The second book in the Alpha and Omega series. This book runs fairly rapidly after the first one, and remains in parallel to the Mercy series.

Anna is starting to come to grips with what being an Omega means ("You're an alpha, just a very zen one") and she and Charles travel to a conference with European werewolves about the Marrok's decision to take the werewolves public.

There are a mix of obvious and less obvious villains and a plot that twists and turns suitably frequently to keep it working. There's more talking relationship stuff than sex, but there's a strong feeling of romance running through it still.

The various sub-plots are satisfying. I can't help but wonder if it would be a slightly better fit if it wasn't running in parallel to the Mercy books, but it rarely feels forced, and the book is fun. ( )

Still working out the tensions in their relationship, Anna and Charles go to a key meeting with the European werewolves in Seattle, moderated by a powerful fae who just happens to be one of Charles’ former lovers. There’s shopping, a wolf who thinks he’s the reincarnation of King Arthur, another Omega wolf, and a French madwolf who starts stalking Anna, et cetera. It’s a good adventure, and it’s really nice to see people who love each other but still have serious problems working through those problems, but the series fundamentally doesn’t move me. ( )

I loved Hunting Groud it was starting to pick up and you see Anna opening up more and trying to work with Charles. ( )

Sorely disappointed in this exploration of the Omega wolf, which struck me oddly as all of Brigg's previous urban fantasy have been wonderfully engaging. For some nebulous reason I had difficulty even finishing this one. The characters seemed slightly off, as did the plot. The central conceit of this series is the dynamic between Charles as an uber-Alpha wolf and Anna the Omega wolf and I felt like there was much more to be mined. ( )

The next book is the latest Patricia Briggs novel, Hunting Ground, the second featuring Anna and Charles. I was quite surprised to see this in paperback, since as far as I know the fourth Mercy Thompson book (Bone Crossed) is still only in hardcover. I often don't bother to read the advertising on the end pages, so I wasn't aware of Hunting Ground until I was browsing the bookstore last week.

Before reading it I scanned the available reviews on LT. Most were short and fanatically positive. One was long, analytical, and mixed (thanks devilwrites!), so I went into it with a general idea of the plot and key characters.

This is the sequel to Cry Wolf, which takes place around the same time as the later events in Moon Called, the first Mercy Thompson novel. This .takes place some indeterminate time soon after Cry Wolf and kinda also during Moon Called, if that's possible. The two Alpha and Omega books are very similar to each other and fairly different from the Mercy Thompson books. Cry Wolf and Hunting Ground feature Anna and Charles primarily, introduce assorted secondary werewolf characters, and serve to elaborate how her werewolves work in terms of magic, pack dynamics, and so on. In some ways these stories are somewhat gratuitous vehicles for revealing the mechanics of her fantasy world. Meet new character. Meet unexpected danger that is associated with that new character. Overcome obstacles and save the day. Flesh out the protagonists some more, show how their relationship is developing, give some depth to the key secondary character, but everyone else--minimal characterization to forward the plot. While fast-paced, action-packed, and engrossing, the flow of events doesn't really mean anything personal to the heroes. They're just responding to larger events and aren't necessarily transformed by the experience. Still quite enjoyable, but not as satisfying as the Mercy Thompson novels.

Third-person narration allows jumping among various POVs including Anna, Charles, and a couple of throwaway victims, which is necessary to share important plot points that are outside our protagonists' range. The gist of the story: the representatives from the European packs are meeting in Seattle to negotiate concessions to ameliorate the negative repercussions of the U.S. werewolves going public. Charles convinces Bran to let him and Anna represent the Marrok, thanks to premonitions of some danger. Sure enough, a squad of vampires attacks Anna and her escorts during a shopping trip, and it proceeds from there. The weird part was Anna turning criminal psychologist at a crime scene. I liked further development of Anna's musical background and the costs of being the official enforcer. But there were way too many new faces, and it's so hard to tell which ones are keepers and which are just background scenery for this story alone. Once again, a couple of strong women characters whom the men underestimate, a few minorities salted through the mix. I liked it well enough and will doubtless reread it. ( )