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.

Militant Incel Vibes and Military Pandering

the story leans too heavily on the pandering winks toward military service, or otherwise on esoteric knowledge of military culture that adds nothing to the story.

moreover, the story itself feels disjointed, taking well over half the book before the story progresses at a normal, linear pace. The random "present day" prologue jumping all the way back to David's childhood, before jumping several years, then weeks or months at a time during the first half of the book created a very poor experience for this listener. David never really dealt with the consequences of anything. The character feels apathetic and detached from what are meant to be major, traumatic experiences- he never reacts, and the next chapter jumps forward instead of addressing the fallout.

speaking of, and now addressing the more controversial part of my headline: the story maintains a theme of sexual violence against women, or at the very least, their sexual objectification/subjugation. and even still, David remains detached and apathetic to these issues. His mother is implied to have been sexually assaulted, a girl who he reconnects with for a couple pages gets beheaded and left nude, another girl is forced to sexually submit to an old toad and under duress has sex with David (the overly detailed sex scene being a strange tonal shift)- and yet David is basically never described as feeling anything about these events. The scenes feel gratuitous, and where the shoehorned "in-the-know" military references solely show off the author's knowledge, these events (amongst a few others) feel as though the author is lashing out at women in some capacity.

overall, the story feels amateurish and vaguely misogynistic, while also romanticizing and pandering to military life/types.

Not all is bad though. The premise is plenty interesting, the Witcher parallels are coy enough to pass, and some charafter interactions felt authentic, organic. But only some...

as per pandering: the references of books on army reading lists, references of certain sayings that hold specific meaning in military context, and the abritrary inclusion of officer schooling, in a post-societal-collapse world, for a ragtag half-baked militia. Oh, and probably the judo thing too.

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.

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.

As Advertised

This book stands at the junction of several genres – sci-fi, paranormal, western, and a hint of military.

I’m always up for a paranormal or sci-fi fix, and some military flavoring blends just fine with those, so I gave this a shot. It’s an okay book, probably a 3.5 star read, but it never pulled me in strongly enough to want to continue with the series. It may have lost me at the western junction.

Ah, the long, lonely road of the western. You know, the one where the traveler does what good he can during his brief stop in town, but then everybody goes their separate ways in the grim, pitiless world? There are a lot of brief stops. A lot of stories about new characters in new towns. A lot of grim. And then it’s time to move on and we start all over.

Plenty of plot and action are going on at the same time, both of which are big pluses, but somehow I came away feeling a bit like I’d just read an anthology of short stories about various people the main character had met. Then I remembered I'm not into short stories, so no wonder that kept me from feeling connected to the storyline. Also, did I mention the level of grimness was a little heavy handed? But again, that might go with the whole western thing so take that with a grain of salt.

Over all, I’d say this book is exactly as advertised, so if it sounds like your thing, then go for it. Just be ready for the “long, lonely road” aspect of it all, and even though that’s not my thing I still think this was a medium read. The sample is a good representation of the narrator’s work. Some people might find him a little slow, but he may have made me like the book more than I would have on paper, so hey, kudos there.

Great

Great story, Great author. It is absolutely worth the purchase and read. It has adventure, humor, drama, all that you want in a book. You wont be disappointed.

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.

Formulaic but Entertaining

The book has a nifty sci-fi/vampire premise, and the author is good enough at describing action sequences to keep you wanting more. The characters are about as cardboard cut-out as you can get and character development approaches zero, but the inventive descriptions of the post-apocalyptic Earth are enough to keep it going. I liked it enough to give the second one a try; I'm hoping the author is capable of more character-building as the series continues.

Not bad at all.

After the first 15 minutes I was ready to stop listening, and select another book to listen to, because of the over dramatically delivered narration. However, I hung in there and the narrator improved from a 2 star, to a 4 star performance. This book technically is not about vampires or werewolves. It would be much more accurate to say it's about people with advanced senses (werewolves) and conquering aliens (life force sucking vampires) and it's the story of a young man who lost his parents to the aliens probably 40 years fter the aliens had invaded. This first book deals with how people have adapted to the alien invasion, and the relationships between those humans who oppose and support the aliens, and does not delve into the human interactions with, and between the aliens themselves, so only the top level basics are known about the aliens at this point.

I think that this is a good start to what could be a great series. I'm sure I'll get the next in the series sometime.

Join the resistance!

After a devastating invasion and the decimation of the population by alien-introduced deseases, most of Earth's population lives under the rule of the Kurians, who consider them cattle to be kept, managed and fed upon. Many humans under this system cooperate with their masters, seeking safety for themselves by betraying others. Most just try to keep their heads down and hope the 'reapers' don't come for them.

But a few are fighting back.

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.