Sharrukin's Palace

The Wolf Queen by Marie McCurdy

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Wolf Queen is an historical novel, set in the time of the early Roman Empire, but focusing on the peoples of Germania across the Rhine. It’s a bloody and violent story about a major incident in the relationship between Rome and its “barbarian” neighbors. It’s also a very sexy and involving love story.

Thusnelda is the daughter of a chieftain of the Cherusci tribe of the Germani. As a girl, she was once betrothed to a young Cherusci warrior named Ermin, but he was captured by the Romans and taken, as far as Thusnelda knows, into slavery. Thusnelda grows up a warrior-woman in her own right, working behind the scenes to prop up her rather ineffectual father and brothers in their position as the leading family of the Cherusci. In fact, she rather despises her family, who are loyal clients of the Roman Empire, and secretly she burns for German freedom.

Early in the story, we see Thusnelda and another German girl assaulted by a Roman patrol. They defend themselves fiercely, killing several Roman soldiers, before being overcome. Thusnelda is brought before the Roman governor of Germania, Publius Quinctilius Varus. The governor reprimands the soldiers and lets Thusnelda go . . . but not before she sees her once-betrothed for the first time in years. Ermin is now calling himself “Arminius” in the Roman style, and he is not only a Roman citizen but also a commander of auxiliary troops under Varus.

Much of the novel is devoted to the efforts of Thusnelda and Arminius to foment a revolt against Roman authority. Thusnelda doesn’t trust Arminius at first, and the two of them often work at cross-purposes. Meanwhile, Thusnelda’s rebellious activities alienate her from the rest of her Roman-loyalist family. Her new fiancé, a chieftain of the Chatti tribe named Reimar, suspects she is becoming romantically involved with Arminius and becomes increasingly hostile. Thusnelda spends most of the story torn among conflicting loyalties, especially after she realizes she does still have feelings for Arminius.

The astute reader will know from the beginning how the historical story will turn out: the German revolt of 9 AD and the famous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Ms. McCurdy’s retelling of these events is very well-researched and plausible, reflecting what little is known about German society and political culture at that time. She does a great job of taking the available sources – all of them Roman and not necessarily credible – and treating them with critical attention. In particular, her reinterpretation of the documented relationship between Thusnelda and Arminius was very credible.

If anything, I was surprised when this novel drew to a close, because I knew Thusnelda’s story was far from over. I understand Ms. McCurdy plans a sequel, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what she does with that.

The narrative flow here is very smooth. The story is told entirely from Thusnelda’s first-person viewpoint, and we get a good look at her opinions and reactions to everything that happens. Exposition is very gracefully handled; Ms. McCurdy rarely succumbs to the temptation for an “information dump,” instead painting a picture of the time and place entirely through Thusnelda’s eyes. Very nicely done for a debut novel.

Readers should be aware that the story is full of graphic language, explicit scenes of violence, and a few very explicit sex scenes. I caught a few copy- and line-editing stumbles, but they were rare and never had the effect of pulling me out of the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Wolf Queen, and I’m certainly looking forward to anything else Ms. McCurdy might create. Very highly recommended.