Immersed in the story, I forgot all about the unreality of its situation.ĭiane Rapp spins a good tale with a fascinating cast of well-developed characters. I was completely hooked by the time I read the second paragraph, and I didn't even bat an eye when I found myself another thousand years farther into the future. I don't read a lot of recent science fiction or fantasy, and I was having trouble seeing the 25th century world through the eyes of a sentient wolf-like creature living in a different solar system.

I was a bit dubious as I began reading Howl of the Wolf. The wolves make telepathic contact and decide to protect Donovan’s pack from the assassin who is determined to kill their doctor and captain. Fortunately the Transfer process enhanced the natural talents of each person and might give them an advantage. Faced with superstitions, hatred, and eminent danger, the crew must adapt to a feudal society without using modern tools or weapons. When the king proclaims the Zebulon’s captain his heir, Donovan must compete for the crown to protect his crew. They encounter a dying king and hereditary lords who hate spacers. They picked the remote planet of Drako for their exile.

When the medical spaceship Zebulon flees from an Institute death sentence, they don’t know an assassin infiltrated the crew. Individuals were virtual slaves to Institute rules, but the inventors of Transfer became a threat. Governments toppled and war left the Institute in total control. Every fifty years (a span) an individual qualified for Transfer but the tradeoff was large debt to the Institute. In civilized space scientists invented Transfer, a means to insure immortality by moving a human mind into a clone-free of hereditary defects. Anyone caught with spacer tools or weapons could be executed. Distaste for technology mutated into superstitious hatred. After several generations the monarchy revolted against technology and closed Drako to offworld visitors. Settlers became feudal lords, desert sheiks, oriental samurai, and ordinary peasants depending on their level of investment.

The wolves watch as colonists develop Drako into a recreation planet for wealthy tourists. When a colony ship lands on Drako, the wolves try to communicate but find no intelligent creatures to speak with them. It proves suitable for colonization, but a society of telepathic wolves already occupies the world. Drako is a planet on the fringe of civilized space.

Howl of the Wolf by Diane Rapp