Silver [Anglais] [Broché]

This was an interesting sort of werewolf book spent a lot of time talking about pack dynamics in the New World while exploring two damaged characters. Our male main character is Andrew Dare who is working as the enforcer for the Roanoke Pack. He had spent some time in Europe but is back home after losing his mate and going on a killing rampage to get those responsible for her death. He came back with a very bad reputation, lots of guilt, and an essential feeling of loneliness. He is in the Roanoke Pack but not really accepted by it. He is an alpha wolf who doesn't want responsibility for anyone but himself.

Andrew is sent to track down a lone wolf and finds Silver. She has been injected with silver, has lost her wolf, has hallucinations and is generally crazy. She sees a black wolf she calls Death who talks in the voices of those who have died. When Andrew finds her, he wants to find out where she belongs and wants to find out who did that to her and stop him before he does it again. Using silver as a weapon of torture is something that had been done in Europe but wasn't common in America. His pack alpha wants to get rid of Silver but has no interest in finding the person responsible. As long as he stays out of his territory, he doesn't care who caused the problem.

Andrew decides to disregard his alpha's instructions and find out what is going on. He wants to help Silver. Together they go off to the West Coast to try to find a pack that knows her.The story is told alternately from Andrew's and Silver's point of view. Getting into the mind of a woman who has been poisoned by silver was a very surreal experience. It was fascinating to see her relationship with Death and it was fascinating to see her come to terms with her horrible memories and come back to reality.

This was a story of growth and change for both main characters set in an interesting world with a new mythology. It wasn't action packed. More time was spent on each characters' internal struggles than on external actions. I recommend it for fans of werewolf stories who want a quieter, more introspective book.

Just some background. I received a advance uncorrected proof (ARC) of Silver from Amazon Vine. This is the first published novel by Rhiannon Held. After reading Silver I assume that it is the first in the world Rhiannon has built.

Here is the summary:

Andrew Dare is a werewolf. He's the enforcer for the Roanoke pack, and responsible for capturing or killing any Were intruders in Roanoke's territory. But the lone Were he's tracking doesn't smell or act like anyone he's ever encountered. And when he catches her, it doesn't get any better. She's beautiful, she's crazy, and someone has tortured her by injecting silver into her veins. She says her name is Silver, and that she's lost her wild self and can't shift any more.

The packs in North America have a live-and-let-live attitude, and try not to overlap with each other. But Silver represents a terrible threat to every Were on the continent.

Andrew and Silver will join forces to track down this menace while discovering their own power and their passion for each other.

My take on the novel:

Worldbuilding: This is a totally different take on werewolves and how a pack functions. There was a lot to get in and it is handled beautifully. Mixed into the story line there is a hint here and a hint there. It never intrudes on the story but is an interregnal part of the story line.

Backstory: There is a lot of backstory in the book. Like the worldbuilding it is dropped in without intruding. There will be hint in the middle of some dialog, a little mixed into the action and it all builds until you know the entire story. In some instances that does not happen until the end of the book. There were so many hints about past action that I did stop to see if I had started a book in the middle of the series.

Characters: Both main characters were well developed. Silver a little less than Andrew but most of that was because Andrew's background was more complex. There was not skimping on developing the side character either. Even some who were only several phone conversations had depth and substance.
Plot: Very involved. Everything was interwoven into the plot. Backstory, worldbuilding, characters were all interrogated into the story line. Everything moved along seamlessly without the awkward sections you sometimes find in books.

Writing: With everything else I have mention you have to know the book is very well written. Rhiannon has her own unique voice and it comes across in Silver.

Tor will release Silver by Rhiannon Held in June of 2012.

I saw this book through the Amazon Vine program and thought it sounded really interesting. It had the hint of a romance, werewolves and a fantasy feel to it so I thought it would be a book I could enjoy.

When I received Silver, I was not sure if this book fit into the adult or young adult category and could not find out that information online. After reading it though, I would put it in the adult category. As for the genre, it could fit into a couple of them. It has elements of an urban fantasy, a paranormal romance and a fantasy novel, yet I don't think it could be classified as just one of those. It does switch point of views between Silver and Andrew, but the transitions were sometimes rough and did not flow well into the overall story. It also has the werewolves which could be in fantasy or paranormal and there was romance, but it definitely took the back seat like it would with an urban fantasy novel.

As for the characters, I did not feel any connection with them. There was no depth to them or their feelings and they felt like strangers to me. I also did not feel like I had to know any more about them as the story progressed. I wanted more emotions from Silver and Andrew and to know more about their backstory. We get a little of that later in the book, but it is not for a good hundred and fifty pages in and by that point it was too little too late for me.

I actually put this book down a couple of times and almost did not finish it because I was bored. There was not much going on except the hunt to find who tortured Silver and that was not enough to keep my attention. I pushed through because I was hoping it would pick up, but it never did. I had high hopes for this book and it just did not deliver. It also did not help that I felt left out of many of the stories the characters talked about. There were too many side plots that we came into the middle of and I did not like feeling lost. I know that we needed time for Andrew and Silver's pasts to be revealed to us, but there were other references in there that I did not understand because they happened off the page and I wish we could have explored those more. It might have helped me to connect with the characters.

There were a couple of things I did like about the book. The mythology for one thing. I liked how the werewolves shifted in this book and the idea of "Death" being a character as well as "The Lady". They were both very interesting phenomena and I enjoyed learning more about them. Death is interacting with Silver throughout the novel and his story was very interesting. You could never quite tell what he was going to do and whether or not he was leading Silver into a trap or just looking out for her. He tortures her with voices of people who have died and that was heartbreaking to watch her try deal with. Especially since some of the voices were her family that had been killed and they were trying to convince her to join them in death. Death was sneaky and oddly enough he was my favorite character in the book. I know, he tortures our heroine and while that was brutal to watch, he had a unique voice and stood out in this book.

Overall, this story was just not for me. It had all the elements I usually enjoy in a book, but the lack of connection left me feeling cold. I had no desire to see what happened to the characters next and that is never a good sign. I am not sure if this is going to be a series or not, but I know I will probably not pick up the next book if there is one. I would check out a couple of other reviews of this book and maybe read a couple of chapters before you decide if you want to read it.