Blood Wolf God

By: Michael Darrow

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Picture the perfect sleepy little mountain community nestled in the lower mountains of Southern California between Riverside and Palm Springs. The town of Idyllwild Falls, too low for snow skiing, too high to escape a little snowfall. It is the perfect weekend hideaway for the rich and famous. The locals are an eclectic group of folks ranging from the outdoorsy type hikers and nature buffs to the spiritually motivated. From fortune tellers to spiritual healers and everything in between, Idyllwild Falls offers something for everyone.
What they don't tell you in the nature brochures is what else calls this town home...

Cover by Miblart.

It takes a village....

It takes a village of vampires/werewolves and a ghostly Jew for Jesus to stop an evil witch and make a happy mountain community in present day Southern California. This was a fun vampire/werewolf origin story dating back to late 18th century Northern Ireland and to Jerusalem at the time of Christ. Lots of traumatic throat injury and sudden exsanguination punctuate the saga in a lightly-handled manner with witch spells thrown in for good measure.

VIRTUAL VOICE: The story could have been better if read by a good human narrator. However, the Virtual Voice was better than a bad narrator and better than listening to the Kindle edition with iPhone Voice-Over.

Melodramatic Supernatural Chaos with a Flat AI Narration

I went into Blood Wolf God expecting a dark, gripping supernatural drama, but what I got was a convoluted melodrama overflowing with supernatural clichés, religious overtones, and a flat AI narration.

The Narration

The AI narrator was disappointingly monotone, delivering the story with all the emotion of a grocery list. Pronunciations were accurate, but the lack of any interest or nuance made the experience a slog. It’s as if the AI read the book and decided not to bother. Audio quality was acceptable, though there were occasional garbled moments that further disrupted the flow.

The Story

The title promises a compelling supernatural tale, but instead, Blood Wolf God delivers an over-the-top melodrama involving a small California town that serves as a haven for vampires and werewolves. The antagonist is a cartoonishly evil witch who steals life force from children to stay young, poisons the eternal Jew (yes, there’s an immortal Jew who witnessed the Crucifixion), and tries to spark a supernatural war by murdering people.

The Irish twins, both over 200 years old but still inexplicably clinging to thick accents, team up with the ghost of the eternal Jew to thwart her plans. The resolution is as predictable as it is ludicrous, culminating in Jesus himself descending to cure their devoutly Catholic vampire grandfather of his affliction.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to know what this book was trying to be. Between the overly dramatic family backstories, the witch’s cartoon villain antics, and the heavy-handed religious themes, the story felt like a mishmash of ideas with no real direction. That said, I did finish the audiobook, so it wasn’t entirely unlistenable, but it’s not something I would recommend. If melodramatic supernatural stories with a hefty dose of Catholicism are your thing, you might find something to enjoy here, but for most, this one is better left on the shelf.