Moon Called

It's now been a decade since Moon Called was published, and it remains a solid, reliable series in the urban fantasy genre. My first time reading it, I pretty much loved it. It has steady action, an intriguing female lead and decent world-building. It also has a gentle romantic build, a relief in a genre that is frequently focused paranormal sexy-times. If it is a little predictable, it's with the assurance that the experience will be satisfying and familiar, the literary equivalent of homemade bread.

Mercy is a half Native-American who is able to shapeshift into coyote form. She is a mechanic who owns her own business, thanks to the assistance of Zee, a metalsmith gremlin Fae who recently retired when the lesser Fae were forced to 'come show more out.' Although werewolves still live a secret existence, Mercy knows there is a large pack in the area, ever since Adam, pack leader, built a house on the property next to her trailer. When a newly-made werewolf shows up on Mercy's doorstep, she takes steps to protect him and facilitate his entry into the local pack. Unfortunately, disaster soon strikes with Adam and the pack being attacked, and Mercy finds herself drawn into protecting Adam. Helping him will mean dealing with emotional ties left hanging from her teenage years.

World-building is decent, as it attempts to integrate the creatures and powers of urban fantasy into a more mundane world. The idea of reservations for fae is intriguing, and will come to play later in the series. Vampires are given a standard horror-tinged persona, with the exception of Stephen, a vampire with an affection for Mercy. Language sophistication is average to above; Mercy has a degree in history and a couple years of German language, so she's able to bring insight and perspective to the mythos around her. As a first book and introduction to the world-premise, there's a lot of set-up. I felt most of it did not seem overly intrusive; in the beginning, Mercy distracts the young wolf with information about the pack, and then further information is given in context of Mercy's own history. There is a lot of hints for future development with both Fae and vampires.

There's a lot here that's solid, even if it has become somewhat stereotypical for the genre. While Mercy could be characterized as a 'Speshul Snowflake,' I think Briggs takes definite steps to mitigate the characterization through acknowledging the physical power difference of the coyote and her generally reduced physical abilities compared to werewolves. It's also clear that to know Mercy is not necessarily to love her (in contrast to Meg in The Others series by Bishop). While the female antagonism in the story could be a detraction--the story fails the Bechdel test--it's origin in Mercy's potential fertility has the potential for interesting metaphors about female empowerment. As expected for the genre, Mercy finds herself the focus of interest by two different and powerful werewolves. To her credit, she's pretty consistent in reminding them she actually belongs to no one but herself.

It isn't an edgy, boundary-pushing series, nor is it filled with one-liners or ass-kicking. It's a quieter, solid little story; the literary equivalent of warm homemade bread with butter. It holds up to re-reading, and as a final ring of endorsement, was worth hardcover inclusion in my library.

Re-read May 2016 show less

I'll confess to being a tough reader. I've started several urban fantasy series, only to find myself disenchanted with them two or three books in. But, this book and author have been very much recommended in the romance and sff communities, and as she was going to be the author GOH at DemiCon, I knew I wanted to at least read one of her books.

Like potato chips, you can't read just one Patricia Briggs book.

Mercy's voice and character instantly pulled me into the story. Sure, to maintain some distance and be objective, I'll note that cars and working on them played an important role in my childhood, so I love a tough mechanic, never mind the whole "girl in a boy's job" trope. But really, none of that mattered when I was reading. I was show more kept turning pages well into the night to try and find out what had happened and when this book ended, I immediately reached for the second.

Great characters. An intriguing cast. Realistic urban fantasy of the type that honestly, you don't really see in a very crowded field, Moon Called has firmly placed Patricia Briggs on my "favorite author" list, and I immediately turned to pick up book two. show less

I'm over a decade late joining the Mercy Thompson party (partly because I was put off by the, mostly inaccurate, covers) but now that I've read the first one, I want the rest RIGHT NOW:

I finally picked up "Moon Called" when I found that I was going to be trapped on another long-haul flight where they lock me in a steal tube for nine hours at a time. It was a good choice, time flew by and Patricia Briggs now has a new fan.

"Moon Called" is Urban Fantasy as it should be. There's a likeable, kickass heroine who was raised by werewolves, makes her living fixing German cars, can take on the shape of a Coyote at will and is happy to spend time with fey, vampires, werewolves and humans as long as they're interested in cars. There's a complex show more cast of weres and vampires and fey and humans who are written up as people rather than game avatars. There's a nicely curly plot with strong action scenes but with a pace slow enough to give me time to get to know people.

The whole thing has a positive, feel-good vibe to it without getting cosy and losing its edge.

Perhaps the main thing is that I like Mercy Thompson and want to know what happens to her.

So of course I immediately went back to audible.com to buy the next few books in the series (hey, who needs a smaller TBR pile anyway?) only to find that books 2-6 are not available. I HATE IT when this happens. It usually means an argument about rights somewhere. I hope they get it sorted out soon. I could buy the ebooks but I'd prefer listen to Lorelei King telling the story.

Listen to the SoundCloud link below to hear why

https://soundcloud.com/hachetteaudiouk/moon-called-by-patricia-briggs-audiobook-... show less

I absolutely loved Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson is a cool chick. She's smart, she's not full of herself, she thinks before she opens her mouth, and even better: she thinks before she acts.

Mercy is a skinwalker, loosely affiliated with the werewolves but not one of them. She's easy to get along with, but she remains an outsider - not pack, not vampire, not human. Being special has made her life more difficult in a lot of ways, but she appreciates her gift.

I liked the way the book was written and constructed - a very strong, clean narrative voice, with magic integrated coolly and seamlessly into the contemporary landscape. Briggs has an interesting way of tweaking the standard paranormal landscape - the interplay show more between technology and the supernatural here is pretty cool, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out through the rest of the series. Lots of politics, werewolf politics, vamp politics, but not too pompous. The other characters are great, and the location is pretty cool - a small city in the Pacific Northwest.

I recommend it highly. show less

Despite the ridiculous cover, I really enjoyed this book. I loved Mercy - she was tough but not ridiculously so. She still had some vulnerability about her. The secondary characters were also developed and really rounded out the story.

The plot revolves around the kidnapping of the local Alpha's daughter and the book actually sticks to this track rather than becoming secondary to the protagonist's love life as in so many other books. I liked that everything did not revolve around sex like in so many paranormal books recently. There are love interests but she doesn't jump into bed with the first (or or any) guy who is good-looking.

We get a lot of info about paranormal creatures (werewolf pack behavior, vampire seethes, fae, etc) that show more helps to move along the plot but I suspect it will also come into play throughout the story.

The one thing I did not really like was the resolution to the mystery. The reasoning seemed weak and a little convoluted to me.

Overall very enjoyable and I look forward to the second in the series. show less

This is the first book In Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series. I’ve been trying to get around to this series for years, and finally did. “Moon Called” is the story of Mercy Thompson, a Half-Indigenous coyote shifter, and an attack on the werewolf pack that lives near her and of which she is sort of an honorary member. When the Alpha and his daughter are kidnapped, Mercy and the others jump on the trail to rescue them, and discover who would attack the pack in the first place (and why).

This is a solid first entry in a series, doing a good job of introducing the characters and the mythology while still leaving plenty of room to explore in the new world. I’m a big fan of Urban Fantasy and werewolves/shapeshifters, so I really show more gobbled this book up. It’s great to have discovered a new series with lots of books left to read! show less

Shape shifters, vampires and werewolves, oh my! I picked up Moon Called by Patricia Briggs mostly because it fits a reading challenge. I thought it would be a quick and easy read but I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. Now I am totally hooked and looking at yet another new series!

Mercy Thompson is an independent, snarky, no-fuss heroine who also happens to be a magical being, a shape shifter who can become a coyote at will. Her next door neighbour just happens to be the pack leader of the local werewolf pack. Mercy was raised by werewolves, so she understands the pack dynamics and is well able to hold her own.

Although this book didn’t really bring anything new to the urban fantasy table, it was still an engrossing, fun show more read and I think that is so because of the writing, in particular the dialogue. Patricia Briggs gives us an inventive, witty, action-packed paranormal mystery that pulled me in and left me eager to continue on with these characters. show less