Rating: 
Summary: One of my all-time favorites.
Review: I foundGordon Dickson's "Wolf and Iron" to be a gritty view of aworld thrown into chaos from world financial collapse. The story begins with Jeebee running for his life from a town that he has lived and worked in for five years. He leaves Indiana to seek his brother who lives in Montana, and what follows is basically a "coming of age" story. During his travels and his constant search for food and the daily fight for survival, his path crosses that of a lone wolf. Together they share a bond that is the heart of this story. A man alone, with only an enigmatic wolf for company, creates a fascinating premise that, because of its theme, is extremely sparse on dialogue. Although laborious at times, it is never dull. Dickson has a clear writing style that is not the least bit flowery or poetic, nor should it be for this type of theme. Dickson creates a rugged, bleak, violent-infested world where people don't have the luxury to trust, so it's a `shoot first and ask questions later' type of mentality. However, Dickson also has the tendency to `rehash' certain points over and over, which slows the pace of the novel. There is much to like and learn in "Wolf and Iron", not only about the behavior of the wolf, but also about basic survival. The theme of human societies dissolving down to its most basic level is certainly not new, but is dealt with admirably. Jeebee is no super hero. He is just a young man plunged into a world where everyone and every situation can be extremely dangerous. This reader felt the cold, the fear, the hunger, the lonliness and desperation. The relationship of Jeebee and Merry was interesting, yet, I believe Dickson missed a real opportunity here. Several scenes were done well, yet had potential for so much more. I wished Dickson spent a little more time showing the growth and tension in their relationship--maybe it was a lack of down-to-earth human passion at pivotal moments. These scenes could have sparkled and added greatly to the novel, but alas, they just sort of wavered, then fizzled. All in all, I really enjoyed "Wolf and Iron". Its only element of science fiction is the post apocalyptic setting. It is an adventure story, a coming of age story of survival and bonding. From 1 to 10, I give it a marginal 7. Dickson's "Time Storm", another post apocalyptic novel written 13 years earlier and similar in structure, sparkles in the areas that this novel came up short.
Rating: 
Summary: Gritty
Review: I foundGordon Dickson's "Wolf and Iron" to be a gritty view of aworld thrown into chaos from world financial collapse. The story begins with Jeebee running for his life from a town that he has lived and worked in for five years. He leaves Indiana to seek his brother who lives in Montana, and what follows is basically a "coming of age" story. During his travels and his constant search for food and the daily fight for survival, his path crosses that of a lone wolf. Together they share a bond that is the heart of this story. A man alone, with only an enigmatic wolf for company, creates a fascinating premise that, because of its theme, is extremely sparse on dialogue. Although laborious at times, it is never dull. Dickson has a clear writing style that is not the least bit flowery or poetic, nor should it be for this type of theme. Dickson creates a rugged, bleak, violent-infested world where people don't have the luxury to trust, so it's a 'shoot first and ask questions later' type of mentality. However, Dickson also has the tendency to 'rehash' certain points over and over, which slows the pace of the novel. There is much to like and learn in "Wolf and Iron", not only about the behavior of the wolf, but also about basic survival. The theme of human societies dissolving down to its most basic level is certainly not new, but is dealt with admirably. Jeebee is no super hero. He is just a young man plunged into a world where everyone and every situation can be extremely dangerous. This reader felt the cold, the fear, the hunger, the lonliness and desperation. The relationship of Jeebee and Merry was interesting, yet, I believe Dickson missed a real opportunity here. Several scenes were done well, yet had potential for so much more. I wished Dickson spent a little more time showing the growth and tension in their relationship--maybe it was a lack of down-to-earth human passion at pivotal moments. These scenes could have sparkled and added greatly to the novel, but alas, they just sort of wavered, then fizzled. All in all, I really enjoyed "Wolf and Iron". Its only element of science fiction is the post apocalyptic setting. It is an adventure story, a coming of age story of survival and bonding. From 1 to 10, I give it a marginal 7. Dickson's "Time Storm", another post apocalyptic novel written 13 years earlier and similar in structure, sparkles in the areas that this novel came up short.
Rating:
Summary: Introspective post-acopalyptic novel
Review: Dickson does a great job describing the internal processes in the main character, Jeebee, when he travels across post-social collapse America. At times the book is too centered on Jeebee and the wolf he meets, just outlining the (very few) other people Jeebee meets. The post-acopalyptic North America is incredibly devoid of people, btw. All in all, well worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding adventure floating on the social seas!
Review: Dickson reveals deeply buried instincts and highly charged emotional relationships among individuals while spinning an exciting tale of adventure crossing North America. He uses the Wolf, a highly intelligent yet social animal to bring out the feelings of a man unsure of himself, yet capable of rapid learning under stressful conditions. The breathtaking adventure provides the backdrop for a man to learn about himself, through constant exposure to naturally occuring deadly situations. Dickson's unique capability to compare and contrast the fabric of human life through various human and animal companions is thought-provoking and challenges many assumptions we typically hold about ourselves
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of time
Review: Gordon Dickson has written one of the most boring books of all time. The story moves at a snails pace, lacking supporting characters, our main character is Jeebee (what kind of a name is that!) he is to weak a character to carry the story by himself. The other main is Wolf (again, what kind of a name is that?) He is just an animal, Gordon doesn't even make him special, just a wolf. The story ends in a most unsatisfacory fashion, there is no hope for a future, no real redemptive quality.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Review: I read this book for the first time about 10 years ago. I have read it twice more since. It is simply one of the most enjoyable reads I have ever had. I have been hoping that Gordon comes back to these warm, great characters of Jeebe & Wolf and gives us a second book. It is just a great book. If you share my view of this try to find a copy of Sterling E. Laniers "Hiero's Journey" another great tale of comraderie between a man and his best friend who isn't quite human...
Gordon Dickson's a great writer.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorites.
Review: I read this book in late 1995. I enjoyed it very much, and I will read it again soon. I'm glad I read the reviews because I have been waiting for Gordon to write something like it again and was pleased to hear he wrote something similar 13 years previous, Time Storm. My next read! Gordon if you're reading these reviews, write some more along these lines, you're very good at it.
Rating:
Summary: Take a journey into purgatory with an unusual friend.
Review: I've read several of Dickson's novels, including the famous "Dorsai" books, but my favourite is "Wolf and Iron." It loosely falls into the post-apocalypse genre but focuses on one man's struggle to survive in an era when everyone has turned on each other. Interestingly, Dickson has not relied on nuclear attack or disease to erase society but simple economic collapse, (to my mind, a much more likely cause). Jeeris Belamy Walthar, or Jeebee, was a scientist researching quantitative sociodynamics. Despite foreseeing some sort of collapse, he finds himself less that perfectly prepared for the harsh new world born of riots, murder and isolationism. He is not one of the sort who takes to the times with such fervour; those who's morals are subservient to self-interest. Despite this, he pushes toward his brother's ranch, on the other side of the country. There, he hopes he might preserve his studies and thereby protect the future from continuing the otherwise inevitable cycle of growth and collapse. There are many stories told of loners fighting against incredible odds. What makes this one special is Jeebee's tentative travelling companion, a semi-domesticated Wolf. The two of them are thrown together following a narrow escape from a town that looked too good to be true. Wolf chose Jeebee on the tenuous basis of his smell, a result of his wearing a scavenged leather jacket, previously owned by Wolf's dead owner. Over time they managed to form a supportive arrangement that benefits them both. However, this relationship in no way resembles pet and owner. I particularly enjoyed the way Dickson researched wolf behaviour and how that behaviour translates in combination with humanity. Wolf turns out to be just as important a character as Jeebee and because of that, the novel is almost a buddy story. Perhaps being a science fiction author has inclined Dickson to treat Wolf as a fully-fledged entity, much like one might approach an intelligent Alien race. Wolf may think differently but he has the same rights we are due and is just as worthy of respect. This is not a Disney story but many readers will see the folly of placing humanity on a pedestal above the Animals. No matter what we like to think, we are not so different.
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly Wimpy Apocalypse Fiction
Review: Let me start out by saying that this was the first Gordon Dickson book I've ever read, so if you're a fan you won't like my review. It will also be the last of his books I ever read. I am an ardent fan of end-of-the-world fiction, from "On the Beach" to "The Stand," and this is one of the worst I've read. If Dickson wanted to write a book about a symbiotic relationship between a man and a wolf, why did he have to "destroy" civilization to do it? This book crawls at a snail's pace. There is little of the epic descriptions of society's breakdown that make the best of the genre so good. In fact, this story is SO conventional that it is almost laughably quaint. Not to mention the fact that the doomsday scenario (a house-of-cards financial collapse trigged by the failure of an international banking conglomorate) has since been proven by the Lippo Group failure to be unrealistic. Fans of Dickson, you can have him. Apocalypse fiction fans should look elsewhere. I'd start with "Lucifer's Hammer" myself.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly Wimpy Apocalypse Fiction
Review: Let me start out by saying that this was the first Gordon Dickson book I've ever read, so if you're a fan you won't like my review. It will also be the last of his books I ever read. I am an ardent fan of end-of-the-world fiction, from "On the Beach" to "The Stand," and this is one of the worst I've read. If Dickson wanted to write a book about a symbiotic relationship between a man and a wolf, why did he have to "destroy" civilization to do it? This book crawls at a snail's pace. There is little of the epic descriptions of society's breakdown that make the best of the genre so good. In fact, this story is SO conventional that it is almost laughably quaint. Not to mention the fact that the doomsday scenario (a house-of-cards financial collapse trigged by the failure of an international banking conglomorate) has since been proven by the Lippo Group failure to be unrealistic. Fans of Dickson, you can have him. Apocalypse fiction fans should look elsewhere. I'd start with "Lucifer's Hammer" myself.
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