Nadya: The Wolf Chronicles (Wolf Chronicles)

Rating:
Summary: A WELL-TOLD TALE
Review: I echo the sentiments of those reviewers who enjoyed reading this book. We see Nadya, living in a world of fear, loathing and intolerance for what is deemed unseemly and inexplicable, learning to live and thrive, both as a Woman and as a Wolf. In the process, she finds acceptance in a new life she is able to establish for herself out on the frontier.

The author provides vivid descriptions of the experiences Nadya faced in making the trek westward in the 1840s. You feel yourself being carried across an arid landscape on a rickety wagon and on through the snowy Rockies (facing all kinds of hazards and overcoming them) with Nadya, Elizabeth, and Jenny.

One touching scene in the book is when Nadya as a Wolf (having been spurned earlier in the day by Elizabeth, who has never felt right about her romantic attachment to Nadya) allows herself to be mated with a male Wolf. In that moment, you experience Nadya's joy at that moment of orgasmic release as she howls ecstatically to the skies.

For those readers seeking a werewolf novel full of gore and gratuitous violence, you won't find it here. But if you want to read a well-told tale about the life and experiences of a female werewolf in 19th century America, you've come to the right place.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: I read this novel awhile back and I still think about it today. I loved what the story was about and loved it from beginning to end. I think this is a good book to read for people who like to read about wolves, self-discovery, love, Native Americans, and finding a place to belong.

Rating:
Summary: lovely!
Review: Nadya is a wonderful book. It is the story of a young woman who happens to be a werewolf looking for love and herself. She explores animal/human and woman/man binaries. She approaches love openly, without defining herself as any sexuality. The book is full of wonderful imagery and strong characters such as Dmitri's school-teacher in Russia, to the young, wild girl Jenny, to the Indian chief and the settlers in the home Nadya finally finds. I would recomend this book to ages 14 and up for anyone struggling with who they are and what others would like them to be.

Rating:
Summary: I Just Wanna Be Me
Review: Okay. I won't mince words. This story made me cry. Pat Murphy is a master of character development. She could make you sympathize with an axe murderer. Much more so someone who is merely different, wanting only to be herself, to help others, to fit in, and to live in peace. Nadya is the story of a young wolf-woman, born of parents just like her. They are normal people who, when the full moon rises, Change and spend the dark hours romping and playing in the woods and fields. But many fear the wolf. And what they fear they hate. And what they hate they kill. Nadya hopes otherwise, but when her hope costs her family their lives, her fear and loneliness take her on an adventure across 1830's America.

This is not a young person's story. It's filled with sex and violence, love and hate, and reality.

Pat Murphy eases us into the story. We sympathize with these people as people first. They are wolves only as an afterthought. It's a technique I have seen Ms. Murphy use elsewhere as well. The effect is dazzling. By the end of the story, you identify so strongly with Nadya, your every reaction hangs on her fate.

I do have a few bones to pick. Various descriptions and experineces become redundant. The Change, for example. The first time it was described in detail, I found the description fascinating. By half through, I groaned through the process. By the end, I knew the ritual so well I felt like I could Change myself, and even the two or three short sentences used to describe it then were too much. The sex scenes followed a similar pattern. Nadya's first sexual experience, described in vibrant detail, kept me on the edge of my seat, because of the surrounding circumstances. Her second was more information than I needed to know. The third was boring. By the tenth or twentieth--I lost count--I just felt like wretching. Really, I didn't need that much detail.

My biggest gripe is that there's no epilogue. Yes, there's something at the end called "Epilogue," but that's not what I mean. I mean there's no ending to the story. After the climax and resolution of the story, it cuts off. Not even an "And they lived happily ever after." No closure.

But don't let any of these stop you from reading this book. Go out and beg, borrow, or steal a copy. It'll be worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Must read to the end!
Review: The beginning of this novel is "soft," but well worth reading all the way through. I think the problem with the first fifty pages is it's hard to connect with the characters, but after that point, the problem was being able to disconnect from them. They are engaging and believable--and the story is a howl (not of laughter)...

Nadya is a young woman in the American mid-west 150 years ago. She is werewolf: one night during the full moon she changes into a wolf and lives wild for that night. She is isolated from her society, but not her family, and because of this, she is able to become who she really is in a trek that takes her to the west coast and a new life there.

Rating:
Summary: Must read to the end!
Review: The summery from the back and first page gave me a totally different idea of what the book was all about. All it is is a book about a homo-sexual female that turns into a wolf every now and then. I would not recommend this book to any of my friends.

Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly boring werewolf story
Review: This novel is a chronicle of a rather dull werewolf family. At the beginning of the book, we learn that Nadya's parents are good, honest, hard-working folk, who just happen to be werewolves. Despite the fact that Nadya's mother had been a prostitute before her marriage, neither parent has much depth to them. When Nadya comes of age then she, too, starts turning into a wolf, and discovers her sexuality. Frankly, I found it difficult to believe that any teenage girl could have such wisdom and insight of her body that she could behave so confidently at her first sexual encounter. Later, Nadya finds love with a woman out on the trail westward. Still later, when that relationship ends, she finally finds her lifelong mate, a man this time. Some writers portray bisexuality as a sign of great maturity, but I have my doubts. The female bisexual werewolf may be a new trend. This is the second one I have read about in the past year. Nadya, like her parents, doesn't seem to have a whole lot of depth. The most interesting thing about the novel was the description of Nadya's trip west, which takes up the central part of the book. Many of the hardships that Nadya and her companions face were endured by all who travelled across the American West. The wicked characters they encounter are all pretty shallow and stereotypical.