Shadowrun: Wolf and Raven

Shadowrun Novels #32

by Michael A. Stackpole

Wolfgang Kies is a shadowrunner with a secret. He is an untrained shaman whose totem is the Wolf. Struggling under the influence of the Old One's omnipotent powers, Wolfgang's only ally is Dr. Richard Raven, the elf and do-gooder vigilante Seattle turns to when all else fails. He knows Wolfgang's secret. He understands the pull of magical possession on vulnerable souls. Together they are the only force strong enough to battle crime kingpin Etienne La Plante. As the chrome-fisted Cap0ne of the Seattle Sprawl, La Plante has at his command an army of Grunge goons, razor boys, and icepick-packing samurai. But when Wolfgang's on the prowl, every cyber-creep and crook is fair game. There's only one hope against La Plante's reign of terror - the one force Wolfgang fears the most... his own pure predatory fury.

Genres: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Adult, Dystopia

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadowrun novels are a popcorn thing for me, and this book is even more so. The world is the selling point for me. It's 2067 and high-tech has been met with the return of magic. Cybernetic street mercs fight spell-casting shamans against a background of scheming dragons and corporate black ops. The denizens of this world who are willing to run deniable missions for corporate and secretive agencies are called shadowrunners. They're street samurai, shadow mystics, killers and courriers, working for the highest bidder... or the lowest. As many runners do what they do for personal reasons as do for nuyen, the currency of the world.

Wolf is a shapeshifter - a lycanthrope to be specific. He's been running with a doctor named Raven who brought him in and saved his life, and this book is a collection of short stories involving the two. Guest appearances from the world's most munchkinned street sam also feature in this in the form of Kid Stealth. Wolf takes on an assortment of corporations, cartels and even big league baseball in this off the wall collection of Shadowrun stories.

The book is fun - a lot of fun - hence its rise above the 3-star rating most pulp books of this type get. If you want an intriguing world it's for you, and if you like werewolves, so much the better.

[Craig Carignan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read most of the Shadowrun books as always enjoy them.

[David Strašák · Rating 2 out of 5]

First things first - this book is an anthology. I'm saying this, because I was not able to figure it out anyhow based on the cover or the back-cover text.

This book has some positives and some flaws. To start with the positives, the central theme about there being a network of superheroes in the world of shadowrun is interesting, although it is not represented much.
Other positives about this book are the remarks that wolf makes. Sometimes they amused me, but sometimes they also missed.
Finally although it is an anthology, the stories follow a storyline, which is a plus. Unfortunately the storyline isn't anything special though.

Now to get to the flaws of this book. This anthology was not meant to be an anthology at first, so every new story starts with the characters being introduced all over again. So I've read information about Wolf and Raven every new story, but somehow I was still confused about wolf's relationship with some of the characters halfway through - I though he was dating Val, but apparently he's not.
The story follows one storyline, but the only point of that storyline is so that he can reference something happened previously (without any consequences). The book even started with almost the same story where it began, which is funny.
And finally the characters - bland. All of them. All of the superheroes can't die in any way. That is, if they are even mentioned at all in the story.

To sign this review off - the book sucked, but it was not so bad that I had to throw it in the thrash. It's just a generic shadowrun anthology. At least it gave me some shadowrun random encounter ideas for the TTRPG, I guess.

[Manuel Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, here we go.

I think some people are just going to crucify me, but I didn't like it so much.

I know Stackpole writing from some time ago, and I like the novels and the work of the man, but this one specifically... meh. In my opinion, the book is composed of short stories based on well-known ideas and plots, and written over and over. And despite I like the "local" approach, instead of going to the usual super high corps and big magic usual in Shadowrun I didn't feel the Shadowrun "taste".

I think that there are more Raven & Wolf tales; I promise to look for them and read them, maybe I will change my opinion. We will see.

Anyway, the baseball thing was BORING, at least for anyone who is not USA born....

[Joe Jungers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years that I've played ShadowRun, I've read snippets here & ther about the infamous Kid Stealth. Little did I know that he was part of Doc Raven band of merry misits.

I really enjoyed this handful of linked stories - mostly tales of Wolf, but enough about the rest of the team that it seemed both familiar & yet new to me.

[Craig Boston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Shadowrun, and I really wanted to love this novel, as I was reading it to set the mood for playing the video game Cyberpunk 2077, but it just did not set the atmosphere right. I cannot put my finger on it but something was missing, resulting in a story and characters that just did not captivate me.

[Hugo Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like a dry run at first, but I've really come to love these characters. It was a fast and thrilling ride and I'll walk away happy I read this and set it alongside Burning Bright, by Tom Dowd, as good SR books to pick up and enjoy.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good. I really liked all the characters.

[Nigel Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically a collection of short stories, this is arguably the worst Shadowrun book I have read, and considering the standard is pretty low. It is simply boring.

[Eric Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid story by Stackpole and left me wanting to know what happens next to the characters.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more of a collection of stories that should have been edited (e.g. we don't need a reminder of what all the characters look like in every chapter or why he prefers a certain gun or sports team name). Pretty good overall (except the story about baseball).

[Frank]

I'd already discovered my first person voice in Flashpoint rough drafts, but reading Stackpole helped me polish.

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent Shadowrun book, but it is really a series of short stories.