I love him.
Even after three years, saying so astounds me. Spoken. Written. Aloud. Shared. I love him, he loves me, and sometimes he rests a hand in my wolf’s fur while posed on the throne and every inch a ruler, and when in human shape I spoke my marriage-vows to him I thought I might shapeshift into a pool of gold out of sheer magical happiness.
Quote from Bisclavret by K.L. Noone
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I absolutely adore K.L. Noone’s writing (search her name on my blog and you’ll find many, many posts of me gushing about her books and her writing), and a couple weeks ago, I picked up a book of hers I’d bought a long time ago but never gotten around to reading. Bisclavret.
A very long time ago, in the very old forests of Brittany, a werewolf loved a king …
The Lord Bisclavret has a secret. A family enchantment. A wolf’s curse, transforming him when the moon is full. He hopes to be a good lord for his people, and he’s always been a loyal king’s man, even if the new king is inexperienced and scholarly. But one betrayal might leave him trapped in wolf-shape forever … unless his king can save him.
Andreas would rather be a University scholar than a king, and has no interest in a royal marriage — desire’s always come slowly, if at all. But he loves his kingdom, so he’ll try to protect it, even when rumors of a man-killing wolf spread across his land. He’ll pick up a sword and go out on a hunt, and hope to keep his people safe.
But the wolf has the eyes of a man, and the scholar-king’s knowledge of folklore and fairy-stories might break a werewolf’s curse … with the help of love.
Very loosely based on the twelfth-century story by Marie de France, Bisclavret features a bisexual werewolf lord, a demisexual king who’d rather be a scholar, some exasperated men-at-arms, and very important stolen clothing.
This book. My friends, this book! 😍 It’s poetic and beautiful and romantic and everything I love about stories. I don’t really know how to describe it other than Bisclavret became my new favorite K.L. Noone book, one of my favorite shifter books of all time (tied to first place with Shifting Silver by Brandon Witt), and definitely one of my top 10 reads of 2021.
If you’re only gonna buy one more book this year, I recommend this one. 10 stars ❤️
Nell Iris 