Wolfbreed

Religion and political intrigue turn an adolescent werewolf into a killing machine in this compelling novel of 13th-century Northern Europe. Eighteen-year-old Lilly is superhumanly strong, vulnerable only to silver and trained to help Christians subdue unrepentant pagans. When she slaughters a dozen Christian soldiers and flees into the wilderness, Uldolf, the son of Johnsburg's last pagan chieftain, takes her in. As they come to terms with their histories, the knight Erhard von Stendal comes to hunt Lilly down. Lilly's struggle to reconcile her split personalities—cold assassin and lonely girl—becomes a quest for redemption and love as she endures rape, amnesia and the knowledge of her own terrible actions in the church's service. Swann (Prophets ) turns opposing viewpoints into sympathetic perspectives, clearly painting the complex political and religious dynamics of the time. (Sept.)