Wolves, Titans, and Troubled Tongues

Secrets of Stone

A review of Secrets of Stone by Coltrane Seesequasis

Published on March 12, 2025

Secrets of Stone is Coltrane Seesequasis’ first book, and Book One of the A Wolf in the Sun saga from Kegedonce Press. The story takes place in the Four Territories, a continent inhabited by sentient wolves with the power to control the elements, and by their enemies – giant, vengeful spiders. Silversong, a young wolf full of untapped potential, is given the chance to prove his worth when his pack, the Whistle-Wind wolves, are attacked by a group of outcasts. These outcast wolves are led by The Heretic, an exile who seeks to overturn the oppressive Wolven Code and usher in a new, equitable world order. The book follows Silversong on his journey to undermine the Heretic’s ambitions. Along the way, he discovers a number of disturbing secrets about himself and the world he thought he knew.

Secrets of Stone
Coltrane Seesequasis

Kegedonce Press
$25.00
paper
254pp
9781928120421

Every sentence in Secrets of Stone shows how intimately familiar the author and his editor are with the world they have created. Meticulous attention is paid to various quirks in the wolves’ speech and mannerisms, a constant reminder that these characters are not human. Unfortunately, the same attentiveness is not extended to the individual personalities of various characters, especially where dialogue is concerned. Exchanges between characters come off as unnatural and awkward, as wolves of vastly different ages, convictions, and motivations speak in the same stilted, childlike manner. (It was particularly hard to ignore the countless instances of “?!” used to express any shift in tone or emotion.) These elements make it difficult for readers to connect with Silversong and his friends, as opposed to the more mature Heretic, for example, and to understand the moral and ethical beliefs that motivate the heroes and villains of the story.

These flaws in the writing style are, however, absent from the sections of the book concerned with the lore and history of the Four Territories. In these chapters, readers learn about the Titans – gods that take the shape of creatures from the land, sea, and sky, representing both predator and prey – who fought to defeat a human civilization threatening to destroy the world’s delicate natural balance during the War of Change. The Titans are portrayed with more detail and care than the wolf protagonists, and are written in a more classic fantasy style than the rest of the book. Though this inconsistency in writing is jarring, these animal gods show much promise for the remaining books in the series. Fans of Rick Riordan are sure to recognize the narrative potential of deeply flawed divine beings on a quest to reclaim their former power.

Seesequasis’ series demonstrates a great deal of imaginative promise, and readers who enjoyed Warrior Cats, Teen Wolf, or Guardians of Ga’Hoole will likely be drawn to his lupine protagonists (and all manner of other creatures encountered along the way). Without revealing too much about the story, it is equally important to applaud the author’s skillful integration of a queer character into the novel in a way that complements, rather than overshadows, other important plot elements. In this way, the author avoids the overdone “coming-out” trope, and instead produces a fully fledged, inclusive YA fantasy. One hopes that future books in the series will offer more insight into the history of the Four Territories and help flesh out the wolves who live there.mRb

Karolina Roman loves translation, exercise, knitting, and awful television programming.