The Wolf Gift is a Romantic Fantasy novel by Anne Rice. Read summary below.
The Wolf Gift: The Wolf Gift Chronicle Summary
When Reuben Golding, a young reporter on assignment, arrives at a secluded mansion on a bluff high above the Pacific, it’s at the behest of the home’s enigmatic female owner. She quickly seduces him, but their idyllic night is shattered by violence when the man is inexplicably attacked—bitten—by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness. It will set in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation that will propel Reuben into a mysterious new world and raise profound questions. Why has he been given the wolf gift? What is its true nature—good or evil? And are there others out there like him?
READ; The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shape-Shifting Beings
The Wolf Gift: The Wolf Gift Chronicles Review
4.0 out of 5 stars Hairy Philosophical Struggle
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2013
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Anne Rice loves to write about the supernatural. For years her stomping ground covered the terrain of vampires, witches, and demons. With a renewed interest in the Catholic Church, she explored the life of Christ and the celestial domain of angels. As with all writers and lovers of truth, as Rice gets to know her inner self and find her God, she kicks around new ideas, fine tuning her own thinking as she ponders civilization’s great thinkers while attempting to discover what truly speaks to her soul despite the drummed-in teachings and traditions of her background. In her novel, “The Wolf Gift,” perhaps, Ms. Rice is gifting herself with the ability to forego black and white concepts and look at her reality in a contextual sense.
Now all that sounds pretty fully inflated when on first glance, “The Wolf Gift” can be considered just another werewolf tale. Indeed, it is–and a fairly good, if not predictable one.
Reuben Golding, a “gentleman” journalist is just in his mid-twenties–as he is blessed with a truck-load of money, he doesn’t need to work, but with his poet-loving father, workaholic surgeon mother, devoted Catholic priest brother and overachieving lawyer girlfriend always in his orbit, he needs to do something that he defines as “worthwhile.” So writing, it is. During some background story exploration that he is doing on an old estate that is finally being sold after its owner mysteriously disappeared over twenty years earlier, he meets the beautiful and worldly Marchent, niece of the once owner Felix Nident, falls in love with her and the house and has a passionate and memorable romantic evening with her. He awakens to screams; his new lady fair is being brutally murdered by two masked men. When the killers turn to eliminate him also, an unknown creature attacks them and saves his life. However, during the struggle, his hirsute savior wounds him . . . and you all know what happens next.
Rice sets “Wolf Gift” in the Bay area of San Francisco–Reuben lives on Russian Hill and the Nideck house in located in Mendocino (a beautiful oceanfront city about two hours north of San Francisco)–she speaks of giant Redwoods and the lush woodlands of California with the reverence of someone who understands and appreciates the cyclical nature of life. As Reuben begins to savor his “gift,” he contemplates its good points and bad points. As he does this, he must make decisions regarding his positioning within his family and his role as an avenger of sorts. Rice portrays Reuben as someone used to fine things, who articulates well but needs answers to the Big Questions. At times, he doesn’t quite come off as a man in his mid-twenties. Instead, he seems older, a little jaded with too many questions under his belt that just do not jive with his scant amount of years. In her depiction of Felix, Rice excels–her elder werewolf or Morphenkinder speaks with the wisdom, patience and eloquence of his age and experience–he, of all her characters in this transformation tale sparkles with longevity. Father Jim, is another character that resonates well with Rice’s search for God and Self. He is described as a man of God who does not believe in God. The paradox is fascinating.
After the climatic scene of werewolf vindication, Rice treats (or torments) her reader to a wordy dialogue that answers some of Reuben’s queries about Morphenkinder lore and legend and the real heart and theme of the story which is summed up with the following quote by one of the veteran wolves: “All morality is of necessity shaped by context. I’m not talking relativism, no. To ignore the context of a decision is in fact immoral.” Unfortunately, this section of the book becomes a bit dreary despite its interesting ideas–the mainstream reader wants to cut to the chase and discover what is in Reuben’s future as a young werewolf with a new ladylove and a troubled conscience. The round table discussion of the meaning of life is best mingled within the novel in bits and pieces rather than as a large chunk of purely speculative and metaphysical reading.
Nonetheless, Rice’s style still scintillates–her supernatural creatures overwhelm with their intelligence and penchant for working out the conundrum of life. Within the usual werewolf killing spree, she questions morality, organized religion and the structure of right and wrong–not too shabby for a breeze of a read. On the other hand, don’t get weighed down by her theology; realize only that she is a seeker redefining her parameters.
Bottom line? Anne Rice’s “The Wolf Gift” is a discussion of philosophy disguised as a modern werewolf tale. Sometimes simplistic and downright bizarre, it manages to ask some big questions for those in the mood to listen. For those not on Rice’s frequency, enjoy the wild werewolf ride and forget about the cerebral discussion after the story’s climax, towards the end of the book. One star for scenery and local as I read this book while in the places Rice details.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
“reneofc”
About Anne Rice Author Of The Wolf Gift: The Wolf Gift Chronicles Book
Anne Rice Author Of The Wolf Gift: The Wolf Gift Chronicles Book was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, which provided the backdrop for many of her famous novels. She was the author of more than 30 books, including her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, which was published in 1976. It has since gone on to become one of the best-selling novels of all time, and was adapted into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas. In addition to The Vampire Chronicles, Anne was the author of several other best-selling supernatural series including Mayfair Witches, Queen of the Damned, the Wolf Gift, and Ramses the Damned. Under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure, Anne was the author of the erotic (BDSM) fantasy series, The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. Under the pen name Anne Rampling she was the author of two erotic novels, Exit to Eden and Belinda. A groundbreaking artist whose work was widely beloved in popular culture, Anne had this to say of her work: “I have always written about outsiders, about outcasts, about those whom others tend to shun or persecute. And it does seem that I write a lot about their interaction with others like them and their struggle to find some community of their own. The supernatural novel is my favorite way of talking about my reality. I see vampires and witches and ghosts as metaphors for the outsider in each of us, the predator in each of us…the lonely one who must grapple day in and day out with cosmic uncertainty.”
The Wolf Gift: The Wolf Gift Chronicles pdf, Paperback, Hardcover Book Information
- Publisher : Anchor; Reprint edition (January 29, 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 528 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0307742105
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307742100
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.2 x 1.1 x 8.02 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #96,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,338 in Romantic Fantasy (Books)
- #5,816 in Paranormal & Urban Fantasy (Books)
- #8,546 in Suspense Thrillers
- Customer Reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,893 ratings
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