Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Night of the Wolf
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Alice Borchardt
Class/Genre: Fantasy ShapeShifter
Ballantine, Aug 1999, $25.00, 454 pp.
The Druids worry as the forces of Julius Caesar’s troops overwhelm the island. Desperate to save their heritage, Archdruid Mir sends assassin Dryas to kill Caesar. However, before departing for Rome, Dryas must murder the werewolf Maeniel who has brutalized the Celts and the Romans when his beloved Imona vanished after a battle. Maeniel searches for his missing lover who taught him to embrace his human side as much as his wolf side.
However, instead of slaying the shapechanger, Dyras becomes a partner to Maeniel. Traveling together, they journey onto the continent, heading to the Imperial City for a final confrontation with Caesar on the Ides of March.
NIGHT OF THE WOLF is an interesting dark mixing of history, Shakespeare, and fantasy into an entertaining tale. The story line is filled with action, but slows down when Dryas provides soliloquies on a woman’s right to hold any job such as soldier and assassin. References from the Bard add to the tale, yet the characters of Caesar and his wife seem stale. Maeniel makes the novel as his dual personality fight in a way that modern psychiatry would enjoy observing. That split personality ever warring with itself turns the NIGHT OF THE WOLF into a fun to read historical fantasy.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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