Book Review: The Call of the Wild Werewolf by Jack London / Carl Waters

The Call of the Wild Werewolf: 

Classic Werewolves (Merlin's Hoods)

by Jack London / Carl Waters

Series: Merlin's Hoods
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Bright Sons Media LLC (April 30, 2015)

Kindle Edition
File Size: 732 KB
Print Length: 181 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Bright Sons Media (May 16, 2015)
Publication Date: May 16, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★  

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Carl Waters. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

My thoughts:

I have not read The Call of the Wild by Jack London so I cannot comment on this being a mash up of that book. 

The Call of the Wild Werewolf is different from the werewolf books I've read in the past, this didn't have the usual paranormal stuff/feel, it's like a serious werewolf book. Surprisingly, I liked Carl Water's idea here, how a werewolf is made/turned, how they feel being trapped in an animal body, etc. Buck's story is relatable, I can feel his sorrow as a man and as a werewolf. Although some parts dragged on, I still enjoyed reading his journey to conquering his fears and achieving his dreams. 

About the book:

Deciding to leave his easy life in Santa Clara Valley, Buck Miller, the son of a wealthy judge and raisin farmer, pursues gold riches in the Klondike. Before he reaches his destination, Buck is kidnapped by vampires, turned into a werewolf, and forced to work as the vampire's sled dog.

Now, in an unfamiliar place and in an unfamiliar body, Buck must learn to survive more than just the brutal weather. With attacks from vicious werewolves and abuse from his masters, will Buck be able to regain his humanity or will he spend the rest of his days living as a wolf?

WARNING!!!

This a mashup story. It combines Jack London's classic, The Call of the Wild, with the werewolf mythology in my Merlin's Hoods world.

It is in the same vein as Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith's mashup novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Instead of adding zombies, I've added werewolves and vampires.

Mashup stories are a creative novelty. The idea is to create a new story by adding as few words to the original story as possible. So, most of the words in this story are Jack London's.


I love werewolves and the protagonist, Buck Miller, is a powerful werewolf in my Merlin's Hood world. This is his origin story.

About the author:

Carl Waters, born and raised in Miami, Florida, grew up reading comic books and dreamed of being a new kind of superhero. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

Waters never forgot his childhood dreams, which over the years transformed into a desire to create new heroes, particularly African-American male heroes, through writing. His debut offering is Burning Uncle Tom's Cabin, the first book in a four-part series that reimagines Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel, featuring strong characters who break out of the old stereotypes.