Review: Very streamlined story, covers a lot in a short book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2014
I admire this author's dedication to telling a relatively complex story in as few words as possible.  This makes for a quick reading experience while enjoying the author's wordcraft in knowing what to cut out.I also liked very much the concept of the Eleven Lords ruling over a dystopian alternate future. The Lords are very powerful and have become immortal, unable to be killed.... or have they?Ultimately, the anti-hero of the story, Ichabod, also known as Grimwolf in wolf form, seems so powerful that he cannot die.  You name it, he has been pummeled, stabbed, blown up, and mauled several times, yet he always survive and heals his own wounds.  Over time, I no longer feared for his survival, knowing that he was pretty much incapable of dying (ironically, much like the original concept of the Eleven Lords).This book could have been much more powerful if Ichabod and his sister, who is his companion in his desperate quest for revenge, had some redeeming qualities other than loyalty to his family.  This book emphasizes several time that he only wants revenge--as does his sister.  There is a lot of fighting in this story, and it becomes numbing after a while, despite the short length.I found the myth making and the various classes of creatures very interesting.  Maybe with a little more world-building and some expansion of the myths, and putting some "good" in Ichabod and Anazella, and giving them some real "conscience wrestling" and moral dilemmas, like a real ambiguous choice between good and evil, this book would blow its competition away in the water.