An original story from the author of Soon I Shall Be Indestructible and Blood Sex Sugar Magic.
Thousand years ago, the dragon Girusai took over the Wyrding. After he was defeated, the world was split in two. Garuccia and the Wyrding, the kingdom of humans and the king of the fae. The story starts when someone has started stealing Wyrd Stones that connect the two realms.
The main cast can be divided in three sections. The goblins, Little Ant and her mentor Old Badger who try to find the reason behind the Wyrd Stone theft. Viscount Cassio and his advisor Sal who are preparing for Cassio’s arranged marriage. And finally the vampire Pietro who is trying to use his human children to amass more power.
For other works by the same author, see Soon I Shall Be Indestructible and Blood Sex Sugar Magic.
Prince of the Wild provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Pietro is no Father of the Year and while his kids have it rough, his poor wife has it even worse.
- Alien Invasion: Conquerors from the Stars are implied to have been these. Unfortunately for the would-be-conquerors, it turned into an Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion when they faced the dragon Mordesai.
- Ambiguously Gay: Nuncio becomes quite smitten with Sal as the story progresses and Pietro even throws some homophobic comments his way.
- An Arm and a Leg: Sal’s fight with Pietro does not end well for him and ends up costing him a leg.
- Animalistic Abomination: Skin-changers look like large animals but are implied to be this. The same with master vampires whose real form is some large animal.
- Arranged Marriage: Cassio finds himself in one at the start of the story and he is less than enthusiastic about it. Then it turns out his bride-to-be’s father is a vampire.
- Badass Boast: Cassio gives a short but effective one when he is pushed too far.
- Cassio:''' I am viscount Cassio de Rossi. The Lionheart. A lord of Garuccia. A descendant of King Eld. And if you spit on my mercy, you will suffer my wrath.
- Badass Normal: Cassio is a normal human who can also go toe to toe with a skin-changer bear.
- Bears Are Bad News: The bear prince, His Terrible Highness, is a minor villain and a major jerk.
- Big Bad: Pietro Capello, the master vampire whose schemes drive the plot.
- Classical Movie Vampire: Master vampires in the setting have many of the stock powers they have in folklore; control over weather and animals, shapeshifting and mind control. Pietro himself is a clear expy of Dracula.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Sal acts like a drunken wastrel most of the time but is also a capable adventurer. And a skin-changer prince.
- Daywalking Vampire: Sunlight kills vampires but Pietro gets around this by using his powers to his powers to hide the sun behind clouds at all times.
- Divine Date: In her youth, Old Badger was the paramour of His Savage Highness. They split when she refused his offer for immortality, but they still have feelings for each other.
- Emergency Transformation: While near death Elysa turns herself into a vampire.
- Evil Mentor: In his brief appearance Mordesai takes a shine on Nuncio and tries to instill his power-hungry philosophy in him.
- Famous Ancestor: Cassio is a direct descendant of King Eld, the legendary founder of Garuccia.
- Fur Against Fang: Vampires and skin-changers are polar opposites to each other. One representing undeath and the other cycle of rebirth. Skin-changers are also poisonous to vampires.
- Little Miss Badass: Little Ant is a young goblin but also a fearless warrior and a skilled scout.
- Pietro’s daughter is no slouch either and brave enough to slap a ghoul.
- Magical Land: The Wyrding that is home to the fae. People can enter it through Wyrd Stones.
- Man Behind the Man: Although Pietro is the main threat, he is backed by an even greater force. The dragon Mordesai.
- Must Be Invited: Vampires must be invited into a home. This ends up saving Little Ant and Old Badger.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The fox prince His Savage Highness, who is actually a decent guy. The bear prince His Terrible Highness… less so.
- Never Mess with Granny: Old Badger is past seventy but still deadly with a spear and can think on her feet.
- Ominous Owl: Pietro can transform into a giant and very sinister owl. This is implied to be his true form and his human appearance just a mask. Elysa gains the same power when she becomes a vampire.
- Our Goblins Are Different: They live in nomadic tribes and seem to be matriarchal communities run by a Grandmother. The ones we meet are named after insects with the children having an added epithet of Little in their names while the elders have Old. Some goblins can gain an honorary name. Like Little Ant who is renamed Daring Ant in the final chapter.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: They are called skin-changers and have their own societies with princes and queens. They can absorb shapes and memories through eating. There also not limited to just wolves and we meet skin-changer foxes and bears.
- Pædo Hunt: Pietro’s vampire maid is implied to be a child molester who feeds mostly on children. Sal kills her for it.
- Predecessor Villain: The story mentions three major villains in the Wyrding’s past.
- Girusai, a dragon who conquered the Wyrding in the past.
- Baron Stradheim, a powerful vampire king who Pietro envies and despises in equal measures. Unfortunately for Pietro, the baron is not as dead as believed.
- Conquerors from the Stars, implied to be an alien invasion.
- The Stoic: Cassio is a gruff man who rarely shows emotion.
