Reviews

The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt

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prairiewolf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

stayathomejess's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was very confusing.

ericaroseeberhart's review against another edition

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4.0

This book proves that just because two sisters are authors writing fantasy, it doesn't mean they're the same in terms of how they write. I have read Anne Rice since I was a pre-teen and I've heard that her sister published books about werewolves but never pursued them. Over the years, I've heard more comments about her books in comparison to her sister's. Particularly after Anne Rice published work concerning werewolves. "Her sister wrote them better," was the general comment. It made me curious and during autumn I felt a real desire to read decent werewolf fiction so I finally took the plunge and ordered this book.

Despite that it's taken me well over a month to read (I think I started reading this at the beginning of November but I just never updated my Goodreads until December), I really enjoyed the book. The first half of the story was a bit lengthy and could have been shortened, but overall, I really loved the plot. I loved the characters, they were all quite alive and easy to perceive, and I just completely became enamored with the second half of the story.

Like her sister, Borchardt seems to have a preference for days gone by and detailed descriptors. The sheer information about fabrics and tastes of foods were very similar to Rice, as was the setting of Ancient Rome and dripping historical quality. But I found Borchardt different in that her characters had a lot of humor. They were sarcastic and funny, they had their strengths and weaknesses, and I honestly am sad to leave some of them behind.

How glad I was to see that the stories continue, but I have such a huge pile of TBR, I can't fathom grabbing the next book quite yet.

Also, Borchardt had a great strength in writing despicable characters. Characters that you learn to hate or feel anger toward with just the mere mention of their name. It's one thing to say, "This one character is an awful person" and another to actually feel an emotional reaction toward reading about a character.

All in all, I see what the praise was for and I do agree that she's quite skilled at writing about werewolves. They're unique and her detail of being a wolf is beautiful.

bmg20's review against another edition

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5.0

The Storyline
Regeane is a half-Saxon and half-Frankish woman without a father; her mother, Gisela is the cause of his death. After Gisela discovers that Woflstan, Regeane’s father, is a shape shifter and is able to take the form of a wolf she is convinced by her brother Gundabald that he must be the devils child and must be killed. Gisela is thankful that her daughter doesn’t appear to have any of the traits of her father; however, when she gets older she gains the ability to change into a wolf as well. Regeane had an extremely hard life as her mother attempted to ‘fix her’ and forces her to drink concoctions, pray for hours on end, and to swear that she would never change into the wolf. Nothing works.

When Gisela dies, Regeane is left in the care of Gundabald and his son Hugo who treat her horribly by keeping her locked in her room, feeding her scraps, and barely passable clothing. Gundabald informs her one day that she is to be wed to a wealthy mountain lord named Maeniel. Scared for her life she runs away from Gundabald and seeks solace in the care of Lucilla, the Pope’s mistress. Lucilla learns of her secret and promises to keep her as safe as possible from having her future-husband discover it as well. As Regeane says regarding Maeniel:

”I don’t plan to love him. I plan to survive him.”

The Characters
The characters were positively vibrant. Regeane was the epitome of strength and smart beyond her years. My favorite though? Maeniel. He has his own secrets just as Regeane and you can’t help but be entranced by him as well. Read it, you’ll see exactly what I mean. :) Regeane and Maeniel didn’t meet until close to the end of the book, but the passion and love that developed between the two was well worth the wait.

Just a Note
I feel the need to write a word of warning for this novel. Many of you who have briefly scanned over the summary of this novel and said, “Oooh! Werewolves!” Stop and listen before you read this, end up severely disappointed and end up rating it all kinds of awful. This is what I like to call a ‘big girl book’. You will not find any melodrama here nor any love triangles. The main character may be a teen girl; however, you will not find any typical YA storylines here. I think a lot of people have the wrong expectations when going into this book. This is like, werewolves being thrown into a Game of Thrones or Mists of Avalon type storyline. Very mature writing, very mature situations, just with a teen girl that turns into a wolf.

This book has been on my bookshelf for YEARS. Being a huge fan of Anne Rice I had always wanted to read her sisters writing as well. Yep, Alice Borchardt is the sister of Anne Rice. But as far as my first experience with Alice Borchardt’s writing? I was not disappointed in the least. This was truly a book to be savored rather than gulped down, so don’t let the fact that it took me forever to read it discourage you.

This was a very detailed and intricate story that was beautiful in its intensity. Alice Borchardt was an extremely talented writer and it’s a shame that she isn’t around to continue creating beautiful stories. I finished this book with a smile on my face and will most definitely be reading more from her soon.

My Favorite Quote
"Love is eternal. That is its terror and its final beauty. Love never ends. The joy may go out of it, and, in time, even the pain may end. But it lingers like a living thing and follows you every moment of your life."

nordic_deathstar's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellent

I lost sleep reading this book. It has the richness of a great novel while being easy to read at the same time.

marlyons's review against another edition

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3.0

Okay this book was slow in the beginning. I blame it on the fact that although it was partly fiction it was also about the fall of the roman empire so it had a lot of facts and events packed into it. Which probably slowed it down some.

I like the story though Regaene was a strong girl and had to endure a lot. Evidently this book was set in a time when women weren't treated the best and if you did anything unnatural, like change into a wolf, was considered unholy.

But the story gets more intriguing as Regaene is set to marry a barbarian lord. Women at this time are often treated badly be their husbands and are used as property. Regaene is fearful of what the lord can do and find out about her, but all that changes once she meets him.

I gave it a 3 but it should be a 3.5.