Briggs, Patricia: Hunting Ground
Hunting Ground (2009)
Written by: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 286 (Mass Market Paperback)
I'll be honest: I dread writing this review. Ever since I've started reading Patricia Briggs's urban fantasy, I've really looked forward to new installments, and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one (in fact, Amazon had a ridiculous discount on the pre-order, so I had to wait to get my copy instead of getting it at the store). As soon as I got this, I devoured it, and now I dread the review. And that makes me really, really sad.
The premise: in the second book of this series, Anna and Charles are taking the Marrok's place to represent a controversial new movement: to take the werewolves public. But not everyone's happy with that idea, especially the most powerful werewolf in Europe. And when Anna's attacked by a group of vampires using werewolf magic, both she and Charles have to work together to figure out who's trying to sabotage their mission, and who's trying to eliminate them both.
Review style: there's a whole lot of wrong with this book, IMHO, so I'm going to spend a lot of time talking about that. There is SOME good in this book, and I'll touch on it first. Yes, expect spoilers.
Let's be specific about a couple of things before we get into the DOOM.
1) I was really looking forward to this book. So much that when I saw it in WalMart after pre-ordering it from Amazon, I was tempted to pick it up anyway.
2) The BEST thing about this book is watching Anna grow as a character. No, she's not growing in leaps and bounds, but she's learning to become more comfortable in her relationship with Charles, more comfortable with her wolf, and she's learning what it means to be an Omega. Seeing her sit down and handle things MATURELY (even after a brief panic attack when she just wants to run) is SO REFRESHING compared to all of the other DRAMA that can litter anything with a romantic plot/sub-plot. Anna, once she gets a grip on her fear, wants to sit down and talk. She wants to understand. And that is AWESOME in a character. I also liked seeing her act on instinct in terms of being an Omega, and it was GREAT to meet another Omega in the book (Rik, who is Austrian). While I worry he may have been added to temper the "Mary Sue" criticism from Cry Wolf, I can live with that.
Now, for the DOOM.
I've never been entirely comfortable with Briggs's use of third person POV. In this particular book, I really didn't like getting into OTHER PEOPLE's heads, like Sunny's and the guy at the start who gets killed by vamps. But what's interesting is that while reading this book, I realize I have trouble with Charles's POV, and upon further reflection, I realize I always have. I can't sit here and point out exactly WHY Charles's POV rubs me the wrong way, other than to posit that he just doesn't read like a man who's 200(?) years old (not that I'm saying his POV should read like Lestat or Edward Cullen, but still). It's an odd thing, because I saw on Briggs's website that Charles's POV has always been the easiest for her, and Anna's is just now getting up to that speed of ease. Unfortunately, it's not clicking for me.
Or maybe my problem is the whole "Brother Wolf" persona. Something is going to HAVE to give regarding what Charles is and why he's so different from other weres, and something is also going to have to give in regards to his role in the pack. He's an assassin, and killer, and he does what he's supposed to because his Marrok/dad says so. Perhaps this book is building towards something bigger, something more explosive when Charles takes back his life and does what he's meant to rather than what he's told to, but right now, it's a point of unease in the characterization. Not necessarily something one looks forward to seeing how it's going to work out (which I am), but something I'm not sure Briggs will ever actually work out. Does that make sense? It's a wrinkle that needs smoothing, but I'm not sure Briggs is aware of that.
Talk about a vote of no confidence, huh? But that's a good segue into a trend I'm noticing with Briggs' work.
Before the spin-off series, she was publishing a book a year. An admirable number, especially for urban fantasy. Readers might whine and moan about having to wait for the next installment, but considering the publishing time-table, that's a pretty good turnaround.
The spin-off, Cry Wolf debuted at the end of July 2008, about six months after Iron Kissed, the third Mercy Thompson book. Following Cry Wolf was Bone Crossed, the fourth Mercy Thompson book, and that was released in February 2009. Starting with Iron Kissed, Briggs has had a major release almost every six months (Hunting Ground was released August 2009). She is not the only author to do this.
And I should note, before I make my theory, that I have no way of knowing what her actual writing schedule is. Just because she's publishing these books six months apart doesn't mean she's writing them and foisting them off to her editor ASAP. She could've had Cry Wolf and Hunting Ground waiting on her computer for a couple of years before they were published for all I know. I don't think that's likely, based on what little reading I've done in her website, but it's POSSIBLE. However, I think she's writing them (all of them, both the Mercy Thompson books and the Alpha and Omega books) on the fly.
Why do I think that?
For starters, I just didn't think Bone Crossed was as good as the previous Mercy Thompson books (and certainly NOT good enough to justify the hardcover price tag). It took too long to find the plot for one thing, and for anything else, you're welcome to read the review. ;) I'm not being coy, but this review is not about Bone Crossed and I don't want to spoil someone who's waiting for the mass market. But I chalked up the problems of Bone Crossed to the fact that Iron Kissed was really, REALLY epic in terms of character, and Briggs had to work through that.
Hunting Ground has no such pass.
Urban fantasy, even though popular perception centers around the ass-kicking, tough-talking heroine who battles/befriends/falls in love with fangs, fur, or fey, is still, by definition, fantasy that's set in an URBAN SETTING. Now, I don't pick up Patricia Briggs or Carrie Vaughn or anyone else expecting them to treat their settings like, say, Charles de Lint, but I'm starting to realize I want the setting to be, if not important to the story, then at least well-detailed. I don't need paragraphs upon paragraphs describing mindless detail either, but I also don't want to feel like I'm just thrown in a generic city that has a familiar label. Admittedly, I've not been to Seattle, and I'm certain Briggs threw in a few things that the locals would squee over seeing in this book (like the troll!), BUT. That's decoration. For the most part, setting detail was lacking in this book, and maybe my tastes are evolving, but I want the city to play a role in my urban fantasy. Because, yanno, it's URBAN FANTASY. Why did this summit have to take place in Seattle? What was so special about this city? Why not Phoenix, Arizona or Gatlinburg, Tennessee or anywhere else in the world? Tie the setting to the plot, and when you're dealing with mythical creatures, that can be a LOT of fun. If Seattle was chosen for the fae that would moderate (and my memory is jumping up and down and telling me it was), why did SHE choose that location to settle in? Make it important. Make it part of the plot. Make me care. Don't just pick a spot on the map, throw in a few tourist attractions, and forget about it.
But this whole diatribe on setting is really just a reflection on how sparse the book really is. Setting detail ranges from anything like city detail to personal detail, and so often, so many details would get lost in action, dialogue, or something resembling a plot. Oh, the plot. Talk about tangles.
Let me get this straight: Bran is taking the US werewolves public, but is having a submit to explain his reasons to the international werewolves, but if said international werewolves don't like it, tough shit because Bran's gonna do it anyway? And then there's something, which I didn't entirely understanding, about buying them off with special offers (to come into the States, where they will be PUBLIC) so they don't cause a fuss? Huh? The whole basis for this book just didn't make sense to me. And that's not including the major continuity error.
Sunny is the UK Alpha's (Arthur) human mate. When the vampires attack her, she is told, "I regret that your death will not be so kind. My employer failed me--and so I no longer have to follow his so-explicit instructions" (p. 170, emphasis mine). This scene happens after their attempt to kill Anna FAILED, and he wants a little revenge for losing some of his own (the vampire).
Here's my problem: 1) How did the employer, who we later learn to be Sunny's mate, fail the vampires? 2) Doesn't the quote seem to indicate that the vampires are going after Sunny, their employer's mate, out of revenge rather than INSTRUCTIONS? Yes, one could make a case that Arthur requested that Sunny be killed kindly, but when we learn that Arthur did sign off on her murder and is so crazy that he didn't seem to care about her, I find myself asking if this isn't a major continuity error. Arthur intended for Sunny to die because she was aging and couldn't be with him forever (why didn't he just CHANGE her when she was younger if he loved her so much?)--he planned on kidnapping Anna, killing Charles, and having her choose him as a mate once both of their respective mates were eliminated. Sunny's death impacted Arthur negatively too, so he couldn't carry out an important part of his plan, which in the end, got him caught.
So. Is this a continuity error, or a bump in the plot that could be smoother, or am I reading too much into it? Because really, the WHOLE PLOT, if not full of errors, is such a bumpy ride that when the book was over, I found myself scratching my head. The Beast was disposed of far too easily to be built up as such a threat. Dana's death worked because of the fact that no one took Anna seriously enough to consider her a threat, but how Anna was able to kill her felt a little contrived and too convenient (all the second-guessing about the Grey Lord's intentions made my head hurt, since it amounted to nothing). There's also the fact that Anna participating in the hunt amounted to NOTHING. What happened at the hunt would've happened whether she participated or not, and that was frustrating. There should've been some kind of consequence to that, not negative per se, but something that would not have happened, something important, had she not participated.
I'm also getting the feeling like Briggs is relying too much on the other books in both series to propel this along. Yes, there's some world-building and I learn a few new things, but there's so much I've forgotten that I'm clearly expected to remember/know. Maybe this is my fault, maybe it's the author's, or maybe it's a mix of both, but so much is so sparse that I feel Briggs is taking her world for granted. She knows it, but forgets to put everything necessary on the page. That may not be a fair observation, and again, the blame might lie more on me than anything, but I wanted to put that out there for discussion.
There's also the romance between Anna and Charles. At the start of the book, I was amused, but these two don't click like I've seen other pairs do in other urban fantasies. That may be part of their story in terms of coming together, but one thing's for sure: I'm not reading these books for the spark between the two main characters. There's a part of me that wishes we only got a single POV, like just Anna's, so there's more tension and I have to guess more about what's going on, and that may be part of the problem for me. I don't know. I wonder how others feel about Anna and Charles as a couple.
And while Anna is growing as a character, I want to see her for who she is, make a claim on the woman she was before the wolf. The scene where she played piano was fantastic (I didn't remember she was a music major!), and I'd like to see Charles notice something like that and, say, buy her a cello. That would be a lovely, wonderful romantic gesture. And that's something I think I'd like to see more of between these two. Something more romantic, because they fell into this too quickly, and it's all about letting her heal and making sure she's comfortable with sex (which is important), but I want to see them work together as a couple. Have a little romance, but let me see them as partners. I guess they aren't there yet even though their mating bond solidified in book one, so I'm not sure what to expect.
I do know one thing: I want to see Charles, Anna, Mercy, and Adam all in a room together. Maybe on a double-date. Or, if I can't have that, something where Anna and Mercy get to work together. That'd be fascinating!
My Rating
Give it Away: I say this because it's such a completely forgettable book. Nothing of consequence happens, and that's partially due to the nature of the plot that I'm still trying to work out, because the said premise felt so completely unnecessary, and without said premise, there'd be no book. Yes, Patricia Briggs fans are going to want to read this, but I'm starting to suspect/worry that the quality in Briggs's work is slipping and sliding downhill. This isn't the same writing I got when I read the first Mercy Thompson novel (Moon Called), and aside from the fear that Patricia Briggs is relying too much on the readers' knowledge of previous books to really let the world shine in this particular one, I worry on a bigger level that she's writing too much, too fast. This book felt sparse and unnecessary. Just another adventure that really didn't MEAN much. At least with the first three Mercy Thompson books, the stories meant something to the characters and the world-at-large. But now that Briggs is publishing a book every six months, I wonder: I wasn't all that fond of Bone Crossed either, and this is now the second book that leaves me wondering how long I'll continue the series (both the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega). Yes, I'll get the next installments, but I really hope the quality improves. Because I know Briggs is a better writer, but if the simple basics (characterization, plotting, etc) don't get stronger, I can't justify spending the money. We'll see what 2010 brings for both Mercy Thompson and Anna and Charles Cornick, but right now, I have my doubts. I like Charles and Anna well enough, but it's bland, and if Briggs truly can't handle two series at once, I'd rather she drop Alpha and Omega and incorporate Charles and Anna into the Mercy Thompson books better.
For people who ARE interested in Briggs's urban fantasy, particularly the Alpha and Omega books, this is what you need to read before getting your hands on Hunting Ground:
"Alpha and Omega" in On the Prowl
Cry Wolf
And yes, you really need to read it in order: Cry Wolf picks up right where "Alpha and Omega" left off. If you don't want to start with the Alpha and Omega books, then pick up Moon Called instead. :)
Cover Commentary: while I had problems with the book, I love-love-LOVE the cover! No tattoos on Anna (yay!) and it's a compelling scene that's pretty much in the book (hint, it's after the literal hunt). The coloring is great too, but if I had to criticize anything, I'd say Anna's fingernails look a little too sharp and pointy. ;)
Next up: Looking for Alaska by John Green
DON'T FORGET: September's book challenge is Emma Bull's War for the Oaks. Details are here. ALSO: I'm taking book title suggestions for October's theme: horror/ghost stories! :)