Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells

I read this one because of dear Melfka – thank you very much, I am obliged!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The strange planet known as Tanegawa’s World is owned by TransRifts Inc, the company with the absolute monopoly on interstellar travel. Hob landed there ten years ago, a penniless orphan left behind by a rift ship. She was taken in by Nick Ravani and quickly became a member of his mercenary biker troop, the Ghost Wolves.

Ten years later, she discovers that the body of Nick’s brother out in the dunes. Worse, his daughter is missing, taken by shady beings called the Weathermen. But there are greater mysteries to be discovered – both about Hob and the strange planet she calls home.

My impressions:

It wasn’t a bad book, not bad at all. I had a bit of a problem with motorcycles on a desert (sand and machinery of any kind don’t like each other but, I suppose, hovercrafts would be better) but overall it was fine. Hob Ravani was my type of heroine: flawed, headstrong, intelligent and independent. Her bestie, Mag, could have been more fleshed-out but I appreciated the mere fact that the author included a friendship between two girls in such a book AND almost no romance thread at all. There were hints about Hob and a creature called Bone Collector but they remained just hints, as they should.

Unfortunately the plot left me a bit unimpressed. It was all right up to, roughly, the middle of the story but after the tragic death of Mag’s mom I had an impression that everything was collapsing, becoming more and more predictable, mimicking other stories of that kind here and there. I finished the book only to check whether my personal predictions were right. Most of them were – it is not a compliment. Still I consider it a very interesting debut, perhaps a beginning of a series. A David against a Goliath, it might be interesting to watch.

Final verdict:

If the idea of ‘Dune’ with bikers and coal mines appeals to you and you don’t care about romance it is your story. Still don’t try to guess the plot twists – more likely than not you might succeed and the fun will be over. The upper strata of meh.