Title: Wold and Iron
Author: Gordon R. Dickson
Published: 1990
Author’s Wikipedia page: Gordon R. Dickson
Genre: Science Fiction

Review:  The Foreword by Harry Frank, Ph.D. pretty much sets the tone for this book. It explains how Gordon Dickson spent a good deal of time researching wolves and asked Dr. Frank to consult on his book to ensure he got Wolf’s behavior correct. Unfortunately, with this information in the back of my mind, I kept wondering if Mr. Dickson had decided to write a book on wolves, but wanted to make it fiction to try to reach a wider audience.

The book is well-written and has a decent premise for a “post-apocalyptic” story. Instead af a physical catastrophe, this story is set shortly after a global economic collapse and finds the protagonist, Jeebee, trying to get to his brother’s ranch. He tries to avoid contact with people since there’s no telling who’s friendly and who’s going to do harm. During one encounter, he finds himself leaving the town in the company of a wolf, who becomes a fairly constant companion for the remainder of the story. Jeebee has a few more encounters over the course of the story and, as I said, the writing is good, but not very exciting. For me, this could have been a novella, but I guess that wouldn’t have provided enough time to adequately describe the breadth and depth of wolf behavior.

Bottom Line:   I was fairly bored for most of the 468 pages. This one will not be on my re-read list and will be donated back to a used book store.