Master Wolf

Greyhawk Adventures #3

by Rose Estes

A caravan on a mysterious mission... A sleeping beauty, stalked by evil... A young shaman of the fierce Wolf Nomads, cast out by his ancient tribe, must come to grips with his manhood and a family legacy of magic... Travel the wondrous—and deadly—lands of the Wolf Nomads on a perilous odyssey threatened by a host of monstrous creatures—the warlike kobolds, a terror force of hyenas and gnolls, brute giants and dark magic-users, the roving criminal scum, and above all, the dread Iuz... ...in a chain of fantastic events that may destroy Master Wolf and his savage wolf companion, TamTur!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming, Science Fiction Fantasy

314 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Rose Estes is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books, including full length novels and multiple choice gamebooks. After contributing extensively to TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest series (of which she wrote the first six, as well as others later down the line), she wrote her first full length novel, Children of the Dragon (1985). She continued to write for TSR by writing six volumes in a series of Greyhawk novels. She contributed to other series, but continued to write books and start series of her own that, like Children of the Dragon, take place in a fantasy or science fiction world created by her own imagination. She also wrote the Golden Book Music Video Sing, Giggle and Grin.

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this as a kid back in the early 90s. For some reason, the group of protagonists being chased by the army of gnolls was positively thrilling to my 12-year-old self. I was flying through the pages faster than the characters were fleeing across the plains. I think it was the first story I read where some of "the good guys" were actually killed. That made it pretty groundbreaking for me at the time. I also think it may have been my first introduction to "D&D-like" fantasy. Gnolls, kobolds, demons, warrior clans, trade caravans, spell "levels," exotic cities, seedy taverns... What a course this book set for me. My younger self would give this a solid five stars.

Just finished re-reading the trilogy for nostalgia's sake, and those rose-tinted glasses definitely had an effect. It's not a bad book, but it's not a very sophisticated one either. That's fine - not all stories need to be. The main character - Mika - is relatively well fleshed out with his motivations, reactions and responses to events, but that only serves to cast starker shadows against the rest of the cast who are fairly one-dimensional.

The pacing is a little erratic as well. Certain parts of the story are told in vivid detail, while others are glossed over rather quickly, without much structure built upon the story-scaffolding they represent.

I don't think you'll miss much by skipping this one if you've read practically anything else in this sort of genre. That said, it's a quick and easy read, so it won't cost you much if you decide to give it a shot, either. It's an interesting view into the Greyhawk world, and it does setup the rest of the trilogy well enough that if you do read this one, you'll likely want to read the remaining two as well - both of which are also quick and easy reads. It succeeds in these regards.

While my younger self thought incredibly highly of the book, my current self is a much more experienced reader. I'd give it two stars today. I'm settling on a rating of three because of how influential it was to me at the time, but I also feel I need to be fair in rating it for anyone else who would also face the choice of picking it up and reading it today - particularly if you're an experienced genre reader yourself.

[David Sarkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd rather write about Lemon Juice
15 January 2013

Well, here is another of those books about some barbarian that does barbarian type things. What does a barbarian do? Well, read Conan the Barbarian and you will find out (and make sure they are the original stories, not the stories that were butchered by DeCamp and Carter). What about the real world, what did barbarians do in the real world? Well, to put it bluntly, nothing all that much different from anybody else. Basically the word barbarian comes from the ancient Greek word Barbaros which pretty much means 'not Greek'. Did they run around in skins, live in tribes, and pretty much do what Conan does? Well, some of them did, but others of them (such as the Persians, which were the atypical barbaros) were actually quite civilised.

About this book, which I have nothing really to write about this book so I think I might write about lemon juice instead. I like lemon juice, so I think you might get more out of reading me write about lemon juice than you will get from this book.



Anyway, Lemon juice is made from the juice of lemons (or it is supposed to be). Okay, a lot of the stuff these days is made from concentrate, which is lemon juice that is highly processed, but if you add water you get lemon juice (or lemon cordial at least, and I don't count that as lemon juice). The best lemon juice you can get though is to make it yourself, if you are lucky enough to have a lemon tree. I had one once and I would make lemon juice from it, but I would add a lot of sugar to it because while I like tangy lemon juice I also like it to be sweet as well. I also tend to make it with about two thirds water, but also I keep a lot of the floaties inside (I think it makes the lemon juice better) but you probably should remove the pips (you don't want a lemon tree growing in your tummy, do you?).

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fantasy story based on the D&D role playing game. Recommended

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is frustrating! There are elements that are very well written and others that just leave your head scratching. This could/should have been a 3 or a 4 as the overall book narrative is a fairly straight forward D&D adventure. Mika is the son of the Wolf Tribe Shaman who, like most 'diamond in the rough heroes', has great potential but lacks the motivation to take his role in the tribe seriously. Instead of participating in hunts, his shaman-trainee duties or other tribal responsibilities, he finds everyway to shirk his duty and spend time with the women of his tribe. Everything changes when a wagon bearing a magically sleeping princess is rescued by the tribe but Mika's father is killed (resulting in Mika losing his protection in the tribe) following a battle with Kobolds. To regain his status with the Tribe, Mika leads the wagon across the plains to the city of Eru-Tovar where the curse on the princess can be lifted.

Spoilers***

There are elements where this book is incredibly well written and you can empathize with Mika. When his father dies you can see the spark of self-reliance that sets up the Hero's Journey that should result in Mika returning to the tribe as a proven leader, warrior and Shaman. There are passages where the relationship with Tam-Tam (his wolf) and Hornsbuck (an older tribe member who is guiding Mika) really show the depth of his character.

Then there are elements that shock you that they were ever written. Periodically, after showing noble character growth, Mika defaults to 'I want to sleep with the princess cause she's pretty and nothing will stop me from having her'. One passage even reads "He craved her as he had never craved another woman.....Just thinking of her dowry filled him with a warm glow. He was determined that he would have her yet." So he wants her for the money?

Perhaps most disturbing in this book is towards the end, where Mika sets up a plan to get time alone with the sleeping princess to 'be with her'. He's planning to rape her. Not exactly hero quality. While his plan is disrupted, the princess ends up being raped by another person. This ends up being a 'good' thing because the Big Bad Evil Guy (a poor interpretation of Gary Gygax's demon lord Iuz) needed her to be a virgin to regain his full powers and rule the world. While I don't look for D&D based adventures to send a moral message, the fact that this sends a immoral message is unbelievable.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. Although the Gord books were far from perfect they felt more linked to the DnD game and it's Greyhawk setting. Whether the magic, the monsters, or the character classes in it.
This novel is set in Greyhawk in the lands of the Wolf Nomads, north of Perrenland. It follows the rather shallow character of Mika, who the author is clearly portraying as selfish and immature. In itself this is fine, if the journey he made both physically and spiritually resulted in some resolution of this. Yet it didn't, leaving me irritated at the end, and without enough of a hook for book 2 to compensate.
The source material of Greyhawk is not really developed anywhere approaching Gygax's two books. The idea of barbarians being stressed by kobolds is laughable. The gnolls and trolls seem a better prospect, but we never get a decent scrap with them. And then... Iuz! I won't spoil it, but WTF?
So, I'll read the next two in the hope of improvement but I'm not overly hopeful.

[Aristotle · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the stay at home order was announced i hopped on the Long Island Expressway and went to my parents house instead of being alone in my small NYC apartment. In the basement there's a garbage bag filled with old paperbacks. I saw Master Wolf by Rose Estes and remembered buying it at a local yard sale when i was 12 or so.

When i was 12 i liked peanut butter twix bars, baseball cards, playing video games, and reading books like this.
I made it through 50 pages then jumped to the last chapter.
A simple story told in a simple way.
Mika was not interesting at all.
The #MeToo movement would like to have a word with Mika as well as the District Attorney of Greyhawk

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

all led up too stupid ending. :(

[Lorewarden]

This was my first Greyhawk novel not authored by Gary Gygax, and honestly I'm not sure what to make of it. The story was interesting enough, if a bit basic, but the protagonist was pretty unlikable. At every step he thinks only of himself, even when his people are literally dying around him, and any heroism is entirely self-serving. I thought he might have an arc of become more mature, but nope, he's only thinking of himself to the very end. On top of this, the story never really comes to a conclusion - it just ends abruptly. Not a bad read, but just a bit confusing if I was supposed to actually like the the main character or not.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

First review for Goodreads
What to say, well, "hard work" is my main reaction.

This feels method written, and struggles with pace. The ending is terribly rushed, and makes little sense. If you produced this at your local creative writing group it would be savaged.
I have been reading genre fiction since the early 80''s, and this feels more like a medium grade bit of fan fiction. If you are after some decently written pulp d&d work start with "The Crystal Shard"

[Dungeon Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

tl;dr: Unbearable. Spoilers may follow.

So this project ground to a halt several times while I was reading this book, and finally stopped altogether about 6 months ago, only a few dozen pages from the end. I hated this book. The protagonist, Mika-oba, is an unlikeable wretch, with no qualities even of an amusing nature. He does nothing except try to seduce country bumpkin girls, and how he manages to succeed is beyond me. At one point, he rapes a woman while under the influence of evil magic. This seems to elicit little more than a shrug. Somehow, despite putting no work into it, he manages to cast spells well beyond his ability, with a few hiccups, but no major repercussions. The writing and action is also of the most banal and uninspired quality, as is the characterisation of everyone in the entire book. How I managed to force myself to completely finish this book, I'll never know.

I see that there are a few more Mika-oba books by Rose Estes ahead of me in the project. God help me.

[Steven Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been in my to-read pile for years and years, because my wife found it in a discard pile from the library. I didn't expect much of it, but decided to finally get through some of the books that have been around forever.

In truth, I was actually pleasantly surprised. I had expected a nothing-but-mindless-plot story, much like the first Dragonlance novel, but there actually was some real character development here, and the story wasn't burdened down by too many characters.

The plot was still a shallow journey story, like many adventure books seem to devolve into, but the main character did actually grow and learn from his experiences, which was refreshing.

It still only gets 3/5 stars, though.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a thrift store for 75 c in my early 20's. I had played the game (3.x) before and I enjoyed other swords and sorcerery" books before. This book didnt let me down.

As someone that didnt live through the first generations of the game, it was enjoyable to see a simpler and different take on the gaming world imaginations that came before my own.


As someone that always played druid or ranger because of the pets, I immediatly liked the main character and the idea of a whole barbarian tribe tied to wolf families.

There is an annoying princess that turns out to not be so bad and a decent enough plot. I have not read the first 2 books of the greyhawk adeventures, but I liked this book enough to buy the others all the way up to 7.

[Grant Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book from my childhood probably doesn't hold up for most younger readers. However, I found it endearing and the main character to be unique from most other books. He does disagreeable things, maintains more interest in himself than being heroic, and shirks duties left and right. Yet, as a reader, I still found myself rooting for him.
If you are interested in a "cleanser" before reading your next epic fantasy adventure, this is for you. Just try not to take the main character too seriously, and you'll enjoy yourself more.

[Dru · Rating 1 out of 5]

BLECH!

Having read the entire Gord The Rogue series, I was hoping for something similar, but was woefully disappointed.

Yes, this is set in Greyhawk, but the author's style is awful. And the story is mild and boring and just....blech. Do yourself a favor...if you like D&D and want it in novel form, avoid this and either read the Gord the Rogue series, or read the original Dragonlance series.

[Darrell Ackerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when I was 15 years old, twenty years ago. Didn't realize until I was done that it was the third book in the series. I never did get around to finding the rest of the series or any other books by this author. Not really my kind of fiction, but it was an enjoyable read. I am just so glad I remembered the author's name tonight.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely have fond memories of this book. However, it does not hold up. The story is mostly okay with just a few things that are problematic in the current era. But, the characters are thin and the climax isn't as much of a climax as an excuse for the second book.

Also, being a dungeons & dragons novel it calls out some things based on the rules, then gets them wrong. 🤷‍♂️

[DaveyNukes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this for what it is. A nice easy read. A small escape into the world of Greyhawk. I feel like the ending could have been better. Thankfully there are two more books to continue the story.

[Makmorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though silly at times, and and not what you would expected for a typically fantasy novel, it was enjoyable, light read. Some of her later books would prove to be much better.

[EchoedWinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love seeing the D&D game told narratively, seeing familiar stuff was super cool. Wasn't a super big fan that being raped was the crux of the enemies plan undoing.

[Sarah Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, in short, it's an average story, unlikeable characters, bad pacing, and bad editing. It's far from the worst novel I've ever read, but don't expect too much.

Master Wolf is a relic of its time. It's a stereotypical "swords and sorcery" story, complete with all of the misogyny and testosterone you would expect. Going in, I quickly knew what to expect, which is a book that aims at a male power fantasy. In that regard, it's a kind of disturbing one.

One thing that causes it to be disturbing is the amount of rape somehow appearing in what could be mistaken for a young adult novel. From descriptions of monsters assailing men, to men sleeping with an unconscious woman, with the twist ending being that because of rape, a character is no longer pure enough to be used as a weapon. It's messed up, honestly. The portrayal of women in the story isn't much better, as there are only two significant females in the whole story, one is literally a plot device, and the other one is purely there to sleep with the protagonist and is completely forgotten, only mentioned once in passing later on. At any time when Mika is alone with a woman, the writing changes tone to a cheap romance novel, with very awkward descriptions, and in the context of the story, are creepy as hell.

The protagonist is Mika, an outcast of the Wolf Nomads. He's an outcast, because he was supposed to become their leader, but he scampered off to brood too long, and the tribe chose his rival instead. He has been sent on a quest to redeem himself by escorting a trade caravan to the city of Eru-Tovar. On this trip, he is sometimes rather heroic and proving himself in battle, but also clumsy and foolish as often, or more. His behavior isn't even comically bad, and it seems very inconsistent. The only consistency in the character is his relationship with his wolf companion, who has far more personality and is far more interesting than he is. His rival and his tribe don't really matter after t he first few pages, despite there being a lot of room to explore that conflict. He has an older nomad travel with him, who is consistently a fierce warrior, and randomly alternates between supporting his kin and spitting at him. The Guildsman, Hary, makes a sudden about-face two-thirds through the novel, and becomes a villain. There is no foreshadowing or consistency to his actions, and his whole scheme doesn't even make sense - but don't worry, little of the plot actually does. The other important character is a giant who is protecting Princess McGuffin, whose entire purpose is to attack anyone who threatens the princess.

The writing is messy, and it's not always clear what is going on, but it is rarely significant enough to worry about. As such, action scenes could have been more detailed, and the previously mentioned non-consentual-romance scenes were too detailed. The pacing is terrible. There's a long stretch where it's rather boring, then things happen, and the ending is very rushed and confused. It's not a book where you have to worry too much about a missing detail, because the author didn't. Sometimes it's an editing mistake, like referring to Mika as Mike, or forgetting to use a hyphen on overflowing words, making "further" turn into "fur". Sometimes it's contradictions, or plot oversights such as the princess magically having a second necklace appear at the end which nobody ever noticed before. Sometimes, the problem is that character motivations make no sense, like the villain attacking the caravan at the risk of harming the princess, or Hary attacking his companions so he can be alone with the princess while surrounded by monsters, ensuring both of their deaths. Why did the fly part happen? What was the point of that?

So, I've said all that is wrong here, but really, it's meant to be a dumb, immature fantasy story, not great literature. It doesn't add much to Greyhawk's lore, but has some fun parts, like the owl bit. It's just hard to find a lot of saving graces here.

[Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

So now that Gary Gygax was well and truly gone from TSR something needed to be done to continue the adventures set in that world as the company was turning more towards the book publishing side of the business. Gygax would continue publishing Greyhawk novels under his own imprint but in the TSR side of things the job fell to Rose Estes to continue telling tales in this setting.

Rose Estes had been pretty successful some years earlier in originating the Endless Quest series as well as writing most of the early volumes of those gamebooks, so she would be a natural option for someone to continue the adventures in Greyhawk. Rose definitely changes the direction of the books and tells her own story, which is only fair enough, even if it was disappointing to some fans. 

Gone are Gord the Rogue and his risqué adventures and in comes Mika the Wolf Tribe Barbarian-Shaman who gets to fight gnolls and save an ungrateful princess all the while unknowingly going up against one of the most iconic villains in Greyhawk. If I have a criticism of the book it is the fact that it does often feel like this is an adventure which is set in Greyhawk because that is demanded of it. Other than a few place and character mentions little makes this story specifically Greyhawkish, and while some D&D gameplay mechanics do make an appearance here and there they feel more like a hindrance to the story than an integral part of the tale. I would not be surprised (and I don't know if this is true) if Master Wolf had started out its life as a book independent of D&D which was then repurposed due to the demand for books in this setting by TSR. Still, it's a fun story, and if you are not expecting a strict adherence to lore canon, a perfectly enjoyable adventure romp. 

[Filbi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rose Estes's novels are largely disowned by fans of the Greyhawk setting, which is a shame because she's a better novelist than Gary Gygax: she's better at setting scene, writing dialog, and crafting a coherent plot. Unfortunately, at least in her first Greyhawk story, her characters are just as shallow and unlikeable. The book has a certain juvenile charm, and actually clips along at a good pace in the second act, but the ending is an absolute trainwreck.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is classic pulp fantasy, warts and all. Gory, dark, stupid, horny, it’s got it all. Unfortunately, I don’t really like classic pulp fantasy, so this didn’t really do anything for me.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was decent, though ends really abruptly. Looking forward to the next book, it's been forever since I've read these.

[Maurie Cain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grabbed this nearly free at a book sale because I love old ttrpgs. Hot garbage it was painful but I was able to finish it. Don’t waste your time.

[Mark Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars (I feel generous). This was just OKAY. It's not bad.

There are a number of problems to note with this book, so I won't get round to listing them all. There's not a lot of story here. There's a little exposition earlier in the book, where it's revealed that the cargo these guys are quietly trying to transport is, in fact, actually a magically-induced, comatose princess. There's a whole story there that gets explained, but there's not much more until the very end of the novel, where the BBEG (that's: "big bad evil guy") goes on one of those typical "I'm going to kill you, but before I do, let me just buy you more time by telling you my entire plan" monologues. There really should've been more story between these points, because it ended up being one plot sequence to another pretty much the whole way through. The depth to this book is watery thin.

Earlier on, there was the threat of a kobold army. That didn't really amount to much. There was also a chase sequence with knolls and hyenas. That didn't amount to much either. These are two shining example of Estes creating threatening odds for her characters, where they always seem to be overcome in really immemorable ways that don't cost anything to us as readers. I felt like the stage was being set for a non-existent battle. There's momentum, but it doesn't lead us anywhere.

The one part of the book that I thought was actually quite good (and not just "okay") was the part where our protagonist, Mika, casts a spell, transforming himself (Wild Shape, or Polymorph?) into a wolf. He and his animal companion, Tam-Tur, who is also a wolf, gallop off into a forest and hunt a stag down for dinner. It was a scene that, for the first time, actually demonstrated the bond between Mika and Tam-Tur (rather than simply telling us), something that should've been added at the beginning of the book when first introducing us to them. Oddly, it was added near the end instead, and just seemed really out of step with where it was placed (especially since it was fairly detailed, yet the telling of the main story, prior to and following this, were so rushed).

I felt like the book kind of improved about 3/4 of the way through, but the ending was absolutely terrible. Easily the worst part of the book. I really don't feel like breaking it down and explaining why.

A part of me is still glad I had the chance to read this book--probably the D&D fan in me--and this was also my first experience with anything Greyhawk related. Not the best place to start, as it turns out, but the good news is that I am interested to explore more of this setting in the future.

Also, I might be a bit silly and read the rest of the trilogy... since I *ahem* own all three...

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, and its subsequent sequels are the reason that Game book fantasy is widely considered a joke. The horrific treatment of the game material, the fantasy world and the paper characters was in some ways intentional, but the backlash was unexpected. Thanks to this series of books TSR adopted a set of "Moral Guidelines" that they applied to all of their works, this rarely affected the novels about their worlds, but often severely limited game material options in the days of 2nd ed. and 2.5.