What do you think?
Rate this book
The Wolfsangel Cycle #5
The Night Lies Bleeding
The world is at war again. London is suffering from the German Blitz. For one immortal werewolf, the war means little. He knows he will soon have to give up his identity once more, begin a new life. Before the wolf emerges.But a chance conversation leads him to the scene of a gruesome murder, and the realisation that another war is being fought. The runes want to be together, and the when they are the wolf's story will end. And in Germany, one weak-willed doctor finds himself caught up in the Third Reich's fascination with the occult and the Norse myths. They believe that the runes will bring them power, and wish to abuse them for their own ends. And if they succeed, Ragnarok will come.
477 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 22, 2018
2 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
M.D. Lachlan
11 books157 followersAka Mark Barrowcliffe.
MD Lachlan is a pen name - created after Mark Barrowcliffe, author of works such as Girlfriend 44 and Lucky Dog, felt himself irresistibly drawn back to fantasy after writing his Dungeons and Dragons memoir The Elfish Gene.
The Wolfsangel series draws on Norse Mythology to tell the story of a werewolf trapped in the schemes of the Gods, doomed to be reborn endlessly.
Mark also writes fantasy under the name Mark Alder - his Banners of Blood series is set in an alternate 100 Years War where angels and devils stalk the earth!
Series:
* Craw Trilogy
MD Lachlan is a pen name - created after Mark Barrowcliffe, author of works such as Girlfriend 44 and Lucky Dog, felt himself irresistibly drawn back to fantasy after writing his Dungeons and Dragons memoir The Elfish Gene.
The Wolfsangel series draws on Norse Mythology to tell the story of a werewolf trapped in the schemes of the Gods, doomed to be reborn endlessly.
Mark also writes fantasy under the name Mark Alder - his Banners of Blood series is set in an alternate 100 Years War where angels and devils stalk the earth!
Series:
* Craw Trilogy
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 20, 2020
Ero molto emozionato per questo quinto libro del ciclo di Wolfsangel, ma alla fine mi sono ritrovato oltremodo deluso.
La prima parte è buona e interessante, anche se lenta: abbiamo Craw in Inghilterra, il licantropo immortale coi ricordi delle vite passate, ora caratterizzato come un relitto di un'altra epoca, un nobile che cerca di sopravvivere in un mondo avviato verso la democrazia, una persona attaccata enormemente alle abitudini aristoratiche perché il suo modo di tenere a bada il lupo dentro di sé è ostentare all'eccesso le buone maniere nobili dell'umanità, comportarsi come un essere umano educato e non come un barbaro; abbiamo Max, un dottore tedesco che non apprezza il nazismo e anzi lo deride in segreto, ma che per la sua pigrizia, per il suo rifuggire il lavoro, per la sua incapacità di prendere decisioni e per uno scherzo del destino si ritrova a collaborare con una branca mistica delle SS in uno sperduto castello, obbligato a dimostrare la veridicità di uno studio fatto per scherzo sui fenomeni psichici... un compito che lo porterà sul baratro della propria umanità, costringendolo a scelte tremende tra il salvare sé stesso e il cercare di salvare altre persone; abbiamo Gertie, la moglie del dottore, bella, dolce e sensibile, fin troppo sensibile forse; abbiamo un vecchio professore americano interessato all'occultismo e a Craw, che aveva conosciuto sotto un altro nome in gioventù e di cui ha scoperto il segreto.
E abbiamo un misterioso serial killer che mutila le sue vittime, in Inghilterra, e per le cui indagini viene consigliato dalle alte sfere l'intervento di Craw: perché un collaboratore dei musei, uno studioso che vive separato dal mondo, è stato inviato a occuparsi di questi casi con la polizia? E quale legame c'è tra lui e queste strane morti?
Purtroppo poi andando avanti si acquisisce ritmo ma si perde la storia.
I riferimenti alle vite passate dei personaggi, agli aspetti delle divinità e ai libri precedenti sono tanti, forse troppi e non sempre ben fatti; Craw viene lentamente mollato, come se si fosse detto tutto quello che serviva su di lui; e mentre il mutamento di Max sembra lento e accettabile, il professore e Gertie assumono sempre più potere mescolando misticismo, rituali, frammenti divini, mondo reale e mondo onirico, maledizioni e fini del mondo in un crescendo sempre più caotico e confuso, dove i personaggi stessi si perdono.
Alla fine ci si chiede il senso di determinate scelte, dell'introduzione di determinati personaggi che risultano inutili, di trame che non portano a niente.
Avevo letto recensioni discordanti su questo libro, speravo potesse piacermi ma alla fine è stata una brutta delusione.
Ero indeciso tra le due e le tre stelle di valutazione, mettendo in ordine i pensieri per scrivere queste righe ho deciso di andare con la bocciatura. Spero che il prossimo volume torni a essere su un buon livello, o in alternativa chiuda la storia.
La prima parte è buona e interessante, anche se lenta: abbiamo Craw in Inghilterra, il licantropo immortale coi ricordi delle vite passate, ora caratterizzato come un relitto di un'altra epoca, un nobile che cerca di sopravvivere in un mondo avviato verso la democrazia, una persona attaccata enormemente alle abitudini aristoratiche perché il suo modo di tenere a bada il lupo dentro di sé è ostentare all'eccesso le buone maniere nobili dell'umanità, comportarsi come un essere umano educato e non come un barbaro; abbiamo Max, un dottore tedesco che non apprezza il nazismo e anzi lo deride in segreto, ma che per la sua pigrizia, per il suo rifuggire il lavoro, per la sua incapacità di prendere decisioni e per uno scherzo del destino si ritrova a collaborare con una branca mistica delle SS in uno sperduto castello, obbligato a dimostrare la veridicità di uno studio fatto per scherzo sui fenomeni psichici... un compito che lo porterà sul baratro della propria umanità, costringendolo a scelte tremende tra il salvare sé stesso e il cercare di salvare altre persone; abbiamo Gertie, la moglie del dottore, bella, dolce e sensibile, fin troppo sensibile forse; abbiamo un vecchio professore americano interessato all'occultismo e a Craw, che aveva conosciuto sotto un altro nome in gioventù e di cui ha scoperto il segreto.
E abbiamo un misterioso serial killer che mutila le sue vittime, in Inghilterra, e per le cui indagini viene consigliato dalle alte sfere l'intervento di Craw: perché un collaboratore dei musei, uno studioso che vive separato dal mondo, è stato inviato a occuparsi di questi casi con la polizia? E quale legame c'è tra lui e queste strane morti?
Purtroppo poi andando avanti si acquisisce ritmo ma si perde la storia.
I riferimenti alle vite passate dei personaggi, agli aspetti delle divinità e ai libri precedenti sono tanti, forse troppi e non sempre ben fatti; Craw viene lentamente mollato, come se si fosse detto tutto quello che serviva su di lui; e mentre il mutamento di Max sembra lento e accettabile, il professore e Gertie assumono sempre più potere mescolando misticismo, rituali, frammenti divini, mondo reale e mondo onirico, maledizioni e fini del mondo in un crescendo sempre più caotico e confuso, dove i personaggi stessi si perdono.
Alla fine ci si chiede il senso di determinate scelte, dell'introduzione di determinati personaggi che risultano inutili, di trame che non portano a niente.
Avevo letto recensioni discordanti su questo libro, speravo potesse piacermi ma alla fine è stata una brutta delusione.
Ero indeciso tra le due e le tre stelle di valutazione, mettendo in ordine i pensieri per scrivere queste righe ho deciso di andare con la bocciatura. Spero che il prossimo volume torni a essere su un buon livello, o in alternativa chiuda la storia.
January 7, 2018
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
First of all I am so annoyed with myself because I missed the fourth book in the series - Valkarie's Song - which came right before this one. Having said that all of these books are self contained stories so while reading them in order may result in a richer reading experience, you won't lose anything if you do happen to pick them up out of order. I've been utterly addicted to this series since Wolfsangel came out years ago. The mixture of Norse mythology - focusing on the fact that Nordic gods were largely suffered and respected rather than adored because hey they just aren't nice - historical occurrences and weird (or wyrd!) dark magic, they are a GrimDark treat. I think this one may actually be the best in the series so far. You'd think that mixing Norse mythology, werewolves, Ragnarok, the occult and WWII wouldn't work, wouldn't you? But it absolutely does. I've always been morbidly curious by the Nazi fascination with the occult, ad that thread really binds this story together through use of the Elder Futharc (runes). I don't want to post any spoilers. Suffice to say that was a fast paced, twisting and appropriately Stygian ride. If you're a fan of the series, you'll love this. If you haven't discovered the series yet, you have four books to catch up on before this one is released. Highly recommend.
First of all I am so annoyed with myself because I missed the fourth book in the series - Valkarie's Song - which came right before this one. Having said that all of these books are self contained stories so while reading them in order may result in a richer reading experience, you won't lose anything if you do happen to pick them up out of order. I've been utterly addicted to this series since Wolfsangel came out years ago. The mixture of Norse mythology - focusing on the fact that Nordic gods were largely suffered and respected rather than adored because hey they just aren't nice - historical occurrences and weird (or wyrd!) dark magic, they are a GrimDark treat. I think this one may actually be the best in the series so far. You'd think that mixing Norse mythology, werewolves, Ragnarok, the occult and WWII wouldn't work, wouldn't you? But it absolutely does. I've always been morbidly curious by the Nazi fascination with the occult, ad that thread really binds this story together through use of the Elder Futharc (runes). I don't want to post any spoilers. Suffice to say that was a fast paced, twisting and appropriately Stygian ride. If you're a fan of the series, you'll love this. If you haven't discovered the series yet, you have four books to catch up on before this one is released. Highly recommend.
March 1, 2018
This is a very different kind of werewolf in a very different kind of fantasy book.
Themes of lyncathropy, norse mythology, christianity and the repugnant evil of the Nazi SS swirl around each other in a macabre danse.
The book has some lovely lines and compelling characters and I wrote a fuller review on the fantasy hive. which you can read here
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/02/th...
Curiously also the author has written an article for the fantasy hive on the challenge and the perils of fictionalising any of the horror of the Nazis. When Dad's army first came out with its gentle parody of the Home Guard there was something of a furore at this comedic slant on the still living memories of their darkest hour. That question "too soon?" haunts many an author tiptoeing into near-contemporary controversy. However, as Lachlan observes in the light of a maelstrom of contemporary politics and truth bashing "at times like these, I do think it’s legitimate for writers to take on that subject matter in whatever genre they are able, to remind people of what went on and to try to make it resonate with them." You can read the rest of his thoughts here
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/02/ca...
Themes of lyncathropy, norse mythology, christianity and the repugnant evil of the Nazi SS swirl around each other in a macabre danse.
The book has some lovely lines and compelling characters and I wrote a fuller review on the fantasy hive. which you can read here
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/02/th...
Curiously also the author has written an article for the fantasy hive on the challenge and the perils of fictionalising any of the horror of the Nazis. When Dad's army first came out with its gentle parody of the Home Guard there was something of a furore at this comedic slant on the still living memories of their darkest hour. That question "too soon?" haunts many an author tiptoeing into near-contemporary controversy. However, as Lachlan observes in the light of a maelstrom of contemporary politics and truth bashing "at times like these, I do think it’s legitimate for writers to take on that subject matter in whatever genre they are able, to remind people of what went on and to try to make it resonate with them." You can read the rest of his thoughts here
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/02/ca...
February 19, 2019
I've read all five of the 'Wolfangel Cycle' and this one is just ahead of Valkyrie's Song as the two weakest books of the series.
I think this book would have done better if it had just been a stand-alone novel, because half way through it changes tones so suddenly as if it's almost a totally different book and has an identify crisis. This is the only one in the series to feel this way. I don't think it helped that the nods to the older novels were shoved in and felt forced and didn't give a very satisfying conclusion.
However the character of Max is especially well written as is Craw to a lesser extent (Think the author grew bored of him someway along) and the first half of the book flowed really well and had some great descriptions, historical information and great set pieces, and it definitely made me want to find out how both characters stories would intertwine, but it didn't play out so well in the end and everything feels just messy.
I felt that Gertie was totally wasted and too much time was spent on the police officers who were really uninteresting and didn't add a whole lot but aided in this book feeling very unnecessarily wordy.
Although the review seems mostly negative the book is still a very unique read, just far below the standards set by the first 3 books which, now having finished the series, feel like a trilogy which should have been left alone.
I think this book would have done better if it had just been a stand-alone novel, because half way through it changes tones so suddenly as if it's almost a totally different book and has an identify crisis. This is the only one in the series to feel this way. I don't think it helped that the nods to the older novels were shoved in and felt forced and didn't give a very satisfying conclusion.
However the character of Max is especially well written as is Craw to a lesser extent (Think the author grew bored of him someway along) and the first half of the book flowed really well and had some great descriptions, historical information and great set pieces, and it definitely made me want to find out how both characters stories would intertwine, but it didn't play out so well in the end and everything feels just messy.
I felt that Gertie was totally wasted and too much time was spent on the police officers who were really uninteresting and didn't add a whole lot but aided in this book feeling very unnecessarily wordy.
Although the review seems mostly negative the book is still a very unique read, just far below the standards set by the first 3 books which, now having finished the series, feel like a trilogy which should have been left alone.
March 31, 2018
And that’s a DNF arriving five books in a series is always tricky but a tad unimpressed with characterisation - mini review at https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
August 19, 2019
Like all the books in this series, it's confusing and a bit all over the place. I do like how the author handled the era, however. He included more depth than most people include in a book set in World War II.
April 10, 2023
Wolf
The ending was unexpected butt that is well I will say on that past of the book. The whole series of books kept my interest. Out was a different style of werewolf books that I have read.. But they still have the requisite fore you expect from this type of book.
The ending was unexpected butt that is well I will say on that past of the book. The whole series of books kept my interest. Out was a different style of werewolf books that I have read.. But they still have the requisite fore you expect from this type of book.
Read
January 1, 2022I loved this last episode.It was great.
January 3, 2023
The Night Lies Bleeding is the fifth instalment of the Wolfsangel cycle. After the previous 4 books, this one had a lot of promise. Unfortunately for me, I felt there was a sharp downturn in the quality of this book then in the rest of the series.
[Maybe some spoilers of previous books] Endamon craw is a man out of time. Now a curator in a London museum, he has spent hundreds of years wandering the Earth, living countless different lives, that all have now blurred to him. He is now trying to survive in the blitz, and can feel his wolfish nature bubbling up inside him once again. However, he is enlisted to help the police in a string of murders which have some bizarre link to the occult: a topic of which he is all too familiar. While on the hunt for the murderer, he finds himself dragged into a forgotten world as he struggles to maintain his control over the monster within.
On the other side of the channel there is Max and Gertie. Max is an irreverent scientist living in Nazi Germany, with a clear distaste for the regime he is living under. Gertie is his wife who, whilst sweet and sensitive, has a clear moral code and will stand up for what she believes is right. In an unfortunate twist of fate, Max is enlisted to perform supernatural experiments to aid the SS in the winning of the war. As they struggle to come to terms with the awful surroundings they are now forced to live in, they become entangled in the age of story of the gods and Ragnarok as they too battle against becoming corrupted by the people they used to loathe.
The book started off really slow, and with a very different tone to the rest of the series. This took a little while to get used to, however it did become interesting and enjoyable after a little while. It was unfortunate that it felt a little like a split personality when the pace and tone completely changed halfway through the book. This really threw me off while reading, and I struggled to really get back into the story. This second half is also where I feel the story became too confusing. The whole series is confusing and in other books you do have to unpack and untangle the web of characters with the gods, however I'm not sure it's entirely possible with this one. I felt Lachlan was trying too hard with throwbacks to earlier books that the plot and characters got lost somewhere along the way, and never really got back on track.
This is unfortunate, as I think a lot of the characters were written really well. Max's slow descent into the evilness of the Nazi regime was well written and believable; while Craw's battle with maintaining his humanity felt visceral and realistic (as far as it could be for a man turning into a wolf). There was lots of nice detail on the general atmosphere of the world, and how depressing it would have been to have lived in this period.
While there is still some inkling of the original novels hiding within this book, unfortunately this instalment slightly misses the mark. The story was overly complex and confusing, and rather than flow from page to page I often found myself having to reread sections again to try and work out what was happening. It was by no means terrible, but didn't live up to the standard of the previous books.
[Maybe some spoilers of previous books] Endamon craw is a man out of time. Now a curator in a London museum, he has spent hundreds of years wandering the Earth, living countless different lives, that all have now blurred to him. He is now trying to survive in the blitz, and can feel his wolfish nature bubbling up inside him once again. However, he is enlisted to help the police in a string of murders which have some bizarre link to the occult: a topic of which he is all too familiar. While on the hunt for the murderer, he finds himself dragged into a forgotten world as he struggles to maintain his control over the monster within.
On the other side of the channel there is Max and Gertie. Max is an irreverent scientist living in Nazi Germany, with a clear distaste for the regime he is living under. Gertie is his wife who, whilst sweet and sensitive, has a clear moral code and will stand up for what she believes is right. In an unfortunate twist of fate, Max is enlisted to perform supernatural experiments to aid the SS in the winning of the war. As they struggle to come to terms with the awful surroundings they are now forced to live in, they become entangled in the age of story of the gods and Ragnarok as they too battle against becoming corrupted by the people they used to loathe.
The book started off really slow, and with a very different tone to the rest of the series. This took a little while to get used to, however it did become interesting and enjoyable after a little while. It was unfortunate that it felt a little like a split personality when the pace and tone completely changed halfway through the book. This really threw me off while reading, and I struggled to really get back into the story. This second half is also where I feel the story became too confusing. The whole series is confusing and in other books you do have to unpack and untangle the web of characters with the gods, however I'm not sure it's entirely possible with this one. I felt Lachlan was trying too hard with throwbacks to earlier books that the plot and characters got lost somewhere along the way, and never really got back on track.
This is unfortunate, as I think a lot of the characters were written really well. Max's slow descent into the evilness of the Nazi regime was well written and believable; while Craw's battle with maintaining his humanity felt visceral and realistic (as far as it could be for a man turning into a wolf). There was lots of nice detail on the general atmosphere of the world, and how depressing it would have been to have lived in this period.
While there is still some inkling of the original novels hiding within this book, unfortunately this instalment slightly misses the mark. The story was overly complex and confusing, and rather than flow from page to page I often found myself having to reread sections again to try and work out what was happening. It was by no means terrible, but didn't live up to the standard of the previous books.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews