Originally reviewed on Christa's Hooked on Books 
 All other paranormal writers step aside. This is how you write a werewolf novel. Anne Rice does werewolves right. They're big, beastly, scary and most of all intimidating. It seems like we've forgotten that recently. 
 Anne Rice explores a lot of interesting concepts in her latest novel. Instead of your traditional werewolves - more beast than human - Anne Rice crafts a Man-Wolf. A creature that is both consciously human and beast at the same time. I thought this was an interesting and exciting premise and it opened up the story to some greater concepts. Such as what one would do when in the possession of so much power? How would it affect your decisions? How would you interact with others? I really enjoyed this take on the werewolf and thought it was a lot more detailed and thoughtful than I expected. 
 If the deeper concepts weren't enough, however, this book is also packed with some serious action. Anne Rice takes all those moral questions and applies them to a sort of "masked vigilante" style of character. In many ways The Wolf Gift is like Batman meets the Werewolf. I'm a huge fan of superhero fiction and the ideas and morals embedded in those stories, so I was incredibly drawn to this idea of the Man-Wolf being a defender of the people and exploring what right he had to take on this role. 
 I do have one complaint and that is the women in this book are just horrible. Particularly Rueben's love interest. I found her vapid, annoying and for the most part pretty useless. She didn't really do anything to move the plot along. In addition her actions were so irrational. Especially the way she falls in love with him in a matter of days, knowing next to nothing about him except that he's a werewolf. What finally sealed the deal on my dislike of Laura was the following lines, "He drove Laura south to get her Jeep and the bulk of her possessions which amounted to so few boxes that he was kind of amazed. Half of them were filled with flannel nightgowns." Half of her possessions are flannel nightgowns? Who is this woman? Who has that many nightgowns? It was just one of those things I couldn't get pass and I could have done without her character all together. 
 I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Wolf Gift, it was the type of werewolf novel I had been waiting for. Complaints about the female characters aside, I found it to be extremely well put together and significantly more deep than I ever thought it could be. A must read for any fan of the paranormal.