The Bookwyrm's Review of Cody Black Vampire Hunter: Bite of the Wolf by C.M. Craddock

 

Author: C.M. Craddock

Length: 285 Pages

Publisher: Self Published

Release Date: December 31, 2019

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Amazon Link

I make no secret of my love for urban fantasy. Whether it be the big timer's like Jim Butcher, small press writers like C.T. Phipps or self published writers like Joel Spriggs, I just can't get enough of their books. When I got the chance to read and review this book, I jumped at the chance, and here are my thoughts.

PLOT SUMMARY

Cody Black absolutely hates vampires. This definitely helps with his job as a vampire hunter for the Foundation, the rulers of the vampires. Cody is not thrilled having to work for them, but its either kill rogues for them or end up dead. It does pay well, though. He launders the money through the gun shop and range he owns, which is run more by his assistant Sierra than it is by Cody. It does allow him to create and train with vampire killing weapons, though, so it works.

When a slew of murders start to occur in the club district, Cody is called in by the local vampire queen, Marie Delfleur, notifying him that an old vampire is turning people under 20, who can't handle the change and just become feral murder machines. This is against Federation law, and Cody is tasked to hunt him and his spawn down and end the threat. Discovering one of the young vampires, Cody follows him but is ambushed by the old vampire, a 1500 year old viking named Aabiorn,  who fights through all of Cody's weapons and injures him, although not without injury to himself that forces him to retreat. 

With the help of Sierra, Cody escapes, and begins to heal. Meeting with Marie, he gets injected by her with a substance that will supposedly help him be better able to hunt vampire, making him into a one of a kind vampire killer. Searching for the vampire's lair, he inadvertantly leaves clues as to where he lives, and they attack him there. 

This leads to the final frantic confrontation between Cody and Aabiorn, as he is now threatening everything Cody cherishes and would do anything to protect. This confrontation leads to even more revelations about who Aabiorn is, and what his plans were. It also shows that Marie has plans of her own that could have world shaking consequences if Cody does nothing to change it, and he has new allies to help him respond to the changes.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

This is a very character driven book, centered mostly on the title character, Cody. He's a very solid character, having a tragic background that led to his becoming a vampire hunter, and he is a well rounded character, with strengths and weaknesses that offset each other, just like a real person. Sierra also is fairly well rounded, although she is a bit of a trope as the beautiful assistant/love interest. The antagonists, which consist of Marie and Aabiorn, are both good foils to Cody, in their own way, with Marie wanting to control Cody, while Aabiorn just wants him dead. Their back stories are revealed later in the book, and help flesh out their motivations. The secondary characters are a bit flat, with most of the vampires just seeming to be a bit two dimensional. Not a deal breaker, but they don't add as much as they could.

The world building is fairly pedestrian. The story is set in New York, but it never really gives you a sense of anything particular about the setting. It just kind of seems like the story is set there, but none of the unique locales or culture is ever really used to enrich the story. Again, its not a deal breaker, but it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. The vampire world, though, is pretty well expanded upon, and a secret history of the world at large is also an interesting facet of the story. 

FINAL THOUGHTS  

While I wouldn't put this book in my very top tier of urban fantasy books, it's definitely in the upper range of the genre. Its flaws are far outweighed by the things that work in the story, and the characters are definitely worth exploring and keep the pages turning. I do have to mention that there are some adult sex scenes in this book, which I didn't mention earlier, so this is not a book I would recommend for young readers, but it shouldn't put off adult fans of vampire or urban fantasy. This is definitely on the recommended to read list.