Patricia Briggs (1) (1965–)

I picked 'Hunting Ground' up because it's been in my TBR pile for three years, because I've missed reading Patricia Briggs and because I wanted something quick and easy I could read on my iPad while sitting in the sun in the garden (note to self: love my iPad mini but the screen doesn't handle glare well - get a Kindle Paperwhite ASAP).

One chapter in and I was already smiling. This was uncomplicated urban fantasy but it's also brilliantly executed. I read it in two pleasant afternoons.

It's show more been a couple of years since I read 'Cry Wolf' the first book in this Urban Fantasy series. It seems to me that the second book in the series is a big improvement on the first. The relationship between Anna and Charles is more carefully drawn and more believable. It was good to see Anna starting to assert herself.

The plot was fun: a whole bunch of European Alpha werewolves coming to Seattle to meet the Maroc and then finding his usually silent and almost always lethal enforcer in the Chair instead. Then there's the impact of learning that Charles has a new mate, who looks like a scared rabbit but is apparently and Omega who attracts the interest of every Alpha in the room. Order is kept by a very scary Fae but that doesn't stop the tension from building as different factions compete. Then the vampire attacks start.

It's a fun, fast, action-packed tale (with at least six beheadings) that enrolled me in Anna and Charles story, kept me amused on every page and revived my interest in this series. show less

My Review (May contain spoilers, fair warning upon reading this review, please be responsible)

Cry Wolf is the first book in the Alpha & Omega series. I am reading both of this authors series in order from her website. After reading the prequel novella of Charles and Anna, I just had to jump into this one next and I am so happy that I did because these two just delivered all the PNR feels that I was looking for and more. Even though it is UF, it still has strong PNR feels to it because the show more world building of the UF isn't as focused as we are delving into a remote wolf pack in Montana. Anna and Charles are really getting to know each other in this book. They are coming to accept their bond and discovering what that means for both of them. What impressed me the most was the heroine in this book. This author keeps blowing me away with NORMAL heroines. Like what is this magic? haha I am sorry but most UF I have read, the heroines are so crazy and out of this world kick ass that I can't relate to them on any level. But Anna....she is honestly just a normal heroine. Literally your next door neighbor type of heroine and I am having a blast with it. Charles and Anna make such a balanced couple. He isn't too alpha for Anna, especially when she has softer elements to her character with her being a omega. I am also loving the Native American aspect to him and the connection that we see between him and the alpha of the pack was quite superb. The plot of the story definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. The villain is so EVIL, but how the author develops the third act was PHNEOMENAL. Honestly I didn't know what I was expecting, but this author threw me in for a whirlwind of a story.

Overall if you are looking for a more softer UF with more romance focus in it, then I can't recommend this series enough, truly loving the beginning of Charles and Anna's story. show less

I don't recommend doing what Naomi and I did, which is read through the Mercy Thompson books back to back. It becomes reasonably clear that the reader is getting roughly the same story with different covers. I've spent a lot of time considering this; the series has many ardent fans, and I used to be among them. I think it all depends on what one enjoys in a story, and how tolerant one is of repetition. I'd rate my tolerance somewhere in the middle, but only until the tipping point occurs, show more either through saturation or through pet peeve. I think series like this are best enjoyed exactly as they occurred: published one at a time, a year in between. Then the repeated explanations and summaries don't irritate, they only recall, taking on the cadence of storytelling, when the reader slips into the story world with the beginning "long, long ago and far, far away..."

Despite a reliance on folklore and fairy tales, the Mercy Thompson series is and remains a sanitized, muted version of those grim worlds. The slavering wolf can actually control themselves, if they are old and really powerful. The strange fae will probably help you if you amuse or respect them, but even the bad ones won't trap you for years until everyone you loved has died. Scary vampires exist, but a sheep necklace can protect you; there's also a vampire that wears t-shirts and watches movies. None of the wolves go crazy despite frequent assertions that it can happen. No one except bad guys are ripped apart. Even vampires can repent. Victims are saved. Misguided humans are coached. Almost everyone gets a chance to redeem themselves. There's very little true evil. No one even swears. I note it because while it is one of the things I enjoy, that sense of ultimate goodness and happy endings, I also believe it explains part of the series' popularity.

Unfortunately, familiarity also enables recognition of faults, and there are quite a few. The overall series arc lacks a sense of coherency. After reading through a number of the Briggs' family posts, its clear that the series expanded to accommodate popularity and not out of an internal sense of story progression. The first was written; Blood Bound came about because the first did well, followed by a surprise contract to buy three more books. I'd contrast this with another favorite author, Ilona Andrews, who had a clear arc for a seven-book series and a sense of where it was headed in both story and emotion. The plotting to date in Mercy has been roughly the same for each book: someone is imprisoned and with Mercy's special powers, the group will save the day. This is true in Moon Called (Adam), Blood Bound (Stefen, etc.), Iron Kissed (Zee), Bone Crossed (Mercy) and Silver Bourne (spoiler/Mercy). The emotional plotting is also startlingly similar: Mercy will have trouble trusting her affection for Adam. After mistrusting him when she should not have, he will still support her and she will vow to trust him. At the same time, one of the powerful people she loves is willing to sacrifice/suicide.

Binge-reading also draws attention to a narrative containing a lot of telling without showing. Mercy will have asides in every book telling about her history, the fae reservation, werewolves, the wolves' coming out and her relationships with Samuel and Adam. Usually she will also educated the reader on Zee and the Grey Lords, and Stefen and the seethe. I think this is generally forgivable to many readers as the familiarity echoes the storytelling tradition, and the ritual of description, but again distance makes the heart grow fonder.

But those are mostly academic issues. What I've found less personally enjoyable, and perhaps even less forgivable are the roles women have in the series. Which is very little: Mercy operates in a man's world, both figuratively and literally. Mercy herself demonstrates no particular direct agency; all of the plots start with her reacting to an event that happens to her genuine, unsuspecting little self. The reader is quickly introduced to the idea that women associated with werewolf packs 'hate' Mercy, and that becomes an ongoing theme through the series. Even human women dislike Mercy, as Gabriel's mom Sylvia does. The exception to agency is Blood Bound, where the evil and conniving Marsilia engineers an elaborate trap, although clearly she still hates Mercy. I realized that even side characters are almost universally male with the exception of a couple of inscrutable fae. The only exceptions being Mercy's mom--who is never more than a whirlwind in and out of the scene--and Adam's daughter, Jesse. I found it disappointing, particularly from a female author with girls of her own.

Silver Bourne was the gestalt for me, highlighting all the redundancies. It comes as no surprise then, that a book lent to Mercy by a bookstore owner (male) may have other properties, and that the werewolves in the pack are still trying to break Adam and Mercy up. Samuel is sick at heart and only his wolf saves him, and now Mercy must save his wolf. Mercy's home is targeted. Someone is kidnapped and Mercy must save them, and Adam endures several challenges. Samuel's depression plot was solved very easily and tritely by L-U-V, which I thought disappointing after the complicated emotional fallout of the rape back in Iron Kissed. It was the last book of the series I bought, back in the day when I was silly enough to still auto-buy authors.

Three and a half redundancies, rounding down because that's what I did last time. show less

Wow. I like Mercy - mostly - but this may be the best one yet. Pretty standard start, with Mercy attacked and kidnapped (Mercy's in trouble, so what else is new). The villain is new and...complicated. But the whole thing with Mercy loose in Europe, and tripping over a whole bunch of unfinished matters there, is great. Particularly the bit Gary Laughingdog left for her - sheesh! Libor is also a very complicated person - there are a lot of them in this story. Old supernaturals tend to get that show more way. A lot of not quite saying what's expressed, a lot of outright manipulation. I am highly amused to think that with all the plots within plots, Coyote had the last word (or first), without even being there. A very rich story; a lot of insight into some characters who have been around the whole time, and some who are newer. The jumping back and forth in time only bothered me once - when we get two Mercy chapters (intentionally) out of order; that was annoying. Cheating, sort of - done purely for the cliffhanger. The rest was pretty clear (and yes, the chapter headings helped). Bran's part was interesting, but I was annoyed - that was author fiat. I'm not sure who was fooled and who was just going along with it. I was definitely fooled, though I did notice he was older and had more tricks up his sleeve than appeared at first. Love it, makes me want to read more in this series...I may do a partial reread, at that.
Reread - this time I particularly noticed how much of a spoiler Mercy is. How many plots and plans and schemes swirling around her - and not one of them completed the way the plotter intended. I don't know if it's Coyote's heritage (though his was one of the plans she spoiled) or just Mercy...but it's been true throughout the series and is particularly pointed here.
I have the latest Mercy, but this one's been nagging at me - so I reread. I remembered a lot of it, especially Bran - which did nothing to detract from the story. Still my favorite Mercy, I think. show less