Don’t Call the Wolf

For 17 years, the forest and the Moving Mountains in the Kingdom of Kamiena have been living in the shadow of the Golden Dragon and all the monsters that came with it. The Dragon blocked the sun and destroyed the castle, killing the Queen and her baby daughter. The King and his knights went to kill the Dragon, but each knight quickly fell victim to the forest and the Dragon. Eventually, the villagers left the forest, and it was left to the Wolf Lords on the mountain to kill the Dragon and take back their Kingdom.

The Wolf Lords are the 19 Smokówi brothers of Hala Smokow from the Moving Mountains. They formed the Brygada Smoka, Dragon Slayers, of the King’s army. The brothers spent 17 years fighting the monsters and lesser dragons throughout the Kingdom. But they could not resist the call of the mountains. One by one, each brother left the others behind to go home. They are believed to have died on the way. The last brother, Lukasz Smokówi, never heard the call home, and he stayed behind to continue to fight the monsters. During one such mission at the university, Lukas’s sword hand gets burned, and he ends up in the hospital for two months. When he is well enough to travel, he realizes his fighting days are over, and he vows to find the last of his brothers, Franciszek, who left him two days before his accident. Lukasz believes he can find his brother alive before the forest takes him too.

Meanwhile, the Queen of the forest has been trying to save her home as well. Ren, 17, is half human and half lynx. In her human form, she is tall with tanned skin, dark hair, and green eyes. She grew up with her lynx family when the Golden Dragon first attacked. Along with her brother Rys, a lynx, and her friend Czarn, a wolf, she fights back the monsters in her forest, dreaming of the day the Golden Dragon is killed and her forest is back to normal.

After killing a group of strzyga (humans who have died and their second soul takes over, turning them into zombie-like creatures), Ren is found by Lukasz bathing in the river. Before either can make a move, the Golden Dragon appears. Lukasz tries to fight it while Ren watches from the trees in her lynx form. Ren is amazed he did not run, and she thinks he might be able to help her. But after she saves him from a rusalka who tries to drown him, Lukasze pulls his sword on her and she runs.

Shaken by his encounter with the rusalka, Lukasz rides to the nearest village. There he meets Koszmar Styczen, a Major in the late-King’s army. Koszmar is handsome, smart, and arrogant. Curious about this newcomer, he helps Lukasz by leading him to an old “friend”, Jakub Rybak. Jakub is an unnaturalist who studies the different monsters of the forest. Six years before, the brothers met him while fighting a dragon. Jakub left with Henryk, and neither was seen again. When Lukasz finds Jakub, his face has been disfigured. He caught a wolf to study it, but, unbeknownst to Jakub, the wolf was Ren’s friend Czarn, and she attacked him to save the wolf.

Lukasz asks Jakub to guide him through the forest, but, before he can respond, they hear a scream in the village. Ren had tried to find Lukasz to ask for his help, but the villagers believed her to be a monster and attacked her out of fear. Lukasz and Koszmar knock her out and take her to a clearing in the forest. Jakub and a village girl named Felka, a friend of Jakub’s, follow them. When Ren gains consciousness, she escapes, but Felka goes after her. The others are attacked by nawia, and Felka begs Ren to save them. Ren does save them with the help of Rys and Czarn, but Lukasz ends up with a deep cut on his shoulder from one of the creatures, a wound that causes him great pain and trouble later on.

Ren and Lukasz make a deal to help each other: Ren will lead him through the forest to help him find his brother, and Lukasz agrees to kill the Dragon. However, because of his hand, Lukasz does not intend to keep his side of the bargain. Koszmar, Jakub, and Felka agree to help them both.

The unlikely group meets the Leszy, god and protector of the woods. He is described as a tiny man, waist-high, covered in brown fur, and with a long grey beard. The Leszy takes them underground to his home. Lukasz trades his silver cross for information on how to kill the Dragon. The Leszy tells them that the Golden Dragon can be found in its lair on the Glass Mountain. It can only be killed on the mountain with a glass sword that is found in Hala Smokow. The Leszy also tells Ren that she is Irena, the baby princess believed to have died when the Dragon first attacked. When they leave Leszy’s lair, Ren and Lukasz argue but come to an uneasy truce as they make their way to the Glass Mountain. Ren is conflicted with who she is and how little she knows about the outside world. Lukasz's shoulder is getting worse, and he feels guilty for lying to Ren and realizes that he has growing feelings for her.

Strzyga attack the group, and Rys is overtaken and falls into a pit while the Dragon burns the forest around them. Koszmar takes his own life. Knowing the risk of their task, Ren and Lukasz decide to continue on their own while Jakub, Felka, and Czarn return to the village which is being overrun by more strzyga. When Lukasz and Ren make it to Hala Smokow, they meet the domowik, guardians of the family and household. Lukasz realizes he is dying, and a domowik tells him how Ren can kill the Dragon herself. Ren finds the glass sword, and they spend the night together dancing.

The next day, Lukasz leads Ren up the Mountain in a snowstorm to the cottage of Baba Jaga. Both are willing to trade something to save the other, but Baba Jaga decides to heal Lukasz and help Ren rather than eat them. With Lukasz now healed and Ren having more courage, they reach the bottom of the Glass Mountain and find Franciszek alive. Ren climbs up the Glass Mountain in her lynx form and locates the Dragon’s lair, a castle. Inside the castle, Ren meets Queen Dagmara, her mother. The Queen explains that the Dragon did not come to harm the Kingdom but to protect it from the monsters, especially from the strzyga. Her husband did not listen to her and instead of the knights perishing against the Dragon, the Queen had the Dragon put them all in a deep sleep, including Lukasz’s brothers, until they are called upon to fight. The Queen and the Dragon put Ren in the care of her lynx family to keep her safe.

Ren is overwhelmed and untrusting of the Queen but realizes that strzyga are coming. She meets up with Lukasz when Koszmar appears, seemingly alive. Koszmar brags how he was reborn with his second soul and that he killed Franciszek. A horde of hungry strzyga have followed him. Ren attacks him, but Koszmar shoots her. Lukasz fights him and pushes him off the edge of the mountain with the help of the Dragon. He kisses Ren, and she wakes in her human form. The Dragon wakes all of the soldiers who have tried to climb the mountain over the years, including all the Wolf Lords. Lukasz and his brothers mourn Franciszek. Ren is recognized by the Dragon as a Queen, and the forest remains her queendom. Lukasz vows to marry her.

Don’t Call the Wolf is inspired by the Polish fairytale, “The Glass Mountain”. The story has a medieval tone complete with dragons, knights and a kingdom that needs saving. Yet, there are touches of modernism with the mention of projectors, newspapers, and hospitals. The plot is well-constructed by building on the history of the Wolf Lords through glimpses of Lukasz’s past and letting readers figure out who Ren really is. The connection between Lukasz and Ren is obvious from the beginning, but Ross builds the complex relationship throughout the story. Lukasz is not always honest and struggles with the loss of his brothers while Ren learns to accept the help from humans and becomes aware that she does not fully understand the outside world.

Described as smart and beautiful, Ren is loved by all, even Baba Jaga, but she is also stubborn and understands she has much to learn. These traits help to make Ren more relatable. Lukasz felt disconnected from his brothers because he never heard the call of the Mountains, but he still has a very strong family connection that he maintains throughout the book.

Jakub, Felka, and Kozsmar each have their own interesting past. Jakub’s history with both the Wolf Lords and with Ren allows him to act as a bridge between the two, and his wisdom about the forest helps propel the group forward. His relationship with Felka is sweet, but her character felt as though she was an afterthought. Kozsmar is at first mysterious and complex as readers get to know his background. He comes off as arrogant yet caring, but his untimely end did not make sense to his character development and what strzyga are explained to be. Rys and Czarn were easily lovable, but there was not as strong of a connection with Ren as there could have been.

The ending comes across as rushed, with some scenes not very well explained and, therefore, did not seem overly possible. The climax of the arrival of the Golden Dragon and the strzygia ends up being underwhelming and looked over. The realization that the Golden Dragon is not evil but on the side of the humans is also not discussed at length. However, knowing what happens with Ren, Lukasz, and the rest of the group is satisfying. Overall, Ross’ worldbuilding is well-done, and readers get a glimpse into polish folklore with plenty of mythical creatures. The fairytale setting is perfect for fantasy lovers.