Thank you to NetGalley, and Matthew Gregory for a copy of this book.

Content Warnings: Murder, Death, Gore, Violence, Dark Web, Conspiracies, Animal Death, and Body Horror.

“Wolf Blood” by Matthew Gregory needs a few more editorial passes before it’s ready to be published, in my opinion. Not for the grammar but for the story itself. I started reading the book and instantly realized that I was going to be in for a ride. Not a good ride, mind; one that took me back to my high school’s creative writing class.

One of the first issues I have with the book is that, despite being short, it feels like it takes too long to do anything. The actions of the characters don’t make sense most of the time, leaving the action choppy. It reads as “Character X did this, and then did this, but backtracked and did this instead.” It felt very much like it was not planned out at all, that it was more of a stream of consciousness than a plotted novella.

The most important law of writing, the golden rule, is ‘show, don’t tell.’ There are instances where this can be circumvented in novels, but for the most part, it should be the one unbroken rule of creative writing. Gregory tells everything. It was impossible to get a grip on what was happening around the characters, what the characters looked like, their physical surroundings–anything. Everything is told to the point that it may as well have been a script instead of a novella. Characters are introduced by name and nothing else, leaving me trying to figure out why they are even in the story.

The dialogue was very difficult to read. There were times in the novel where who was speaking changes without any indication of who is speaking. For example, two characters would be speaking with the pattern of character A speaks, character B speaks, etc. Suddenly, though, the pattern would break without any warning or explanation of who was now speaking. The book relied far too much on dialogue as well, conversations taking up pages without any breaks. Characters would monologue for no reason other than exposition.

As I mentioned above, the actions of the characters do not make sense. There are instances in “Wolf Blood” where a character will do one thing, only to backtrack less than a page later. Why is that in the novel? Why do the characters act so irrationally, so inhuman? I know that there are a number of werewolf characters in the novel, but even they do not act as a wolf would.

I had high hopes for “Wolf Blood;” the premise seemed interesting. A group of humans and werewolves trying to stop a massive massacre. This plot is only present in the last fourth of the book, as though the author realized suddenly that he needed something to happen.

I cannot recommend “Wolf Blood” by Matthew Gregory.

I was a fast read. The plot started off good then took a rapid nose dive halfway through the book. Felt rushed and incomplete. The humor was dry .. I love a good werewolf book but this one didn’t do it for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

Really enjoyed how fast paced this werewolf story was. I’m a sucker for werewolf novels. Really enjoyed the multitude characters and the dialogue. There was tension throughout and I look forward to see if there is more that comes from this. If it is a standalone however the story is very well done.

A werewolf story that takes place in Montana. Fast-paced read that can be finished in a few hours. Low gore with some humor.