My review of "The Wolf Gift" by Anne Rice

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(Review re-written after I went back and re-read some parts of the novel)

The Wolf Gift really pulled me in, but it quickly lost steam after the inciting incident. It's not exactly a page-turner, but, it was a relaxing read and a perfect book to read in bed at night just before bedtime. It's easy to put down at anytime, because very little happens in this book. Don't get me wrong, Anne Rice's writing is a joy to read, and the atmosphere of the Nideck mansion and surrounding woodland is described in such rich, pristine prose. But sometimes a book can get overly descriptive. I mean, I felt as if Rice described the same bedrooms over and over again, and spent whole pages describing the furniture of a house in the later chapters, when she should've focused on pacing the mystery. Then, another gripe worth mentioning is the action scenes. There were far too many hunting scenes, where Reuben, the Werewolf, ventures out in the woods to hunt animals. This might satisfy the gore-junkies, but I think the hunting scenes were repetitive and served as filler material--henceforth, ruining the pacing of this story.

I recommend it though, to patient readers, who don't mind slow, dramatic buildup. It really pays off in the end, especially if you are interested in the science of Werewolf-ism or Lycanthropy. Anne Rice gives her take on the origin of the myth, although with a bit of fluff and sugar coating, but I liked what she was implying and felt as if some of her characters had a hidden meaning behind them and were rooted in real world history. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves philosophy as well.

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