Review: Empire of Wild

 

I didn't know what to expect when I heard that this is a book with a rogarou involved. I used to live in the Southern US and the Cajun culture also has rogarou legends so I was interested to see how the stories of the Metis in Canada and the Cajuns in Louisiana overlapped. (By the way, rogarou comes from the French loup-garou which is a werewolf.)

Empire of Wild turned out to be fun. Fun as in horror fun, not a bunch of laughs and jokes. The beliefs and customs of the traditional Metis, such as the older women Mere and Ajean, were fascinating. It was interesting how some traditions found in First Nations' Canada are also found in the Southern US. For instance, Ajean put 13 items on her welcome mat because a Rogarou has an obsession to count things, but can't count over 12. You can stop one in its tracks by giving it 13 things to count. By the same token, some people in the South put a colander out because a supernatural being has an obsession to count and will have to count all the holes in the strainer--ending up counting until sunrise when they have to leave.

Well, that has little to do with the book. It's a fun book with a lot of interesting culture that many of us are unfamiliar with.