Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: How to Run With the Wolves
SERIES: Howl at the Moon #5
AUTHOR: Eli Easton
NARRATOR: Matthew Shaw
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 7 hours, 54 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2020
BLURB:
Zeus loves his job on the Mad Creek search and rescue team, and his inner Saint Bernard is finally being used to his full potential. When he sees a mysterious and wild-looking quickened – a dog shifter – at an earthquake site in Alaska, Zeus is compelled to investigate.
Zeus falls hard for the primal beauty of Timo and of Alaska itself. Both call to his deep canine soul. But the Qimmig pack’s laws are as harsh as the Alaskan winters, and Timo is out of his reach.
Timo’s pack of dog shifters left their Inuit village generations ago and have lived wild, ever since. Not trusting the “one-skinned” and with their numbers dwindling, the Qimmig are on the verge of extinction.
Timo is shocked to discover a whole group of “two-skinned” working as a rescue team, and he is particularly fascinated by Zeus, a gentle giant. He senses what Zeus feels for him, but it’s forbidden.
Can Mad Creek save this lost quickened clan? Perhaps, if they can learn how to run with the wolves…
REVIEW:
How to Run With the Wolves is the last instalment in the Howl at the Moon series. A series I’ve been completely in love with for about five years now. I’m sad to see it end, because I’ve truly had a wonderful and quirky time in Mad Creek. It’s brought me many, many smiles over the years and they have been books I’ve come back to again and again when I needed some extra smiles in my life.
This time we meet Zeus, a Saint Bernard shifter who’s happiest on his own out in the woods. He’s not fond of crowds and enjoys the simple things in life. So when he’s offered the chance to be a part of the Mad Creek Search and Rescue team he eagerly accepts, not knowing it would change the direction of his life forever. On an assignment in Alaska he meets Timo, a husky shifter from a struggling Alaskan pack. The two are immediately fascinated with each other, and in order to help his pack out, Timo follows Zeus back to Mad Creek in search for answers.
How to Run With the Wolves has a different feel to it compared to the previous books in the series. It’s not as cutesy and fun and the romance part is mostly absent and comes a bit out of nowhere. I didn’t feel any genuine romantic feeling between them, friendship – most definitely, but the rest felt forced.
I loved Matthew Shaw’s brilliant performance of this book. It was spot on, just as it has been for the previous four books in the series. For some reason he really nails that human/dog duality of each character. Making both natures feel so present and real. He’s as much part of Mad Creek as any of the quickened and their mates.
Conveying the feelings of the characters is something Shaw really excels at, be it Timo’s curiosity of Zeus and his need to learn anything and everything to save his pack, to how overwhelming Mad Creek was. Also Zeus was clear as day, how his eagerness and need to be a part of the Search and Rescue team, his fascination with Timo and his need to help. Shaw does it all, and brilliantly. I do believe he can enhance any story he narrates.
There was a scene at the very end that I think is my absolute favourite in the book. It was truly emotional and touching on all levels. The meeting between Zeus and the Inuit man was full of so many emotions. They were plain to hear in Shaw’s voice. It was heartbreaking and filled with so much hope and promise. It was incredible moving and touched me more than anything else in the book did. Shaw made you want to take that first step to mend what had been broken so many generations ago. He made you wish for more.
This book isn’t so much a goodbye to Mad Creek as it is an introduction to the Quimmiq pack and the cold Alaskan country. It will be interesting to see where Eli Easton will take us next.
RATING: 
Narration: 5 hearts
Story: 3 hearts
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