Review: Wolf Hunt / Author: Graham McNeil / Publisher: Black Library / Release Date: February 18th 2014
Wolf Hunt is a coda of sorts to the Horus Heresy novel The Outcast Dead and deals with what happened to one of the key characters of that story; Luna Wolf Space Marine and outcast Severian. That particular character is on the run for the simple crime of being allied to the wrong side. That his own people have changed so much he would barely recognize them is seemingly irrelevant; he’s allied with the enemy, and this means that samurai-themed hunter and tracker Nagasena has been tasked to track him down and end him.
The quality of the performances and production are exactly what we’ve grown to expect from the Black Library; incidental music, sound effects and acting are all entirely spot-on and help create the oppressive and urgent atmosphere required for the piece. The performance of Nagasena is a little jarring; the character is meant to be a faux-oriental type, but the accent does border on the comedic at times and doesn’t quite work. The writing carries this through however, and the overall theme is the sort of loud and unsubtle adventure we’ve come to expect from this franchise. Author Graham McNeil has worked hard to put a very human face on this particular tale; we care about all parties involved and bubbling under the entire story is the enormous sense of waste in human lives and dreams caused by the setting’s galactic civil war.
This drama will be much less rewarding for those new to the Horus Heresy books; you should really read The Outcast Dead first to get the most out of this tale. Though this is a fun listen, it’s very much one for the fans, casual listeners would be better served by Honour to the Dead or the Garro series. That said, Wolf Hunt is filled with details that will be of interest to Horus Heresy continuity junkies and it provides a nice perspective on some of the stories set later in the timeline.
