The Emperor's Wolves

The Wolves of Elantra, Book 1

De: Michelle Sagara

Narrado por: Khristine Hvam

“Enjoyable, entertaining, engaging fantasy.” (Tor.com)

At the Emperor's Command

Multiple races carefully navigate the City of Elantra under the Dragon Emperor’s wing. His Imperial Wolves are executioners, the smallest group to serve in the Halls of Law. The populace calls them assassins.

Every wolf candidate must consent to a full examination by the Tha’alani, one of the most feared and distrusted races in Elantra for their ability to read minds. Most candidates don’t finish their job interviews.

Severn Handred, the newest potential recruit, is determined to face and pass this final test — even if by doing so he’s exposing secrets he has never shared.

When an interrogation uncovers the connections to a two-decade-old series of murders of the Tha’alani, the Wolves are commanded to hunt. Severn’s first job will be joining the chase. From the High Halls to the Tha’alani quarter, from the Oracles to the Emperor, secrets are uncovered, tensions are raised and justice just might be done…if Severn can survive.

The Wolves of Elantra

Book 1: The Emperor’s Wolves

©2020 Michelle Sagara (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Good main characters inside creatively built world

I enjoyed listening to this book. The performance was well-done, with distinct voices for each characters.

My ONLY complaint is that it took a little while to distinguish between character names because they were all long and "different" from what I'm used to. But that's really a "me problem" not an author problem.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and would read more series from this author.

Excellent enrichment to the Chronicles of Elanta

Backstory on Severn and his time living in Elantra parallel to Kaylin. Intriguing hints into his history. Slow at times, and too much tease without answers creates some frustration for me. This author gets a bit bogged down in ephemera, as usual.

Severn & the Wolves

Thank you Michelle Sagara for this great addition to the same world as the Chronicles of Elantra. It starts with how Severn Handred became one of the Wolves, one of Elantra's three parts of law enforcement. The book also brings up several of Severn's peculiarities, base knowledge and mysteries surrounding him. Be prepared for several familiar characters to pop up throughout.

Khristine Hvam's narration adds to the story and brings the characters and situations off the page.

Review of the Emperor’s Wolves

Such an excellent book! It has a wealth of info, but I need more! Please give us more info on Severen’s back story! I highly recommend this book & look forward to future issues! TYTY!

Great development of a unique world

I thought this was a great story. While the build seemed so slow I think the world has been uniquely presented and I really appreciate that. Lots of detail and lots of puzzle pieces that don’t come together right away. Worth the wait. Looking forward to the next book.

gaps filled and new mysteries

I really like the book, love the narrator, and the restart of old stories in new ways. The figure of Severin is made through restraint. His restraint seen by others and in the dialog both internal and conversational. The story telling advantage is that we learn not just who Severin is but who other people or characters are by their observation of him. This is a constant state of observing what one values in others. Instead of finding a writer who tells the reader what to value, tall, dark, and handsome plus all the assumed values of men, a reader, listener, must discover values and choices not easily described.

The new mystery is one that will make sense to long time readers of Elantra series. This is not the first book needed to understand the series. If it continues to be a series of its own, readers are still going to have to catch up to the very extensive world building of Sagara. It is exciting to find new aspects to a very extensive world. I am addicted to the series and love this book and the new look at old history that had mysteries within the time frame of other books. How Sagara examines any character, race, or language within community is well worth thinking about without assuming it is about any information outside her own world. Sagara has respected her own world for a long series of books. This latest book is as carefully made.

FINALLY Severn's secrets and the mysterious Wolves

I just finished "The Emperor's Wolves" and it was amazing! It was exactly what I'd hoped for -Severn is such an intriguing character, but generally so quiet that I read his part of Kaylin's stories again and again hoping for a better picture of him. What does he think? Why does he make the decisions he makes? How can he remain Kaylin's friend and support after so many years of being separated from her? We were given bits and pieces throughout the "Cast In" books and we see some of their past and a little of their friendship, but I never really understood him. Marcus, Teela, Ebyline, Tiamaris, the Archen and so many others all got their story (and I know I am butchering the spelling of the names), but it's Severn I've wanted to know and to understand his complicated relationship with Kaylin. This was the perfect combination of their history, his beginning and his story with the Wolves and an intriguing, complicated mystery to solve! I loved getting to know the Wolves, more about other characters in the "Cast In" books and Severn's perspective. It's a great story even if you haven't read the other books, but I really enjoyed seeing the other characters through his eyes. Kristine Hvam nails the voices as always! I love her characterizations and the way she can change voices and keep the characters consistent!

absolutely love

I love the chronicles of elantra and have loved severen handred (excuse my spelling) since he and kaylen became close again. but seeing who he became with the wolves has opened my eyes to him in a way that I didn't think was possible. jumping into the next book asap

New perspective in a favorite world

I so enjoyed getting a peak at Severn's time with the Wolves. The author did a great job balancing between giving us totally new info and characters and giving us additional perspective on the events in the Chronicles of Elantra series. Definitely worth a credit.

Almost liked it, but...

The narrator is very good except, her voice variation for the characters was not different enough to keep track of conversations. I had to listen to the first few chapters again to figure things out.

I've not read a Sagara book before, but could tell she is a talented author. I just felt the story was flat. I found it intelligent and it developed character relationships well, but it seemed to promise action that never came, and the solution to the mystery was disappointing (to me).

Maybe it would be different if I had background from her other books.

I did give an extra star for Overall because Sagara was mature enough to exclude profanity and inappropriate content. I will give her other books a try.