Way of the Wolf

The Vampire Earth, Book 1

By: E. E. Knight

Narrated by: Christian Rummel, E. E. Knight (Introduction)

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. 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 guerilla 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.

Bonus Audio: Includes an exclusive introduction by author E.E. Knight.

©2003 Eric E. Frisch (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Its what you expect, and thats not a bad thing.

I was hovering between 3-4 stars on this one, then realized i was looking forward to getting the next book enough for it to be a 4 star.
The narration started off a bit iffy, but quickly improved. The "vampire" angle has been approached with an original take, and I enjoyed that. Its becoming hard to find good "Gothic" Sci-fi/fantasy lately without wading through masses of poorly written erotic chic-lit with the cover a cross between Fabio and Boris karloff.

This is as advertised. A Military/vampire hunter theme, centered around a single likable character, written almost in a Horatio Hornblower fashion. All good things in my opinion.

Post Apocalyptic, vampires, traitors, corrupt politicians, guns and battles there is something for everyone if you don't mind your fantasy novels pushing the bounds of credulity (Oddly enough, some people want more realism in their fantasy novels.)
I enjoyed it, and i especially enjoy the fact that its 7 books, aka no waiting on the next one.

A Mixed Genre

After reading some of the negative reviews I was hesitant to purchase this book; however, this hesitancy proved to be entirely unfounded.

As the author says in his introduction, he personally enjoys military fiction, vampire, and werewolf fiction, so that is what he wrote. This is military fiction set in a future where "vampires" and "werewolves" are at war. Within the boundaries and tropes of military fiction there is good character development, plot advancement, etc. I suspect that those that have been exceptionally critical of this book have more of a problem with the genre than E.E. Knight's work itself.

That being said, if you are looking for Gothic horror, this book will most definitely not meet that desire. If you are looking for a post-apocalyptic war story with a monster flavor this is perfect.

Vampire Earth 101

I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT
Lots of different elements in this book make for an interesting concept. A western with vampires and aliens. Knight says this is the second book he wrote and the first to get published. I wanted to like it as the competing subjects matters, seem interesting when you think about it. I also like that the story takes place in the Ozarks, where I live. My town is even mentioned as a border town. Unfortunately, it does read like a first attempt. The above phrase happens often, a character knows something is going to happen, but he can not explain why he knows. This is a novice way of getting around difficult situations. The world building, which should have been the best part of the book, was done through lecture. It was like sitting in a college class listening to a professor describe Vampire Earth 101. I don't want to be told, I want to be shown.

THEIR BRAINS ARE AT THE TAIL END, KIND OF LIKE THINNER HERE.
In different places we see glimpses of Knight's imagination. He has the ideas to put together a top notch novel or series, it is just a shame a publisher or editor did not force him to work harder and longer to come up with it. Hopefully, like many other writers have done, he will get better and better through experience. Sometimes getting published or popular early in your career can be the worst thing to happen in the long run. It could stifle his growth as a writer.

As far as the narrator, I don't know if it was him or just the way it was written, but at the end of each sentence where these long pauses. The result was to make the book sound like a child's letter. Hi, how are you. I am good.

Entertaining

Straight forward characters, very decent world building with a refreshing post-apocalyptic western/supernatural scene.
The narrator is a bit sub par, but all in all I have a found the series to be quite entertaining.

A very weak 4, but a 4 nonetheless.

Unexpectedly engaging - enjoyable!

I was initially skeptical about this book. I usually go in for intelligently written "hard" science fiction and was put off by the "pulp" feel of this one after reading the description. On a whim, I tossed it in the shopping cart and gave it a whirl. After about an hour into the book, I realized that I was fully engaged and listening with rapt attention to every detail. It drew me in and took me to a very different world - one that I looked forward to being in (oddly enough).

The book has a very post-apocalyptic, post-invasion survivalist feel. Engaging and enjoyable - the narrator keeps your interest and draws you into the flow of the story. The story brings a feeling of watching separate acts in a play - consecutively occurring tails rather than a continuing storyline - this does nothing to take away from the story. As things progress, these "tails" get longer and more intense.

This was very entertaining! Not a terribly deep book, but engaging nonetheless. I will definitely listen to the second in the series.

Slow Start To A Good Series...

I personally own this audiobook in both Audible and the first eight in the series in Graphic Audio format, so I feel I can safely say I know this author's work. This initial novel has a slower than preferred beginning, and I wish the pacing was better.

However, a vampire-ravaged earth losing the war, and it's a science fiction story? Now, that may have promise. This DOES have promise, and the concept is well-designed for the listener.

An inter-galactic space-faring race of vampires have finally made their way to earth, and the story opens on a rag-tag group of survivors being led across the swamplands of Louisiana by an organized and well-trained cadre of warriors. The premise builds with flashbacks of the hero's beginnings within the country's warrior caste, or what's left of it.

We get a slower than desired entry into the hero's upward move in the ranks, and his experiences in the process.

Its the writing good? Its good for the type of story being told. This isn't Heinlein. This isn't Martin. This is pure escapism, so don't expect eloquent prose.

That being said, I've already listened to a number of books in the series, and I can recommend the series as a whole, again, as pure escapism. The author grows in the writing of these books, so treat the escapism for what it is: A fun listen.

where's the plot?

This book had a good premise but I had two problems with it. First, it did not have a plot. I listened to 8 hours and the guy was still just roaming around having random adventures with no overarching plot. Second, every charecter had either a redneck white trash southern accent or a 1800's western accent, even if they lived in 2065 Wisconsin. I could only listen to so many people say "howdy stranger" and "ain't that a fat chicken ya'll". My husband and I listened to this book on a long trip and I was never so glad to get home, we never did finish it.

Not as cheesy as I had expected

Because this genre tends to be stereotyped and cheesy, I hadn't expected much - turns out I was pleasantly surprised.

I really like how this future was woven into our "real" existence - the story is linked to events that occurred milennia ago and is acceptably believable that events could occur this way.

Near the middle it got a tad bit "lecturey" on political subjects (war, racial politics, international politics, etc) but not nearly as bad as most apocalyptic stories which usually blame the apocalypse on [insert rival political party/government here]

For the most part, the story is told from the point of view of the main character (Valentine) but from time to time it seems to switch to an independent "narrator" who presents some history/explanation of the geography/politics/new world order... which is quite interesting, but it does change the tone of the story and eliminates some of the tension/suspense as to whether or not Valentine will make out okay.

There isn't a cliffhanger, but it's clear that this book is intended to be part of a longer series - one which I'll be reading because I want to find out how humans make out against the bad aliens!

The narration is very good.

EE Knight read by Christian Rummel - Awesome!

I so enjoy EE Knight's work. It's very visceral, very authentic, very human. Read by Christian Rummel, EE Knight's work comes to life and is thoroughly satisfying. Way of the Wolf is the first of 8, soon to be 9 (very hopefully) and sets the stage for a very rich, interesting story. At the risk of sounding a bit sexist, Vampire Earth may be a bit strong for some gals and youngsters (parental discretion...) EE Knight has a unique way of telling a story that has historically accurate tidbits strewn nicely through out along with geographical interest and human condition, all very certain, even painfully so in the sense of the deeper truths of mankind.

Great!!!

This book does a great job introducing you to the World of Vampire Earth. It lays a solid foundation for the rest of the series. I have bought the first four books and will continue to buy the rest. E.E.Knight is a great author and Christian Rummel does a wonderful job narrating the stories.