Briggs, Patricia: On the Prowl
On the Prowl
Writer: Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 341
For all the urban fantasy that I read, I've never been one for these compilations/anthologies that are published. I've got a variety of half-assed reasons for this, but the point is, I wasn't going to get this one. In fact, I fought it. Yes, I wanted to read Patricia Briggs's novella that introduces the main character in her latest book, Cry Wolf, but I haven't read the other three authors, and I wasn't interested in reading them either.
But I broke, because I've seen enough reviews of Cry Wolf to make me realize I'll probably like that book much better if I have the novella under my belt. Plus, there is the added bonus of sampling authors I've never read before in order to get a better idea of whether or not I'll want to pursue their work.
But the truth is this: writing short stories or novellas is a bitch anyway, and it's even HARDER when said story takes place in a world you've created for your novel. You'd think it'd be easy, because all the world-building's done, but what's actually EASY is to keep the story self-contained as well as coherent. Yes, your readers might be familiar with your world and the on-going story, but readers of an anthology such as this may not be, and you want to do justice to both, particular the reader not in the know. After all, you want to attract more readers, right?
So reviewing this book is a little tricky. 3/4 stories take place in existing, established UF universes. And more to the point, this book is more paranormal romance than urban fantasy. I wondered why Border's had this book shelved in romance instead of SF/F where I'd seen it in Barnes & Noble, and now I know why. 3/4 stories have some seriously sexy scenes.
That's not a bad thing, necessarily. Just want to let you know what you're getting into. :)
"Alpha and Omega"
by Patricia Briggs
Ah, the only reason I bought this book. The story takes place during Moon Called, when Charles Cornick visits Chicago to find out what's happening with a certain werewolf. But the main character is Anna, who's called Bran to let him KNOW about this particular werewolf and Bran sends Charles to stick with Anna, because she's betrayed her Alpha by revealing this information and she may need protection.
But the Chicago pack is in worse shape than anyone realized, and poor Anna never knew any better. Turned three years ago, she's been repeated brutalized and raped into submission, and to make things better, she has to give nearly half of her paycheck to her pack, just like the rest of the wolves. Charles is appalled, especially when he realizes that Anna is not a submissive werewolf at all, but an Omega--one of the rare werewolves who can calm the pack just by their presence. And Charles realizes something else: his wolf has claimed her as his mate pretty much at first sight.
The story in and of itself is kind of weak, but it works. It's a set-up, yes, and it does a pretty good job of trying to stay contained and explaining what needs to be explained and what doesn't. I actually learned a lot about Briggs's werewolves that I hadn't before, which was pretty cool, since I've read all three of the Mercy Thompson books. Anna's likable and sympathetic, and her rank as an Omega isn't anything special in terms of magic, although it could be considered that. I was a little riled that Anna's the victim of gang-rape, but the plot of the story explains it and why it happened, so it works in context of the story, and fortunately, we never see actual violence in that regard. My only real complaint is that Anna and Charles fall for each other too fast, and even though this is the story with no sex, getting Charles's POV and his sudden lust was a bit jarring to the story for me.
"Inhuman"
by Eileen Wilks
I was very close to skipping this story. There's something about the world-building that felt a little too skeletal for me, and the details I did get were too familiar. Also annoying was the main character Kai's name: another classic example of a heroine having a WICKED-COOL NAME when everyone else she knows has normal, common names. Also, annoying use of capital letters (Gift), and the fact I never could really figure out just what exactly Kai's gift was, until the end.
Then I realized there would be fairies. And then I noticed how gosh-darn-long the actual story was, and I really, really wanted to quit.
But I kept going. The basic premise is that there was some kind of EVENT that triggered magic in people and the world's trying really hard to deal with it. Naturally, there's a kind of hate going on for magic people, and when a series of serial murders hits, Kai suddenly becomes suspect. But it's her sexy neighbor, a police officer, who manages to save her. Turns out, he's a misplaced Hellhound, which was very, very odd.
Why odd? Because we get the impression that before he was sent to hunt down a mage in this world, he was the Winter Queen's lover. That's odd because I then get the impression from the Huntsman that he's never seen Nathan in human form, only as a hound, and so, my brain REALLY starts getting weird images about a hound and a queen. Sorry, but can you blame me?
Anyway, the story's just not satisfying. The serial killer is a chameleon, a shape-shifter that's taken Kai's shape because there's a connection between the two of them (it has something to do with Kai's Gift) but is so lost and hungry for magic in this not-so-magical realm that she keeps killing magic users to get a fix. Or something. Anyway, by the end of the story, the chameleon is a giant cat, Nathan refuses to return home because he's in love with Kai, and Kai's Gift is so dangerous that both the Huntsman and the Winter Queen want to kill her, but send her on a Quest instead so she can prove she's worthy of her gift.
Or something. When I first started this story, I thought it took place in an existing world. Now I wonder if it's a springboard for a new series, sort of like Briggs's was, only the difference is that I have no interest in any of Wilks's work now, whereas Briggs's made me excited to read the new series. Maybe it's bias, but this novella touched too many of my pet peeves for me to enjoy it.
"Buying Trouble"
by Karen Chance
Now Karen Chance is a name I've noticed, especially since she has rather nice covers to her books. But I've pretty much ignored those books because I don't want another author added to my stack of books I want to read and catch up on, and this gave me a good chance to sample the author's work without having to buy an actual novel.
The good thing about this story is that it feels self-contained. Maybe the universe exists in one of Chance's unpublished works, but as far as I can tell, none of her published works take place in this world, so yay. I was a little worried about it when I saw that a Lord of the Fey was after Claire, but the suck-you-in prose kept me going just fine, and I liked the whole idea of selling magical (or fake magical) items and how Claire was a null. I also liked seeing her up for sale and learning why she was so valuable, and then the rest of the story that followed was fun. I cringed a little when it turned out she was, essentially, half-Dragon, but since she didn't know that herself, I can't get too mad. It was a fun story. I especially liked the details of her being a newborn and a vegetarian. That's just cute. I'm also a sucker for elves, and I'm amused that in this world, "elf" is a pejorative term. HA!
I do think the final scene was rushed just a wee bit, but overall, I liked the prose well-enough to consider reading her actual novels, and she gets bonus points for having THE ONLY SELF-CONTAINED STORY IN THE BUNCH.
"Mona Lisa Betwining"
by Sunny
Oh, this story struck out before I even got started. 1) The author's name is Sunny. That's it. THAT'S IT. This drives me crazy in so many ways I can't even count them, and it's hard to NOT make jokes about the author just using ONE NAME for her work. 2) The title--it clued me into the fact that this wasn't a stand-alone story at all, and with a little research on Amazon.com, I found out that this takes place between books two and three of an on-going series--a series, I might add, I had glanced at in the store because no matter what I think of her name, Sunny gets DAMN pretty covers. Seriously, go peak at her website. Anyway, knowing this wasn't self-contained, that it actually took place BETWEEN books, annoyed the crap out of me. 3) There's a letter at the end of the story. From the author to the reader. Which is fine, as she's promoting a spin-off series featuring a character from the story. But it's the wording of the letter itself that, well, let's just say if the name of the author alone wasn't a clue, the letter was. Find this book in the store and then flip to the back to the letter. It's not long. Just read it, and try not to laugh your ass off.
Anyway. I started reading the story. And wanted to STOP reading the story as soon as I started. The prose is way too formal for my taste, especially for what seems to be a rather modern setting. You can't shake the feeling that the prose, characters, story, and yes, the author too, takes itself WAY TOO SERIOUSLY. Which of course, makes it very hard for ME to take IT very seriously.
Mona Lisa (oh, another reason I have a hard time reading this. Couple the protagonist's name with all the painting references. Oy) is Monere and part human, and Monere, from what I can figure, is a race from the moon now living on Earth and they're essentially shape-shifters (werewolves) with a fancy name. Sure, there's culture here, but we get lots and lots of backstory from what happened in book two, and let's be honest: this book is an episode, a set-up for both book three and the spin-off series featuring the demon Lucinda (another annoyance: all the women have L names: Mona LISA, Mona LOUISA, LUCINDA. DUDE.). Oh, and there's two hot sex scenes, which shouldn't surprise me since the author DOES write erotica.
I really need to read something that's considered the best of the best erotica, so I can better understand that particular genre. Right now, I understand it intellectually, but I haven't read anything that makes me want to take it seriously and/or appreciate it. The sex scenes in this aren't bad at all, which is good for erotica, but the rest of it takes itself so seriously that I can't. Period. End of story. Clearly, I'm not Sunny's target audience, and that's fine. After all, now I'm spared of having to buy one of the novels just to have my curiosity sated because of the pretty covers.
My Rating
Give It Away: I only bought this book for one story, and of the four stories, I only really liked two. And if I were completely honest and unbiased, the only story that's really SOLID and good is Karen Chance's, but that's me. I understand why Borders shelved this book in the Romance section (but it's paranormal romance--don't let the spine saying "dark fantasy" fool you), and interestingly enough, the two stories I didn't like at all came from authors I suspect are highly marketed to Romance readers rather than SF/F readers. Go figure. But I got what I wanted out of the book, so I'm happy enough.
Next up:
Review: Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Book: Passage by Connie Willis
Graphic Novel: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore