The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

by:  Anne Rice
published by:  Knopf
publish date:  Feb. 14, 2012

A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer. . . an older woman, welcoming him into her magnificent, historic family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency . . . A chance encounter between two unlikely people . . . an idyllic night—shattered by horrific unimaginable violence. . .The young man inexplicably attacked—bitten—by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness . . . A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing who—what—he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.

I was so disappointed in this book that I got about three-quarters of the way through it and I realized I didn't care how it ended.  I didn't bother with finishing it.  There was no redeeming this book in my opinion.

The first thing I didn't like about it was the main character, Reuben.  I hated all the dumb names everyone called him, Little Boy, Baby Boy, Sunshine Boy.  Who calls a grown man names like that?  Plus, I couldn't stand the name he gave himself...The Man Wolf.  Seriously?  That's the best we could come up with?  I understand that a lot of the werewolf names are probably under some kind of trademark or copyright protection, but it just came off as such a lame effort.

The second thing that kept irritating me was the dialog.  It was so unrealistic.  People just don't talk to each other the way the was the characters in this book did.

Third issue I had was the "romance".  Reuben HAS a girlfriend in the beginning of the book.  First he has an affair, but that's ok, because she's completely understanding and she nurses him back to health.  Then, in wolf form he comes across his next woman in her secluded house and without so much as a howdy do they have a little wolfy nookie.  Quicker than you can flip the page they're in love. Of course, because it happens that way all the time.   What the hell happened to the first girlfriend??

There's more, but it starts getting into religion and heavier topics like that and I think I've worn out my rant.


I stopped reading about 2 chapters in.  It was just too dull.  I gave up way before Autumn. I have pretty much had the same issue with Anne Rice's books since she wrote The Violin.  Boring.  I miss her vampires!