Blood of the Wolf

Rating:
Summary: THE GUY BELOW ME CAN"T BE SERIOUS-CAN HE?
Review: I usually don't respond directly to other reviews but in this case I had to. Based upon the review below I purchased a copy of this book. My mistake.

Where do I begin? With the multiple competing subplots that never really come together? The stilted dialogue? The one-dimensional characters? The almost complete lack of ANYTHING HAPPENING for long stretches of the book?

For the reviewer above this one to claim that this book surpasses the best work of Stephen King, Ann Rice, even Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker is one of the most ludicrous overstatements of all time. King at his worst is several orders of magnitude better than this. And to state that this outranks Shelley's Frankenstein borders on insanity. WAKE UP! GET REAL! GET A CLUE!

I could go on and on detailing what is wrong with this mess but frankly it isn't worth any more of my time. And it isn't worth yours either. Read Holland's "Murcheston", Somtow's "Moon Dance", Skipp & Spector's "Animals" or any number of other worthy werewolf novels. Nothing personal against Goddin but this one rests secure and snug at the bottom of the barrel. Sorry.

Rating:
Summary: YOUR blood will run cold
Review: One of the best werewolf novels ever committed to paper. Forget all the werewolf movies you've seen, this is the mother load! This tale offers you more in terms of story, action, myth, science and blood. It takes you places no one has ever gone before in the werewolf genre. Begin with a pair of werewolves running through a zoo, late at night, the leader guided by an irresistible urge. The path leads them to the wolf habitat, where a bizarre mating occurs.

Naturally, the unexpected pregnancy leads the chief zoologist to question the "immaculate" conception, though she studies the cub with a nurturing eye. However, in the span of few weeks, the seed of the werewolf grows at an accelerated rate. Restlessness ensues and when Cub is introduced to the other wolves of the habitat, disaster occurs. Once Cub is given his first taste of human blood, Jeffrey Goddin creates a first in the werewolf mythos; a wolf able to turn into a human, better known in the medieval horror realms as a wolfwere.

As the body count rises, the werewolves are now faced with the dilemma of having to stop a force so insanely similar and as unnatural as themselves. If they do not, retribution within their werewolf community will tear them apart. Of course, Cub is not the only half-breed prowling the streets.

This is the novel that started me to read as a recreational hobby, back when I was only ten years old. The novel holds a special place in my heart, obviously, but Mr. Goddin's mastery of plot, subplot, character development, description and tone are unrivaled in the horror community. Since my first reading, I have searched for other horror novels that could match the world Mr. Goddin created. They have all failed. Anne Rice, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, even Bram Stoker and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley cannot match his ability to capture the imagination as masterfully as he has in this novel. Jeffrey Goddin is the reason "injustice" is a very real word; Blood of the Wolf surpasses the best efforts of the most well known horror writers.

He truly reached the pinnacle of modern/gothic horror writing with this novel. That it is available only in "Out of Print" status proves that publishers rarely read the material they print and that horror film producers do not read horror novels. It's worth the search to find this book.