The Wolf Gift

by Anne Rice

I've heard good things about Anne Rice.  Her "Interview with a Vampire" is almost always held in high esteem.  Being a sucker for the fantasy genre and being especially enthralled with werewolf stories, I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to read this book.

Rice's writing style is best-described as very flowery.  It was easy to picture the settings and characters she described; she has amazing attention to detail and builds a strong setting with her prose.  Yet at no point did her descriptive details feel like overkill nor did they detract from the story.  I was immediately drawn into the world and the characters who were well-thought-out and believable.

The main action started off rather quickly and was, not surprisingly, a bit predictable.  Young Reuben is the protagonist of the story and the unwitting recipient of a bite from a werewolf.  The first few chapters after the bite proceed as one would expect in a story like this.  He discovers his new form.  Unlike many werewolf stories where the change is painful and the resulting form a curse, Reuben is completely at ease with his wolf side and sees his alternate form as a gift.  He maintains his sense of self but gains heightened abilities: like his ability sense evil and eliminate it.  Reuben's "Man Wolf" side almost becomes a superhero as he dispatches criminals.

I found this book to be an interesting take on the werewolf legend.  While some aspects of it were predictable, there was so much of the story that wasn't.  It was difficult to put down and I found myself up past my bedtime a few nights after saying to myself "just one more chapter. . ."  The characters were well-rounded and very easy to relate to which kept me reading on even when the plot unfolded into predictable points.

There were aspects of the story that seemed a bit tacked on.  Near the ending, especially, when the author slows down the pace to enlighten Reuben (and the readers) as to how this group of werewolves came to be.  While I found it interesting, it almost seemed unnecessary for the advancement of the story.  Perhaps it would have been better left to the second book in the series.  I am not sure.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next book in the series when it comes out in the fall.

I give it 4 out of 5.