502 pages
English language
Published Nov. 11, 2013 by Anchor Books.
A young reporter on assignment is attacked and bitten by an unknown beast in rural Northern California and begins a terrifying but seductive transformation into a being with a dual nature, both man and wolf.
I really loved this. Anne Rice tends to be iffy for me, but this was rock on. Read it virtually in one sitting.
No one can write an old house like Anne Rice! I fell in love with the house in this book. It has history, complexity, and detail. We learn a little about several of the past stories it has witnessed. Anne also does a lovely job of vividly painting the redwood forest.
I think that long-time readers of Anne Rice's novels will have a quite different experience than a first time-reader. You can see some of her personal spiritual voyage of late in this novel. However, it is not overwhelming or preachy the way that some may have feared. As others have mentioned, this is a surprisingly upbeat werewolf novel. Yes, there are scenes of violence, and scenes of a sexual nature, but you are picking up an Anne Rice horror novel to read, and they are much toned down compared to some of her other books.
I think that while …
No one can write an old house like Anne Rice! I fell in love with the house in this book. It has history, complexity, and detail. We learn a little about several of the past stories it has witnessed. Anne also does a lovely job of vividly painting the redwood forest.
I think that long-time readers of Anne Rice's novels will have a quite different experience than a first time-reader. You can see some of her personal spiritual voyage of late in this novel. However, it is not overwhelming or preachy the way that some may have feared. As others have mentioned, this is a surprisingly upbeat werewolf novel. Yes, there are scenes of violence, and scenes of a sexual nature, but you are picking up an Anne Rice horror novel to read, and they are much toned down compared to some of her other books.
I think that while Reuben, the main character is not a character I can fall in love with and adore, he is meant to be a certain type of person thrust into a bizarre situation. We get to see him cope(or not). We get to see him deal with the childish/petulant streaks in his nature since his new situation makes this a neccessity.
Just as Reuben seems set to fall into a stereo-typical "young werewolf" power-hungry psychological trap, Anne takes things in a slightly unusual direction, and we get to see the character begin to grow.
More importantly for longtime readers of Anne Rice's novels, there is the important question: "Will there be more?" Some of the secondary characters in this book would make phenomenal novels of their own. Reuben has the potential to become a fine person, but I think the true potential of this book is one for a fascinating new series set in "Anne's World." This could give another perspective on history to go with the vampires, the witches, and the Talamasca.
All the way through this novel, I kept longing for Reuben to run into the Talamasca.
