Shadowrun - Wolf and Raven

Michael A. Stackpole

Wolf and Raven is written as if it were the memoirs of one individual, Wolfgang Kies, it is basically a series of short stories presented in chronological order that inter-relate to some degree. This is a different approach to that taken by the other Shadowrun novels that I have read.

Wolfgang, or Wolf as he is normally known as is basically an untrained shaman, he is "blessed" by the wolf spirit, making him effectively a werewolf. This is until he meets Dr Richard Raven who teaches him to control the wolf spirit and use it to his advantage. This is refered to in the various stories but takes place before the stories.

The stories mainly relate to memorable adventures that Wolf has been on since becoming one of Raven's associates, through these stories we learn about Wolf, Raven and their other numerous colourful associates.

One of the more entertaining aspects of the stories continued within the book are the constant arguments that Wolf gets into with the Wolf Spirit dubbed "The Old One" on how to handle the various situations that Wolf finds himself in.

Another interesting aspect is the look we are given at how baseball is played in the Shadowrun universe, this is very interesting, and plays a large part in the story where Wolf signs on as a rookie with the Seattle Seadogs to solve a game sabotage conspiracy. It's not overly Baseball jargon filled, so even those that don't understand much about baseball (like me) will still be able to follow.

There are a good variety of stories included so there should be no problems at all in this book holding peoples interest, and due to the book being a series of shorter stories it can be read in bursts and put down for a while between readings without losing the plot.

As to the cover art, the design is quite clever, the red haired elf in the red dress really stands out against the polluted backdrop and the gun-toting guys in black leather and Kevlar.