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Liked It3 of 3 members found this review helpful “Anne Rice seems to have finally gotten back on her stride. She took a break for a while from writing paranormal novels to create a few works tied to a certain portion of the life of Jesus and a pair of novels connected with the guardian angel of an assassin. Thankfully, she has returned to the...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Reuben (also known as Sunshine Boy, Little Boy and Baby Boy by his girlfriend, brother and mother respectively), a young, drop-dead gorgeous, wealthy, well-educated young man ‘playing’ at being a journalist who is dating a young, drop-dead gorgeous, wealthy, well-educated young attorney, goes to...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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1 of 1 members found this review helpful“It’s funny about what “they” say in terms of reading something many years later and experiencing it differently. Well, something similar but not quite the same happened to me while reading The Wolf’s Gift. As a teen, I was an Anne Rice book fiend; I loved her “lush” stream-of-consciousness prose, and I gorged on it as escapist fiction. Now about 20 years later, I set about reading The Wolf’s Gift with a readiness to revisit my teen roots borne out of a pleasurable nostalgia. I had a wee bit of a letdown when I quickly learned the beginning does not make the book un-put-down-able. It took me about 100 pages of really just forcing myself to keep going to get into the book. After 100 pages, I was hooked on the story. One criticism I have as a more seasoned reader, is most of ALL of her characters share a lexicon… from a service man to the main character who is a writer, you encounter descriptive lush adjectives such as “rhapsodic” incorporated into their “everyday” language. I get the character of the writer using this word to describe something to someone, but another laymen character who is not at all central and makes a brief appearance using the same word (and this does happen) doesn’t seem likely. Simply put, not everyone talks the same way. In fact, I’ve come to appreciate the poetic vernacular in creating a story as distinctive to personality as it is to region, and this tendency to have her characters use, if not the same, but highly similar, vocabulary seems very author-centric now, and doesn’t gel with creating a real story regardless if it’s based on mythical creatures. I think, back in the day, I wished everyone spoke that way, and since then I’ve learned people do not absolutely, and not only do I know that, I embrace it, and I appreciate the differences and variety in the use of a common language. I love language even more because of it, and I love people even more because of it. ‘Tis a beautiful thing and Mrs. Rice is missing out, man, by not using the variety of vocabulary to shape characters. My other gripe…she also makes all of her central characters beautiful people with beautiful…stuff. The non-beautiful are the crude archetypal villains (see the Russian “doctors”). So, I’m baffled that my teenaged self was so in la la land to buy into that type of almost corporatized vision, a precursor to (but, by no means as fully realized corporatization as) a Twilight pretty –pretty vision. And what baffles me even more is that despite this, I look forward to the next book because I care about the characters, even in the face of these trope-ish tendencies. Anne Rice isn’t a master writer for nothing, folks. And, yeah, I’m still a fan. ”
Monica Rodriguez wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Didn't love this as much as I have loved other stories from Rice, but still an entertaining read, something I didn't put down.”
Abi wrote this review 3 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Reuben (also known as Sunshine Boy, Little Boy and Baby Boy by his girlfriend, brother and mother respectively), a young, drop-dead gorgeous, wealthy, well-educated young man ‘playing’ at being a journalist who is dating a young, drop-dead gorgeous, wealthy, well-educated young attorney, goes to interview a drop-dead gorgeous, super-wealthy, well-educated older woman about her decision to sell her family estate. Within hours they are in bed together, fall in love and have decided that Reuben will become the new owner of the estate. A few hours later still, her jealous younger brothers break in to murder her, and when Reuben dashes to her aid a huge werewolf that appears out of nowhere to savage the brothers, accidentally bites him. Everyone other than Reuben and the werewolf die and with his wounds healing super-quick, and after beefing out and his hair growing more thickly, he has to face the disturbing fact that he, also, is a werewolf.
J M Leitch wrote this review Wednesday, April 10, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Apart from a few scenes describing his metamorphoses, violent attacks and grisly feasts on various wild-life and ‘wicked’ humans, and the chapter where only a matter of days after he is bitten by the werewolf, Laura, a drop-dead gorgeous, comfortably-off, well-educated older woman welcomes him, complete with full werewolf body hair and fangs, into her bed and they fall in love, this is a boring book, especially the author’s dry attempt at explaining werewolf philosophy in the final chapters. It is also a ridiculous one. The author makes much of the massive salads Laura whips up for Reuben (is this punishment for his crazed flesh feeding frenzies or loving concern for his health and figure?). She also has Reuben carry Laura up to the top of a towering redwood a la Twilight film, which I thought was a bit naughty.
This is the first book I’ve read by Anne Rice and as I’d heard good reports from friends about some of her other novels I was looking forward to it, but I’m afraid I was very disappointed and can only give it 2 stars. I understand that she is writing a sequel which I, for one, will not be rushing out to buy.
”
“The Wolf Gift is not your typical werewolf story. Containing religious leanings, self-discovery, a love story (almost), and even a creepy old mansion it brings the werewolf myth, with certain strange twists, into modern times; to northern California, no less.
Gecko Blaine wrote this review Thursday, April 4, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Intelligent and creative, yet naive and sheltered, the main character Reuben - the youngest son of a fairly well-to-do family is a young man trying to find his own place in the world. Reuben is the modern boy-man dominated by his powerful mother a high-profile physician, and intimidated by his strong, successful attorney girlfriend. Reuben thinks he hasn't achieved anything outstanding in his life, no particular talent or gift to speak of and he is unsure of who he is at the age of 23. he is working as a fledgling reporter in San Francisco showing a talent for journalistic writing. When he heads up to Mendocino County to do a story about an old house being sold that has an intriguing history he begins to fall in love with the house and spends the night, sleeping with his host. During the night he hears his host being attacked; he goes to defend her, and is attacked. Decent opening premise.
I thought this book was an 'okay' read, but there were some things that bugged me about it.
Marchent seemed like an interesting character but she dies immediately. I really wish that there had been more continuation in her storyline. Also, i found it just a touch too convenient that just before being killed by her intoxicated brothers Marchent had made sure to contact her lawyers and have the property willed to Reuben, who had shown interest and admiration for the mansion and the histories it contained.
Some things about this story were ridiculous and downright comic-book-y
Ruben and his 'Change'
Reuben is bitten and undergoes drastic changes; hearing becomes sharper scent becomes enhanced vision changes, is sharper, all to the good. These are understandable within the genre. But when he starts hearing voices coming from great distance and imploring for help and evil tastes good. well, okay, I'm stretching to follow this... that's okay, it's a good thing to suspend disbelief for awhile.
He isn't influenced by the moon but instead the pleas of innocent people in danger will cause him to transform....wellll...okay, i guess. (Huh?)
I never could get past how the Man-wolf could hop from tree to tree like some sort of manic monkey - even out climbing a mountain lion that he probably weighed as much as or more than. When he hears/senses a distress cry he leaps to a tree or a rooftop and bounds away.... whee!! what happened to just running?
the love scenes between Reuben and Laura
The fact that Reuben meets an unknown woman in the forest and they have sex in the same scene.
I cannot understand how Laura could be so receptive to making love with a strange creature and liking his black wolf lips? huh?
And preferring sex him in wolf shape is just strange.
Overall, there's an IMPORTANT lack of background, thus the characters are thin - more one dimensional than well rounded.
I felt the ending lacked luster and rather failed the potential implied in the book.
Not her best work, but an interesting story.
”
“This wasn't my favorite Anne Rice book, but it had certain elements that I did enjoy. I am a big wolf fan (werewolf lore in general is interesting to me), and I liked that part of it. But there was very little lore/historical aspects of this novel that I usually enjoy in an Anne Rice novel. Granted, if she continues with this series, she may dive more into that. I would really enjoy a novel about Maron's coming into his lycanthropy. ”
Kitty Taylor wrote this review Wednesday, February 27, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Ms. Rice has a gift all right. I was actually worried when she found her faith again that her writing might suffer. I was happily proven wrong. I absolutely loved her books on Christ's childhood and truly loved reading The Wolf Gift. She still has the same gorgeous, vibrant and poetic storytelling from her 'Interview' days. I won't lie, the story was predictable, but it didn't matter because the story was so beautifully written. And an added treat was a tease to a "companion novel" that I enjoyed every second of. Can't wait for her next work!”
Remi Logan wrote this review Saturday, February 23, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“AWESOME! Loved it. One of her best books.”
Stacy C wrote this review Friday, February 22, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I used to love Anne Rice, but she has become so preachy. This story was very very slow to begin, almost stopped several times. It then picked up, but at the end got even more preachy and I hated the ending. I think it has a sequel and I will have to think if I will continue on. ”
Kathy D wrote this review Wednesday, February 20, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“many parallels to twilight. Weak human longs to be immortal. Her immortal lover is unbelievably strong and "good". etc. predictable”
Dianna B wrote this review Saturday, December 29, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
