2007-04-22 Book 2 of "The Sons of Destiny" series

"The Wolf" is JJ's second book in her intended octology, a series following eight exiled magical brothers as they find their destined wives and fulfil the "Curse of Eight" prophecy. In this book's prequel "The Sword", the eldest brother Saber is matched to the fiery Kelly Doyle, a woman portended to bring disaster on her heels. Now the time has arrived for his twin brother Wolfer "the Wolf", mage of shape shifting and hunting to find his destined mate; a woman who will bind him with a chain of silk.

Unlike Kelly, Wolfer's future wife is a native of their magical world; Alys of Devries, a woman who fell in love with Wolfer the first time she met him (at three years old). In his presence, the timid Alys would become daring, intent on doing anything to remain by Wolfer's side. Yet following the death of her parents, she finds herself under the "protection" of her uncle, Broger. An evil mage, we learn that it is Broger behind the malicious and deadly attacks which occur against the brothers in "The Sword". Reminding her uncle of the value of her virgin price keeps Broger from molesting Alys, but not from physical abuse and an array of spells wrapped around her, allowing her uncle to track her movements and use her very life force for his magic.

Under the long distance tutelage of Morganen (the youngest and most powerful of the eight brothers) the spell to counteract Broger's hold over Alys takes nearly three years; a time in which Alys endures the beatings and sexual overtures of her uncle. It is not until he sells her in marriage that she is able to take action and finally release herself from his control. Able to shape shift, she takes a variety of forms to reach the only destination she'll feel safe; the forbidden Nightfall, the isolated island home of Wolfer and his exiled brothers.

This is another great story from JJ and a highly recommended sequel to the wonderful "The Sword". Again all the brothers feature heavily, excluding the next brother to meet his match; Dominor. Kidnapped by a race of men unable to practice magic, the powerful mage is set for a battle of the sexes when he meets his match in mind and will. We also uncover slightly more of Evanor's cryptic part of the prophecy and in fact it is he who suffers the greatest loss when the brothers face off Broger.

This is not just a simple love story between Wolfer and Alys; we also have plenty of action and humour. Kelly is definitely toned down in this book; however she's still Queen of Nightfall at weekends and holidays. In no time she is instructing the gentle Alys in the arts of Kung Fu; whilst in turn we discover Alys definitely has a temper of her own when released from the control of her uncle and a steely determination to get her man. Morganen confesses the magnitude of his magical abilities to his family, and in fact the normally mild mannered youngest brother could be called somewhat manipulative; understandably so when he has to ensure all his brothers are wed before he can claim his own wife. I now have quite a wait before the story of Dominor in "The Master" makes it into print in Sept 07 and unfortunately no details of Evanor's story are available yet. As previously stated, at the end of this book Evanor "The Voice" suffers a great loss; however as Morganen points out, it's all part of the prophecy.