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NIGHT OF THE WOLF This is the second in the werewolf trilogy by Anne Rice's big sister. If you are a fan of Rice's books you will have a very good idea of what to expect, but if not, here is a heady cocktail of horror and history, tragedy and romance. This is Maeniel's story of his early life during the reign of Julius Caesar and many centuries before the moody wanderer meets up with Regeanne, the heroine of the first book in this trilogy, The Silver Wolf. He is a wolf who becomes a man for the love of Imona but loses her almost immediately to a Roman massacre. On the trail of the Romans he is also being trailed himself by the fearsome Amazon, Dryas, who has sworn to kill him. Their paths will lead to Caesar himself as well as to more doomed love, Merlin's mentor-to-be Blaze, druids, villainous Romans - and more besides. I found in this story that the fantasy got in the way of the history and I kept being reminded of two magnets pulling the reader in opposite ways. There are a lot of descriptions of Maeniel's running with the pack, his sexual adventures and other various magical happenings that got a bit repetitive after a while. Personally I preferred The Silver Wolf with its descriptions of a decaying Rome at the time of Charlemagne, factions pulling in all directions and more possibilities for a bit of fantasy as less is known about the Dark Ages than about Caesar's well-documented campaigns. In this sequel I felt that I wanted more history, a few likeable and well-drawn characters and less verbiage. Somehow it all came to life less convincinglythan in the previous book but if you like this sort of thing then you will find plenty of dark and dastardly goings-on, tragedy and romance. |