Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1860300 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 380 pages

Customer Reviews

I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!
The story begins with a headstrong girl on her prom night and how that night goes horribly wrong...oh, it's not a werewolf attack, but something terrible that plays a key part in her life for years to come and the thing that motivates her enough to want to change, to want to be someone else, to want 'The Gift'. This story follows Shara from that point through the next several years as she deals with being a werewolf and deals with life.

Shara is a passionate story, one that takes you into the mind of a troubled woman and keys the reader in on the instincts of a wolf. To me Shara was far more than a werewolf novel. The characters came to life in a way that drew me in and made me care. As a reader I felt excited about her abilities and horrified by what they represented. In Steven Wedel's book, being a werewolf is far more than becoming a mindless monster who is bloodthirsty for human flesh. It's a combination of two forces, a civiliized human side and a wild animal side and they are usually at war with one another...neither being in comlete control. In human form the wolf is always pulling and wanting to come out, while in wolf form she is still capable of logical thought, but driven by her natural desires for the hunt. There were several twists as I followed Shara along on the path of her life, from shy girl to outgoing woman. The pace of the story, the way Steven Wedel brought Shara into each phase of her life, kept me reading so that I finished this book several days before I thought I would. I just couldn't put it down. I imagine that this one will get several more reads out of me.

Characters are unmemorable
The back of the book gives a detailed plot summary that is so specific you go into the book already knowing the outcome. Having read the book, I would add that if I hadn't already known the outcome, I might not have finished it. Shara's life is one traumatic experience after another up to and after she accepts "the Gift" of becoming a werewolf.

Page one opens where the last chapter ends, so even if you skip the book summary at the back of the book, you know what's going to happen before you read the story.

The setting takes place over the course of Shara's life from age 16 through adulthood, beginning with Shara's senior prom and following her through two marriages. The book is well written and fast-paced enough to keep the pages turning, but I found some of the character motivations a bit unbelievable (i.e. Shara's mother urging her to let her boyfriend sample the milk to keep him happy), but even more unrealistic was Shara's expectation that her first husband would still accept the litter of wolf pups born of a fling with a wolf because they are "half hers". You would think after all she has been through up to that point, she would not be so naive.

I found the setting shifts a bit jarring. After the conclusion of Shara's senior prom, she is suddenly in college, and so forth. I realize the author did this in order to fast-forward the story along, but skipping long chunks of Shara's life in between each subsequent "traumatic experience" she suffers made her hard to empathize with. The reader only gets to see Shara in various stages of emotional distress, which doesn't make her a very well-rounded character. I found myself unsympathetic to her near the end, and at times even unlikable, such as when she re-visits her parents house and murders her mother's small dog for apparently no reason other than to scare them by proving that she is "a werewolf". Her casual acceptable of her second husband's gruesome (and apparently remorseless) tale about a brutal act committed in his past were hard to swallow. I would think a woman who suffered as much as Shara has would have at the very least questioned this story, but instead she blithely accepts is as proof that they have both experienced the hunter's instinct.

As a fan of werewolf novels, I think this is better than many I've read. However, the one-dimensional view of Shara as a "victim" prevents it from being a must-read. When all is said and done, you don't walk away from the book truly caring about the characters, which is what makes a book great.

Traditional. Predictable. Boring.
When I first picked up Shara I was excited about finding a new werewolf author with a series to delve into. The introduction stated that the author had re-done the book and fixed several plot points, etc, etc. My expectations weren't too high as the premise of the book didn't seem out of the ordinary for a book of supernatural essence, but I was still disappointed by the storyline, characters and even the plot.

I have to soundly disagree with the reviewer below that Shara is an 'out of the box' werewolf book. In realizing that Shara is part of an ongoing saga, I found myself reading the excerpt from the next book (about one of the book's supporting characters, Ulrik, Shara's 'maker') and finding that it was as predictable as Shara.

Shara, as the character, had little time for development. She was constantly moving and so was the plot.. to the point where I'd have to scoot back a few pages and think to myself, 'what just happened here?'. While some people have claimed that this book 'stands alone' and is original in it's content, I'd also have to whole-heartedly disagree. Chock-full of Werewolf cliches and typical behavior, I found lines such as , "Beef, it's what's for dinner," to be rather unbecoming of a book that I had originally found promise in. Werewolf shift cycles tied to a woman's menstrual cycles, causing an insatiable urge to 'mate' is also another one of those more 'annoying' traits I've found in various Werewolf novels. It seemed a poor excuse to insert seedy, mock-passionate sex scenes into a plot that could have used more bulk and base.

We hardly get to know Shara on an emotional level, or any other character for that matter and I can't say that I was in any way empathic toward her emotions and/or feelings. She was annoying, childish, presumptuous and, well, she was a 'brat' from the beginning. While the authors intentions may have leaned toward Shara building up to a 'strong woman' archetype, I hardly found her to be anything but weak and nothing like what the proverbial hero of the story should be. I was rather annoyed with her by the end, along with the skipping-months-to-years plot. It took me a couple of weeks to get through it as opposed to the couple of days it usually takes me for a book this size.

I wont be continuing the series. While it may sate the needs of other more traditional Werewolf fans, it was less than compelling for my tastes. Hopefully, for those who stick with the saga, the books are progressively better after this 'breakthrough' book. Best of luck!