In the world of urban fantasy Mercedes Thompson stands out as a particularly excellent heroine. She's a mechanic who runs her own shop, she takes karate lessons at the local dojo, and she doesn't spend all her time obsessing over the sexy supernatural men in her life. In fact, she already went through that as a teenager, and learned some hard lessons about real life that way. Since then, Mercy's grown into a capable, independent woman who cares more about her friends and family than getting laid. Which is a refreshing change in the urban fantasy/paranormal romance genre!

Mercy also has her own supernatural powers, but rather than the usual slew of super-magickal fairy princess powers heroines are often stuck with in this genre, Mercy's power is simply to change into a coytoe. She's a "skinwalker" from Native American legend. Briggs wins points from me for not only including such a fantastically refreshing heroine, but also including Native American mythology in her world building alongside the more familiar European archetypes.

Other than that, the worldbuilding is pretty standard for any urban fantasy/paranormal romance story - fairies, vampires, werewolves, etc etc are all real, some are "out" and the general public knows about them, others remain secret. There are no big surprises here, aside from the previously stated inclusion of Native American myths in with the rest.

I was actually a bit annoyed vampires had to be included yet again - especially since the book isn't about vampires. The main plot focuses on Mercy, a skinwalker, and a pack of werewolves. Yet it was somehow necessary for the author to include a weak subplot about vampires and how they live in Mercy's universe? The vampire chapter could easily have been cut out. It seems mandatory these days that every urban fantasy novel features vampires, and in this case they were an unnecessary (and annoying) distraction from the actual plot.

Briggs' overall writing style felt solid enough, but the plot fell apart towards the end. The final revelation felt a bit like a cheat - relying on evidence that came out of nowhere despite all the reasoning Mercy had done earlier in the book. Also, there was nothing in the way of character development or exploration for any of the supporting cast. The last half of the book was basically devoted to the "action" scenes, which were pretty predictable.

All in all, this was an enjoying read, it just didn't "wow" me. Fans of Charlaine Harris, Tanya Huff, and Charles de Lint should give this a try. 3/5 ( )

VW mechanic Mercy Thompson doesn't think of herself as living a very exciting life. Sure, her next-door neighbor is a werewolf, her ex-boss is a gremlin, and she fixes cars for vampires - oh, and she can turn into a coyote - but in general, her life pretty quiet. Until, that is, a young homeless man turns up on her doorstep looking for work. Suddenly Mercy's peaceful existence has disappeared down a rabbit hole, and what's a coyote girl to do but chase right along after it.

Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors. Mercy is quick, clever, competent and likable, and this series is a lot of fun. ( )

Werewolves, Vampires and shape-shifters...if that's your cup of tea then you'll enjoy this book. Great pacing and story telling. Briggs has a flair for this type of work with mostly crisp writing and well-defined characters. ( )

Mercedes Thompson is my favorite Heroine of all times. She is just the right amount of ballsy and even though sometimes she makes stupid mistakes they are some what believable.

Mercy is a shape-shifter what they call a Walker in a world were witches, fae, vampires are known creatures. She can turn into a coyote. Her neighbor is the alpha of the local werewolves pack and has claimed her as a mate among the pack for her protection. So that the wolf guys will not harm her. They aren't foolish enough to upset their alpha, the drop dead sexy Adam Hauptman. Adam and Mercy have this love-annoy relationship. He threatens to eat her cat, while she annoys him to no end by keeping an old and dilapidated VW Rabbit in her back yard in his house's view.

Mercy meets a young wolf at her car shop and the adventures starts from there. Someone is attacking humans and turning them into werewolves. Mercy wants to find out who, exactly is doing this.

I loved the way Mercy's long-term relationship with werewolves unfold. I was so enthralled with this book from pretty much the first sentence. "I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first." Maybe it was just me but I could not put this book down.

Mercy and Adam have a complex relationship more than neighbors, but no where near the mates that Adam claimed her as. Adam has a hilarious, punk rockish but lovable daughter, Jesse, that Mercy just adores, as do I as well. And when ex-lover Samuel, son of Bran, enters the picture after Mercy has to make an unexpected and un-wanted return home to Montana, you will think Adam and Mercy's complex relationship is a walk in the park.

Moon Called is a great book. I give kudos to Briggs for the world she created while not getting caught up in petty descriptions and background filler information. Briggs finds an entertaining way to tell us all we need to know as we need to know it.

The characters are very well written and believable. And boy there are a lot of characters to know. Luckily they are easy to remember. The tri-city, where Mercy resides, wolf pack are characters who's importance that ranger from major to minor but you will remember every single one. And Bran's Montana pack (Bran is the Alpha of the entire North American wolves) will introduce themselves as they show what relevance they have to Mercy's past.

All in all I have nothing but great things to say about the opening book for the series and you won't regret reading this book. I love the huge Native American culture that is infused in this book and the magical beings that this world has, both openly and hidden in among the public. ( )

The first book of the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. When my good friend first told me about this series of books, I was highly skeptical. "Really? A shapeshifter who hangs out with werewolves, is friends with a vampire and works with a fairy?". My friend practically had to beg me to read it. I'm so glad that I did. Despite the rather ridiculous premise, these books are absolutely compelling, and surprisingly well written. I suggest these books to anyone.