Normally, I very much enjoy books set in the times when modern America was just shaping up: the combination of cowboys, Indians and military men, and the often rough way of life are enough to form a sizzling basis for a story. However, The Princess and the Wolf not only failed to light a fire under me, it left me cold. The final condemning factors for me were the umpteen history lessons that bogged down any semblance of plot, and the unlikable hero and heroine, about whom you will hear more later.

Set in the 1820’s, The Princess and the Wolf fictionalizes the life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, who charmed a European Prince. As we learn in the author’s foreword, the two friends eventually set sail together for Europe, where Baptiste was given a royal education. When they returned to the Americas they parted on unfriendly terms, with Baptiste becoming a mountain man and a highly skilled scout. The author finishes the opening note with the question: why did such formerly good friends never communicate again? Why did Baptiste never marry? Author Kay’s fictionalized story of Charbonneau, the first in the Clans of the Wolf series, is royally mucked up by the addition of a snotty princess and a huge Big Misunderstanding that lasts a decade.

The story opens with teenage Princess Sierra ordering her maid Maria to pack her things as she has planned to run away to be with High Wolf, the adopted American Indian Prince enjoying the highlights of European royal life after being brought from America by his close friend, Prince Alathom. (Sierra and Alathom are Germans. My first thoughts on reading these ridiculous names was, what’s wrong with good old Heinrich or Gertrud?) Sierra and High Wolf’s plans to run away are thwarted by an evil priest who convinces High Wolf that the princess wants nothing to do with him, and vice versa. Thereafter a Big Misunderstanding of epic proportions ensues, with High Wolf leaving for the Americas, convinced that Alathom and Sierra are married, while Sierra thinks High Wolf has been bribed into leaving her. Meanwhile, Alathom disappeaers and his marriage to Sierra takes place by proxy. This first part of the story demonstrated stilted, unnatural conversation, over-long speeches, and dull characters. My fiction-loving heart was already drooping after only 10 pages or so of reading.

This book contains lengthy passages of prose with not a sign of dialogue for miles; a pace that goes so slowly it seems to go nowhere; and a didactic writing style that tells you rather than shows you what the author wants you to know. An example of what I’m talking about is this little oration, out of the mouth of the teenage Sierra:

“I refuse to believe that the color of one’s skin, one’s heritage, one’s chance of birth, makes for a good or a great man. Only a person’s heart, his kindness, and his sympathy for the affliction of others makes a man great.”

That’s not credible from either a thwarted teenager or a German princess, and all in all a pretty boring and pontificating speech altogether. Also, there are many places where the author suddenly recounts a bit of backstory through one of the characters in a way that is completely inappropriate. For example, Sierra’s maid Maria, in conversation with Sierra, declares: “With both my parents killed, and with me left in the care of an indifferent uncle, my plight looked hopeless.” Whereby Sierra launches into the rest of the melodramatic tale. Two old friends wouldn’t suddenly recount events to each other like that, and dropping boring chunks of old history into supposedly casual conversation not only slowed down the pace of the novel, they also made the characters seem ridiculous. This was also the case with the infrequent history lessons, which would also suddenly appear in an unlikely bit of dialogue.

Anyway. The story continues ten years later, with Sierra journeying to the Americas to verify a report that Alathom is dead. Alathom was never an actual husband to her, and she is still a virgin despite being a princess and therefore probably in need of an heir or two. She has nursed a deep hatred of both High Wolf and Alathom for years, but decides to hire High Wolf to be her scout and to lead her to Alathom. When they finally meet again, High Wolf and Sierra spend a long time figuring out that the Big Misunderstanding was not the fault of the other, while the plot is contrived to leave the two alone together in order to breathe life back into “relationship.”

The pace of this novel is incredibly slow. Not only does nothing much happen, but much of the infrequent action is contrived to bring these two bodily together. For instance, at one point they are hiding from an Indian raid on Sierra’s steamboat, inside a hollow tree trunk, forced to remain pressed together, wet and half-naked in order to stop Sierra from shivering – which could cause ripples in the water which might alert hostile Indians. The author’s heavy handed way of throwing the two together did nothing for their romance.

To add to the slow-moving plot, the umpteen flashbacks to Sierra and High Wolf’s backstory were there to bog things down just when you think something is finally going to happen. Also, High Wolf has the annoying habit of thinking the same thought twice, once in his native Indian tongue and then again so we stupid readers will get it. It simply isn’t believable that anyone would use two languages to think the same thing twice. To cap this off, so many sentences started with cheesy phrases like “alas,” “In truth,” “Truth to tell,” “In faith,” and “In Sooth,” that I found myself circling them with a red pen and groaning aloud at each one. They were countless.

In a good book, the heroine is someone special: captivating, charming, witty. Sierra is deadly dull yet chatters so much that when the hero threatens to gag her, you are willing him to do so. Also I felt that the novel relied rather too heavily on the mystical element of High Wolf’s “scout magic,” which for me stretched this thinly evinced fiction rather too far.

To sum up, there was not one redeeming quality about this book. I was hoping for an interesting, exciting story, with a lovable hero and a charming heroine. If those are the elements you are seeking, my advice is to steer clear of The Princess and the Wolf.