4 out of 5 stars
The citizens of Constantinople seem to have reached the end of days. Mysterious things are happening, the sky is darkened, wolves are gathering outside the city and howling. People are terrified so the ruler of the city calls for a Christian scholar to find the evil that is causing this and eradicate it. He arrives with his expectant wife, fleeing from her angry father.
The dark events keep building; the cult of the wolf grows more each day, a boy with a snake-like pupil in his eye has a growing influence over those in power, the Norsemen camped beyond the city walls talk of the legends that tell of a wolf who will kill the gods, and the spirits of the dead are stirring. All these dark elements lead to a cell deep below the city, where a man sits in chains, a man who believes that he is a wolf.
Ragnarok is coming; even for those that don’t believe.
This is the third in the series following on from Wolfsangel and Fenrir and like those, it is filled with lots of pagan and Norse references as well as being set in a historical context. On top of that, Lachlan has layered his own werewolf story that is dark, violent and bloody. Mostly is a very readable fantasy, that has compelling story threads that draw the main characters together for the finale. Occasionally there are scenes that get a little confusing, the one I am thinking of did take place in the dark caves under the Numera, but it added greatly to the drama.
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