Check out the video review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xreuakJDSPc

The only things I know about Russia come from high school history, James bond films and Val Kilmers motion picture The Saint. So you’ll have to forgive me if in my complete ignorance I think Russia looks rather like a stereotype of cold-war era communism. The point is unless you’re actively pursuing the topic it’s hard to know if what the author wrote on the page matches the readers imagination. Especially when writing about or mirroring real world locations.

Trying to imagine a country is the interesting challenge of Wolfhound Century. A novel that takes place in an “Almost Russia” where everything feels slightly different and the names have been changed to protect your sanity.

Vissarion Lom is an "almost KGB" investigator who travels to "not moscow" to locate the leader of an anti-government revolutionary movement. Having never been to the capital before he’s the perfect man for the job, free from the bias and entrenched corruption of his peers. Along the way he avoids the supernatural corruption of...other things. It’s got Angels and Golems and centers around an investigation to find the Pollandore. An as yet undefined...thing. Creatures and intelligences unseen are a crucial part of this yarn. The fantastical happenings aren’t given any explanation. The wondrous thing is that it’s always there; staring at you from the shadows.

Originally I thought this would be one of those books that everyone loves yet when I finally read would not enjoy. That’ll show me to pre-judge fiction before it’s read. It’s good, really good. Lots of details were confusing because I don't know that much about modern Russia. Alterna Russia feels like a photocopy reflected through a dirty mirror yet incredibly solid because it's so close to real. The fact that's is all made up adds this moody haze of vagueness which really makes it a much more compelling mystery. It’s like visiting your neighbor in the same condo. The floors and rooms are the same but the walls and carpet are slightly off colors. The furniture sits in different places and they obviously water the plants more than you do.

Vissarion fills the classic role role of detective which is something we see quite a lot in science fiction and fantasy these days. Recent examples that come to mind are Empire State by Christopher Priest, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and The City & The City by China Mieville. I have a hard time with the police/investigator role in science fiction and fantasy. Often because the internal mechanics of these characters are empty. They have no interests, no existence outside the world of the case. Everything that drives the gumshoe is the desire to solve. The quest of solving the particulars takes precedence over spending the day go karting and being you know - happy. Granted if someone could come home at the end of the day and not be affected by a case it would be a strong indicator that the story isn't compelling enough to be involved in. Hence why there exists very little fiction about bylaw enforcement officers. Nevertheless this vagueness of character works.

Very early on in the Wolfhound Century people you would expect to be separated by background and circumstance are shown to be intimately connected. You know those detective stories where it’s revealed that everyone knows each other. Here it’s revealed in the beginning rather than at it’s usual place at the end. In most stories this interconnectedness would be laughable but for reasons I can’t explain it feels right. There’s enough going on that you want it to coalesce.

If Wolfhound Century has a downside it has to be the ending. It resolves...sort of. I was totally stumped that I couldn’t see it coming when the clues are all right there on the spine. Yup...big old number one...right on the book. The description on the back sells Wolfhound Century as a more self enclosed story. At 300 pages long and how the story “concludes” Peter Higgins could have kept going and released this as bigger novel. I’m not saying this type of continuous narrative is wrong. The Lord of the Rings is one story split into 3 volumes. Neal Stephenson’s baroque cycle was published in paperback as nine books instead of it’s three in hardcover. However at only 300 pages the length makes it feel smaller than it should considering some of the big ideas it hints at. ( )

Parts of this book were brilliant. Other parts dragged a bit. I still really liked it but felt the book soared when it focused on Lom and sometimes derailed when it dealt with the mystical. Still I loved the meshing of genres and look forward to see where he goes next. ( )

Excellent and highly original worldbuilding, bizarre and rich a la Mieville imagination, deep, suffocating, dark and very noir atmosphere. Some characters well shaped (Kantor, Vishnik), some not so much, including the main ones (Lom and Maroussia). Unfortunately, the story itself is rather thin and bare, also somewhat disjointed. I will definitely read the rest of the trilogy, hoping that, having liberated himself from the worldbuilding, the author will provide a better storyline.
PS. Because of the cover, I expected it to be an alternate USSR. It was actually an alternate,steampunk, Tsarist Empire. ( )

[b:Wolfhound Century|15790887|Wolfhound Century (Wolfhound Century, #1)|Peter Higgins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353855563s/15790887.jpg|18188765] by [a:Peter Higgins|230189|Peter Higgins|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1329682148p2/230189.jpg] has a wonderful, dark, damp, creepy atmosphere perfectly fitting the totalitarian Soviet state it is set in. In a world where the supernatural is natural, angels, giants, and other creatures are normal. Higgins tells a great tale, leading the reader along as Inspector Lom tracks a terrorist and finds out that thing are not as they seem. Unfortunately, the pacing of the story is very slow initially, then in the last third of the book things happen so fast it is difficult to keep up. Also, don't pick up this book expecting a complete story. This is the first volume in a series and ends rather too abruptly for my taste. ( )

REVIEW NOTES:
--I haven't read much fantasy since I was a kid. The restrictive genre cliches (elves, dwarves, orcs, oh my!) got too repetitive to hold my interest. This is a fantasy novel that ignores those cliches completely, and is an example of what fantasy can be when it steps out of Tolkien's shadow.
-The prose is very well done. It expresses a kind of poetry of brutality and violence that reminded me of Cormac McCarthy. But of course the brutal world in depicts is not a wilderness, but a totalitarian state.
-The combination of totalitarianism and a dark, supernatural force underlying it reminded me of Tim Powers's Declare. If you like that book, you'll like this one, and I'd recommend both.
-The 'magic' of this fantasy setting (and, tellingly, i don't remember that word appearing in the whole book) is more muddy and folkloric than the more 'superpower style' magic more common to the genre. Reminded me of Mignola or Gaiman.
PERSONAL NOTE:
-This the first novel I've had the chance to finish in months, so I was quite relieved that it was such a good read. ( )