Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold

Firekeeper, the human raised by the humanly intelligent noble wolves and her companion and love, the noble wolf Blind Seer, have recovered from the disease querinalo which brought such changes to the island of Nexus and her friends. The Meddler, a trickster-like immortal who was given immortality through the loss of his human body, has convinced Firekeeper that she should go in search of the source of querinalo, so that it can be eliminated from the human lands before it can infect the new world.

Firekeeper doesn't need to be persuaded by the Meddler's tricks. She agrees on her own that it would be a good thing to do. But who would make such a thing? Through researches and the memories of those who survived the disease, as well as the diaries of those who survived it many years before, during the first outbreak, they discover a common image in the visions those who became ill experienced: a mountain sheep with golden hooves, diamond horns, and a disconcertingly human laugh at their suffering.

Further research finds that this was a symbol of a sorceror named Virim. Virim had been born in the New World, but was trained for sorcery in the Old. He also felt that humanity should make accomodations with the Noble, or what he called Wise, Beasts, but none of his fellows felt the same. In the end, he left humanity and went west to live with the Wise Beasts. But could he still be alive after so many years?

The attack of querinalo also led to the Nexans closing the gates to both the New and Old Worlds to prevent the spread of the disease. But when Spring comes and the gates to the Old World are not reopened, the Old World nations are severely disrupted by not being able to ship food and various herbal cures for different diseases through the gates. This leads them to come together with the express purpose of going to war on the Nexus islands.

And, on the islands themselves, Tiniel, reft from his link with his sister Isende by the attack of querinalo, sinks into bitterness and despair. Realizing his sister is in love with Derian Carter, he transfers a good deal of hatred and bitterness there, but Derian seems oblivious to Isende's interest. But Tiniel's feelings will give birth to a great betrayal in the future and may spell doom for the Nexus islanders.

This book seems to be the last in the series about Firekeeper and Blind Seer, but the author leaves the door open for a chance of future stories. It does neatly bring to an end the stories of Firekeeper's friends, and the horror that is querinalo, a magical disease that affects those with magical powers or talents and makes them choose between giving up those talents or death. Even those who manage to survive are twisted in some way, either internally or externally. While the disease is not truly gone by the end of the book, it is clear that it will not be such a big problem ever again.

This book not only has a great story, but great characters as well. Though the story is long for a fantasy novel (over 700 pages, not counting the index of the characters at the end), it never feels boring or padded. Firekeeper is an enigma, a human raised by wolves for years, and thus understanding of wolf and noble beast language, but with a human overlay that doesn't cover the wolf she is inside. She becomes more human over the course of the series by wearing human clothing and boots, and learning to wield a human weapon like a bow and arrows, but never becomes completely human, which is very frightening to people who don't know her well. Even though she looks human, she will never be able to love as a human does, as her psychology is too wolf-like. The novel makes it very clear that Firekeeper might seem human, but her thinking is wolf-like, as well as many of her manners, and therefore, the one she loves is also a wolf, her companion, Blind Seer.

The Noble animals who are also characters in the novel are also well-drawn and do not have human outlooks, on life or anything else. This works most interestingly when it comes to portraying the Meddler trying to reason with Firekeeper as a human. He fails, because she is not truly human within. He also must deal with it later, when he takes on a human body to try to make Firekeeper fall in love with him, but she already loves Blind Seer in that way, even though they will never couple nor have cubs together, and he loves her back. This is intolerable to the Meddler, but Firekeeper will not give Blind Seer up to have a relationship with a human just because it is normal or expected.

In any case, this is not a book to simply pick up without reading the previous volumes. It is still somewhat understandable on its own, but it is only with reading the volumes before that all the nuances of the story come alive. Also, many new readers will be driven to distraction by unfamilliar terms (Like marimaimalom) if they have not read the previous books. Otherwise, I wholeheartedly recommend it.