Rating: 
Summary: Hmm...
Review: Wolfs normally aren't my thing, and I surprised myself by picking up this book, mostly because she's Anne's sister and I wanted to know if she was as good or bad. Not surprisingly I was cringing through Regeane's first change, thinking "Oh my, how am I ever going to make it through this thing?"Like her sister, Borchardt has a love for bringing to life the surroundings in her novel, getting sometimes carried away and filling the page with very descriptive detail. So much that at points I found myself banging my head against the wall, screaming, "I don't care about how the darn wine sauce tastes or how this stupid ruin is lying in ruins, I want some story development between Regeane and Maeniel! Right from the beginning the story was set-up that Regeane was to be married to Maeniel. So right from the start you are already waiting for this to happen and the two of them to finally meet. But instead you are left with 300+ pages to read through instead, all building up to the marriage. I can't say most of it wasn't enjoyable, but you are so set-up for them finally getting together that the rest becomes annoying. In my opinion Borchardt should have based her story around Regeane living in the pass with Maeniel, partly not knowing of the families secret. In other words, taken 200 pages out of the beginning and added 200 to the end. I was left unsatisfied with all this build-up of 400+ pages and only 5 to resolve it. I also got the feeling that Borchardt was avoiding story development between the two, as if she didn't know what to do with them once she got them together. But in the end though the good outweighs the bad, and Borchardt certainly has talent. Some scenes were simply perfect, and some left me rolling on the floor laughing, such as the wedding feast. Bravo. Now if she could roll that talent into something more satisfying, Rice would have something to look out for.
Rating: 
Summary: A terrific read
Review: This is a wonderful novel, full of vivid characters and a well researched historical era. Although this is, in all respects, a werewolf novel, anyone who is expecting all-out horror as found in traditional werewolf stories, will not find this here. This is more of a historical novel, with some supernatural fantasy added. It is about a young girl who is a "shapeshifter", who by night is able to turn herself into a wolf. She is not, by nature, a killer, and uses her 'talent' to escape from the cruelty of her evil uncle and cousin. This is a novel with heart. The characters are well developed, and the story is engrossing. I am just starting the 2nd novel in this series, which goes back 800 years into the life of Maeniel, so does not pick up where this one leaves off. But I am sure it will be just as good. This is a book that should appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as fantasy/horror.
Rating: 
Summary: It's okay
Review: I acknowledge two types of writing. One is writing with value, the other is writing just for fun. While this is definantly not a wonderfully written book, i still think it's one of my favorite "trasy" novels. No, this book will never be literature. Gaping plot holes? sometimes. i think it's not so much that there are gaping plot holes as that sometimes the writing just isn't clear. However, i like the setting and the charachters. This book is pure cheese, but still a fun read if you have time to kill and don't expect too much literary value from it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Silver Wolf is a real dog
Review: I'm not going to totally trash this book only because I did finish it. I'm giving it two stars because it is something only remotely close to readable and engaging. Cold comfort, but that's the truth. It matters very little, though, because Alice Borchardt only manages to pull you through the story to frustrate you at every turn. Borchardt knows how to keep the action going and she doesn't beat you over the head with her historical research nearly as badly as some other gothic novelists are wont to do - specifically, her little sister, Anne Rice, springs to mind. But this still isn't a very good book if you read critically and have a low tolerance for gaping holes in a story. I would challenge anyone who would rave about _The Silver Wolf_ to think about the character, Silve. Silve is established as a solid secondary character (and probably the most believable of all the characters), but Borchardt simply forgot about her or just couldn't find anything for her to do for most of the book, so we lost her until the Borchardt realized that she needed her again to progress her weak plot. That's shoddy storytelling and it's only one - just one- example of it in _The Silver Wolf_. Additionally, each character in the book - primary and secondary alike - is a two-dimensional, cliched, romance novel archetype. Granted, this book is marked on the back cover to be shelved in the Romance section of the bookstore (although Borchardt is found in the Literature section at my local Borders -- how generous of them!), so maybe I expected too much. But writing is writing, as far as I'm concerned. Even a romance novel shouldn't have all the loose ends you'll find in here. I'll admit that Borchardt paints a pretty picture. I loved her descriptions of ancient Rome. But scenery doesn't get you through the long dark night of this book and she never manages to write anything even resembling seamless story to keep you company while you ride by the aqueducts. Maybe Borchardt should have collaborated with someone who could have helped her with the story - no, not Rice. Or maybe she should have gotten a better editor - again, not Rice's. If you demand more of what you read, then don't bother with this book. Oh, P.S. --- Borchardt should be chastised for her wanton overuse of one particular type of punctuation. Take a quick flip through the pages of _The Silver Wolf_. I challenge you to find ten consecutive pages without at least one ellipse on at least one page! For those who don't know, an ellipse is the dot-dot-dot (...) (usually used to indicate a pause, etc.) that a good novelist knows to use very sparingly. ...
Rating:
Summary: Good story, often clumsy writing
Review: "Captain Exposition!!!" works overtime in this historical romance/fantasy from Anne Rice's older sister, with characters endlessly rattling on about the back story and history of the characters. Honestly, I've never seen back story so ineptly handled. That Borchardt's editor let it slip past only shows how helpful it is to have a powerful relative in the publishing world. But once the establishing chapters end, the books winds up as a pretty fair piece of historical fantasy. The premise drew my attention to it in the first place: a female werewolf in eighth century Rome caught in the political struggle between the Pope, Charlemagne, and the Lombards. Borchardt writes the werewolf action and expeditions into the spirit world with flair, but often dwells on historical digressions for too long, losing the plot momentum. The story moves in fitful spurts of action and historical scene setting, and would have been a far better work at half the length.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly disappointing - AKA -- BAD BAD BAD!
Review: I love to read. I am a huge fan of supernatural fiction. I have read all of Anne Rice's novels, I have read many werewolf and vampire novels. Based on the majority of good reviews I thought I would enjoy this book. Instead I found myself loathing to open the book. I gave up many times and it took me 20 times longer than I normally take to read a book. I could care less about the main character or any other character. The story jumps all over is confusing and doesn't make any sense. The book is mainly a vehicle to write about violence and sex and isn't even very good at that. Romance what romance? Borchardt tries to cover up the bad plot, the meandering story line, and ridiculous characters with the subtext of history. The problem is the book is so out there that the history doesn't even seem realistic. These characters and their actions do not seem like ones you would expect in ancient rome.
Nothing was remotely satisfying about this book except for when I finished it. If you are remotely hesitant to pick up this book then DON'T. It is horrible. You are not missing anything if you don't read it. If you like werewolves try Kelley Armstrong, or Laurell K Hamilton.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and superbly written
Review: From the very first sentence you can see how talented this writer is.
It is not a pefect novel, since it is very crude and violent in places, and the ending is really abrupt. I would have liked to have seen the consummation of the relationship in the novel between Regeane and Maeniel, but it just sort of halted as he declared her his wife and they decided not to eat the villains because the were not THAT hungry. A lot of hidden depths in both characters suggest that she plans a series but it is not fair to cheat the reader with tantalizing glimpses and leave us flapping.
Having said that, the scary parts are harrowing, the funny parts are hilarious, and the [physical] parts are quite erotic, though unfinished. We like Regeane and the secondary characters are excellent Stephen, Lucilla, and her son, who also seems to have a lot of potential. A great if not all that typical werewolf story and now that I have discovered this author I am going to read all of her work.
Rating:
Summary: Needlessly coarse with clumsy love scenes
Review: I bought The Silver Wolf on a whim thinking that I had not yet read a good werewolf story. I still haven't. The concept is interesting enough; ancient Roman backdrop, Romulus and Remus, werewolves. I has all the components for a tightly woven, intricate story. It fails on all points. The main character is a young woman, Regeane, with lycanthropy. She is abused and held in captivity by her boorish uncle and insipid cousin. She is to be married off to a wealthy lord at which time she is to kill him so that the uncle can claim his fortune. She gains her freedom several times only to stupidly return to the uncle and endure more harsh treatment. The beating scenes are some of the most vivid and disturbing and one wonders why author Alice Borchardt seems to only be able to evoke feeling with these horrific accounts. They are the signature theme to the book: young girl (all women) are abused in an unfair world dominated by men. She finally attains some measure of freedom by falling in with an elite prostitute who is friends with Rome's Pope. One wonders how much better the story would have been if the woman had been a common prostitute with all the problems associated with it in Ancient Rome. Not a perfumed madam living in a mansion. The story is told mainly from Regeane's point of view, but the author has to slip into an omnipotent POV to show sketchy character development of the main male character. The male character is introduced early and quickly and does not show up again until the second half of the story. These switches are abrupt and force the reader out of the 'suspension of disbelief' needed for a fantasy story. The author also fails to define and bring to life an actual Villain except for the abusive uncle who, if the story were done correctly, would have been killed in the third chapter. There are several clumsy love scenes that seem to have been written by a teenager, including one out-of-place lesbian scene that is there apparently because lesbianism is chic right now. She also meets several secondary female characters that have sad life stories as well. And the reader is again clubbed over the head with the "women good, men bad" message. Along the way Regeane communes with the dead, visits the afterlife, cures leprosy, has other people's past life flash-backs, meets her own kind, and lives happily ever-after. Alice Borchardt does not define a limited magical realm, a common failing among some fantasy writers to include all manner of the fantastic simply because they are enamored with everything. She should have stuck to mostly werewolf myth. She also stops the story flow to have main characters engage in private conversations. These conversations are used to "explain" things to the young Regeane, but only serve to lay out huge expository lumps. And finally she adds hooks into Arthurian characters that add nothing to the story, but are there to set up her next book. Pretty arrogant.
Rating:
Summary: Not What I Expected...
Review: The Silver Wolf wasn't at all what I had hoped. While I give it 3-stars, that's only because it was a good read. If I had it to do over I wouldn't have read it at all. Nothing in the story really *grips* you and, though the description is wonderful. I suppose there's a plot under there somewhere, but it's never really brought to light and the whole book seems to roll along, slowly and dragging in many places, then the end isn't really worth the read. If you happen to see it at the library and have nothing better to do then I'd say pick it up for something to pass time, but I wouldn't go out and spend money on this book, it's simply not worth it.
Rating:
Summary: To be enjoyed rather than nitpicked
Review: This is a book for those who read strictly for pleasure, who can relax and allow the author to tell her story her way. Those who prefer to read critically and who consider themselves superior to those of us who are more relaxed and uncritical in our reading will find little technical details to grouse about. Alice Borchardt's werewolves have a distinct difference from those in other books. Her books portray the human personality and the wolf personality as two separate personalities in the same body, personalities who are compatable and able to communicate with each other. I liked this idea myself and felt it quite enhanced the tale. Basically, this is the story of the heroine who's being used by her uncle and cousin to make them rich by marrying a barbarian noble and then in time killing him. But this is a gal who strives to be a liberated woman even in ancient Rome, and as such goes through several adventures both as a woman and as a wolf. The details are richly painted, and the action is fairly sustained throughout. It's a romance, but not too syrupy for us guys to appreciate. There are predictable elements here, but like I say, just relax and let the author tell her story and I think you'll enjoy it. (Unless you'd rather be a nitpicker).
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