Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
Alpha and Omega #2
Rating: 9/10
Patricia Briggs returns to the world introduced in Moon Called. In this world, vampires, werewolves and faeries exist, mostly hidden from the sight of the typical person. This is about to change as Bran Cornick, the Marrok (ruler) of the North American werewolves, prepares to announce their presence to the world. In preparation, a conference is being held in Seattle with the European leaders.
Bran sends his younger son, Charles, and Charles' wife Anna to Seattle to represent the American wolves. There they are met by Dana Shea, a powerful fae who is to serve as the neutral moderator of the conference. Soon after Charles and Anna arrive in Seattle, Anna is attacked by vampires and only the power of one of her hosts, Moira the witch, saves her from being abducted. The strangest part of the attack was the vampires were aided by werewolf magic.
A wide cast of characters are evident, a few familiar. The blind witch Moira and werewolf Tom Franklin were introduced in the short story "Seeing Eye" in Strange Brew, but the story isn't needed to enjoy Hunting Ground. The most powerful werewolves are a strange bunch, from the French Jean Chastel, otherwise known as the Beast, to the British Arthur who believes he is the reincarnation of King Arthur. At the conference another rare Omega is attending, giving Anna her first opportunity to share experiences with another of her kind.
One of my favorite things about this book is the hints given about Bran's past, even if he rarely appears "on stage." Bran is ancient, even by werewolf standards and is easily one of the most powerful werewolves alive. His influence is felt throughout Europe, after his muzzling of the Beast before he left for America centuries ago.
The reader is privy to the thoughts of the characters, mostly Anna and Charles. The reader sees the changes in Anna and Charles caused by their recent marriage and mating. Battered and nearly broken Anna is gaining confidence and healing from her emotional wounds. On the other hand, the emotional walls Charles has built to act as his father's enforcer are weakened by his love for Anna. With her in his life, he is finding it increasingly difficult to stay aloof from others and in some ways is struggling with how to treat Anna. His instincts want him to keep her safe in Montana in the heart of his father's territory, but intellectually knows that would do her no good and probably poison their marriage, in addition to losing her special skills as an Omega to help him prevent bloodshed.
Hunting Ground is an enjoyable read, even if it ends too soon. The reader has two choices on how to first enter this world. First is to read Briggs' first novel in this setting, Moon Called, about the Native American walker Mercedes Thompson. A more direct way to reading about Charles and Anna is the story "Alpha and Omega" in the collection On the Prowl, followed by the novel Cry Wolf.
Here be spoilers:
A bit of an interesting take on Arthurian legend. It didn't dominate the story and served more as character motivation. Didn't guess Dana Shea's true identity though it makes sense from clues given in the book.