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War dog
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Published January 1, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2026
‘War Dog (Hound of the Gods, Book One)’ by Daniel Nick is one of those books that does not ask for your attention politely—it drags you by the collar into its world & forces you to stay there until you finish. And once you do finish, you sit there for a moment, slightly dazed, wondering whether you’ve just read a military thriller, a supernatural fantasy, a mythology-infused horror novel… or all three at once.
The truth is - it is all three—& it is written with such raw confidence & imaginative ferocity that it becomes impossible to neatly label.
It is officially one of the best books I’ve read this year 2026, period.
From the very first chapter, we meet Drustan ‘Dru’ Seta, a man already in a psychologically shattered place—missing time, suffering frightening flashbacks, & trying (very badly) to end his own life. The opening is blunt, bleak, & painfully human. It doesn’t romanticize trauma. It doesn’t soften depression into something aesthetic. It is just… real.
And then, in classic thriller fashion, the doorbell rings.
That interruption—Sarah Egils arriving at Dru’s home—becomes the hinge on which the entire novel swings. Sarah is the wife of Frank Egils, Dru’s former military lieutenant & friend. But Frank is no ordinary soldier. In this universe, beings that most people would dismiss as ‘cryptids’ or ‘fairytales’ exist alongside humans, & they are known in secret circles as ‘Extras.’ Dru & Frank served in a terrifyingly classified unit—the Nightmare Squad—a team tasked with hunting threats most of the world doesn’t even know exist.
And now Frank is gone.
That premise alone is gripping. But what makes ‘War Dog’ genuinely special is the way Daniel Nick builds this story into something much larger than a missing-person mystery. What begins as a desperate man’s reluctant mission becomes a descent into a world of shadowy contracts, hidden wars, & gods that are not myths. Fantastic – Fantastic – Fantastic! A must-read which is gripping, edge of your seat suspenseful & makes you fall in love with the author & want more-more & MORE!
One detail I appreciated early on is the author’s honesty about setting - the book explicitly frames itself as occurring in a universe close to ours, but not identical—so there are intentional historical & cultural ‘near-matches,’ not perfect mirrors. Importantly, this explanation appears chiefly in the ‘About this Universe’ opening, where the author acknowledges the sensitivity of drawing from real-world faiths & cultures while still writing fiction. Lovely of him to have mentioned this – salute!
Now, let’s talk about tone.
This is not cute fantasy. This is not cosy myth retelling. This book can be violent, gritty, psychologically brutal, & at times genuinely disturbing. There are combat sequences later in the novel described with such visceral detail that they read like a war documentary with the camera held too close—wounds, guts, screaming, dying, & the reader forced to stay present for all of it. & yet, what surprised me is that it rarely feels gratuitous.
Because the violence in War Dog is not written to entertain. It is written to communicate one truth -
‘This world is dangerous, & survival is never clean.’
I love that as a reader. Daniel as an author wins me over! Buy his book – pronto!
The novel also carries a strong psychological spine. Even before the supernatural elements swell, ‘War Dog’ signals that it understands the making of monsters—particularly through the haunting Vachss quote included near the front, about how a child becomes a monster when the world fails to protect them. That quote is not decorative. It resonates deeply with Dru’s internal landscape. And it resonates deeply with any reader who feels that it would have been better if he or she or they were rather orphans than having such ‘keepers’ or ‘parents’ or ‘supervisors’ whatever to be their guardians. If you’ve ever had that feeling, this book is for you – especially this part.
Dru is one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve read in a long time. He isn’t ‘likeable’ in the conventional sense, & he’s certainly not polished. He’s a broken weapon who has spent his life being used. He describes himself as a ‘functioning nightmare’ & frankly, he is not exaggerating. But he is also brutally honest. And that honesty makes him emotionally believable even as the plot becomes wildly supernatural.
That relationship—between Frank & Sarah—becomes an emotional anchor in the book. It’s tender, tragic, & strangely inspiring. I loved them! The mythology becomes increasingly central as the novel progresses. A particularly fascinating section explains that Celtic gods are divided into multiple ‘families’, & it matters deeply which god is being faced—because some are strategic, some cruel, & some violently chaotic. The author even has Dru explain the three groupings, naming them & clarifying how dangerous it is to guess wrong. Brilliant again!
The pacing is excellent. It moves quickly, but not mindlessly. There are quiet psychological moments, bursts of action, mythic exposition, & then moments of near-unbearable tension. The book is structured like a mission that keeps evolving—plans forming, revising, breaking apart—until the story becomes something far larger than a single rescue operation.
And by the time you reach the later sections, you realise this is not simply about finding Frank.
It is about identity. About what happens to people turned into weapons. About what happens when ‘monsters’ are not only outside us—but inside the systems that claim to protect us.
And perhaps most hauntingly, it is about this -
What is a man, once the war ends? Because Dru is not just hunting Frank. He is hunting meaning. He is hunting purpose.
He is hunting a reason not to die. And all this matters not only to him, but invariably in a really metaphorically rich way – it matters to all of us too!
‘War Dog’ is intense, brutal, imaginative, emotionally layered, & disturbingly addictive. It is not for readers who want light fantasy or gentle myth retellings. But for readers who love dark supernatural military fiction—where mythology is weaponised, trauma is real, & the stakes feel cosmic—this book will hit like a hammer.
I would strongly recommend it to readers who enjoy gritty military thrillers, dark mythology & gods-as-horror, supernatural warfare, morally complex protagonists & stories that refuse to comfort you with easy answers.
Daniel Nick has created a universe where monsters are not only creatures… but also institutions, contracts, governments, & the wounds we carry from childhood.
And that is what makes this book memorable.
Daniel gets a solid well-won 5 stars from me! Kudos to him on a job well done! Buy his book – now!
The truth is - it is all three—& it is written with such raw confidence & imaginative ferocity that it becomes impossible to neatly label.
It is officially one of the best books I’ve read this year 2026, period.
From the very first chapter, we meet Drustan ‘Dru’ Seta, a man already in a psychologically shattered place—missing time, suffering frightening flashbacks, & trying (very badly) to end his own life. The opening is blunt, bleak, & painfully human. It doesn’t romanticize trauma. It doesn’t soften depression into something aesthetic. It is just… real.
And then, in classic thriller fashion, the doorbell rings.
That interruption—Sarah Egils arriving at Dru’s home—becomes the hinge on which the entire novel swings. Sarah is the wife of Frank Egils, Dru’s former military lieutenant & friend. But Frank is no ordinary soldier. In this universe, beings that most people would dismiss as ‘cryptids’ or ‘fairytales’ exist alongside humans, & they are known in secret circles as ‘Extras.’ Dru & Frank served in a terrifyingly classified unit—the Nightmare Squad—a team tasked with hunting threats most of the world doesn’t even know exist.
And now Frank is gone.
That premise alone is gripping. But what makes ‘War Dog’ genuinely special is the way Daniel Nick builds this story into something much larger than a missing-person mystery. What begins as a desperate man’s reluctant mission becomes a descent into a world of shadowy contracts, hidden wars, & gods that are not myths. Fantastic – Fantastic – Fantastic! A must-read which is gripping, edge of your seat suspenseful & makes you fall in love with the author & want more-more & MORE!
One detail I appreciated early on is the author’s honesty about setting - the book explicitly frames itself as occurring in a universe close to ours, but not identical—so there are intentional historical & cultural ‘near-matches,’ not perfect mirrors. Importantly, this explanation appears chiefly in the ‘About this Universe’ opening, where the author acknowledges the sensitivity of drawing from real-world faiths & cultures while still writing fiction. Lovely of him to have mentioned this – salute!
Now, let’s talk about tone.
This is not cute fantasy. This is not cosy myth retelling. This book can be violent, gritty, psychologically brutal, & at times genuinely disturbing. There are combat sequences later in the novel described with such visceral detail that they read like a war documentary with the camera held too close—wounds, guts, screaming, dying, & the reader forced to stay present for all of it. & yet, what surprised me is that it rarely feels gratuitous.
Because the violence in War Dog is not written to entertain. It is written to communicate one truth -
‘This world is dangerous, & survival is never clean.’
I love that as a reader. Daniel as an author wins me over! Buy his book – pronto!
The novel also carries a strong psychological spine. Even before the supernatural elements swell, ‘War Dog’ signals that it understands the making of monsters—particularly through the haunting Vachss quote included near the front, about how a child becomes a monster when the world fails to protect them. That quote is not decorative. It resonates deeply with Dru’s internal landscape. And it resonates deeply with any reader who feels that it would have been better if he or she or they were rather orphans than having such ‘keepers’ or ‘parents’ or ‘supervisors’ whatever to be their guardians. If you’ve ever had that feeling, this book is for you – especially this part.
Dru is one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve read in a long time. He isn’t ‘likeable’ in the conventional sense, & he’s certainly not polished. He’s a broken weapon who has spent his life being used. He describes himself as a ‘functioning nightmare’ & frankly, he is not exaggerating. But he is also brutally honest. And that honesty makes him emotionally believable even as the plot becomes wildly supernatural.
That relationship—between Frank & Sarah—becomes an emotional anchor in the book. It’s tender, tragic, & strangely inspiring. I loved them! The mythology becomes increasingly central as the novel progresses. A particularly fascinating section explains that Celtic gods are divided into multiple ‘families’, & it matters deeply which god is being faced—because some are strategic, some cruel, & some violently chaotic. The author even has Dru explain the three groupings, naming them & clarifying how dangerous it is to guess wrong. Brilliant again!
The pacing is excellent. It moves quickly, but not mindlessly. There are quiet psychological moments, bursts of action, mythic exposition, & then moments of near-unbearable tension. The book is structured like a mission that keeps evolving—plans forming, revising, breaking apart—until the story becomes something far larger than a single rescue operation.
And by the time you reach the later sections, you realise this is not simply about finding Frank.
It is about identity. About what happens to people turned into weapons. About what happens when ‘monsters’ are not only outside us—but inside the systems that claim to protect us.
And perhaps most hauntingly, it is about this -
What is a man, once the war ends? Because Dru is not just hunting Frank. He is hunting meaning. He is hunting purpose.
He is hunting a reason not to die. And all this matters not only to him, but invariably in a really metaphorically rich way – it matters to all of us too!
‘War Dog’ is intense, brutal, imaginative, emotionally layered, & disturbingly addictive. It is not for readers who want light fantasy or gentle myth retellings. But for readers who love dark supernatural military fiction—where mythology is weaponised, trauma is real, & the stakes feel cosmic—this book will hit like a hammer.
I would strongly recommend it to readers who enjoy gritty military thrillers, dark mythology & gods-as-horror, supernatural warfare, morally complex protagonists & stories that refuse to comfort you with easy answers.
Daniel Nick has created a universe where monsters are not only creatures… but also institutions, contracts, governments, & the wounds we carry from childhood.
And that is what makes this book memorable.
Daniel gets a solid well-won 5 stars from me! Kudos to him on a job well done! Buy his book – now!
February 12, 2026
If you like Iron Druid Chronicles and Mosnter Hunter International, then this is your next great novel, complex world, with questions around every corner.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews