#wolf tower

I don't know how many people remember The Claidi Journals nowadays, but I used to reread them regularly. Recently I picked them up again for the first time in ten, twelve, maybe close to fifteen years, curious if they'd hold up. They feel so much of their time, the late 90s, early 2000s, and as we all know, YA fantasy has changed significantly since then. I've also read a lot more Tanith Lee books since that time and was curious to see how the journals compare to her adult work.

Well -- I think they hold up. They're not high art, they're not perfect, but they're still extremely enjoyable. While they're not adult books, I think I did appreciate them more now that I'm older. Looking at the books and their publishing material, it was always very clear that the journals were first envisioned as a trilogy -- Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, and Wolf Queen -- and the fourth one, Wolf Wing, was kind of tacked on and felt separate (unnecessary?) But on this reread, I ended up feeling that Wolf Wing was pretty vital in rounding out the story. Even though it directly contradicts the ending of Wolf Queen, the original ending, in a very key way concerning Claidi's character and how she sees herself.

As for Tanith Lee's other works, The Claidi Journals weren't my first Taniths, but they were my favorites for a very long time. Having read so many more of her books subsequently, I can see how she loved returning to the same themes, and even world-design elements, time and time again. Some readers might find it redundant, but I don't mind. In a way, it's kind of comforting, as I feel like, as a writer, there are ideas I want to repeatedly explore. If Tanith Lee can do it, I suppose I can.

Speaking of, I've always known Tanith Lee was an influence on my writing style. Particularly the Claidi books -- their conversational grammar-bending tone, her unexpected use of imagery, the way she slants familiar things to make them bizarre and fantastical, her use of absurdity and humor. Rereading these books, I could glance back at different instances of my own writing and see it so clearly: Look at that, I'm still trying to sound like her sometimes.

Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee

All her life, Claidi has endured hardship in the House, where she must obey a spoiled princess. Then a golden stranger arrives, living proof of a world beyond the House walls. Claidi risks all to free the charming prisoner and accompanies him across the Waste toward his faraway home. It is a difficult yet marvelous journey, and all the while Claidi is at the side of a man she could come to love. That is, until they reach his home . . . and the Wolf Tower.

Traveling Book Project Wrap-Up

Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee

So sorry this has taken so long! I had a lot of fun participating in the Traveling Book Project organized by @youthbookreview. Thank you so much for taking the time to coordinate everything and being understanding.

Also thanks to everyone in my group! It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed reading all your annotations in my book and the others being passed around. @tinynavajoreads @srwhitehead @thecalmbeforeandafterthestorm @and--thats--who--i--am @graciousshadows

I got my traveling book! So, two birds with one stone as this is also my:

Tiny Navajo Currently Reads: Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee.

Headcanon songs - The Claidi Journals

Stiff and chilled, I got up and walked toward the river, and in a little while I walked along beside it, until the land curved upward to the sun. As I climbed this slope, I saw a shimmer on the air below the sun's disk. And when I got to the hill's top, I realized the shimmer to be other hills, far off. They were a parched whitish color. To my right the river coiled away through the hillside and vanished—was gone. Just a steaminess left behind. Between this area and the far-off, pale, and dry-looking hills was a huge and terrible nothing. I mean, obviously something was there. But the something was nothing. A stretch of land—or sand—or dust—with vague shadows in it; and tilted bits the sun was still catching, but no actual shapes. Like a tree, a shrub, but certainly nothing like a building. Nothing I could recognize. This seemed to go on for miles and miles, so much further than the Garden land around the House. I looked back then, the way exiles sometimes do in the paintings in the Black Marble Corridor. Dawn bloomed honey and rose against the high walls I had left forever. Birds were flying over them. It looked safe and gentle and beautiful. But it was a dream, and I'd woken up. I looked out at the Waste again. I swallowed.

Going through my old folders I found this old fan art for The Claidi Journals (Wolf Tower, etc). I used to love that series, both for its narrative style and its offbeat tone.