found The Gray Wolf Throne to be a good investment. With its ever-engaging focus on court politics, racial tensions, shifting loyalties and hidden secrets, these books are engrossing and well-constructed. Picking up maybe a month after The Exiled Queen ended, The Gray Wolf Throne continues Princess Raisa and Han Alister’s journey back to the Fells, where, after Raisa’s true identity is revealed, the two work together to place her upon the throne.

Always a fan of brevity and a believer that less is more, I’m of the opinion that this book could lose 100-200 pages, easy. However, I don’t believe that Chima ever included details that were truly unimportant, nor is this series chock-full of extraneous subplots that distract the reader. This book is dense, though: heavy on information, dialogue, and character interaction. The Seven Realms series has never been about war or quests, and most of The Gray Wolf Throne is set in one place, and the characters all spend a lot of time talking to each other and planning their next move. That isn’t done in a way that’s boring or tedious, but readers who like fantasy that features nonstop action should know that’s not exactly the focus here.

One thing I would like to comment on is the way morality and good/evil are shown in shades of gray in this series, but especially in The Gray Wolf Throne. A too-common complaint I have with fantasy (particularly YA fantasy) is that authors are very one-sided. Villains are villains; they cannot be anything but evil, they cannot be redeemed, nor can they be show as humans. Heroes are heroes; their actions are always the right ones, and they will always triumph in the end, perhaps because “god” is on their side. About 100 pages in, Han makes an observation that what appears to be good isn’t always so, and vice versa for evil. I really had to applaud Cinda Williams Chima for that, because it’s exactly what I look for in my fantasy novels.

While The Gray Wolf Throne is a very good book, at this point it’s not my favorite in the series. The narrative was a bit less engaging than it was in The Exiled Queen (though it’s vastly better than The Demon King). I’ve formed an attachment to these characters, but I still don’t consider them to be particularly well-rounded or to have much depth. Raisa’s many suitors and constant romantic conflicts are, in my opinion, unnecessary, and I really wish this book was told from another female perspective: her sister Mellony, or Cat the thief, maybe. The stereotypical princess who’s nearly a Mary Sue is not a character type I will ever love.

But, all in all, I’ve invested myself in this world and in the characters’ story. I’m glad I read this book, and I have high hopes for the final installment.