Way of the Wolf, by E.E. Knight

Rating: 4/5
380 pages
Publisher: Roc
2003
Source: Used through Amazon.com

Description: Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of human souls. They rule the planet. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.

On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine. Brought into the Wolves, an elite guerrilla force sworn to win back Earth, Valentine leads his first command in the Kurian Zone. Driven by the losses of his past and the hope of a future, Valentine is in it to win. No matter how long it takes. No matter what doom awaits him beyond his wildest nightmares  (from the back cover)


Review: This is definitely a different take on vampires. Here the vampires are actually a puppet controlled by an being from another planet, or maybe another dimension (I was left a little unclear on this), that uses them to harvest human life essences.

The way they control the world, using a combination of terror and human collusion, makes a great deal of sense. So, do the inevitable pockets of human resistance.

I was thrown a little by the start of the book. We start with a mission where David Valentine and his troops are leading a bunch of humans to safety and run into some problems. We then go back to before David left home and joined the Wolves in the first place and work our way forward through his life story. I kept waiting for it to get back to starting point, then realized we'd passed it.

Now, I will concede the chapter does do a good job of introducing us to David, the wolves, and what's going on on Earth, but I just expected that chapter to be more important than it was due to its placement.

Overall this is an interesting idea, and I'll probably hunt down the second book at some point.