Master of Wolves

Mageverse #3

by Angela Knight

Jim London is outraged over the death of his friend, a fellow bounty hunter and werewolf—and thinks the police department of nearby Clarkston cooked up a phony story about Tony’s murder. The only way to find out is to go undercover. And, in his wolf form, Jim can do that better than anybody...There’s one complication, though. The new police-dog handler, Faith Weston, is sexy enough to bring out the animal in any man…

Genres: Paranormal Romance, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Vampires, Shapeshifters, Werewolves

314 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 4, 2006

About the author

Angela Knight is an American author of mostly erotic fantasy.

Reviews

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first started this book I didn't realize it was #5 in on ongoing series. Back before I had children and too many dogs, I used to keep up with these things but lately I'm pretty much clueless and have been picking up too many books mid series and it drives me nuts. My mind is spent, used up and full, damn it. I no longer want to strain the brain to figure out who all of these people are and attempt to piece together the bits of back story into some coherent thing. Why aren't there any stand alone novels anymore? It's exhausting me.

So, there's an evil vampire witch, the Sidhe court, an entire crew of witch tainted cops, King Richard and Guinevere and all the knights of the round table (okay, I just added the knights in but, seriously, the book is just getting started!) and finally there's our hero and heroine.

Here's what I've pieced together minus all of the fantasy politics that I can't quite figure out and will just ignore for now. Faith is a police officer recovering from a nasty divorce. She's new on the force and has a K9 assistant whom she names "Rambo". She's investigating a brutal string of murders where the heart was cut out of the victim (this all has to do with the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, whoops make that the witch, the holy grail and the sidhe stuff -- are you as confused as I am yet?). "Rambo" is actually a werewolf named Jim who is masquerading as a german shepard to discover who killed his best friend and fellow werewolf. See, he's not your typical boring "I can only change into only one shape" type of dude, this guy can change into the shepard form and the "Dire Wolf" form. And as an added bonus, when he shifts back into his gloriously beautiful human form he gets back all of his change, his cell phone and his clothes materialize undamaged. Damn shame, if you ask me, since the naked aspect always adds a bit of spice to these tales.

I was a bit surprised that for the first 1/4 of the book the hero doesn't meet the heroine in any form except that of a german shephard. Nice touch, thought I, who is used to these paranormal romances rushing the romance aspect along. This one focused more on the fantasy and magic and action of a policewoman stumbling into a paranormal mess. But all of that changed when the two finally do see each other human face to human face and very, very soon after, nearly before the "Hi I'm Jim, you know, your loyal german shepard?" announcement is made, they are having wild, crazy sex due to, ah, paranormal reasons. Something to do with the werewolf bite Faith just received, her first change and all those pesky pheromones. Now Jim is madly in love with Faith. Hey when did that happen? They've barely had one conversation!

I did finish this book but it was a struggle. There were too many characters and too much action for my taste and I just didn't find the many action sequences all that interesting or the fantasy aspects all that fascinating. The romance was non-existent and the sexier love scenes bored me.

Man, I'm hard to please.

[Buggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opening line: "Faith Watsons new partner was big, muscular and covered in fur, and he didn't give her any crap."

Wow, okay so in Angela Knight’s weird, out there ‘Mageverse’ world King Arthur is a vampire, Camelot’s Merlin is an alien, and everyone is searching for the black grail. There’s a fairy king, some witches, Guinevere (also a vampire) shows up and she‘s horny, we visit the round table, Avalon, and watch an entire police department get taken over by magic while officer Faith Weston gets it on with her K-9 partner Rambo who also happens to be a werewolf-shifter posing as a German shepherd. All this takes place in the alternate universe known as Angela Knight’s acid trip.

The thing is though Master Of Wolves has a great premise and the writing is really good; peppered with comedy, action and smoking hot love scenes (although they do breathe “Oh god” into each others mouth every single time they get it on, which annoyed me.) If it weren’t for all the magic and bizarre world building this would have been a pretty good read, as it was I did enjoy parts of it, the parts that had nothing to do with 'Mageverse' that is, skimming over almost all of the King Arthur scenes and just concentrating on Jim and Faith in the ‘real’ world.

Jim London is a werewolf/shifter, when his best friend Tony gets killed while in police custody he goes undercover as a K-9 drug dog to find out the real story behind his murder. Partnered up with officer Faith Weston the sparks fly immediately but Jim has to keep his paws to himself. When Jim and Faith get caught up in the vampires and magic wreaking havoc on Clarkson police department this brings out the animal in Faith and changes her forever. Unfortunately this fairly cool idea gets way overshadowed by too much magic and fantasy. I mean come on King Arthur, the Holy Grail, Excalibur it was actually funny at times.

One of my biggest problems with fantasy is that the author writes the world rules as they go along, or for convenience to the plotline wherein there are no rules. This was a big issue for me here as explained in the following quote;

"What the grail did was genetically alter the people who drank from it."
"Genetically? How the hell did a cup do that?"
“PFM”
“Which is?”
“Pure fucking magic. It turned the men into vampires, and the women into witches. Collectively they’re the magekind.”
“Wait a minute-- the chick that wants to sacrifice us is connected to King Arthur?” Faith opened her beer and took a sip.
“Hell no, different bunch of vampires all together. She’s one of the bad vamps. Arthur and his bunch are the good vamps who are trying to catch them.”
“And we’re werewolves?” She rolled her eyes “Do you ever have trouble believing all this shit?”

-No, no trouble at all. Cheers

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I'm still enjoying this series a lot. This particular book stays mostly in the Earthly realm this time. The world of the Dire has a threat of exposure coming after one of their own was killed by one of the vampires and accidentally created another werewolf. Jim London is determined to figure out exactly what happened and take out the murders of his best friend. But the only way to get his nose into the police department to find out what's going on is to go in undercover...as the new K-9 unit. What he didn't expect is to start falling for Faith, his cop handler, while still stuck staying in his dog form.

Of course there's the pre-requisite battle with a group of evil vamps coming. This time we've got a bunch of evil cops to contend with trying to become evil vamps themselves. Jim and Faith have a lot on their plate as they try to find justice and stop the evil from spreading. Faith finds herself caught up in a world she knew nothing about. But she's kick butt and adapts quickly. I enjoyed her and Jim as they figured things out. They had a good report and I liked that Jim never tried to keep Faith out of things. He knew she could handle herself. He wanted to protect her but wasn't going to keep her away from the battle.

I liked this story and am enjoying the world. I appreciated what got revealed in this story and what options it opens for the future.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifth in the Mageverse erotic paranormal-romance series revolving around the protectors of our world: the vampiric knights of the Round Table led by King Arthur. Oh, wait, he doesn't like to be called ing . . . This particular story is of the secret weapon, the Dire Wolves, left by Merlin and Nimue to act as a brake on the knights if they should get out of hand.

My Take
I remember reading this, I must have forgotten to record it! I hate it when I do that! Although, I was quite pleased to have the opportunity to re-read Master of Wolves. Excellent story with lots of action in bed and on the streets with a strong taste of corrupt and/or cowardly assholes!

Knight has a clever idea using the concept of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as the protectors of mankind as her base for the Mageverse series. Naturally one needs the conflict of evil so having bad guy vampires and Dire Wolves keeps the action going on the streets. Her twist on turning them into vampires with the ladies as walking blood banks ensures an active sex life while creating a weakness . . . just to add a challenge to the mix.

In Master of Wolves, Jim is battling his cowardly chieftain, his own, doomed, desire for Faith, and his need to achieve vengeance for his friend. Faith has her own issues, mostly the rejection and betrayal she experienced with her now ex-husband. She doesn't trust any guy which creates some interesting problems for the gorgeous hunk who desperately wants her in his life. Somehow. Any how.

My one quibble with the story is Faith's much too-easy acceptance of everything that happens. On the one hand, she is a cop and is probably pretty used to weird shit going down. On the other hand, she's a cop and probably pretty skeptical of anything woo-woo . . .

The Story
The murder of a childhood friend causes Jim London to act. There's something odd going on in the Clarkston Police Department and he will find out what is happening. Unfortunately, the chief of police, knows Jim. Fortunately, Jim doesn't need to retain human form.

Lucky Officer Weston! Someone has donated a drug-sniffing dog and Faith Weston just happens to be a K-9 handler. Damned lucky because who better than a Dire Wolf-slash-German shepherd, drug-sniffing dog to watch her back when someone has used a sex spell on most of the police officers in Clarkston twisting their will to hers. Someone who is not interested in the health and well-being of anyone.

The Characters
Well, there's Faith Weston and her fellow cops. Cops who used to be warm and pleasant to be around. Who now view her with distrust and animosity. When they're not hitting on her.

Then there's Jim London, an artist and bounty hunter. Sent in by his Dire Wolf chieftain, Charlie, to discover what happened with Tony Shay and if whatever killed him is a threat to the rest of the Dire Wolves.

Celestine Gentry is a magic-wielding vampire with visions of power dancing through her head. Abused as a child, she has used her rage to destroy all who have hurt her with the full and gleeful intention of hurting anyone who gets in her way. Everyone is merely a tool for her use.

Jim chooses to contact his sister, Diana, Queen of the Elves, in spite of Charlie's refusal to allow her husband's involvement. Getting the elves involved in this increasingly dangerous situation is liable to reveal the existence of the Dire Wolves to the Majae.

Arthur and his knights are vampires. Turned when Merlin had his chosen few drink from the Grail and their genes twisted. The men became vampires, individually referred to as a Magus. The women became witches, or a Maja. As a group, they are the Magekind, the Majae. Merlin and Nimue ensured that each would need the other.

The Cover and Title
Oooh, pretty boy! I'll assume that naked back and the facial profile is Jim with that huge tattoo of a wolf on his right bicep. The background is very Halloween-y with its bare branches in the light of a full moon.

The title. Hmmm. Master of Wolves is certainly what Jim calls himself in his relationship with Faith, but Knight doesn't actually do anything with it. A couple of references and that's it.

[Anthonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

who says wolves can't have fun. Jim London is Diana London brother. He ends going undercover to find a vampire that is trying to use a dark grail that turns humans into vampires. Jim's best friend was killed by crooked cops and one of them is turned into a wolf. Jim has enough problems then he ends up being assigned to a female cop that happens to be his mate and the only straight and narrow woman on the force. A must read.

[Amanda Eckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is pretty much exactly what I expected…super cheesy. I wasn’t sure I was going to continue after the first book, but I bought the first four so I’m stopping there. Not the worst, but not worth tracking down the last three or four books.

The back cover of each book hails this series as “steamy, passionate, erotic romance” but I don’t know how steamy and passionate a book can be when each sex scene(?) is the exact same series of events. They look at each other with blazing eyes, a kiss, some tongue, he touches her boobs, someone goes down on someone OOPS! SpOiLeRs🤪…anyway, I guess read these if you’re into quick, easy, cheesy, silly, fantasy, “romance”.

P.S. There is no actual romance, just predictable gratuitous sex.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first: this is not a book you should read if sex scenes make you uncomfortable. It's also probably not the book you should read if you really value clever writing or character development. But, if you're looking for trashy fun, this is your book.

Master of Wolves is one of a series of books focusing on a retelling of the Arthur legend. Only in this telling Arthur is a vampire, Guinevere is a witch, and Merlin is an alien who set those two on a magical mission to protect the Earth. Oh, and there was a demon who created a whole bunch of bad vampires. And there are werewolves also created by Merlin but its a secret. (I told you, trashy fun). This book focuses on a werewolf who goes undercover as a police dog and his female handler. Needless to say, she soon discovers he's not actually a dog and much banging ensues. Meanwhile, they also have to defeat a vampire witch who has ensnared most of the rest of the police department.

I don't read these books because they make sense (frankly, if you think too hard about them the plots make absolutely no sense), but because they are a light, fun way to pass a few hours on days when I don't have the attention span for anything too demanding. And, approached from that perspective, they do a good job of filling just that role. They aren't literature...but that's not really what I'm looking for when I pick one up either.

[Missy Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book, however being my second or third time reading it there were a few things I noticed that really bothered me. It's the story of a werewolf, Jim London, and human, Faith Weston. They meet under dangerous circumstances (as usual for this series) and Faith soon learns all about the Mageverse. Then during a life-threatening scene they decide to spirit-link. This is exactly like the soul-meld between the other types of Mageverse characters, who also don't decide it needs to be done until their lives are threatened. Just once I'd like both characters to decide they WANT to spend eternity in each others' thoughts before taking the plunge into this irreversible bonding. We'll see what the rest of the series brings, but from what I remember I'm not holding my breath.

Aside from that issue, there were also a few key phrases that made me shudder: a kissing scene of them "sipping", "eating" or "feasting" at each others' mouths just grosses me out. And sex that leaves them "shuddered like a palsy victim" just sounds tasteless.

[Cait M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faith is a strong, independent K9 police officer who was cheated on by her husband, leaving her very untrusting when it comes to men and romance.

Since her divorce she's moved to a different state to start a drug K9 task force far away from her ex. Her new police dog Rambo is amazingly intelligent and incredible when it comes to taking down criminals. Little does she know that Rambo is actually a werewolf named Jim who is undercover in canine form to get information on a police cover-up concerning the murder of his best friend.

Jim (who has 3 forms: human, were and canine) realises that there is a larger, dark magic conspiracy at play in this town and that Faith is about to get caught up in it all. Once he reveals his human form to her the two of them combine forces. Jim will stop at nothing to get justice for his friend and will protect Faith to the death because she is the woman he has come to respect, admire and love.

There is a larger storyline about the dynamics between good and evil vampires and witches, the fey and the role of the were to keep the vampires in line. But the main story focuses on Faith and Jim and their growing relationship in the midst of danger and suspense. Jim goes all in early, but Faith has to overcome her fears and all the doubts lingering from her ex's betrayal before she can fully commit to love.

Good fight scenes. Interesting world-building. Multiple steamy love scenes.🔥

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

I definitely liked the other two books better than this one. I like Jim a lot. He's awesome! And he's extremely honest and loyal. Faith really just got on my nerves. The whole holier than thou bs got real irritating. And the way she pushed at Jim really got to me. Treating him like he was her ex. I really hate when women do that especially after Jim showed on multiple occasions he's different. The story did progress, which I loved. And finally everything is out in the open. Arthur, Llyr, and Jim are all in alliance. The whole mageverse and direkind finally working together. I look forward to seeing how they all work together.

[TinaMarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim goes undercover as a police dog to find out who killed his friend. He finds himself falling in love with his partner, K9 officer Faith. She seems to be the only none corrupt cop on the force. There's black magic and a vampire controlling them all. Jim is determined to find and kill his friend's murderer, trying to keep Faith from learning about it all. Meanwhile everyone is still looking for the black grails and fighting the corrupt vampires. It's nice to see all the various good guys in this story.

[bun.noon · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars because I did want to keep reading…but it really wasn’t good.
The writing was all over the place, the lore was insane and way way more information was given than we needed. The Arthur- vampire, Merlin- alien black chalice back story was just annoying. And Jim did not show nearly enough personality for anyone to fall in love.
But the spice was spicing and I am a sucker for an insane read. So 2/5

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had such a good start but then it just devolved into unnecessary sex scene after unnecessary sex scene. I never got a clear rationale behind Celestine’s motive and Faith and Jim should have been more of the focal point. Arthur and the rest seemed like they were just there to pad the word count.

[Kathryn A. Cardona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Werewolves and more werewolves. Angela knight does a great job of mixing action with some very hot romance. It can't get better than this

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, loved the main characters, but the dystopic, screwed up werewolf society really made it difficult to truly enjoy the story.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knight has created a viable alternate universe.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to read more in this series.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[No · Rating 2 out of 5]

middle of the road stuff

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish. Just too much. Aliens, werewolves, and vampire witches.

[ZacariasBEvaans]

This author is Undoubtedly fantastic.

[Kim Schellin-Rog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read! While it took a bit to figure out all the different magical entities involved, it was a fun filled read.

[Cecilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think if I'd read this ten years ago, I might have liked it more, but now that I've read more paranormal romances, my tastes have changed a little. This book has a lot of sex and a lot of peril. Sometimes, a lot of sex when there's still a lot of peril. And I'm wondering how the protagonists are not too distracted by the apocalyptic immensity of the peril to enjoy the sex. But they're not distracted, and the sex is amazing for them. Woohoo. The baddies are cartoonish, the good guys are somewhat developed. It took me a week to read this (a really long time), and I almost didn't finish. On reflection, I'm not sure why I did finish, because reading it did feel more like a chore than a pleasure.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this series. Angela Knight writes with a 'magic' touch. Descriptions of different worlds makes it all sound real, the bad guys menacing enough to give you the shivers, and the main characters are wonderfully written. They don't feel 'fake' in any way, shape or form (no pun intended). The wars (arguments) with each other, the wars within themselves, brings this book to life like no other. You feel what the characters feel, about themselves and towards each other. The words used to described the magic can make your own skin tingle. I hope Angela Knight is around for years to come!

[Samantha Mullins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little hard to get into. So it took me longer than normal to get through it. Though I do love the storyline, the whole King Arthur and Gwen and Avalon, then Vampires, Witches, aliens, and werewolves all thrown into the mix. The layout is great the execution is great. It just didnt catch hold of my attention until I was about a quarter to a third ways in. The ending however was sweet and what happened in the majority of the book was interesting, and it also sets up the rest of the series too.

[Naomi Bellina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the idea of the police dog werewolf. Wish there had been a bit more of that. As another reviewer said, if I had read the other books I might not have been confused, but when Merlin and Author came in, I went, huh? Also, the sex scenes were too frequent, lengthy and detailed for my taste. When I want to read erotica, that's what I look for. They weren't necessarily bad, just something I wasn't expecting from this book.

I love her writing style and look forward to reading more books by Angela Knight.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was overdue to come out of the Kennel. So far I think that this is my fave male in the series, her I could go either way, but I really liked Jim's sense of humor. But then again for most part they have all had some aspect of their personality that I liked. But I think overall Jim was someone I liked for the whole package. Was glad to see everyone is coming out of the Kennel and seriously though how much longer did you think you could keep that crated. Anywho I am off to begin Master of Swords. Wonder who the leading man is in that saga...

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's mainly a fun read, nothing more. I've always liked reading about mystical stuff, werewolves and vampires in particular. This is good if you just want to forget everything and get caught up in an adventure, especially ones with moments where you're either glad that no one's there to see you squirm or you wish that somebody was there so you can just throw down the book and let your desires take over.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the beginning was very funny, with Jim going undercover as a German shepherd. Lots of situational comedy moments there. Although it probably wasn't intended to be funny. Then King Arthur and his 12 Knights of the Round Table appeared and I thought "Oh no, good plotline ruined with extreme silliness!" But it actually worked out ok. Very hot sex scenes, although they got a bit repetitive. Entertaining, suspenseful, I would read more by the author.

[Shannon C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started a bit slow, but then it picked up and turned into a pretty good read. Most of the Mageverse books are entertaining, with the exception of Master of the Night which was a bit weak. I loved the hero in this one -- Jim London, alpha werewolf, and brother to Diana, the new queen of the Fae. I like quite a few of her heros--Jim, Gawain, Llyr, Kel. And of course King Arthur is quite the hottie. :)