Chances are that if you are familiar with any type of wolf xenofiction at all, you've heard of Jack London's Call of the Wild and/or White Fang, both stories focusing on (wolf)dogs in the cold North during the late 1800s/early 1900s. There are some similarities between his works and Curwood's, with Curwood possibly being inspired by London's writing. So let's take a look at one of those! Spoilers ahead.
In this book we follow the titular wolf-husky hybrid Kazan, who flees into the wild due to his past abuse of men. Here he meets his future mate, Gray Wolf, and from here on the story pretty much follows his life. Several times in the story Kazan is tempted by his more domestic instincts to venture close to human or consort with dogs, but in the end he always remains loyal to his Gray Wolf, who is blinded early on in the story.
Kazan was an overall all right read. Not spectacular, but not bad, either. It feels a bit like a diet Jack London novel, but different, too. I could definitely tell that these were written by different authors. Some people say they prefer this one over Jack London's works. I'm going to have to say that it really depends on personal preference. I prefer London's wolfish dog novels more, but if you like Curwood's Kazan (and other works) better, who am I to judge.
I appreciate that this book really delves both into exploring life in the wild and the life with humans. Call Of The Wild and White Fang were great, but they mostly explored the title character living with humans. While there is more time spent in the wild in Kazan, there is definitely a heavy emphasis on Kazan's struggle whether to stay in the wild or return to the loving woman. Kazan tends to lean more towards the wild because the woman, Joan, temporarily moves away to the south, and because Gray Wolf is blind and cannot survive without Kazan guiding her.
That said, the flipflopping of Kazan could by some be seen as annoying. One time he gives into his dog instincts, the other he instantly goes back to the wild, then he suddenly acts like a dog again, and then he's a feral once more. It keeps going back and forth quite a bit, though the conclusion is satisfying (at least to me). After being wild for a long time, Kazan gets captured by a malicious man, and stays like that for a while, until he finally manages to break free and goes on a journey to find Gray Wolf. They meet again at the place where they first lost their pups and howl together. This howling is heard by Joan, who is returning to the cabin, implying that Kazan might pay her a visit in the future.
I did find it kind of hard to stay invested sometimes. The part with the beavers kind of bored me and didn't feel all that thrilling. However, I cared enough about the book to keep going.
The character of Kazan is a decent one. I do think that he is less interesting than, say, White Fang, mostly because there is less flipflopping with that wolfdog, but he is still all right. His undying loyalty to Gray Wolf is something to be admired, and it's interesting to see how he progresses and grows to hate certain animals (such as lynxes) or people after they wrong him.
The weirdly spiritual part with the forest spirit (or whatever it was) felt really off, mostly because it was never really mentioned before or after it was brought up, so I think that that was very odd. But it's barely there so I guess not a major flaw.
If you just want an adventure book in the spirit of Call Of The Wild or White Fang, I'd definitely recommend this one. You might even find yourself liking it more than those, though it isn't the case for me. I can recommend this book to dog lovers and wolf lovers. Just beware that there is some animal abuse in it, as well as language I guess. The book also spawned a sequel: Baree, Son of Kazan, which I'll have a look at later.
Rating: 4/5
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