Wolfgang by F.D. Gross
Wolfgang is a great little book. It’s a vampire tale, written more in the style of Castelvania than Twilight (you know it’s a classic) that jumps off the page with surprising vigour and reads like one plays a video game as after a nice introductory scene we are thrust straight into the action. Our protagonist Wolfgang has delivered a life-giving artifact to the Lord Egleaseon (head vampire) expecting to see it destroyed only to see him embrace it, become human and instantly age a thousand years, turning to dust and blowing away like a fart in a storm. 16 years later a new threat has returned and Wolfgang must hunt down the monster responsible for killing his wife and taking his son.
His quest is a straight shot and there is a little time for world building or complicated plotlines but Gross manages it nicely putting beasty after beasty between Wolfgang and his quarry and quickly fleshing out the world he has created. We have Bogarts that are shambling and sprinting decaying zombies, Caretakers that seem to be ghouls carrying lost souls in lanterns with the intent of rehousing said souls in a new host, Gellies that are piranha like creatures, daver hounds that are half wolf and half dog, bred for eating dead and decaying flesh and cleaning up after a nice massacre and more. There was even a nice moment that reminded me of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where he was assaulted by bats It’s a quite impressive cast of characters and Wolfgang must slice and dice his way through them all with his Bawaka - cross shaped blades that fly like Captain America’s shield and cut like a Yoshihara
Katana.
Wolfgang is good fun and gives us new and familiar supernatural threats, exciting action sequences like a classic ‘horse drawn carriage vs werewolves’ chase and some genuinely heart pumping fight scenes. The world could have been built on in order to extend the length but I respect Gross keeping things tight and taut all the way through and giving reader’s a riotous manic journey as opposed to a slower ride flush with more external details.
Wolfgang is highly recommended and at 200 pages is a nice palate cleanser between larger tomes.
