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Solomon Kane: The Hound of God review










eBook by Jonathan Maberry

Cover by Guillem H. Pongiluppi

Illustrations by Patrick Zircher

From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures

Spoilers! Spoilers!


Very loosely based on the real life of Thiess of Kaltenbrun aka the Livonian werewolf.

Swedish Livonia, near the Baltic Sea, 1598 AD, about a couple of years after the events of "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville". Solomon stumbles upon a strange massacre: a farming community decimated by Kurt Grieg, a Nachzehrer from Austria and his gang of brigands.

Will Kane file a grievance with the state of New York or will he unleash a world of hurt on the demonic Kurt? Will the villagers be avenged? Will our heroes get to the chopper on time? You'll have to download the ebook to find out.

It's a well-researched narrative that lifts the veil on the secrets of the benandanti werewolves of Italy. We discover that these "Good Walkers" are actually benevolent Catholic lycanthropes that serve God. Each born with a caul, a mask of flesh/a face membrane (from the amniotic sac). They call themselves the Hounds of God.

Lots of Schwarzenegger homages inside: Two Austrian brothers, Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul (Arnold's idol), Richter from Total Recall (1990), Jürgen Prochnow from See Arnold Run (2005), Josef Schmidt from The Streets of San Francisco - Dead Lift (1977) or maybe editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Predator (1987) paraphrased with Solomon howling and mentioning that if the monster bleeds it can be killed.

If you're looking for more Predator prose fiction, you can find Yautja yarns by Jonathan Maberry in the following anthologies: "Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey", "Predator: If It Bleeds" and "Predator: Eyes of the Demon".

I give it an 8/10. The cat-headed ju-ju stave is sadly MIA, Kane shouldn't be in his prime, but in his twilight years and the short story is way too short, it will leave you hungry for more. If you're into the Penny Dreadful TV series, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and/or Carlo Ginzburg's The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries then this tale of lycanthropy by the current editor of Weird Tales magazine is a must for you.

The next Solomon Kane e-book: The Banquet of Souls by British writer Steven Savile will be served cold in June 2024.

And don't you dare miss the long-awaited return of SOLOMON KANE written and drawn by Patch Zircher in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1! In stores: February 28, 2024.







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