Wilderness: Wilderness

by Dennis Danvers

Book Overview

Danvers does for werewolves . . . what Anne Rice did for vampires.--Locus. When beautiful, intelligent Alice White falls in love, she decides to tell Erik the dark secret that, until now, has forced her to live a lonely, loveless life. A riveting debut.--Publishers Weekly.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671728288
• ISBN13: 9780671728281
• Release Date: June 1992
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A tale of trust, acceptance, and forgiveness. And werewolves.

Wilderness, originally published in 1991, has recently been rereleased. I presume it's because tales of lycanthropy are all the rage at the moment. Wilderness is an excellent novel and I'm thrilled that it will get the chance to reach new readers -- myself included, as I hadn't heard of it until the new edition popped up on shelves -- and at the same time, I hope it will find its way to readers who will appreciate it for what it is rather than wishing it were something else. I worry that the new cover art will lead readers to expect a novel more in line with the books of Laurell K. Hamilton. If you're looking for the latest lycanthropic smut-and-gore fest, Wilderness is not it. So what is it? It's a love story, but it's not a "romance novel" and doesn't adhere to all of the conventions of that genre. It's a werewolf story, but it's not horror. It's deeply romantic and intensely psychological. I want to call it contemplative, but that might give the impression that it's long and slow-paced, and Wilderness is neither. When trying to think of another novel to compare it to, the closest I could think of was another 1991 release, Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb's Cloven Hooves. While Wilderness is less melancholy than Cloven Hooves, both novels explore the idea of the "wild," authentic self vs. the "tame," conventional self. And both writers share a talent for describing the beauties of nature. We meet Alice White, a 32-year-old woman who happens to be a werewolf. She has been a loner since adolescence, afraid to reveal her true self to anyone and afraid of hurting people during her monthly transformations. I loved her instantly, especially in her approach to college education; she wishes she could follow her passions, take whatever classes she wants whenever she wants to take them, rather than conforming to a set schedule or sequence. Meanwhile, she does tons of reading in mythology and folklore on her own, without anyone ever awarding her a degree in it. Boy, how I could relate to that... Her love interest is Erik Summers, a biology professor in the thick of a messy divorce. She's not used to getting attached to people, and he's still not quite over his ex, which is why it surprises them both when they rapidly develop a deep bond. These early stages of the relationship move at a quick pace. There's even a literary version of the "Falling in Love Montage" that you might recognize from movies. This might seem a little rushed to some readers, but it works. It helps move the story quickly toward the real meat of the book, the real test of Alice and Erik's love. She decides to tell him about her lycanthropy. Danvers makes us sympathize with both characters here. We feel for Alice, who wants to be believed and accepted. It's easy for us to condemn Erik. We're reading the book, after all, and we know Alice is really a werewolf. But how would we react if we were in his position, rather than looking in from outside? (If it were me, and Alice showed me her full

Delightfully Lupine Love Story--Read It!

This is a most amazing book, beginning with the premise that Alice White, a beautiful and talented young lady, turns into a wolf once a month like clockwork. Naturally this complicates her life and forces her into a lonely existence of superficial relationships. That is, until she meets Erik, her college course advisor, and against her better judgment, falls deeply in love with him. He is the first man she has ever loved, but what will he say when she tells him the lycanthropic truth? This is a love story that really gets complicated. And Erik's ex-wife Debra is trying to win him back. And her psychiatrist, who secretly lusts for her, is making things even more difficult. Well, this was a book I could not put down. It is well written, wise and insightful. Danvers makes the strange premise of the book somehow believable. You begin to wonder--well, what if? After all, don't we all have an animal nature, a dark side that we scarcely know? The only part of the book I found hard to believe was the unprofessional behavior of the psychiatrist.So, run out to the woods and howl--no, no--buy this book and read it, nooooooow!

Classy werewolf novel

Vampires tend to take centre stage in the majority of horror novels I see on my library and bookstore shelves these days,while novels about lycanthropes tend to trail a long way behind in both quality and quantity.I suspect it is all down to sensuality and sex, with vampires being inherently more erotic than werewolves whose destruction of their prey tends to be coarse and unrefined compared to the vampire's seductiveness and refined elegance."Wildernes"is that rarity-a tale of werewolves that is cool in tone and saturated with a delicate sensuality that is quite erotic--Anne Rice without the super saturated langauage she mistakenly feels is classy.It is in essence a romantic and languidly elegant love story whose heroine,"Alice White"is a werewolf who in her childhood tore out the throat of a would be rapist.Now an adult she works in a travel agency,takes courses at the local University and manages to maintain her emotional distance from the world while enjoying an active sex life.She keeps her transformations into werewolfdom a secret by a self-imposed solitude at key times.She then meets and falls in love with "Erik Summers"a biologist from the University and confides in him.Understandably he is sceptical ,thinking her in need of therapy.Alice leaves him and vanishes into the wilderness where he pursues herThe wilderness of the title is not simply the wilds of nature but also a reference to the untamed and hostile areas of the human mind and soul When love is involved ,and only when love is involved, can science and the forces which science cannot explain come to live together.This seems to be the message to this complelling book .It is a work low in gore and viscerality and its tone is cerebral and detached avoiding the usual genre clichesEnjoyable and worth the time of anyone who likes the quiet horror of such as Grant and Wright

Reads like vintage Koontz - and probably is.

Given Dean Koontz's penchant for pseudonymous writing, I'd be surprised if he didn't pen this wonderful, weird little love story. It reads like him, at his peak.Alice White has this little problem - she's a werewolf. Nobody believes her, despite the fact that a man she was alone with several years back during a full moon was killed by some unidentified kind of dog. Even her psychiatrist thinks she's merely projecting a fantasy.Now, Alice is ready to give up her lonely life of one-night stands, having met her great love in college instructor Erik Summers. She wants to tell him - but how? Complicating matters are the fact that Alice's psychiatrist has a secret hankering for her, and Erik's ex-wife wants him back. Alice learns self-hypnosis to control her transformations for Erik's sake, but with all the various little love triangles afoot, it isn't too long before raging hormones start taking over, and......oh, I'm sorry, I'm sure you'd rather take the ride, yourself. It's well worth it. This is the sort of story Anne Rice often attempts and rarely quite succeeds at.Bon appetit.

A Book to be read over and over

This is a book about an ordinary situation with extraordinary quirks. Alice White is a werewolf. She seeks out someone who can help her and ends up with shrink. Of course he believes her to be delusional but, quite fascinating. Alice tries to keep everyone at arms lenth for fear of what the truth will do to them and her. Along the way, she meets and falls for a wonderful professor, Erik Summers, and hopes that he'll be the one that accepts her for all she is....Of course that is when things get complicated. This book so honestly depicts relationships that you hardly notice that one of the factors involved is the fact that Alice is a werewolf.It's really a great book. It is the ONLY book I have read 4 times and refuse to let others borrow in fear I may never get it back.