Night of the Wolf [Mass Market Paperback]

In this, the second book in Alice Borchardt's Silver Wolf series, we find the author taking us further back in time. The first half of the book is about Maeniel, the mysterious bridegroom from The Silver Wolf. The book takes us back to his origins and the time of Julius Cesar. We learn how he became a shape shifter and watch as he struggles to understand and learn the ways of men.

The second half of the book focuses on Lucius, a wealthy Roman citizen, and Dryas, a Caledoni queen with a desire for the death of Julius Cesar. While I enjoyed both halves of the book, there seemed to be almost two complete, or rather incomplete, stories taking place. I was able to follow the plot, but at times was left wondering why I was doing so. Still, I found the second half of the book entertaining and I particularly liked the character Philo. Philo seemed to be what Mir and Blaze (the last druid priests of Gaul) should have been.

Aside from the fact that the book was supposed to be about him, there seemed to be little point of Maeniel being in the second part of the story. He was given a bit of a role at the end, as if to justify his continued existence, but was mostly left hanging out with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

The ending to me seemed weak and a bit muddled. I often find this in books though. (Attention authors: If you are going to take several hundred pages to set up the ending, please feel free to take more than a page to actually end the book.) I think part of the problem was that it did not seem like a good place to end. Many of us passed either History or English or Drama in high school and know that Julius Cesar dies. I was quite ready to continue on with Dryas's journey and see what awaited her when she reached home. I think another few chapters would have made a big difference.

The second half of the book is dominated by Rome and Dryas, and thus really not that interesting. The love story with Lucius is a total anti-climax, and Caesar, Cleo and Antony are all like cardboard cutouts. The ending is abrupt and leaves us hanging. The whole bizarre story with Calpurnia is just too silly, but it is critical to the whole plot. I like Maeniel much better when he was in love with Imona, and his relationship with Dryas is absurd.

It starts out as erotic, and by the end it becomes, gee, they had a great time. We also get tons of characters with various depravities, but little point in introducing them.

I wonder if the author became as bored with the book as I did at the end. I mean, we all know Caesar is about to be assassinated, but there would have been more suspense! The history of the period is not really brought to life, for all the gladiatorial nonsense which has been done far better elsewhere.

I adored the Silver Wolf, but she was a much more sensual character, with real depth, and Maeniel likewise gets to do far more exciting things than hunt and sniff women. Apart from being a good hunter and lover, Maeniel just dwindles to almost nothing at the end of this novel.

I hope he will improve in the Wolf King; he was certainly a lot more interesting in the Silver Wolf.

I'm glad it was a library book. I won't be trying Ms. Borchardt again.