The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodwiss

2.5 Stars

My rating remains unchanged after this reread. I first read it when I was approx. eleven years old. While I like the medieval period enormously, the Norman invasion and the shifting politics, I still have parts of the story that don't quite work for me.

Aislinn is the daughter, only child, of the Lord of Darkenwald when Norman invaders take over, killing her father, and raping her. Yes, this is an old school bodice ripper, so it is problematic in many ways by today's standards. You could have many discussions about consent: rape, forced submission, abuse of power, and even pleasure's complication in understanding that it does not denote consent.

I'm not going to dissect or complain about that in the review. I guess my main grievance with the story is the version of miscommunication, here. To be fair, the power imbalance of conqueror and conquered creates a whole slew of issues from loyalty to honesty to trust that hinder communication. Add in stoicism and past abuse and you have limited characters abilities to interact in a healthy manner. And this is why this book rates three stars for me and not lower.

There is an intrinsic difference between tattling or failing to resolve your own problems and safety and welfare. Aislinn, even after being told directly and indirectly, refuses or is unable to address issues with Wulfgar regarding not only her own personal well being, but Darkenwald's as well. Frankly, the first failure I get. The second, which is Aislinn's main motivation for remaining after the invasion, to care for the inhabitants is an enormous fail. She fails personally and as a leader, and all the small individual triumphs of her actions are overshadowed. Ugh.

Wulfgar, a bastard son, raised by others as was the custom in training young men has understandable and formidable emotional issues. He has no ability to interact beyond contracted male/female roles. He has the emotional age of maybe nine years old, and compounded by abuse and abandonment means he's raw and has to learn not only how to behave with Aislinn beyond sexual congress, which he is surprisingly good at for someone with little regard for females, but also understand his own feelings.

Hampered protagonists trying to fight their way to love from an inauspicious start. Fine. This might be a bit belabored, but it is realistic in timescale. The part that made it feel really slow was all the countryside wandering, I guess there needs to be something going on while Wulfgar and Aislinn are trying to figure things out. The mismanagement of risk assessments I suppose is what really didn't work for me. It allowed problems to fester and grow and become huge and potentially catastrophic.