Briggs, Patricia: Moon Called
Moon Called
Writer: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 288
I'd never given Patricia Briggs's work much thought, but two of my SHU colleagues highly recommended it. Between that and my random fetish for werewolves, I picked it up and decided to give it a whirl. And I know I said my next review would be Karen E. Peterson's Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer's Block. Period., but I warned you that I'd need a break, so a break I took.
There's a lot that's appealing in this urban fantasy despite its cast of the usual suspect of fangs, fur, and fey. Top on the list is the main character herself, Mercy Thompson, who is a "walker" (derived from "skinwalker") and can shape-shift into a coyote, but more important is the fact she's an auto-mechanic. That, my friends, is just too damn cool.
Mercy keeps her head down and her nose clean when it comes to the supernatural beings around her, many of which would rather see her dead because of what she is (a walker, not a mechanic). But when a newly-Changed werewolf shows up at her shop in obvious need of help, Mercy lends him a hand. In doing so, she gets herself caught in the middle of a pack war and has to use every resource available to make things right. Every resource means herself and her friends (of the vampire, fae, and were variety).
It's a good book. I was very pleased to see a different set of werewolf dynamics that followed the loose structure (Alphas, yo) but kept its werewolves different from those I'm already familiar with, like Carrie Vaughn's and Kelley Armstrong's.
So, if you're a fan of the weres, but worry that this book will be yet just another in a string of nothing-specials, never fear. This is worth the read.
Worth the read, and it also springboards nicely into a series.
One of the things that kept tripping me up in the book, which will most likely be thing that the series is based on, is why in the hell Mercy is seen as such a threat by the preternatural creatures of the Tri-Cities (and other places). So she can shape-shift into a coyote. Big deal! She can't do much in that form (she's not big and strong like a werewolf), and other than her shifting ability, she's got heightened senses and the ability to sense magic. The book stresses over and over, particularly at the scene with the vampires, that Mercy is an enemy for being a walker, but for the life of me, I don't see why.
Clearly, I'm hooked to keep reading. Briggs dangles possibilities in front of the reader in this book, but just when we're ready to grab for them, she swipes them away, laughing manically. I do like that Mercy's one of the last of her kind so there's no one around to teach her what it REALLY means to be a walker, and I'm in absolute love with the scene Mercy related of her mother finding a pup in the crib instead of a baby. That was all kinds of awesome.
That nitpick aside, which is less of a nitpick and more of a frustration that I don't have the rest of the books on me, the read was a fast and smooth one. Adam threw me for a bit at first, because I kept seeing him as an older, cranky, mob-like guy, and his note to Mercy about her cat had me laughing out loud. I was horrified but still amused, especially when I realized he was joking. Still, the idea of a werewolf eating someone's pet cat because said cat won't stay off the werewolf's property...sorry, that's just funny.
I was also very drawn to Mercy's past and why she's so hated in Aspen Creek. The subplot of reproduction and Mercy's value was so entrenched in the plot that I was half-convinced the attack on Adam had something to do with that. That wasn't the case, but I liked how Briggs took the issue and handled it face on. It made a wonderful conflict on so many levels, especially since werewolves still tend to treat their women as objects rather than people, an observation Mercy makes many times. The men in her life--Adam and Sam--are constantly trying to claim her, but as she constantly reminds them, she's not a were and therefore not one of the pack and can't be claimed. Still, the attraction to both men is there, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out. My heart ached for Sam a bit when I learned that his wolf-self had accepted Mercy as a mate all those years ago, and that when she left, he'd PINED for her, but I also root for Adam, who despite his bluster, truly cares for her.
But one of the best things about the book was the handling of the fae community in its parallel to homosexuality. This parallel is made even more obvious by the fact that this book has a gay werewolf, which is all KINDS of awesome. That was a touching little conflict there, and I was pleased to see it. I can't say I've even HEARD of a gay werewolf in any UF series, so I'm thrilled with Warren and his lover Kyle, and hope they stick around.
Honestly, there's not much to pick at. I read this book super-fast, and if I had any real complaints, it was the clump of info-dumping in dialogue explaining what was REALLY going on. Fortunately, it wasn't too painful, but I couldn't help but notice it dragged the prose down a bit, as well as slowed down the read for a few pages. One thing's for sure, all my suspicions about what was happening and why and what would come of it certainly turned out to be WRONG, and that's rather nice.
There's a total of .01% romance in this, so those of you who fear that most all urban fantasy must also have paranormal romance, never fear. This book is steeped in mystery and the supernatural, and there's only a spark of romance. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if that spark turned into a flame in later books.
And speaking of later books, I was quite tempted to make the 45 minute drive to Knoxville just to pick up the rest of the books in the series. I enjoyed this well enough to keep reading, and next time I'm in Knoxville, I'll pick up the rest. But for now, I'll just have to make due with the other unread urban fantasy sitting on my shelf, as well as the writer's block/procrastination books I need to finish.
Is it bad that even though I should be reading more of the latter books, I want to read urban fantasy instead? *whistles innocently*
Next up: Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer's Block. Period. by Karen E. Peterson
IF I don't break down and snatch another urban fantasy off the shelf. The thought's tempting. Really, you have NO idea... :)