A review by rayirving
Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

4.0

This is something refreshingly different: a werewolf tale set against the backdrop of 1970s Northern Ireland during the troubles. Additionally, in this universe, the church is waging a war against fallen angels and in a sort of friendly fire are also taking out the fey - which is fun for our protagonist, Liam, who gets his shape changing ability from a fey bloodline... Life is nasty, brutish and sometimes short, and our anti-hero born to an impoverished Protestant family goes through hell as forces known and unknown manipulate his life and never in a good way (even when well intentioned). His lightning reflexes make him a perfect hire for the IRA and in such a meta it seems impossible to build a good and honest family life. The author is American but the Irish setting feels very authentic and takes me back to 1970s news reels. The whole book seems to be setting things up for an interesting #2 as various forces come together right at the end. I'll definitely check that out. Does contains scenes of violence, torture and even molestation - life is beyond gritty and far into grim, so avoid if that's not your thing. I could not find this as an ebook, cheapest paper version is at the bookdepository.co.uk with free worldwide shipping.