strange and random happenstance

Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Everyone in the tri-cities is talking about a new movie that's premiering, The Harvester. The screenwriter is a local and the story is supposedly based on an urban legend he heard as a boy. People are dressing up as the villainous Harvester and going to midnight screenings, but one of these people isn't cosplaying. They're there to kill. And Mercy just happens to stumble on the crime scene. Who knew a late night run to the store would result in a murder investigation? Mercy actually should have learned by now. But faced with the ghosts of the dead she must help them as best she can. As it happens the urban legend might just be about a legendary weapon that exists. A sickle that reaps souls, with the "clever" moniker the Soul Taker. A sickle that her mentor Zee might be willing to kill for because the two of them have a complicated history. And while this is all very disturbing, the fact that the vampire Wulfe has disappeared might be even more terrifying. He's unhinged and missing and his current hobby is following Mercy. And she hasn't seen him in awhile. She's occasionally felt him. She thinks. She might be wrong. She hopes she's wrong. But the only person who could help her is Stefan, the vampire she has a blood link to, and now he's missing. His house is in fact completely empty. Well, not completely. There's a nasty surprise waiting to attack Mercy, but isn't there always? But Stefan is gone, even Marsilia and the Seethe are MIA. Where have all the vampires gone? And does this have anything to do with this evil sickle? As Mercy has learned time and time again, bad things that happen simultaneously are often connected. You might think there might be no possible chance of this being true, but it is. And that happens to be the case here, once again. An old enemy has concocted the most elaborate of plans to enact their revenge. A plan that has the most casualties and puts as many innocent lives on the line as possible. The chaos is an added bonus to disguise their intent and to make Mercy suffer. But as Mercy knows, with Adam at her side she can tackle whatever any enemy throws at her. Hopefully.

I genuinely love each and every Mercy Thompson book. But thirteen books in the action from book to book kind of merges into one long adventure. In the beginning it was easier to separate them because you'd have a vampire-centric book, followed by a fae-centric book, followed by a werewolf-centric book. Now it's a free-for-all with vampires and fairies and goblins and werewolves and what have you in each and every story. I count the tibicena as a what have you. Conversely the Alpha and Omega series is easier to distinguish each volume because they don't all take place in the the same location like Mercy with the tri-cities and vary in quality so drastically. All this is basically stated in an effort for me to point out that the way this series is structured it's hard to write a review for an individual book. What can I say that I haven't said before? I love this series. Each and every new volume is a highlight of my calendar year. I literally do not know what I would do without Mercy or Anna and Charles showing up once a year to share their adventures with me. But this adventure, this one is going down as a favorite. Why? The atmosphere! The tension! The artifact! The humor! The stakes! When people think of werewolves and vampires they tend to think of Halloween, but this is the first story that really leans into this. There's a corn maze, there's murders, there's a sentient sickle, there's an urban legend come to life! So much right there just screams Halloween to me. But the way that Patricia Briggs plays with the humor inherent in horror is what made me just so giddy. The wielder of the Soul Taker, the Harvester, has a big showdown with Mercy, as you'd expect. But this showdown has the staging of Wes Craven. There's terror but there's humor. The Harvester comes across like Ghostface in the the Scream movies when they stumble. Their facade of pure unadulterated terror slips for a second and you see them as human. But then Ghostface's superhuman abilities return and the fight continues. The obvious Scream homages are what made this my favorite book in the series in recent years. It just felt so right. And it didn't hurt that I had recently rewatched all the Scream movies. And while those moments might be my favorite in the entire book, the fact that they save the day and still end on an ominous note was a chef's kiss. As I said before, these books merge, one after the other, and what is coming, that will make the Harvester look like a walk in a corn maze.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna Cornick, Charles Cornick, Cosplay, Ghostface, Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs, Scream, Sentient Artifact, Sickle, Soul Taken, Stefan, Tri-Cities, Vampires, Werewolves, Wes Craven, Wulfe, Zee

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 16th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

It started with a song. A song Leah was humming under her breath. A song she couldn't remember and yet couldn't forget. And then the pack was alerted by the FBI to the disappearance of an entire community that was living off the grid in Northern California. They named themselves "Wild Sign" and happened to be squatting on land owned by the Marrok's pack. Land that has a connection to Leah. It was in that very area when mourning Charles's mother that Bran first found Leah and made her his mate. Therefore they will be the ones to look into "Wild Sign." It is decided that Charles, Anna, and another werewolf, Tag, will go and investigate. Thanks to some supernatural locals that Tag knew they hear how that entire area was avoided by their kind. There are runes carved into the trees. Warning signs. Signs the community should have heeded once Charles and Anna make the discovery that the community was made up of witches. Which makes their complete disappearance even more disconcerting. These people weren't defenseless. These people were powerful. Any idea that they just got up one day and left is soon dismissed. The items they left behind, powerful magical objects, would not have been abandoned. This was no longer a rescue mission. The inhabitants of "Wild Sign" were dead. Now it was time to find out what exactly happened to them so their deaths could be avenged. Anna is the first to fall under the oppressive force within the forest. It starts out with a song and soon strips her of her present and traps her in the past. A past more horrible than most people have to deal with. But this evil knows what it's doing. It knows what it wants. And Charles, Anna, and Tag don't have the first clue. But Leah does.

Patricia Briggs is my ride or die. I adore her series. But I'm not blindly following her praising everything she's written, as an artist myself that's not constructive or conducive to getting better so if I wouldn't want to be treated as such and I will never treat another in that way. So there's occasionally a book by Patty that doesn't reach the heights of the others. I find this most common in her Alpha and Omega series. There's no middle ground here. Unlike the steady terrain of Mercy Thompson I either adore or dislike the Alpha and Omega books. It's the two ends of the spectrum, love or hate, and of all Patty's books, I've loved some of Anna and Charles's adventures more than any other books out there. I mean, Burn Bright!?! Damn! But this, right here, this is the price. A book I don't like. And yes, at times I did hate it, but oddly enough this time it's to do with me. In fact my dislike of Dead Heat might be down to me too... I just can't deal with those creepy little children that are dressed like western themed pageant kids, pink rhinestones and all, riding their horses. Shudder. So yes, it might all be me. I know it is this time. My problems with Wild Sign are all to do with the suffering I've had to deal with this past year. In fact I had to forewarn one of my friends who is a fellow Patty devotee before I posted my rating of Wild Sign because I thought she'd go into shock. Because I was a little shocked myself. But she got it. She understood that in the past year I'd lost my mother and I'd lost my home and because of this there's just some things I can't handle. My mother spent years in a skilled nursing home because of her Parkinson's, and seeing as I don't want to spoil anything for you, just know that my experiences because of this made me unable to handle certain plot points. Like seriously unable to. I almost felt like I needed a trigger warning and I'm usually not that kind of person. I know one day I will enjoy this book, it has so many wonderful reveals we devoted fans have waited years for, I gasped at some of them, but for the moment, this book just isn't for me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna Cornick, Burn Bright, Charles Cornick, Dead Heat, DEATH, Disappearance, FBI, Loss, Mercy Thompson, Northern California, Nursing Home, Patricia Briggs, Reveals, Tag, Trigger Warning, Wild Sign

Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 6th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★ 
To Buy

Bran is MIA after helping rescue Mercy in Europe. This leaves his son Charles in charge of the Aspen Creek Pack. Instead of Anna and him being on the outer fringes of the pack and living in their home that is more a haven than anything else they are ensconced in Bran's house, Pack HQ, and Bran's wife Leah isn't taking too well to having house guests. She's used to having the pack in and out of her house at all hours, but not her step-son and daughter-in-law underfoot. It's almost a relief when a crisis arises. The hills behind their small Montana town are filled with wolves that are under Bran's protection but can not live amongst the pack. A danger to themselves and others, they live off the radar. These wildings are often left to their own devices but can call on the pack in times of crisis. One such crisis has arisen. Men have shown up in the woods. Well armed and prepared men. They have abducted Hester, a member of the pack, and her Fae mate Jonesy has called for help. Due to the remoteness of their location it's a miracle that Anna and Charles arrive before Hester is gone. The ensuing fight leaves many dead but even more questions that need answering. These militant attackers came into the Marrok's territory and attempted to take a pack member under his protection when they knew Bran was gone. They were too well prepared and well informed, indicating an enemy that is well funded and a possible mole within the pack. Yet there is a surprise in store. One of the attackers is known to Anna. He was there when she was abused in her old pack. Charles would kill him if the man wasn't already dead. Hopefully there will be no more death. With that goal in mind the strongest wolves set out to visit the wildings and when Anna meets the werewolf artist Wellesley and connects with him everything starts to make sense. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. But will they be able to accept what is revealed?

An ongoing perk of being a blogger is access to NetGalley where you can request digital advance reader copies of books. Yet NetGalley is a double edged sword, not just because you might end up requesting so many books there's no chance you'll ever finish them, of which I am guilty, but because sometimes instead of allowing you to request a book, in it's place, taunting you, is the "I Wish" button. Of course sometimes they do grant wishes, they tell you right there as you're desperately clicking the button hoping it will transform into a request one. Of all the authors I've read through NetGalley over the years I have never gotten such a thrill at seeing a book listed as with Patricia Briggs. Those gorgeous covers by Dan dos Santos though are always followed by nothing more than a wish. Yet in these instances my wishes have all been granted, thankfully without some nefarious deal with a fairy on the back end; just a request for my honest opinion, and my honest opinion is that I love Patricia Briggs and all her books set in the world of Mercy Thompson. Yet it's hard to review these books if just for the simple reason that after fifteen installments it's hard to find something new to say... except this time there is something new to say, and that's my realization that I love the Alpha and Omega series more. As long as there aren't any more horses. Yes, I entered this world through Mercy's adventures, but I relate more to Charles and Anna. At first I was wondering if it's because with only five books under their belt they had less baggage, but as seen here this series carries Mercy's baggage as well as it's own. Therefore I thought, perhaps it's the more focused narrative with less characters, but here we dealt with a pack bigger than the Columbia Basin Pack. In the end it comes down to the fact I relate more to Charles and Anna. They are more introspective, more removed. They are a part of their pack yet cherish their alone time, and that's something I can relate to.

As for the Aspen Creek Pack, they really take center stage in Burn Bright. Aside from their first adventure, Charles and Anna have been traipsing all over the continental United States and rarely have time to take in the Montana air. This time isn't downtime either, with Charles's farther Bran MIA after helping rescue Mercy in her previous adventure, but Charles being placed in charge of the pack means he's stuck on his home turf. Therefore, for what I feel is the first time, we're really getting a firsthand look at the pack. It's not filtered through Mercy's memories or passed down gossip that eventually gets to Charles and Anna, it's on the ground and immediate. We get to not only see the pack, but see what they are like without Bran present, who is such a dominate force he can overpower any plot line. And while each and every revelation of how the pack structure works was interesting to me, what I was most drawn to was the insight into Leah. Leah is Bran's mate, a mate who no one likes. Sometimes it seems that Bran doesn't much care for her either. In each and every one of her appearances, be it Mercy's stories or Charles's, she comes across as a really self-centered and bitchy stepmother. I won't say wicked, because she's never done anything altogether malicious, but she's always appeared to be cut from the same cloth. Burn Bright started out in this same vein and yet, while Leah never changed we readers finally got insight into how she became the way she is and the benefits of that. It's often the case that being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes lets you empathize with them and so it is here. We got to the bottom of her rage and came out seeing her with new eyes. She has even earned the respect of Charles, and that's saying something.

We also learned about "secret" pack members. Enter the wildings! Oh, how I love that Patricia Briggs has taken a word that is so heavily associated with Game of Thrones and George R. R. Martin and made it her own. The wildings, instead of being people just living behind a really big wall are werewolves, occasionally with their mates, who can no longer live in a pack setting. They are either too damaged or too dangerous, or a combination of both, to be allowed entrance to the town of Aspen Creek. Some of them occasionally can join the pack hunts, but most of the time they are secreted away on their own large parcels of land under Bran's supervision. Why this resonated with me so strongly is that I've felt for awhile that the black and white nature of who deserves to live and who deserves to die due to their behavior in this fictional universe was needing some grey. Having Charles as executioner to Bran's judgment was harsh. Bran seemed to make Aspen Creek a haven for the damaged, but only up to a point. Yet now we find out that he's actually been hiding his people out in the woods to protect them instead of giving them a fatal punishment. It makes Bran more human to me. He's no longer this untouchable, this unknowable force, he has a heart, and not just for Mercy. This is also seen in the expanding of Leah's past. The superhumans are coming down to our level and that just makes this a more relevant series. Briggs has always explored the all too human side of suffering with her series, and this is another great entry into seeing ourselves more clearly through something that is "other."

All the wildings could be considered crazy, to an extent. It's almost as if Briggs is creating her own spectrum, from unable to take human form to will kill you rather than look at you, we see a wide range of problems. Yet all this boils down to the notion of what makes us crazy and who cares for crazy. I was drawn to the first problem, what makes us crazy. Due to things that have been happening in my own life I felt the importance, the weight of this question. Is it environmental factors? A genetic disposition? An outside factor like drugs? Or, as we are in a supernatural world here, magic? With each different wilding we see a different presentation of madness, and yet, Anna shows that by approaching the situation with compassion these issues can be dealt with. With how Anna carefully deals with Wellesley we see what it is to be an Omega. She is the carer. She has had so much pain inflicted on herself that she knows what others who are injured need. So much of the book ties back into Anna's past traumas, in other words perhaps a re-read of her introductory short story from On the Prowl is needed, that we see there is no instant cure. Anna is still recovering. Her marriage and mystical connection to Charles didn't automatically heal all wounds. In fact, through dealing with her problems and then helping the Wildings, Anna is finding her place in the pack. Your damage, your illness, your problems, whatever they may be, they don't make up who you are, they inform who you become, and Anna is becoming an amazing heroine. My heroine.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna, Bran, Burn Bright, Charles Cornick, Fairies, Game of Thrones, GRRM, Leah, Marrok, Mental Illness, Mercy Thompson, Netgalley, Pack, Patricia Briggs, PTSD, Werewolves, Wildings, Witches

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
ARC provided by the publisher
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Charles can count the people he loves and trusts on one hand. One of those people is mortal and is dying. Charles has known Joseph Sani for most of Joseph's life. He has seen him grow up, have a family, but it was too much to be around to see him decline. Though the time has come to face this hardship, to say goodbye. Charles and Anna set out for Arizona to visit Joseph and his family. The Sani's have made a name for themselves breeding Arabian horses and Charles plans to buy a horse for Anna for her birthday. But Charles encounters trouble in the Sani household. Joseph's dad is a werewolf and has been petitioning for his son the be changed, against Joseph's wishes it might be said. Hosteen views the argument still open until the day Joseph is in the ground and instantly harasses Charles on the subject. Yet this ongoing argument is put aside when Joseph's daughter-in-law is attacked by a powerful Fae and his grandchildren are almost killed. Charles and Anna look into the attack and come to the conclusion that a very powerful fairy is on the loose and children are in danger and it's up to them to stop it.

A new Patricia Briggs book is always a time to celebrate. To me she is the best writer currently of urban fantasy, the one who fills the hole in my heart left by Joss Whedon. Her books are the epitome of comfort reads, a time set aside to curl up with a good book, a cast of characters you love, and a warm blanket, with the world slipping away as you are drawn into the current mystery. And my, have I missed Anna and Charles! Having two years of Mercy back to back was lovely, but there's something about Anna and Charles that I just connect to. Not hearing from them in three years was hard to bear, like a friend who you've lost touch with. That incident in Boston, then nothing till now. Thank you for finally having the time to catch up with me.

The problem facing long running series is that you can get in a rut, you can get formulaic, and then Cousin Oliver happens. So far I continue to find Briggs's series both fresh and exciting, but there is something more compelling about the Alpha and Omega series. Yes, it could be that compared to Mercy it's newer and has less then half the books, but what I think it is is the way the series is set up to follow their story as they go to other locations then being confined to the Tri-Cities or Bon Temps or even Stars Hollow. Sometimes a change in scene is necessary to keep a story vibrant. I like how we start out and they're snug in their home then something happens and Anna and Charles are dispatched to the scene. Seattle, Boston, now Scottsdale! Plus with each location change we get a new set of characters to mingle with the old, providing a nice blend of the familiar and the strange.

But with each change in location we get a change in focus, and here, well, the focus was too much of the equine variety. I find it odd that in quick succession I have read two books that are very focused on horses. As I said in that other review, I've never been a horse person, but that doesn't mean that books featuring horses are a bad thing, they just have to be handled right. Daisy Goodwin's The Fortune Hunter handled horses right, in that she didn't become overly detailed and wrote the horses as characters so that you could connect to them. Goodwin did it right, Briggs did it wrong. I know Briggs is a horse enthusiast in the extreme, you can get that from her writing even if you didn't already know this, but she wasn't able to tamp down that enthusiasm to make horses accessible to those who aren't of her ilk. At one point in the book Anna gives up trying to figure out all the jargon spewing out of Charles and I think that if one of the characters in your book can't even keep up, well, you lost your readers a long time ago.

So much horse talk had a detrimental effect on the pacing of the book. At the beginning it was OK, the horses added atmosphere, but about three quarters of the way through the book when the bad guy is "caught" and everyone just pushes the horrors they've faced behind them and they all trot off to the horse show the book hits a deadly lull it can't recover from. There's still a quarter of the book left, so you know that something is going to happen, there's going to be a twist, but after a few hours with Anna and Charles in the bleachers at the horse show I couldn't care less what that twist was. This is right about the time Anna gave up too I might add. Yet it kept going. And going. And more horses. And yeah. I've been to state fairs, I've been to Dairy expos, I've been to events like this and never in my life did I think they could be written in a way that bored me almost literally to tears. All forward momentum left the book and I thought I'd be trapped with those creepy horse slash pageant kid combinations for all eternity. I never want to read about horses ever again.

But I really don't ever want to read about those creepy little kids that are dressed like western themed pageant kids, pink rhinestones and all, riding their horses. Shudder. Yet this version of children is just one of many, seeing as children are a big theme in this book. I was OK with Anna pressuring Charles about them having a child, this didn't seem out of place. The evil fairy that was the book's Big Bad and was kidnapping children for nefarious reasons, really really creepy and spooky and kept the plot ticking right along until the horses came and trampled all over it. And then the book shifted. Yes, there was a creepy kid vibe from the evil fairy but to couple that with this weird objectification of the children at the horse show? It went too far into the creepy. Add to that that Anna and Charles thought this was cute? Um, no. This kind of objectification leads to evil people preying on children. So in a book about bringing this kind of evil, though in immortal form, to justice while at the same time condoning cultural practices that can result in drawing the attention of evil... no. Just no. Yes, life is all about compromise, but let's compromise about having children or recovering from abuse, finding a middle ground where we can live with life's horrors, not finding a middle ground where the horrors are allowed to flourish.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna, ARCs, Arizona, Charles Cornick, Children, Daisy Goodwin, Dead Heat, Fae, Horses, Joss Whedon, Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs, The Fortune Hunter, Tri-Cities

Fair Game (Alpha and Omega Book 3) by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 6th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Anna feels that Charles is cutting her off. He is spending more and more time enacting his father's justice without letting Anna in. He may wish to spare her the pain, but it might also drive him insane. Charles needs to get away from himself and the dark world he lives in. While he can't escape, he can change his focus. From being an executioner to being an investigator might be the subtle shift he needs. There is a serial killer on the loose in Boston. Long thought gone to other locals, the killer is back on his home turf. The FBI are desperate and call Charles' Da for some help, he offers them Anna and Charles. They quickly learn that this isn't any ordinary killer, but one targeting their own kind, werewolves.

This new clue in an otherwise stagnate case throws everything into a new light. Soon Anna and Charles are working within a standard police procedural, with their own twist, bringing werewolves to crime scenes and reestablishing their bonds on a hunt for the killer on a small island. There are overtones of wealth and prosperity, as if the Kennedy's where serial killers, as they narrow in on their suspect. Yet the fact they are hunting one who hunts their own kind leads to a whole new level of danger. Will Anna and Charles be the same after the horrors they have seen... will the world?

I waited, not really patiently, for months for this book to come. I fell in love with the world Patricia Briggs' has created and I love that Anna and Charles have also been embraced by the fans, an obvious deduction by the fact the book was released in hardcover, not paperback like the previous two. There's a part of me that wishes I had re-read the previous installment of this series before hunkering down to read this one. But only a little part of me, because really, Hunting Ground wasn't the best Patricia Briggs can do and there was only one or two references where I was like... was that in the last book... yeah, don't remember that. Also, thankfully, the "brother wolf" was toned down a bit. The book embraced the hunt for the killer and police procedural nature of the story without dwelling too much on Anna and Charles' always fraying bond. They're together, stop throwing so much strife between them.

I was glad I had purposefully cleared my calendar for this book because I don't think I could have stopped reading the book once I started. The hunt for a killer is a powerful narrative force, even if Briggs occasionally used the kidnapping trope, but then again, a killer does have to abduct it's victims, so I guess I can forgive it, except for Anna... maybe... Even if I was able to figure out the killer almost immediately, there where little things I missed that helped the ending be a bit of a surprise. The problem though is, with reading this in a day, now what do I do till the next book comes out? She seems to be jumping them back and forth, so no new Anna and Charles till perhaps 2014... sigh. And with that cliffhanger with the faeries!?! I'm sorry, she just changed all the rules in this game. People who read Mercy but don't read this spin off series better start, because the last few pages of this book changes everything.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna, Boston, Charles Cornick, Fair Game, Hunting Ground, Kennedys, Patricia Briggs

Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega Book 1) by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: July 29th, 2008
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Anna is off to Montana with Charles. Little does she know that in the dark, snowbound forest, evil is lurking. Leaving Chicago behind is at once exhilarating and terrifying. She no longer has the fear of her pack, she now has the fear of the unknown. What does Charles expect of her? Is he really a good man? Upon landing in Aspen Creek, Anna is all the villagers are talking about. The stoic and cold Charles has found a mate. Too bad the first time that she gets to be presented to the masses is at Doc Wallace's funeral. A time of respect and reflection is turned into a bit of a to-do when another wolf, Asil, makes a bit of a play for Anna, but recoils when he realizes she's an Omega. Later, back at Charles' house, he explains to Anna that she's quite a catch and that they aren't officially mated yet, so others will set their cap at her.

But the possibilities of other mates is not on Anna's mind. She's worried over Charles still recovering from the Chicago trip and the fact that his father is sending the two of them out into the forest to track a rogue werewolf that is causing trouble. The trouble could be one of two things, it could be a simple rogue, or it could be a power play to intimidate the Marrok and make him back down on his decision to "out" the werewolves, like the fae did twenty years earlier. Neither Charles or Anna think they are in any danger, but Asil knows differently. He is dreaming of her. The young upstart witch who murdered his beloved. The fact that the rogue werewolf has the same markings as Asil's dearly departed Sarai means something. Can a pack of werewolves band together and make a stand against the evil in the forest? Even if that evil might be a very deadly witch.

I loved this spin off from Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. Here we do get a bit more of a romantic boy and girl co-narration going on, but we also get a riveting story and some history. With a smaller cast of characters fighting for survival in the woods, it's kind of like Michael Crichton does werewolves, of course, I should mention that I am a fan of Crichton, and this isn't a slur on the book. Also, delving deeper into the characters that have mainly stayed on the sidelines or in Mercy's back story gives even more depth to the world Briggs has created. From learning about Bran's youth and how he was changed into a werewolf, to Charles' own upbringing and his type of magic. I'll add here, I so want to be able to conjure clothes for myself like Charles does. It seems like such a useful power, especially in the colder climates. I feel like I need a sweater, bam, I have one, awesome! See what I'm saying?

But hands down, it was Asil that rocked my world. A werewolf of legend whose wife was a healer and a wolf and he cultivated roses in Spain till one day their young ward, from a powerful family of witches, turns against him and his life is ruined. So heart wrenching, and so not vampires and fairies. I'm so glad we got to have some witch action in this book, varies it up from the vampire book, fae book, vampire book, fae book pattern that Briggs has established in her previous series. Though I still have some unanswered questions about Walter... but overall, I'm very satisfied, reading to dive into book two and keep my wait for River Marked as painless as possible.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Alpha and Omega, Anna, Asil, Bran, Charles Cornick, Cry Wolf, Michael Crichton, Montana, Omega, Patricia Briggs, River Marked, Sarai, Spain, Werewolves, Witches

Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega Book 1) by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: July 29th, 2008
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Challenge: Shifter Challenge 2011
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
Anna is off to Montana with Charles. Little does she know that in the dark, snowbound forest, evil is lurking. Leaving Chicago behind is at once exhilarating and terrifying. She no longer has the fear of her pack, she now has the fear of the unknown. What does Charles expect of her? Is he really a good man? Upon landing in Aspen Creek, Anna is all the villagers are talking about. The stoic and cold Charles has found a mate. Too bad the first time that she gets to be presented to the masses is at Doc Wallace's funeral. A time of respect and reflection is turned into a bit of a to-do when another wolf, Asil, makes a bit of a play for Anna, but recoils when he realizes she's an Omega. Later, back at Charles' house, he explains to Anna that she's quite a catch and that they aren't officially mated yet, so others will set their cap at her.

But the possibilities of other mates is not on Anna's mind. She's worried over Charles still recovering from the Chicago trip and the fact that his father is sending the two of them out into the forest to track a rogue werewolf that is causing trouble. The trouble could be one of two things, it could be a simple rogue, or it could be a power play to intimidate the Marrok and make him back down on his decision to "out" the werewolves, like the fae did twenty years earlier. Neither Charles or Anna think they are in any danger, but Asil knows differently. He is dreaming of her. The young upstart witch who murdered his beloved. The fact that the rogue werewolf has the same markings as Asil's dearly departed Sarai means something. Can a pack of werewolves band together and make a stand against the evil in the forest? Even if that evil might be a very deadly witch.

I loved this spin off from Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. Here we do get a bit more of a romantic boy and girl co-narration going on, but we also get a riveting story and some history. With a smaller cast of characters fighting for survival in the woods, it's kind of like Michael Crichton does werewolves, of course, I should mention that I am a fan of Crichton, and this isn't a slur on the book. Also, delving deeper into the characters that have mainly stayed on the sidelines or in Mercy's back story gives even more depth to the world Briggs has created. From learning about Bran's youth and how he was changed into a werewolf, to Charles' own upbringing and his type of magic. I'll add here, I so want to be able to conjure clothes for myself like Charles does. It seems like such a useful power, especially in the colder climates. I feel like I need a sweater, bam, I have one, awesome! See what I'm saying?

But hands down, it was Asil that rocked my world. A werewolf of legend whose wife was a healer and a wolf and he cultivated roses in Spain till one day their young ward, from a powerful family of witches, turns against him and his life is ruined. So heart wrenching, and so not vampires and fairies. I'm so glad we got to have some witch action in this book, varies it up from the vampire book, fae book, vampire book, fae book pattern that Briggs has established in her previous series. Though I still have some unanswered questions about Walter... but overall, I'm very satisfied, reading to dive into book two and keep my wait for River Marked as painless as possible.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011 Reading Challenge, Alpha and Omega, Anna, Asil, Bran, Charles Cornick, Cry Wolf, Michael Crichton, Montana, Omega, Patricia Briggs, River Marked, Sarai, Spain, Werewolves, Witches