The first novel in the Ghost Wolves series.
This is a sci-fi novel with a bit of a difference. Someone else has described it as "Dune with bikers", which isn't a bad pitch. It's a story, in a way, about corporate-vs-labour tensions.
Well-written, interesting, and a world of sketchy and mysteries characters. I didn't love it, but I'm certainly interested in reading the next book in the series.

A solid action-packed series starter that gets bigger in scope as it moves forward. A great combination of sci-fi and witches set in a backwater planet. Two absolute lady bosses in charge and hey, props to my favorite character not ending up dead. Lastly, no romance and pretty sure one of the main lady characters is queer.

Enjoyable, if somewhat forgettable, sci-fi with solid world building reminiscent of Dune, Firefly/Serenity, and Megan O’Keefe’s Scorched Continent series, among other works. This is a “space western” that takes place exclusively on one dusty planet in a larger system, occasionally infused with newcomers but for the most part populated with the descendants of the first settlers who came from Earth a few centuries prior. The “western” elements prevail, from the mining towns to the characters’ accents, and in the patriarchal structure of the communities and prevalent gender roles. But rather than horses they have motorcycles, and rather than sheriffs they have a sort of mercenary police force run by the giant interplanetary corporation that owns everything, and equally mercenary pseudo-bandit groups trying to live outside of corporate law. The planet also has some unnamed substance that seems to be contaminating its inhabits to varying degrees, and some people develop odd powers, becoming “witchy” in the local parlance. (Oh and also some indigenous humanoids, one of whom, called The Bone Collector, is a major character.)

In one of the bandit groups, we find the main protagonist, a young woman named Hob who finds herself in a leadership position, as the book slowly takes on a more and more anti-corporate message after certain facts are revealed. Well, vaguely revealed — there is a little too much left unexamined, presumably because it’s being left for the sequel. Hob’s friend, Mag, who is much less of a rebel than Hob, also finds herself in a different kind of leadership position. These two women (separated for the majority of the book) are usually surrounded by men. A huge stable of male characters and just a handful of women, which is unfortunate but does mirror the “western” influences. Hob and Mag have the most POV sections, with a few from other characters thrown into the mix. It was sometimes hard to keep track of whose POV we were in at any given time.

I liked this book, but whenever I put it down I wasn’t in that big of a hurry to pick it up again. The world building has a lot of potential, but in my opinion relies too heavily on readers’ expectations re “Westerns” and probably also on readers’ experience with other books and media that have used similar settings and themes. The plot was good, but a little repetitive. The end was anticlimactic, and left too much open. I still have hopes for how the author will further develop this story and world though, and will probably read the sequel.

‘Hunger Makes the Wolf’ is an amazing story. It blends genres flawlessly, which I enjoyed. Action, Western, Science Fiction and Fantasy are the genres that make this so enjoyable. It truly never bores.

I definitely give publisher Angry Robot credit for pushing boundaries and going out on a limb and publishing works that don't always fit nicely into the perceptions of sci-fi. But lately their catalog is starting to look a lot alike, with rogue, tough characters who are misfits taking on big business or politicians or an entire world.

This particular take features "Hob" - a tough, female biker on a distant planet - somewhere in the middle of nowhere. While space travel clearly had been achieved by human-kind, this planet produces a dust/ash that prohibits much electronic communication, and so there's a very isolated feel to the communities here. And with that isolation comes the opportunistic sort. Hob rides with a gang of outlaws (essentially) who provide 'protection' for the "Company." But one day, the brother of the gang's leader is found murdered and there needs to be some revenge! Adding to the unrest is a sense of "witchiness." Hob may be a bit 'Witchy' herself, but no one likes to talk about it so it's hard for Hob (and the reader) to learn more about what it means.

The writing itself was just fine - nothing outstanding or particularly memorable - but I constantly had the feeling that I'd read all this before. Nothing seemed very original. Maybe a mash-up of a lot of different popular tropes. But still, it felt like a rehash. I looked through the list of Angry Robot books I've read and this reminds me a lot of their own Windswept series by Adam Rakunas but from a slightly different perspective.

The world-building here didn't work. Why does it have to be some distant planet? That happens to resemble the Old West of the United States with some technological advances?

Alternating points of view in alternating chapters makes it a bit rough to read and it slowed me down unnecessarily, which made the whole book move slowly for me.

I was really hoping for something original and engrossing, but that's not quite what I got.

Looking for a good book? <em>Hunger Makes the Wolf</em> by Alex Wells is recognizable sci-fi - so recognizable that you won't quite realize you are reading a new book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

‘Hunger Makes the Wolf’ is a fantastical blend of genres. The action and atmosphere of a great western meets the mystery of science fiction, which in turn is complimented by the magical elements of fantasy. Top this off with the sense of ‘wrongness’ you feel encountering the creatures of a truly great horror and you have the skeleton of a summary for ‘Hunger Makes the Wolf’. I’ve read this gripping tale twice so far and it’s found a place on my favourites shelf.

“Hunger Makes the Wolf” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Alex Wells. This is Mr. Wells’ first publication.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set on the planet Tanegawa’s World far from Earth. Humanity has spread to many planets. The planet is under tight control by TransRifts Inc. The primary character of the story is a young woman named Hob.

Hob has been on Tanegawa’s World about ten years, growing up there. She had come off one of the infrequent rift ships, all alone and penniless. She was taken in by Nick Ravani and grew up as part of his Ghost Wolves mercenary band.

Now she finds Nick’s brother murdered in the desert. The murder and the growing paranoia by TransRifts over people who have developed special abilities, sets up a confrontation between the Ghost Wolfes and TransRifts. Hub is caught in the middle and soon finds herself in a leadership position she never wanted.

I enjoyed the 11 hours I spent reading this Science Fiction Thriller. It has an interesting plot and a well developed set of ‘science’ to go with Tanegawa’s World. Hub is a strong but damaged leading character. The way the story ended, there could easily be a sequel, which I would be interested in reading. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Imagine a grittier, more cynical, anti-corporate version of Anne McCaffrey's 'Crystal Singer' series?

Tanegawa's World is a company town. TransRift runs the mines, and interstellar government is very, very far away. In essence, TransRift IS the government, and operates without oversight - a situation unlikely to change, since interstellar travel depends on TransRift. Little of the profits of this monopoly are seen by the colonists of Tanegawa's, who are downtrodden and exploited.

However, not everyone is willing to put up with the abuses of the company. Our protagonist, Hob, is a young woman poised to become the leader of a group on mercenaries who live on the fringes, doing jobs for pay but also protecting townspeople from more vicious groups of outlaws.

However, the precarious balance is about to be upset: a strange discovery is made in the mines; which may be related to the outbreaks of 'witchiness' that the miners don't really like to talk about (or tolerate amongst themselves). Hob herself knows that she is 'witchy' - but she doesn't expect that her best friend, the more mild-mannered Mag, to be arrested on charges of 'witchiness', on her way off-planet. For answers - and to help free Mag - she goes to the mysterious Bone Collector, a man of strange talent and unknown origin, who lives out in the desert (and whom I couldn't picture as anything else but Carl McCoy's 'nomad' character in the movie 'Hardware.) The Bone Collector's abilities are strangely parallel to that of the Weatherman - one of the few individuals who are capable of piloting spaceships. This Weatherman, though, is on-planet, and as the instrument of a new witch hunt, may be more dangerous than any of the colonist could have guessed.

'Hunger Makes the Wolf' is an enjoyable sci-fi adventure. It does show, just a bit, that this is the work of a new novelist; and I thought there was a bit too much left hanging at the end, waiting for the sequel. But I will very likely read that sequel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are unaffected by the source of the book.

I just posted a review in which I complained about the "western" feel of the book, which isn't generally my cup of tea. Now here's another book with the same sort of setting, yet I really enjoyed it! What won me over?

For one, there wasn't as much soul-searching angst in this book. Hob, one of our two main characters, isn't much of one for navel-gazing. She's focused on the job at hand and on survival. She's got to be, because she is trying to make her way back into being accepted in her desert biker gang after almost fatally betraying them.

As part of her penance, Hob was sent into the desert to live or die, whichever she could manage. In surviving, she lost an eye but gained some "witchiness", as it's known on Tanegawa's World. The chief of her gang, old Nick, also has a bit of witchiness about him, but being able to light your cigarettes without any match or lighter is something that people don't brag about- witchiness isn't really kosher with the preachers or the Company that owns the world.

Tanegawa's World is a mining colony. Most of the colonists on it are either miners or farmer who feed the work force. There are trains that ferry goods to and from the Big City, but most towns are pretty isolated. Technology doesn't work especially well, probably because of some of the ores deep within the planet, but really not much is understood about the deep workings of the world. While the world is thoroughly science fiction material, the feel of it is very Old West- the deep desert, the mining towns, the dialogue of the characters.

The book kicks off with the discovery of a dead body. Hob and the crew she's running with find the body of her "uncle", the one who took her in when she snuck off the rift ship that brought her to this world. He's been shot in the back in the middle of the desert. Hob's "uncle" is old Nick's brother, so the gang's going to have to get involved. Hob goes searching for some answers of her own from the Bone Collector, a mysterious being who lives in the desert and can only be found when he wants to be.

Meanwhile, Hob's adopted sister, Mag, is on her way off-planet. But can she really get free of the grasp of the company?

A lot of this book deals with the little guy vs. the Company. The world is entirely literally a Company Town, governed by a corporation whose main interest is in the bottom line, not in the well-being of their employees. There's a fair bit of exploration of how labor can resist an incredibly powerful corporation, and I suspect more will come of this plot thread.

But there's even more to the book than that. The company considers witchiness to be contamination, but what sort of contamination? What is the Bone Collector, and how does he relate to the genetically modified Weathermen who maintain the stability of the world? What is Hob's gang's role- are they mercenaries, criminals, freedom fighters or all three?

The book is well written- there are few clues that this is a debut novel. I'm really looking forward to finding out the answers to all of these questions and whatever else the author can think up!

When Hob Ravani finds her uncle dead in the desert, she needs to figure out what happened and how to find vengeance. The drawing of Hob as a motorcycle driving, one-eyed, witchy, respected and feared lady in charge, makes her the most compelling, strong, dominating character I have read in sci-fi in a long time. I have seen this compared to "Sons of Anarchy" meets "Dune," but Hob Ravani reminds me more of Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western, riding into town to figure out who he needs to kill. "Hunger Makes the Wolf" reminds me more of Mad Max mixed with traditional western. The western elements are strong, revenging the death of a loved one, evil corporations being in charge of towns and all of the supplies, and even a train robbery. Plus the magical elements, the Bone Collector that helps Hob with payment of human bones, and Hob having firestarter qualities. So many things moving in the novel, makes this fast paced and a fun ride. There is so much to love about this book. The only problem that I had was when I did not have time to read big chucks of the novel at a time, I could not get into the narrative. I ended up reading sections of this over and over because I could not remember what was going on if I put it down after 10 or so pages. I had to read many more pages at a time for me to get into the atmosphere and action. The best way to devour this book is in large chunks. Like most every Angry Robot book, it does not disappoint, and I look forward to what will happen next.

I read quite a few debut novels and had a cool half dozen on my reading list for the first three months of 2017, but Alex Wells’ Hunger Makes the Wolf was the one I was most looking forward to in the first quarter of this year. I’m happy to say that it did not disappoint. While it may lack some of the great depth and the high level of craft of some of the other debuts I’ve read so far this year, Hunger Makes the Wolf more than makes up for it in other areas. It’s a well-conceived, smartly plotted, enthusiastically fast-paced sci-fi adventure with some cool ideas and a couple of excellent lead characters who’ve got plenty growing still to do in future books.

Sometimes you just want to read something fun that reminds you of other things you like, without having to think too hard to understand it, and Hunger Makes the Wolf contains shades of all kinds of things that are relevant to my reading interests. There are shades of Firefly, Dune, Mad Max: Fury Road, and even Star Wars here, and it’s by far the most fun thing I’ve read since I read the first two books of K.B. Wagers’ Indranan War trilogy at the end of last year. Like Wagers, Alex Wells manages to draw elements from many inspirations and still create a story with plenty of originality and individual flair. The overall effect is enjoyably familiar without ever feeling like a clone of someone else’s work, and if you like any or all of the above-mentioned stories, this one will be right up your alley.

I know I’ve said that this isn’t a particularly deep novel, but I don’t know if I can reiterate enough how much that’s not a criticism. The plot is straightforward, with an easy-to-understand conflict and clearly defined villains and heroes. At the same time, the villains are never caricatures of evil, and the heroes have enough internal conflict and nuance to be compelling. Hunger is, at heart, about two things—personal political awakenings and grassroots resistance against tyranny—and Wells comes at these themes with a cleverly simple approach that makes his points easy to understand while still recognizing the complexity of characters and situations. This is all well-supported by a setting that, while obviously derivative of several other popular works, is described in plenty of vivid detail and has several unique quirks—namely an interesting (if somewhat mysterious) magic system—to set it apart from the pack.

Hob Ravani is a great protagonist of the tough-as-nails ass-kicking kind, and her journey of self-discovery is neatly described throughout the novel. The story of a young person stepping into a leadership role they aren’t entirely prepared for might be a little formulaic, but it’s executed here with loving gusto and a great deal of charm. Though Hob’s friend Mag starts off as something of a damsel in distress, she quickly comes into her own as a resistance leader in her own right. Mag’s fledgling romance with another persecuted woman deserved a little more page time, but I’d say that Mag, in general, deserves more page time. I love the way Hob and Mag complement and balance each other in the story, and Wells does a nice job of showing the ways in which people can work together from different directions and points of view to accomplish goals that are bigger than themselves.

If there’s any major criticism I have of Hunger Makes the Wolf it’s that there isn’t enough of it. It stands alone well enough, but it feels very obviously like the first book of a series. Everything about it feels like an introduction, just the first act in a much longer story arc, and there are quite a few things left unresolved at the end of the novel. The good news is that it is the first book in a series. The bad news is that now I have to wait for it, and I’m terribly impatient. It turns out that stories about anti-capitalist space biker witches are kind of my jam.

This review is based on a copy of the book received from the publisher through NetGalley.

When I saw this book blurbed as Sons of Anarchy meets Dune, I knew it was a must-read title for me. Although I haven't yet read Dune, I love what I've seen of Sons of Anarchy, and the concept of biker gangs on an alien desert world jonesing for revenge is more than enough to pique my interest.

Happily, Alex Wells delivers the goods in Hunger Makes the Wolf. This book is filled to the brim with things I dig, and set my fanboy klaxons ringing early on - this sucker is chock full of influences like Firefly, Deadwood (sadly, with far less creative cussing, but if Wells brings in an Al Swearengen type for the next book, that sucker could become an instant literary classic in my eyes), in addition to the aforementioned Sons of Anarchy, set on Tatooine and given a good dash of corporate mystery, downtrodden laborers, and a wee bit of fantasy magic to spiff things up all the more.

After discovering the body of her adopted Uncle Phil lying dead in the desert, his back riddled with bullet holes, the one-eyed female biker Hob is intent on revenge. Wells charges up the aftermath of this discovery with some terrific personal relationships between Hob, Phil's daughter, Mag, and the surly (and also one-eyed) Old Nick Ravani, the leader of the biker gang and Phil's brother. After attacking a corporate facility and exacting some good, old-fashioned Wild West justice, the corporate owners of Tanegawa launch a literal witch-hunt to find Hob and rid the world of its witches.

Wells has built a world of layers upon layers with Hunger Makes the Wolf, but it's all so expertly done that I can't find fault with any of it. Although this book makes for a wonderful stand-alone, it seems set to kick-off a mighty big series, and a whole galaxy's worth of exploration to be done in the volumes ahead. I want to know more about the mysterious Weathermen and the ins and outs of the corporate giant, TransRifts Inc., and what's happening on some of the other colony worlds in between Earth and Tanegawa's world. I want to live in this universe for a little bit longer and really get into the nitty-gritty of it all. And, mostly, I just want to hang out with Hob and the crew of Ghost Wolves as they carry out more hired gun runs and a couple more train jobs, and upset the precarious balance between the planet's hardscrabble miners and the bureaucratic crew pits that run them.

Hunger Makes the Wolf is a great bit of sci-fi with a dash of fantasy, all cleverly disguised as a brutal, kick-ass western. I want more!

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

The strange planet known as Tanegawa’s World is owned by TransRifts Inc, the company with the absolute monopoly on interstellar travel. Hob landed there ten years ago, a penniless orphan left behind by a rift ship. She was taken in by Nick Ravani and quickly became a member of his mercenary biker troop, the Ghost Wolves.

Ten years later, she discovers that the body of Nick’s brother out in the dunes. Worse, his daughter is missing, taken by shady beings called the Weathermen. But there are greater mysteries to be discovered – both about Hob and the strange planet she calls home.

I immediately took to Hob Ravani. I’ll admit it might have been initially due to the cocky attitude, motorcycle, and eye-patch, but it turns out that there is much more to her than that. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and will gladly do anything for them. Her adopted father, Nick, is a cantankerous old so and so, but he looks after his own. He has a strong sense of justice and if he sees something wrong he’ll fix it. He has instilled that same sense of morality in Hob. The downtrodden of Tanegawa’s World are her kin, and if they are suffering she’ll sort it. Heaven help the person, or intergalactic space monopoly, who get on Hob’s bad side.

The rest of the biker gang, the Ghost Wolves, are an eclectic bunch. There is a scoundrel called Coyote who is my personal favourite. His life before joining the Wolves is a closed book, well, for a while anyway. I’m sure we’re all in agreement, what good is a murky past if it doesn’t come back to haunt you. I’m curious to see where this thread of the narrative will lead in the future. There is certainly a suggestion that there is more still to be revealed.

Thinking about it, there is an air of mystery that surrounds just about everything and everyone on this planet. Who, or what, is the enigmatic Bone Collector? Why is he so interested in Hob and her friends? Why are TransRifts Inc so insistent in working the local miners so hard? Who or what are the Weathermen, and will Hob survive long enough to discover anything close to answers to these questions?

I’d like to think that one day, mankind will properly explore the universe. We’ll travel to habitable planets and make them our home. What will happen to us then? Perhaps we will begin to change. Maybe some of us might end up not really being human any more at all. Will this change be caused by evolution, mutation or something more akin to “witchyness”? On Tanegawa’s World, the latter certainly seems to be the case. Hob and Nick both exhibit abilities that could easily be described as magic. The Bone Collector is also more than a little mystic in nature.

As has become my habit, I like to find some music to listen to while I read. My musical recommendation for Hunger Makes The Wolf was a no-brainer. The Firefly soundtrack by Greg Edmonson, he of Uncharted fame, is the perfect companion. Tanegawa’s World feels like it could easily be a place where Mal Reynolds and crew could find themselves. More than likely he would have dealings with the likes of the Ghost Wolves. Dammit, now that I’ve started thinking about this as a crossover I need it to happen. That would be all kinds of awesome.

I’ve said in the past that science fiction is the genre I have the most difficulty getting into, but books like Hunger Makes The Wolf are making me start to revise this opinion. I have to commend Alex Wells, this book was a genuine pleasure. Just goes to prove, irrespective of genre, you can’t go wrong with well-rounded characters and a plot that zips along at a good pace. Well done sir, well done. This is a cracking debut. I look forward to the Ghost Wolves returning in the future.

Hunger Makes The Wolf is published by Angry Robot Books and is available now.

I am a huge fan of mostly anything that comes out from Angry Robot - as I believe they've got it almost right when it comes to talent-spotting. Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells, was frankly a bit of an odd-ball of a choice for my reading. It's science fiction, mixed in with some goodly measure of low-magic. I don't generally read so much of science fiction in general. Maybe its an injustice that I'm labeling the book so because, really this book is so much more than that. A space-opera that is very accessible in that it's focused on the intense happenings in just one strange off-world planet and relentlessly drives the narrative forward through some delectable characterization and commendable world-building. Corporate politicking, a fantastical magic system and biker-gangs! How can I forget the uber-cool biker-gangs that forms the backbone of this sci-fi thriller and the kickass Hob Ravani, a female lead who along with her best friend Mag plots to bring down the evil mega-corporation that has shackled and taken over this mining planet

The story at heart, is that of this unrest among the civilians on this strange planet Tanegawa, a tinny spark that catches fire when one of their respected elders, Phil Ravani gets brutally shot down and killed out in the desert - his dead body is discovered by this biker-gang roaming the sands for scavenging supplies, Hob coincidentally being something of a god-daughter to Phil and who is also part of this gang led by Phil's elder brother Nick. The murder mystery gets murkier when the trail leads Hob and gang to the corporation called TransRift who control most of the stakes in this mines on this planet.

In a parallel storyline, Mag - Phil's daughter, gets kidnapped by the TransRift guys and is brought forth to meet these strange folks, known as Weathermen famed across the universe for their ability to navigate and control space-travel through rifts and also maintain systems in inhospitable planets like Tanegawa. Hob rescues Mag from the clutches of the evil Weatherman but she realizes that the plot runs much deeper than just killing Phil or kidnapping Mag.

Enter Bone-Collector, a strange man who roams the deserts and is blessed with magic, borne of the elements found in this planet, who can divine truths about the future and people. Hob in an attempt to understand the strange happenings in this world, joins hands with the Bone Collector. There is history between them and Hob realizes that to unravel this mystery, she would first have to come to terms with the "witchiness" inside of her.

It's a rather twisted plot - and the frenetic pacing is right on the nose, keeping things moving. There is never a dull moment especially when Hob is on the scene. The story is as much about the tinny spark of unrest exploding into a rebellion against the tyranny of greedy corporations as it's about the character evolution of Hob, coming of age and taking on the leadership mantle of this biker-gang. Hob is forced to grow up fast, with the things happening with her and Mag's family.

Hob's character screams rebel-yell at the drop of a hat, is the Enfant terrible with her mentor Nick and is the first to understand the steel behind the soft pudgy exterior of her best friend, Mag. She is a great heroine to get behind of - feisty to the core and crafty in her leadership skills, the perfect foil to the greed and machinations of the evil corporation she's up against. She is ably supported in this mission to thwart the grand corporations by the gentle Mag ( for whom piling up the adversity only stokes her hidden strength ), her second-in-command the wily Coyote ( one of my favorite side-characters, a man whose gleeful exterior hides some nerves of steel!) and her entire biker-gang, and of course the charming and mysterious Bone-Collector.

All the threads are tied up neatly by the end of this first book - but the cinematic action-set pieces and the exciting, edge-of-the-seat thrill-rides featured in this Dune meets Mad Max desert adventure only makes me hungrier for more. For the next outing of the Desert Wolves led by this enigmatic kickass heroine, Hob Ravani and her friends. If you like your science fiction stories, this is one gem of a story you shouldn't miss out on.

Grab any science fiction book and you'll see they all have the exact same thing in common: the plots and devices of the stories are all predictable and never stray out of bounds. They hardly even push the envelope and, with great joy, I'm glad the author never got that memo. Here's why: Wells adds magic to the mix. It's a stroke of genius I've been waiting for Peter F. Hamilton or Alastair Reynolds to pull off to no avail.

Finish the sequel, Wells.

I'm always excited when I find a new book that makes me stay up all night reading because I simply can't put it down. I'm doubly excited when that book is the first in a brand new series. Hunger Makes the Wolf is both those things. Needless to say that I'm absolutely in love, but I promise to keep my fangirling to a minimum and try to explain to you why I thought this book was so good.

Humans have conquered the stars and colonized countless planets. All this was made possible thanks to Rift travel. But the secret to successful rift travel is in the hands of TransRifts Inc, the company that has absolute monopoly over both rift ships and the weathermen who make sure that they make it through the rifts in one piece and unaltered. Needless to say that nothing moves around the universe without TransRifts' approval.

Tanegawa's World is a closed planet owned by TransRifts and corporate law is the only law that exists there. Tanegawa is barely terraformed enough to sustain life, and would not be inhabited at all if it wasn't for the fact that it's the only known world that produces minerals needed to build transrift ships. Those who live on this harsh and unforgiving desert world have two choices: work in the mines or become a farmer. And if you don't keep your head down and do exactly what TransRift officials tell you to do, you get blacklisted, which means you can't work anywhere, so your choices are to die of hunger and exposure or join one of the rowing bands of brigands which, in most cases, means die a violent death in the near future anyway.

Hob Ravani arrived on Tanegawa as a stowaway on one of the rift ships when she was a kid. Luckily for her, she was taken in by Nick Ravani, leader of a bikers gang called the Ghost Wolves. For ten years, she'd managed to stay under the radar from TransRift authorities, as much as a band of mercenaries can stay under the radar, but when they discover the body of Nick's younger brother in the desert, Hob knows that things are about to change. Because he's been hot in the back and left to die in the dunes, and his daughter is missing. The Ghost Wolves are on a war path, but even they can't imagine the consequences of their revenge and the ugly secrets about TransRift, the Weathermen, and Tanegawa that they are about to drag into the light…

First things first, I have a confession to make. I absolutely love Hob Ravani! She is the perfect embodiment of this harsh world she lives in - stubborn, tough as nails, ragged and half starved, and fiercely loyal to those she considers family. She can be hard and unyielding, just like the desert she lives in. She will not run from danger but meet it head first, with a defiant grin on her face and her guns blazing…

I also love that this impulsiveness and unwillingness to compromise and listen to reason has landed her in trouble before. In fact, she starts this book as the lowest man on the totem pole with the Ghost Wolves because one of her impulse decisions almost had them all killed three years prior. What makes Hob a good protagonist is that she acknowledges her mistakes. She doesn't try to blame her shortcomings on others or on the circumstances. In fact, nobody is harsher on herself than Hob. She knows she screwed up. She swore to never be that stupid again. And even though most of the Ghost Wolves have forgiven her transgression, she hasn't forgiven herself yet. But even though that mistake makes Hob doubt herself at times, I love that when push comes to shove, she takes the reins of command and does what needs to be done. But she does it after weighting the pros and cons and fully aware of the consequences.

Mag Ravani, Hob's adopted cousin, couldn't be more different, but is a strong woman as well. Unlike Hob, Mag is calm and thoughtful. She doesn't rush into things head first. She sits down and analyses the situation from all angles before she decides on the best course of action. Where Hob is fire, Mag is water. The kind of water in an underground river - a lifesaver for desert dwellers but can drag you under and drown you in its dark current as well. And nobody will hear you screw underground.

I love the fact that Hob and Mag genuinely love each other. They are sisters and they are friends, and even though the events of three years ago cast a shadow over their relationship, they talk about it like adults and manage to move past it. And they have each other's backs. They work together.

Even though Hob and Mag are the main protagonists of this book, the story is full of other interesting characters that I enjoyed following. All the Ghost Wolves, and especially Coyote. The special agent who infiltrated TransRift and bit more than he can chew. The Bone Collector… I want to know more about them. I want to know more about Tanegawa and I want to know what happens to Hob and the Ghost Wolves after their epic confrontation with TransRift at the end of the book. So I pray and hope that there is a second book somewhere in my near future, because I'm in love with this world.

PS. I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure how to describe Hunger Makes the Wolf. It definitely had a Dune (far future, desert planet, science fiction) feel and maybe a feeling of Molly Tanzer’s Vermillion mixed in, but at the same time I was definitely thinking Mad Max through parts of it. The story follows two women – Hob and Mags. Hob is our main character and the bulk of the story


follows her but I feel like Mags was just as important in the long run. Hob is a member of a mercenary style biker gang on the desert, mining planet known as Tanegawa’s World. The planet is run by a corporation, TransRifts Inc. They control everything from the farms, to the mines, to traffic on and off the planet. Like the blurb says, Hob finds the body of her boss’s brother out in the sand dunes, shot in the back. Mag, his daughter and former close friend of Hob’s, is missing.

The story starts with that. The first third of the book we experience flashbacks from before the discover and from Mag’s point of view and back to present to Hob’s till they collide. From there it really picks up pace. Space witchiness is in full swing, We discover Hob has the ability to make fire, we think Nick Ravani can too, and what is this blue stuff the miners dug up!? I can’t say much more without spoilers but safe to say this is a book building a fantastic base for what I hope (fingers-crossed) is a series. Alex Wells gives us a lot of questions by the end of the novel, questions that had the book not left so many (so obviously a setup) I would have been pissed about. There HAS to be a second one, my favorite characters were left in a limbo and I’m surprised even by my own attachment to them.

Let’s do our regular rundown, starting with characters. Our lady leads are without a doubt the best of the batch. Hob is what the ‘strong heroine’ trope we see so often is trying to be. She’s got all the flaws needed to give her general badassery depth. At the beginning of the story she’s been knocked down to ‘pup’ status, she’s done something so stupid she nearly got herself shot. She has to earn her way back into the good graces of the Wolves and of the course of the story we see her do that. I can’t adequately articulate how much I liked her and honestly on the same coin, Mag. Mag is everything that Hob is not but is just as great. Where I expect Hob to shoot someone for betraying her, I’d see Mag sit them down to dinner and slowly destroy them from the inside out. She develops this amazing quiet strength. The two are like a river and a mountain to me. Equally capable of what they want, but very different. The rest of the case definitely stood out to me too. There were miners here and there that were lost to the story, but the Wolves stayed strong. I’m not going to go too far into the cast, as I am still avoiding spoilers, but damn it there is a certain set of characters I’m desperate to find out what happens.

The story itself was super fun. As I stated we start off with a series of flashbacks to bring our characters together and then from there we’re pulled across the planet, from person to person to see the scheme of the thing. The story gradually gets bigger and bigger in scope. Not only in just the literally space of it, but in the depth of questions asked. Again, something I felt was done pretty well considering all the irons in the fire that Alex Wells ended up juggling. The story also forces our characters out of their shells. More and more they have to move, think bigger and better. It definitely kept me guessing on what was going to happen next, I was never sure where it was going till it got there. Just off enough to surprise me, but familiar enough that it didn’t throw me for a crazy loop.

Finally pacing and world building. I think it’s established, I bought into the world. I did have a few questions, mostly about the farming and how it worked since it seemed to me that we were based mostly in a desert environment, but I feel like that’s something we’re going to get later. Pacing is the only thing that let me down even a little. I had a lot of trouble picking up the pace of it and once I did, I’ll admit it felt episodic. There were some clear jumps in time. It was by no way bad but I felt like maybe there was some stuff we could have seen that was either cut or just glossed over. It didn’t hugely affect my reading experience though. I was committed, by the 30 or 40 percent mark for Hob and Mag and their friendship. That was the hooker for me.

I gotta say, I’ve been hitting it out of the park with reading lately. This one definitely makes it into my ‘Highly Recommended’ stack. I’d pick this one up for sure if you’re looking for a fun action romp with some unique and amazing female characters.

Beautiful cover by Ignacio Bazan Lazcano

P.S. NO ONE IS DEFINIED BY ROMANCE AND OH GODS I LOVED THAT SO MUCH. THANK YOU.

Let's just get this out there -- this is a very cool novel. If you dig SF that's not beholden to space ships and lots of future tech -- and can even handle a little bit of magic, you'll want to read this one.

Tanegawa’s World is a little forgotten backwater of a planet -- think Tatooine -- so forgotten that none of the colonists there really have a clue that there's an interplanetary government, or what's going on with any other planet. The company that runs the mines (and by extension, the farming communities that support the mines) runs the whole show. There are organizations of workers in individual towns, and there's a loose network connecting them, for mutual assistance and support. And then there are the Ghost Wolves -- a band of mercenary bikers. They are a law unto themselves, but have strong ties to the miner groups. They may be supported by/sympathized with by most people in the towns, but officially they're outlaws.

Hob Ravani is the lowest ranked member of the Wolves -- she's made some serious blunders that required her to go through the training/probationary process twice. But she's a full-fledged member now, and the leader, Nick Ravani (no blood tie, but he gave her his name), seems to trust her, even as he's still testing her commitment following these blunders. Making a routine run with a couple of other Wolves, Hob finds the body of Nick's brother lying dead in the sand, shot in the back several times. This discovery -- and the ensuing investigation, retaliation, and the side-effects of both -- will end up changing Tanegawa's World and the lives of many of its people in ways that no one can expect.

Which is not to say that this is a big, global story. It's not. This is about Hob and her immediate circle. They just find themselves (and, eventually, put themselves) in some critical areas -- and also don't realize just what they're getting themselves into. Mag, the dead man's daughter, is Hob's estranged best friend, and will be the favorite character of many readers. There are Geri and Freki -- twins who are only slightly senior to Hob when we meet them, they're not really friends of hers, but they are allies she can count on when she needs to -- and on this world, that might be more important. There's Coyote, who I enjoyed immensely, and a couple of other Wolves that we spend time with, but most aren't factors in the story. There's one more person in her circle, the Bone Collector -- I'm not even going to try to sum him up in a sentence, but he's worth getting to know.

On the flip side we have Mr. Green, who is just creepifyin' (as Mal Reynolds would say), a Weatherman (not like Al Roker) and a couple of cut-throat corporate types who just this side of wearing black hats and twirling their mustaches They are absolutely believable and not cartoon-y, but reek of "bad guy."

There is something that could be magic going on here -- it's definitely seen as magic by some. It might be radiation-induced mutation. It could be some sort of world-spirit/alien entity doing something to people. It's tough to say, and it really doesn't matter -- some individuals on Tanegawa’s World possess abilities that others don't. The ultimate cause of those abilities makes no difference to the story, it's interesting to speculate about (and to see why various groups adopt their interpretation and how they use it) -- but at the end of the day, it just means that there are a few characters walking around with extra abilities which don't define them, but are definitely helpful.

The plotting is good, the pacing is strong, and there's a strong voice throughout the work. This is just an impression -- I can't quote anything to verify it (were I a professional, I'd make the effort), but while the voice is consistent and strong throughout, I think Wells is a bit more aggressive about it in the opening chapters. In sort of a "come on strong and get you into the world" then dial back to "now here's the story." Or maybe it's "throw you into the deep end" and then let you swim undisturbed. Or maybe I acclimatized Or maybe I should stop trying to make this point and move on. My overall point on voice -- both the narrative voice, and the individual characters -- it that it was strong, clear and engaging -- the kind that you want to spend 300 pages with. Wells demonstrates the chops to keep and build an audience, if they'll just give the book a shot.

I've seen a lot of comparisons to Dune and this world -- I've never been able to get through much of the first book, and nor the adaptations -- so I can't comment. There's a lot of sand, so, I guess maybe. Tanegawa’s World feels like something out of O'Keefe's Scorched Continent or Firefly -- a mining/agricultural society in what might as well be the Old West with (some) better technology than we have. Arguably, this planet is a little less hospitable to humans and The Powers That Be are a shade more corrupt.

I've also seen a lot of talk about the biker gang aspect of the book. It didn't feel as prominent as I'd have liked -- it was there, but it didn't seem that vital to the nature of the mercenary crew the Ravani leads. If I had to compare it to anything, the Ghost Wolves felt more like a UF werewolf pack than anything else. That may say more about what I've been reading than anything that Wells wrote, still I got more of a Briggs/Vaughn/etc. vibe to the group than a Kurt Sutter-vibe. Outside of a handful of individual members, I didn't get a clear feel for the Wolves. It's understandable, Wells had a lot balls in the air and was doing just a good job juggling them that I didn't notice. In retrospect, however, I'd have appreciated a little more time with this aspect.

I feel like I've gone on too long here, but I haven't touched all the things I want to say. There's just so much going on in these few hundred pages! Despite all that, you don't get bogged down in the worldbuilding, the details, the backstories, or anything -- Hunger Makes the Wolf is a fun, fast, gripping read. I trust there's a sequel on the way. There just has to be. Not that this isn't a complete story -- there's just a lot of threads that beg to be picked up. Either way, you'll want to read this one.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Angry Robot via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this opportunity.

Interesting and engaging, this is a story that is well worth reading!