Broods of Fenrir

My thoughts:
Wonderfully written. This is a story of loss and fear, anger, violence, and injustice; but it is also a story of hope, friendship, loyalty, courage and love. Emotionally gripping and almost impossible to put down.
The characters are carefully created and drive the story, compelling the reader to turn the pages. I found myself so invested into the emotions and situations of Coral Moore's amazing characters that I was drawn completely into the story, laughing and crying with the characters as their lives were unfolding.
I am torn as to who is my favorite character.
Brand is tormented by guilt from his past combined with both fear of and desire for what the future holds for him and his kind. His sheer will to protect and show more improve the lives of the wolves is astonishing; and his willpower puts most to shame.
Dagny is...wow, what can a person say about her? She is incredible. Her spirit is unbreakable. She is the perfect match for Brand.
Alice is one of the most powerful characters in the book. Gunni too, talk about courage!
Coral Moore has written a well paced, superbly woven tale that brings the reader to the very edge of that emotional cliff. She has filled it with a thought provoking story, led by powerful characters. Although the ending brings completion to issues and satisfaction to the conflicts, I was left wanting more...more pages! It ended before I was ready to walk away from the characters. So I plan to read everything else I can by Coral Moore, especially if it's about the Broods of Fenrir. show less

For some reason, I was concerned I wouldn’t like this book. I have no idea why. The synopsis is great, the cover is hot. It was a great book.

Brand Geirson is a werewolf. And for his “day job” he is a security guard. He has basically severed many ties with the packs, which in this book are broods. He has a few close friends, and that’s about it. He’s a loner. And, by all rights, he should be king. Yep, king.

So this story starts with Brand being called to a homicide scene. The woman has clearly been bitten by a werewolf. This starts the series of events that lead to a completely powerful and beautiful story.

Power. It’s a strange thing. If anyone knows me, they know I like to read about werewolves. They are nearly my show more favorite, and some days they are absolutely my favorite. I like to read about the ever present alpha male. ahem, Alpha Male. I think the Alpha Male is such an interesting character. He’s the strongest, the smartest, most cunning, most loving, most …everything male. Well, in Coral Moore’s Broods of Fenrir, Brand is that Alpha Male. And then multiply that by a thousand. Heck, he should be king, if he’d just decide he actually wants to be. Everyone else already thinks of him in that capacity. So this story isn’t just about a murder mystery, or a werewolf brood, or Brand becoming king. It is about this character, this man, this wolf, coming to terms with who he is, where he is, and growing about a million percent as a soul within a few hundred pages. Daunting, I know. But it is totally accomplished in this book.

Am I gushing? Yeah, a little bit. Ok, let’s talk about power. No, not power. POWER. Cause that is what got me so excited in this book. The sheer force of power this man has. I can’t even describe it. When I was taking my notes I tried several times to come up with something that would convey his power. The guy is strong physically, yes. Mentally, yes. But beyond that, there is this animalistic …push. There is a scene in a garage that will have you on the edge of the seat, waiting to exhale. And it perfectly illustrates the sheer power within this man. I mean come on; he is supposed to be king. This ain’t no ordinary alpha wolf. His power is awesome, and I don’t mean “cool”, I mean it produces awe. You are struck with the cement wall, the iron sledge hammer that is Brand. If anyone out there has some fan art of this man, please show me!!

Ok, enough of Brand (but not really!). So this is a werewolf shifter book. But one thing I noticed is that the author doesn’t have these people shifting into wolves every other page. Nope. Some people don’t even shift at all in the course of the book. But yet there is no mistake they are werewolves, and it is conveyed beautifully. When the people in the Broods of Fenrir give up their human control to the wolf, the wolf calls the shots. The wolf is in control. So every person in this book learns a great deal of self-control in order to lead a normal life. It’s a very interesting take on the werewolf aspect, and I really enjoyed it.

Let’s talk about the other characters. There are quite a few, and wow, what a cast. The author really fleshed out some very dynamic and interesting supporting characters in this book. You have Alice, whom is weak, kind of like the runt of the litter. And Erik, the alpha male in his brood (um, and yet not king!!), who struggles to keep control of so many things. Dagny, who I loved, then hated and then loved all over again. Ingrid, Dagny’s mother, who is such a sadistic piece of work you wonder how she has managed to stay alive without getting murdered for so long.

This story will bring a smile. It will heat you up. It will break your heart, and you may even drop a tear (or more!). But it is beautiful writing around a beautiful story, and it should not be missed. And then you have the familial bond between these wolves that is beyond regular comprehension. They are linked heart, mind and soul. Emotions are shared. Love is duplicated, fear and anger are magnified. Somewhere in the midst of tragedy, Brand finds love in a female wolf. She is a formidable match for him, stronger than most males in her brood. But finding love isn’t on Brand’s agenda. You find yourself hoping he can overcome his internal obstacles and take the jump, because you quickly grow attached to this man, and you want him to be happy.

So I won this book from Library Thing. And then I signed up to do a review for it with Bewitching Blog Tours. Everything in the booky universe was telling me to read this book, and I am so glad I did. Once I started reading it, I barely put it down. By the time I got to chapter six I was online seeking out more of this book. And good news, there are two more in the Broods of Fenrir series. I’ve already got them on my kindle, waiting to read as soon as I get a chance. The titles are Feral Attraction and Chance Encounter. Both are short stories, one is about Brand and one is about Erik. show less

This is a story about Brand, an alpha werewolf who doesn't want to lead. He ran away from his throne for hundreds of years but when the two women who are part of his brood are endangered, he'll have to finally stand and fight.

Brand makes a very interesting main character since he is fighting against the world as well as his own inner beast. He's still a bit too perfect and self-sacrificing for my tastes (reminds me of Edward from Twilight) but other readers might enjoy reading about him.

One thing I disliked was how it feels like there is no one "actively moving". As in, Brand is just waiting for trouble to come instead of doing something. I know that he's established as a guy who likes to run away but it just doesn't seem right, with show more his personality.

Overall, an interesting book that fans of werewolves might like. There's action and quite a few racy scenes as well! Not for children. show less

This is a very enjoyable, well-written book. There is some serious talent here, and I look forward to future offerings from this author. Coral Moore has created some great characters, each fully developed with a strong and intriguing personality of their own. I'm not even a big fan of werewolf books -- too often I find them obnoxious and overdone. I do commend this author, though, for writing convincing werewolves without overwhelming the story with their wolfishness.

My only complaint would be that the pace of the story went along so quickly that I reached the end too soon. Not saying that anything was short-changed or underwritten; there's a satisfying sense of completion, and there are no boring lags in the plot. Yet, I would have show more liked things drawn out just a little more -- or more accurate to say, I wanted to read more of this story. show less

If you’re a wolf, you know that the wolf who kills the King becomes the next King. Which is exactly Brand’s problem since he killed his sire. He doesn’t want to be King – he doesn’t want anything, if fact; other than to be left alone. His life before Gier’s death had been hell. In the Broods of Fenrir, females were slaves, bought and sold to anyone or won in battle. Male offspring were beaten, tortured and often killed by sire’s too mean to share the females with them. This was Brand’s young life.
Now running a successful security business in Denver, Brand stays to himself other than Alice, whom he rescued from a butcher of a wolf and Erik, earl of another group, who is his best friend. Alice is his friend, nothing more show more and sometimes he feels he rescued her on that backroad just to lose her. She is so timid and shrinking although an excellent empathy and healer.
When his “caretaker” from youth calls him he feels he has to see what she’s up to. Ingrid was never sane on her best days and she hasn’t had many of those lately; but even Brand didn’t expect this one: Ingrid wants him to mate with her daughter, Dagny, who technically belongs to Brand’s younger brother. To say that she is beautiful is an understatement and Brand is immediately aware that she will end up his mate. Ingrid’s plan goes wrong (as they nearly always do) and Brand escapes her with Dagny in tow.
There are murder, violence, lab experiments, love, death in battle and an excellent description of wolf culture in this novel. There is obedience, groveling and tears. The struggle with Ingrid is but a small part of the whole in Broods of Fenrir. The King who won’t be King has his hands full with Dagny, his brother, Ingrid and a few humans thrown in to make things interesting. If you like paranormal tales this is a good one and you don’t want to miss it. show less

Brandulf Gierson was raised by a bastard of a father, one who beat the females and males around him into submission in order to assert dominance and authority. His ruled with an iron fist until Brand killed him with his sire’s own sword…and then walked away from his destiny: to be King of the Broods of Fenrir, for the wolf who kills the King becomes the King. Except Brand doesn’t want to be King; in fact, he doesn’t want anything but to bow out of the broods and be left alone.
Brand manages to avoid brood society for hundreds of years by closing himself off from them, but he can avoid their brutal politics no longer when two women he cares for are threatened and another innocent woman is attacked. At the risk of becoming like show more his father, he either must become King or let the broods fall even further into chaos, and that’s a chance even he may not be willing to take.

Broods of Fenrir is a very in-your-face, somewhat violent shifter novel. It reminds me a little of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, but instead of vhampires, we have werewolves. And these werewolves aren’t Jacob, folks, oh no. These werewolves are dominate, big, beastly men who will rip your head right off at just a slight provocation. They have a pecking order and you best follow it. Broods of Fenrir is a heated novel, both emotionally and sexually. Speaking of sex, there is some, but it isn't over the top or really dirty. It was just enough to fit in with the flow of the story.

There are three separate plot lines in Broods of Fenrir: 1) a rogue werewolf is murdering innocent victims, 2) Ingrid’s intention to force Brand to into his destiny as King, and 3) werewolves are being killed off or mysteriously disappearing. These three plot lines don’t seem to be integrated with each other (if they are, it wasn’t obvious to me) and I think the book would have been better served with a heavy focus on one, rather than all three. As it stands, the book starts off with a female brutally murdered by a werewolf, then shifts to Brand before finally focusing on the murdered wolves. It felt a bit disjointed, but I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it, because it was definitely intriguing.

The world building is done rather well. Moore takes our world and adds her twist of werewolves and makes it completely believable. She even manages to humanize them while still making them seem like beastly, savage creatures. They seemed to hold on to these threads of humanity though sheer willpower, as if any slight or provocation would cause the beast to take over. The desperation Brand displays in wanting to retain his humanity and humility makes him appear to be especially thoughtful and powerful, even though his fellow males in the Brood seem to find that a weakness.

The other characters are also engaging to the story: Ingrid is a particular wolf I still can’t quite get my head around. She was absolutely nuts but nothing she did seemed to be without some grand plan in mind. Dagny is a strong-willed character and I liked her a lot. She is a fighter that doesn’t take crap from anyone and she is willing to stand up to the men in the brood. I admired her. Alice struck me as somewhat weak, even though I know the author intended her to be that way. I had a hard time believing her nature just didn’t take over and allow her to be a bit more vicious.

Overall, this was an enjoyable urban fantasy. I haven’t read many shape-shifter novels, but I am pretty fascinated with them and Broods of Fenrir did not disappoint me. Coral Moore did a great job keeping the story flowing and the characters interesting and I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of this genre. show less

Brand Geirson has been running away from his past and his destiny ever since he killed his brutal father. But with his loved ones in danger, he must come back to his past and the throne - if he expects his world to survive.

A riveting tale. I found lead character Brand to be fascinating. Not your average Alpha - but a delight all the same. The beautiful cover made me eager to read this one and find out more about Brand. Broods of Fenrir is an intense, fast moving story. The shapeshifters here seem to be more vicious than other wolves I've read about. I loved that these wolves are rooted in Norse Mythology. Ms. Moore's writing is smooth and engaging. Wolf and Norse fans alike should give this one a try.