Cover Image: Wild Hunters

Wild Hunters

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Member Reviews

The characters were well-developed, and I found myself invested in their lives. The plot was well thought out and had enough twists and turns to keep me on the edge of my seat. I appreciated the attention to detail, and the author did a great job of creating a vivid world that was easy to picture in my mind.
The themes explored in the book were thought-provoking and gave me a lot to consider. The story had a great message and was inspiring, leaving me feeling uplifted and motivated. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story with well-developed characters and a powerful message.
Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with this book and would definitely read it again. It was a great addition to my reading collection, and I can't wait to see what else this author has in store.

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I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

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A fantastic military action horror story interwoven with the myth and legend. Five royal marines find themselves pursued by the Wild Hunt.

This book was a well written quick read that I was sad to see end, fast paced, action packed, supernatural beings facing off against modern day military, what more could you want? This is not a subtle or psychological horror...prepare for blood and carnage.

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I don't know what I expected from a "Military Action Horror Novel" but this was able to not only meet my expectations but passed them. It was a great read and I'd be interested in another book in this universe.

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Military male heavy, with lots of UK slang.

Good for fans of mythical characters entering the modern world. The first chapter, which was about mythical ancient times was beautifully written and really grabbed me. However, I'm not so much into reading about military men. The writing was good, just not my interest unfortunately.

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This was my first book by Stuart R. Brogan. And I'm glad I decided to take the plunge. A tale of military horror, folklore and an undead evil army made up of dwarves, trolls, vikings and so much more.
This story was fast-paced, and action packed with a supernatural/fantasy element.
I loved the twist at the end, and it was made even more enjoyable for me, as it was based where I live!! If only Somerset was this exciting!! 😂
I hope there will be a sequel as this could really go places.

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Amid the worst storm in living memory, five Royal Marine reservists and a handful of civilians battle to survive.

But mother nature and the heavily armed mercenaries hunting them are the least of their concerns. A seemingly unstoppable Pagan force has been unleashed from the darkest depths of our ancient past – a phenomenon that will stop at nothing to see humanity reduced to ashes.

Low on ammo, no chance of rescue and surrounded by the unspeakable, it’s going to be 24 hours from hell.

Let the hunt begin

This reviewing lark can be hard work sometimes. My schedule is often set months in advance and much as I love reading, and I really do, it can grind me down. It’s at times like that where I crave something uncomplicated. A read that is nothing more than pure, unadulterated escapism. Chases, explosions, pithy one-liners, and wherever possible, undead spirits hell-bent on mass destruction is what I need. The elder book gods have taken pity upon me and provided exactly what I was looking for. This week I’m casting my beady eye over Wild Hunters by Stuart R Brogan.

The premise is devilishly simple, a group of squaddies find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. The legendary Wild Hunt are on the move, and they are looking for blood. What follows is a suitably violent game of cat and mouse. Trust me, there is a fair amount of viscera. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a bit of folklorey mythological mayhem so I couldn’t have been happier.

Now normally at this point in a review I would waffle a bit about the main characters and explain what I thought about them. I’m going to break with tradition and not do that in this case. Every character is fair game in Wild Hunters, and I really want to avoid spoilers. One of the joys of the novel is trying to spot who’ll make it and who won’t. The question I found myself asking was who is next to get Pertweed*? It’s that kind of book. No one is safe. It’s exactly the sort of tone I want from this kind of story. We have a group of individuals way out of their depth having to make split-second decisions. The consequences of said decision are what makes everything so damned enjoyable.

In case you’re curious, based on my best calculations and factoring in my expert level survival skills, my life expectancy if I were in Wild Hunters would be approximately two and a half minutes… on a good day… If I was lucky.

The entire novel is set over a single night in a small geographic area, so it feels like we are in a race against time. One way or another you know that there will have to be a resolution by dawn. The Wild Hunt are relentless in their pursuit and the action builds nicely to a climax involving one of my favourite British landmarks. That was an unexpected added bonus. It’s clear the author has had a blast writing this novel and it really shows, everything is gleefully unashamedly bonkers. I loved it.

Let’s be honest, the likelihood is that you’ve read books or seen movies that cover similar ground to what is going on here. The important thing is that this particular iteration of man versus supernatural evil is perfectly executed. Wild Hunters doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is. There are no hidden depths here. This is a balls to the wall creature feature filled with lashings of gore and some darkly comedic moments. It’s the sort of story that if it were a movie it would be destined to become a cult classic. People would seek out late-night showings at their local indy cinema. Everyone would know exactly what to expect and they would love it all the more for it.

Wild Hunters is published by Horrific Tales Publishing and is available now. Great fun and well worth your time. I would strongly advise checking it out if you like your horror nice and bloody.

My musical recommendation to accompany Wild Hunters was a bit of a no-brainer. It kind of had to be the soundtrack to Dog Soldiers by Mark Thomas, didn’t it? If you enjoy some sounds in the background while you’re reading, this will definitely set the appropriate tone.

*Pertweed – to suffer an outlandish, ultimately futile, horribly violent death at any given moment. For further information see the collected films of Sean Pertwee – Doomsday, Wilderness, Event Horizon, and The Reckoning are just a few examples. The list goes on and on. I think there is even one with werewolves if I remember correctly. I forget what it is called.

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I received a copy of Wild Hunters from NetGalley for an honest review. I believe I've been rather lucky with my opportunities through this service so far. This was another enjoyable read. To be honest I don't believe I've read anything similar to this before. It was described as an Action/Horror at the end of the book and I can confirm that is fitting. There was a lot of action throughout this book. It may be a little lacking in character development if that is your thing. It's a short read so it just seemed like I was watching an hour long series episode. There just isn't always a lot of time to spend a lot of time on character development. I do feel there was enough to care for several of the characters though. However, I felt the environment was explained very well! I really felt that I was wading through the flooded town in the creepy night throughout the book.

Other than this being a shorter read and a little lacking in the character development the only other items that knocked this down a star for me was some of the slang used at times left me rather confused. I'm guessing this was some UK used slang which I'm just not familiar with. The ending was also rather abrupt which was just a little off putting. I can over look these few things though as I still really enjoyed reading this story and has opened my eyes to another possible genre to look for in the future.

*****Spoilers*****


I really did love the story the author put together in this one. The Wild Hunter creatures from eras past coming back to engulf a modern town during a storm was a very fun idea! The characters Marines introduced at the beginning had me a little twisted as to the order they are lost during the story. Not that I didn't care for the survivor, I just didn't initially see that coming. I'm also still a little confused as to the ending of the book as well as whether the spear had any real significance or not. I'll definitely look into other works from this author in the future though. Very fun, exciting and thrilling adventure to survive the night!

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This is a fast paced, actioned packed, soldiers v’s paranormal monsters. Very much along the lines of ‘Dog Soldiers’ meats ‘Lord of the Rings’, the writing was easy to read, and not too much technical jargon.

The story itself was good, every time you think you know where the story is going, something happens and it go’s a different direction, keeping you on your toes, although I would have like a little more detail in spots, but it was still excellent.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes supernatural action.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*

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There is no escaping the fact that this a brutal, bloody gore-fest of a book. A no holds barred all-action horror fantasy-thriller. Dog Soldiers was mild in comparison.
Don't expect much character development because there isn't time, as the body count racks up.
Fergies Scottish vernacular was humorous at times, as was a lot of the banter between the squaddies. At least it was British slang, which made a pleasant change.
I would have liked to know more about the various creatures of the horde, and I did Google a few things on Norse legend, but apart from that, ace.
Some of the monsters were a bit beyond my scope of imagination, but they weren't there for eye candy. Naming them doesn't matter if they don't last that long.
We have the inevitable involvement of intelligence agencies, which always leaves a sour taste to a story. But needs must, I suppose.
I have to admit, I didn't see the end coming.
All in all, a thrilling military horror.

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Dog Soldiers meets Beowulf is the best way to describe this relentless military action horror novel. Four Royal Marine reservists find themselves pursued by The Wild Hunt - an ancient nordic army of various supernatural beasts across the flooded Somerset levels. The action is flat out, but Brogan manages to intersperse the carnage with plenty of banter and character moments between the soldiers.
This is not quiet, subtle horror by any stretch of the imagination, but if you go in expecting a violent action horror story you won't be disappointed

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