Title: Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs
Genre: fantasy, urban fantasy
Pages: 288
My Average: 14 pages a day
No Mercy For the Weak
Mercy Thompson works a blue collared job in a seemingly normal town, except for the vampires, werewolf’s and occasional fae that also live there. While the world is partially in the dark about the strange creatures that sack their groceries, fix their cars and suture their wounds, Mercy is well aware, but she has her own secret –she’s a walker. When Adam, the alpha of the resident werewolf clan is attacked, his daughter is kidnapped and Mercy’s assistant is left dead on her doorstep, Mercy is out for blood. With the assistance of an old friend, Mercy and Adam hunt down Jesse’s kidnappers and discover a hive of deception.
What I liked:
From the first sentence, the reader is drawn deep into the paranormal world in the Tri-Cities. The deeper the reader gets into the novel, the faster the pace becomes until all you can think about is ‘when will the clock will strike five so I can rush home to read?’ One reason the pace works is because the characters share a common goal and they continuously worked toward it, never breaking in the slightest. Another reason is the unexpected twists that throw monkey wrenches into the novel’s directionality.
One of the unexpected events, which I will not go into detail, was the light love triangle. There wasn’t much romance at all in the book, as there shouldn’t be when there’s a kidnapped girl to find and werewolves to kill, but there is enough of it to make the reader’s heart flutter.
The mystery that leads the story line is a well-kept secret. I usually guess the killer early on, but Briggs does a good job of masking the antagonist until near the end. I found myself enthralled with the who-done-it parts of this book and trying to guess the traitor.
Lastly, the novel has hints of similarities to the Magic series by Ilona Andrews.
What I didn’t like:
The strong heroin was nice, but I felt like she struggled for dominance as the main character throughout the book. Mercy’s lack of dominance in the first third of the book turned me of to her, and I found myself looking to stronger characters like Adam and Samuel. I also felt like I didn’t know enough about Mercy to really get to know her and root for her. There were many things that got left out and weren’t answered until near the end of the novel.
The scenery was a little lacking at times, especially during fight scenes. Yes, there isn’t much time to set up the scene and kill a slew of furry men at the same time, but at least let me know how the main character gets from a beat up truck behind a warehouse to inside.
I was confused about the book cover after I got threw the novel. I suppose it is supposed to look like every other fantasy/urban fantasy novel with a chick that looks like she could break your neck with the snap of her fingers, but the attire and background reflect nothing that is in the novel. From what I gathered in the book, Mercy is more of a tomboy. She wears sports bras (not cut-off work shirts tied above her midriff. I can’t remember her actually cutting her arm. And based on information at the end of the book, she normally wears her watch on the right wrist, not the left. Now to the ominous gated background obviously leading to something dark and unwelcoming... I don’t remember a gate, unless it is supposed to say “Werewolf’s only, no walkers allowed, all unwelcome will be impaled by our mighty claws, or wrought-iron gate.”
There were a few inconsistencies in the novel that I had to stop what I was doing and search threw the novel until I found the contradiction. Because the end goal was to critique, I believe there was more time spent double-checking than I would normally do, but none the less... my concentration on the story itself was broken with the contradictions.
Finally, the ending gets a little too ADD for me. The last few pages jump from prospective to prospective. Mercy looses her main character cred. to the Marrok for a brief paragraph, then regains it only to jump from topic to topic each paragraph herself.
All in all, I enjoyed reading this novel and I would defiantly read any sequels.
Rating: C+
About the Author:
Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
Stay tuned for the next book:
Alyssa Goodnight
Alyssa Goodnight
Historical Romance
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