Rating: 
Summary: Rambling Alice
Review: I found the book interesting..but weak in content. I can't compare Alice to Ann (whom I've never read) so have an unbiased outlook. I enjoyed most of the historical material; but didn't appreciate how they were all put together. The thing I found most disturbing was the page stretching...there was so much rambling I'm afraid I had to skip a lot of it from boredom. Sometimes I even had to reread a page to figure out where the subjects were. I'm sorry...I loved the idea and the subject matter, but this was not the enjoyable read I had hoped for.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful
Review: The Silver Wolf is the most fabulous book I have ever read. I didn't want it to end. As soon as I was finished I had to run out and bye the sequel, Night of the Wolf. I can't wait for Alice Borchardt to continue the story of Regene and Maeniel in another book. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves magic, adventure, politics, romance and suspense. I will read this book again and again. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: At the time I read this novel, I was completely unaware that she was Anne Rice's sister. Thankfully so. Where Anne Rice's novel seem to slowly devolved in strength, imagery and plot, The Silver Wolf did not. Admittedly, there was the sensation of plunging halfway into a Harlequin Romance. However, the strength of the heroine was worth while. Even though the vision of history the book presents is skewed and at times less than accurate, the presentation causes that vision to be of an alternate world. I reccomend the book highly, over Anne Rice's later works.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely could not put this one down. . .
Review: When I finished reading Anne Rice's Pandora, I noticed that there was an ad in the back for The Silver Wolf. I was a little surprised, since rarely does Rice/Rice's publisher plug any books but her own in the back/front/etc. I was intrigued, and when I next went shopping, I bought a copy. The mystery was solved when I saw the author's photo -- with her sister, Anne Rice. I think Alice Borchardt relied too heavily on her more-famous sibling for book promotions. She needn't have -- it speaks for itself. I am not the type to pick up books by authors whom I have never heard of before, but I did, and my decision had nothing to do with Rice and everything to do with an intriguing character and plot. Borchardt brings an obscure age to life, and while the book is filled with violence (well, it is the Dark Ages), it also has humor and pathos. The mystery of Regeane and her kind is very engrossing, and a refreshing change from B-rated movie-type portrayals of wolves and werewolves. Overall, I was absolutely enchanted, and I cannot wait for the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: ZERO STARS!!
Review: It's a shame that you can't pick zero stars from the menu -- one was the lowest I could give. This book was terrible -- the plot was weak, the history shoddily researched, and the characters were cardboard and completely unappealing. Even the author's attempt at homo-erotica in the book fell flat -- apparently she was trying to cash in on her sister's writing style. Not a very good book -- and it's a little sleazy to have Anne Rice give a wonderful review of the book (she's the author's sister!) -- apparently Anne never actually read Silver Wolf. Just terrible!!
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: A tour-de-force. What a talent. Why haven't I discovered this author before? A skillful writer with an intriguing tale. I've never before read a novel from Charlemagne's time (A.D. 800s)--shown as a depressing world of constant urban strife with no peace in the emptied countryside. This is a convincing tale of desperate changlings (Roma mater?) told as from the inside. A remarkably gritty tale with intensely palpable scenes and emotions, a cross between a Roman orgy and cynical Medieval piety. I didn't feel it was a "fantasy" novel but realistic, sensual but not erotic. Remarkably, the word "werewolf" is never used, and its absence makes the story so much better, less trite, more empathetic. Strangely, the next book in this new "series" will be set a thousand years earlier.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book!
Review: I really liked this book. Since everyone seems to be comparing her with her sister, I would like to say that having read both authors, I like Borchardt better. Anne Rice is to long winded. If I wanted a history lesson, I would buy a history book. This book is a good read. I thought that there should have been more interaction between Regeane and Maniel, and was really disapointed that there wasn't. I like the fact that Regeane never hated the wolf part of her, just accepted it. This author stands on her own.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Alice Borchardt!
Review: I have read all 3 of Alice Borchardt's books and found them to be refreshing. I really enjoy her writing style. I am a big fan of Anne McCaffery, Marion Zimmer Bradley. I read mostly fantasy and sci-fi and I find Ms. Borchardt's books ones I wish to revisit. I can't wait for the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent blend of history and fantasy
Review: I loved the blend of accurate historical information and fantasy. I could not put the book down. It flowed well, kept me interested, and was good all the way through. Very good character development, very good intrigue, and a great story line. If you read her sister's (Anne Rice) novel, Pandora, and enjoyed it, you will like The Silver Wolf. It has a similar blend of history and fantasy - yet in a style all her own and intriguing. I can't wait for her second novel in this series.
Rating:
Summary: A Caged Princess
Review: The Silver Wolf tells the story of Regeane, a pale and beautiful woman by day and a delicate silver wolf by night, of her odyssey seeking self-recognition and true love. Regeane¡¦s late mother was a distant kin to Charleman the Great, by then only one of many feudal lords rising to power, but had unrivaled potential. Her father was another man-wolf, rich and powerful but had fallen prey to human¡¦s evil conspiracy. Her uncle, Gundabald, a wicked and mean scum, had used her mother as a pawn of splendid future, and had killed her father with a crossbow bolt directly through his heart. At the beginning of the story, Gundabald, being Regeane¡¦s only relative alive, had arranged a political marriage for her in order to gain court favor, and the bridegroom-to-be was the barbarian lord Maeniel, who had occupied a mountain fortress overlooking the pass of Alps. Because of Maeniel¡¦s future usefulness in conquering Rome, Regeane¡¦s marriage had become extremely important for both the Roman pope, Hadrian, who had been suffering from neighboring kingdom of Lombard and had hoped to gain aid from Charleman, and herself.Being Anne Rice¡¦s elder sister, author Alice Borchardt wrote with poetic delicacy and stunning beauty. The story unfolded with fast pace but lacked in Anne¡¦s detailed descriptions at the same time. Some sentences were among the most beautiful I had ever seen. Alice wrote about a water pool in the evening as ¡§The reflecting pool was beginning to fill with stars,¡¨ and rising moonlight as ¡§Soon, very soon, its journey across the sky would bring it to her window where it would throw a pool of silver light on the floor.¡¨ Since this was a story both historical and supernatural, there were fantastic elements such as a woman shifting into the shape of a wolf, walking into the land of the dead and meeting the ghost of her lost father, and sharing the Spring of Youth in the garden of eternity with Daedalus, the famous Greek architect, as well as historical events, such as Julius Caesar¡¦s life and death, the origin of ides of March, and Roman poets¡¦ works. Alice mixed fantasy with history in a never-seen-before style, using fantastic aspects to explain historical figures and adding mysterious flavor with bits of ancient mythology. Readers familiar with Western legends and folklore would find delightful surprises, like the Authurian Romance and Greek mythology, constantly during their process of page-turning. Under the disguise of Dark Ages history and wild imagination, The Silver Wolf was actually a novel of feminism, of feminine self-awareness. Regeane was a typical woman who had lived under men¡¦s threats, and to strike a balance between her humanity and the wolf¡¦s wild nature, she must struggle for her own freedom and happiness. The author¡¦s feminism intention was obvious, since the beginning most characters were female and kind, good in nature, and most male were symbols of violence and lust. Regeane received help from Lucilla, the pope¡¦s courtesan and a very powerful woman in Rome, Elfgifa, a Saxon little girl of a brave and intelligent heart, among the others. On the contrary, Gundabald and his son Hugo were bad to the bone, two helpless scums, knowing nothing but sleeping with low-price prostitutes and eating. There were some exceptions, though, Antonius, Lucilla¡¦s bastard son, was a benevolent young man stricken by leper, though still kept a good heart. Maeniel, the barbarian lord, was actually an immortal wolf-man, and all his followers had the same shapeshifting ability just as Regeane. I had expected Regeane in The Silver Wolf to be independent, brave and graceful, and in the end found her salvation and freedom. And when reading through the story, seeing Alice mocking the traditional value system built by men (¡§I can¡¦t think why God created them. I suppose for the same reason he created mosquitos, and fleas.¡¨ 231), and at the same time praise the female¡¦s greatness, (¡§The female is respected. She gives life, she is life. Her body is a temple.¡¨ 359) I had been glad to find a woman¡¦s awakening and independence. But in the end, the story still fell into the typical prince-and-princess-live-happily-ever-after archetype, with Regeane being accused witch, Lucilla being tortured almost to death, and Hadrian and Antonius having no power to save her. The male (Maeniel) still played the role of ultimate hero and savior. He fought as Regeane¡¦s champion and defeated the challenger, and together they lived happily ever after. The ending really disappoint me, since I had had enough prince and princess fairy tale, I had wanted some real characters. Regeane was a successfully built character, but the author failed her job in the end. Over all, The Silver Wolf was an easy-to-read, light and interesting book. Alice masterfully mixed historical facts, mythology, fantastic elements and humor, in the end creating a believable and unique story, although we can see images from other famous works, such as Jack London¡¦s The Call of the Wild, and traditional supernatural stories like vampire and werewolf. As a popular novel, The Silver Wolf shined with silver glow. But as a true literary work or a feminism story, it had a long way to go.
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