The Wolf of Dorian Gray

A Werewolf Spawned by the Evil of Man, Book 1

By: Brian Ference

Narrated by: Graham Jack

Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Sage Holdsworth is a gifted painter with a terrible secret. One thing Sage cannot conceal is her infatuation with the handsome and charismatic Dorian Gray. Sage creates a lifelike painting of Dorian and a small wolf pup, but there is more to the painting than meets the eye.

As Dorian unlocks his inherent darkness, a werewolf is spawned that begins killing in the streets of London. The lycanthrope turns to killing Dorian's enemies, but who is the real monster here?

Sage never imagined her passion would give birth to a vicious monster that could cost her everything.

Can Dorian and Sage save their souls, or will the beast consume them all?

"Rarely does romance and revenge intersect so pleasurably and delicately, forming a dance of passion and purpose that embraces a soul search and a confrontation between choices of salvation and sin." - Midwest Book Review

"A delectable page turner. An excellent debut by Brian Ference. Full of excitement, anticipation, and rich scenery." - Pavan ★★★★★

"It has something for everyone with action, romance, and mystery." - Rachel ★★★★★

"Ference's debut puts a twist on Oscar Wilde's classic The Portrait of Dorian Gray, adding the dimension of a wild beast. The arrangement smoothly parallels the original...Victorian gentleman Dorian remains stunningly handsome after his youthful self is captured by an exceptionally talented artist in an eerily powerful painting. However, Dorian is not alone in this portrait; also depicted is a wolf cub, and after the painting is hidden away, the wolf is the one to change. A element of intense violence is added to this version, and there are some gender swaps, but the plot of a young man led astray into lusty debauchery remains the same. Passions and betrayals abound. Ference lifts some lines from Wilde's text and adds his own gift for description: 'Flowers, bright in sapphire blue and crimson reds, sang out from every corner of the ornately decorated room.'" - Publishers Weekly

Read more at brianference.com

©2016 Brian S. Ference (P)2017 Brian S. Ference

My Two Pennies

I'm giving this story a 3.7 and bringing up to 4. The storyline moved along nicely and my interest was kept overall. We have a bit of mystery, romance and even a bit of darkness through which I enjoyed. The way Dorian started out and then seeing him progress further along the path of the murderous warewolf was written seamlessly. I found it to be a pleasant read for a paranormal story. I would like more about Sage, I've grown fond of her. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.

An Intriguing Tale Well Told

Brian is an excellent writer and deftly weaves in all the little touches necessary to ground the reader in the time period. This book is about Dorian and his descent into depravity and debauchery. It is an unflinching look at how dark one man can get and his connection to a wolf's savagery. It asks a lot of great questions about the connection between man and nature. His storytelling skills are top-notch and at times, spellbinding. He kept me listening to the end even though I disliked Dorian.

Dorian Gray

In high school, required reading was The Picture of Dorian Gray. The original book read slow to me and I wanted to try this book out because while the original was slow, the concept was a neat idea. Plus, this one promised a werewolf and for me a bit of fantasy makes life a little better....

However, the book really didn't deliver for me in a way I hoped. This book also was a slow go for me. While it was under 5 hours long, it was not a book that truly kept my attention to be able to finish it in one day. It actually spread out of many days because I would listen for an hour or so and feel mind wondering to other things.

The characters were well developed, maybe too much so. The book spent so much time on character development that by the time the story truly progressed and was getting interesting, it was over. Honestly, while this is a series, I make no plans to get the next one.

If a person really likes the original Dorian Gray book, I think this would be perfect for him/her. If If it wasn't appreciated, I don't recommend the book.

This review copy audiobook was provided by the author/narrator/publisher free of charge.

Excellent book

This was an excellent book. There were some things I really liked about it and some things that I could do without.

One negative aspect for me was the beginning, which seemed more like a romance novel. However, the energy and action in the second half of the book quickly made of for the lack of appeal in the beginning.

I enjoyed how the author vividly described the scenes, which helped me to visualize the time-period in which the story was set.

One scene that stuck out in my memory was the duel. This was a fun scene that had a mysterious and surprising ending.

I really liked the great twist ending; I had to drive home slower so I could continue listening to the book until the end.

The chapter were Dorian was confronted by James had a clever resolution and the witty remarks were really funny.

I thought it was very enjoyable how shallow and heartless Dorian was; at one point, he even broke up with someone over very superficial reasons.

Overall, I thought it was a very enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend to others and can’t wait to find out what happens next in the second book.

Slow.

I really tried to like this but it was so slow to get going, that by the time it did, I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. Here's what I wrote on Goodreads right after admitting defeat.... "DNF. I gave it to nearly 60% and couldn't continue. I've never loathed a main character as much as I loathed Dorian Gray. Gosh he was horrible and with nothing redeemable. Plus not much has happened and it's not holding my attention."

I even tried to finish the audio a few days after writing that, but I couldn't! It was a shame though, because I liked the idea of how Sage painted with the mixture and how the werewolves came about.

The narrator, Graham Jack, was ok. He read parts of it well, but his voices for the characters were very similar at times and it was hard to follow who was talking.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.