Read the first two chapters of John Gwynne’s The Wolves of War
Andrzej Sapkowski drew on Slavic mythology when writing The Witcher, his legendary fantasy series about a war torn world filled with magic and monsters. If you’ve been playing through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered and are looking for some of the same dark fairy tale flavor, you’ll want to check out a new fantasy epic kicking off in November.
John Gwynne drew on Norse mythology and the tale of Beowulf for The Bloodsworn Saga, the trilogy he completed in 2024 with New York Times-bestselling book The Fury of the Gods. His next book, The Wolves of War, turns to Slavic mythology for a tale he describes as The Witcher meets Stephen King’s Carrie.
It follows Ivan, a father trying to protect his family from a war between two princes in a fantasy version of Kievan Rus. While his daughter, Halia, seems helpless, she escapes from her body when she dreams and communes with wolves and the fae creatures of the forest like rusalka, domovoi, upir, leshen, and striga. Halia must master her new powers if she and her family will survive the coming conflict.
“A Slavic-inspired forest is almost a character in its own right,” Gwynne told Polygon. “It is not a pleasant stroll in dappled woods. The forest in this tale is dark and oppressive and terrifying.”
Ahead of the book’s release on Nov. 3, publisher Orbit gave Polygon the chance to exclusively reveal the first two chapters of The Wolves of War .
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