Time of the Wolf–5 stars
InD’tail Magazine FEBUARY 2021
A supernatural tale of time travel, past lives, and insurmountable passion, “Time of the Wolf” pulls readers through a vortex of high stakes adventure and enduring romance! The plot is a suspenseful tale steeped in lore, possession, betrayal, obsession, and vengeance.
Characters are flawed, authentic, and believable beings who leap from the page as their stories unfold. Even small bit characters manage to provide imagination, sparking embers readers will relish. Vibrantly evil villains are monstrous, with hints of vulnerability that doesn’t quite offset their diabolical desires. Readers will get a rush from thrilling action-filled battles, and goosebumps from chillingly hungry fiends found within this quest to destroy evil, and put right the wrongs of yesteryear.
Ms. D’Arcy’s first instalment to this series is a howling inauguration to an enthralling saga of vendetta, sorcery, and legend in a wonderfully rich landscape of fairy tales, fantasy, and fate.–
Reviewed By Tonya Mathenia InD’tail Magazine FEBUARY 2021 Buy Book Now
QUOTE— ” Congratulations on the Crowned Heart of Excellence review your book received with InD’tale Magazine. What a fantastic accomplishment! It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to write a story of such calibre and you deserve this distinction. Enjoy it!”
Ryan Summers
InD’tale Magazine Special Projects Editor
Animated Post Card: Time of the Wolf
My first attempt.
Now available on Amazon and all good online bookstores.
Time of the Wolf Review
By Catherine Asaro
Time of the Wolf, by author Julie D’Arcy, is a dark fantasy with elements of romance. It tells the story of Lady Keahla of Dros-Delnoch and Radin Hawk, prince of the Wolfhead Clan. Keahla comes through a time portal that takes her 300 years into the future. Her goal: to find Radin. A prophecy has named him as the warrior who can lead her people in their fight against the tyranny of the sorceress Anayha.
D’Arcy makes entertaining plays on genre conventions as she sets up the plot. In the first scenes, Keahla is trying to escape slave traders who have followed her through the portal. She sees Radin up on a ridge and calls for help. In traditional stories, the heroic Radin would come dashing down the slope to her rescue; in more modern versions, Keahla would kick butt herself. Neither happens, though Keahla does show herself quite capable of applying her ambulatory appendages to good effect, here and later. Unfortunately, the reluctant Radin arrives too late, long after the slavers have hauled off Keahla. Radin doesn’t see her again until the slave auction. Noble hero that he is, he buys her for himself. Needless to say, none of this sits well with Keahla.
Eventually they work things out and Radin agrees to help, though at first he is motivated primarily by annoyance with Keahla’s blunt disbelief that he can save anyone, let alone her people. However, she takes him back through the portal and they join the rest of her party. So begins their quest to free Keahla’s land, the realm known as Tarlis.
D’Arcy creates a vivid world in Tarlis, with evocative descriptions and a good cast of characters. She has a knack for names, such as the elf Jarl, whose full name is the musical Jarlisendel Ballindoch. The prose is strong and moves well. I appreciated that it didn’t become purple or overdone in the love scenes. In a few places, it did become a bit melodramatic, but that was rare. I enjoyed the visual images D’Arcy created, particularly of places and people.
Some of the scenes in the book are especially powerful. In one, Anayha must make her way past an ensorcelled wall of roses. Having roses as demons is itself a clever twist on the usual floral arrangements as elements of beauty. The passage where Anayha converts herself into a monstrous rose creature to creep past the tangled vines is well done, chilling in its effect.
Time of the Wolf reminded me in some ways of Robin Wayne Bailey’s critically acclaimed Shadowdance, which placed on the Nebula preliminary ballot a few years ago. Both novels rely on the portrayal of a sorceress queen who requires the death of humans to keep her power. In Time of the Wolf, Anayha is a vampire; she must drink the blood of her lovers to maintain her youth and abilities. Rather than biting them, she cuts their throats. I have to confess, those scenes disturbed me. I didn’t want to see such appealing characters come to such harm! Of course, that shows that D’Arcy did a good job in drawing me into the characters and their situation. The plot line of the evil sorceress/mother also bothered the feminist in me. However, such tropes are part of the dark fantasy genre, D’Arcy knows how to use them well, and she doesn’t dwell on the violence.
The relationship between Keahla and Radin works well. The novel combines two genres often considered disparate: romance and dark fantasy. In D’Arcy’s capable hands, the blend succeeds, with the romantic elements balancing the darker aspects.
Time of the Wolf offers an absorbing read to fans of dark fantasy blended with other genres. D’Arcy is a strong voice with a great deal of promise.
Copyright © 1999 by Catherine Asaro
| Catherine Asaro writes hard SF space adventure and near future romantic thrillers. Her book, The Radiant Seas, came out in November 1999 and The Veiled Web in December 1999. Her work has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula and has won various other awards, including the Analog Readers Poll and Compuserve’s HOMer. |
TIME OF THE WOLF Book Trailer
A Tarlisian Saga
“Time of the Wolf” is a Fantasy Romance with lots of action. It was released 13th. January 2021.
And is available on Amazon all over the world and other major online book stores.
The Prologue is available for you to read at the bottom of the page or you may like to read it in the book preview.
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Prologue
Come sit by the fire lad and warm your bones. The air is chill and the night long when the heavens are without the moons. Here, take a draught of this Upland Fire. ‘Tis the finest in the land.
The evening is dull now. My guests have filled themselves with good Highland whiskey and retired to their rooms. You look in need of a cot yourself, and it is to my regret that I have none to spare. For tomorrow the clans meet in celebration of the coming of the Wolf, and on such a day, every tavern within a day’s ride be full to overflowing with any man old enough to hold a tankard and wield a hefty sword.
What is so special about a wolf, you ask?
The Wolf be not an animal, lad, but a warrior the likes of which will never come again. He stood alone amidst a field of ten thousand warriors to fight to save this world. Or so the legend goes.
What was that? Speak up, boy. I am old and my hearing is not as it should be.
Do I not believe in the legend?
Aye. There are stories and there are stories. Some lose something in the telling, others gain. Who can say what truly happened except someone who was really there? And would the stories be truly worth the telling if all the truth were told?
You would prefer the truth. Nay, you would not want to hear it; no listener ever did. They find boredom in truth. They want shining heroes, handsome men—tall and strong—good deeds and fair damsels. There is no room for such things as human frailties and indecision in legend.
Yet still you would hear it?
Perhaps just this once, for in me I feel a need to release that which has been held too long. To once again free it to the air.
Aye, ‘tis midnight.
A good time for a story. A time for memories. A time for ghosts.
You say I speak as if I was there?
Well, maybe I was, and maybe I wasn’t. What is time but someone else’s dream? There have been many tales told of the man, but let it be said that I know this story as well as any man can. You are sure you wish to hear it?
Aye, we do have all night.
Then settle back, and I shall relate to you the story of the warrior they called the Lord of the Wolves or the Wolf, as it be, the way it truly was. The legend of Radin Hawk.
For some uncanny reason you remind me of him. Same coloring—same eyes. I never have seen eyes that exact color again. The color of the moors in spring; deep blue almost purple.
Well, where shall I start? I suppose the beginning is as good as any… ‘Twas a time long ago…
…a time of sorcery and myth, when legends were forged and magick flowed in the land like water. Men were real men, and women more beautiful than the first rose of spring. And under a younger sun, Dros-Delnor still stood. The mightiest castle in the realm…
NEW RELEASE: TIME OF THE WOLF
After the hectic rush of Christmas(Whew! I am glad that is behind us.)
It has been a very sad time for me. My beautiful independent Mother of 87 years old has moved into an aged care facility. My sisters and brothers and myself have the job of sorting through my Mum’s belongings. So many memories are attached to just about everything I touch. I found back copies of every novel I had ever written, all signed that I had given to her over the years. I could not let them go so I brought them all home.
On to a brighter note. Time of the Wolf, was released yesterday by The Wild Rose Press. It is now available on any sort of mobile device you can think of, and the Paperback is absolutely beautiful. I received an author copy to check over and it really came up lovely. Hopeful you will all take a look. I will put up a few links at the bottom of this page.
Thank you for visiting today.
Diving into a New Year
Well we are on our way. Hopefully you all enjoyed a great Christmas or Holiday time, and celebrated New Years eve, with lots of drink, food, and making merry. Not forgetting those new year resolutions for 2021, some which will be achieved and some which only magick could see achievable. But we have to try right?
What a year 2020 was for most of us with the bringing of Covid-19! A virus akin to a horror movie!
I give my heartfelt condolences to my FB friends, family and readers of Fantasy and Paranormal who lost people during the pandemic, and those still battling it.
On a brighter note my long awaited release of TIME OF THE WOLF, a Fantasy/Romance with sword, sorcery, action, excitement, Elves and magickal creatures is almost here. So mark 13th of January in your diary or on your calendar to make sure you do not miss out on your copy, which hopefully will allow you to escape into a land of myth, magick, and legend away from the everyday grind of our not so safe normal life, if only for a short time.
Doesn’t everyone want for that?
I will be holding a virtual book release on Facebook so please join JULIE A. D’ARCY Author page for updates, or Mark this page in your browser for Jan. 13th. or you can pre-order your copy of ‘Time of the Wolf’ from Amazon Australia.
A Whisper on the Wind
Now Available on Amazon
‘A Whisper on the Wind’ is where Urban Fantasy, and time travel, meets, re-incarnation with a twist of magick and those sexy little bits everyone loves.
Can the impossible really become possible? Or is it all just a whisper on the wind?
Sherry’s world falls to pieces when the honeymoon she had planned in Rio with her fiancée turns to a tragedy with his death in a plane crash. Can a twist of fate, a wrong turn and a touch of magick find the love and passion she thought she had lost in the arms of another? Or will her love once again be torn apart?
Almost There.
Almost there.
Time of the Wolf, a novel I originally wrote around 20 years ago, has been submitted and accepted by The Wild Rose Press. I have completed a complete overhaul of the novel to bring it up to scratch for today’s market. Things have changed a lot over the years in how books are written. Especially in regards to Point of View.
Once you were able to hop between character POV’s mid scene, now, not so much as this pulls the reader out of the novel too much. Nowadays, the preferred way is one POV per scene. So, this was something that had to be rectified when getting Time of the Wolf ready for republication.
This old dog is learning some new tricks.
But, I have now completed the edits from the publisher and have sent them to be checked over. Hopefully, it will not be too long before you see Time of the Wolf, a Fantasy Romance with lots of story, action and romance, on the virtual shelves of your favourite online bookstore.
Writing Itself
I am currently working on my new novel. This novel is set in the same inter-dimensional world that I mention in my novel, Silverdawn. Rastehm.
The work is tentatively titled “Mage Princess”. This will not be the published title as I am still working on that. I find titles one of the hardest things about writing 🙂
I wrote 1,275 words today and Mage Princess currently sits at 23,258 out of what I am hoping to be around a 80,000-word novel. However, that is up to my characters as they have a way of taking over and vying for the spotlight.
Scenes are coming out of nowhere that I have not plotted. It is such an incredible journey when this happens while writing. You feel as if you are merely the person typing on the keyboard and the characters are telling the story. Sometimes their voices are so clear in your head you really think they are alive and standing beside you, but that could be the medication I am on. 🙂 (Joke)
Author Julie A. D'Arcy 