Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1)
by Patricia Briggs
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Book Reviews of Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1)
Book Review: Excellent writing
Summary: 5 Stars
If anyone wonders whether reviews here matter, I bought this book on speculation: I wanted something with werewolves and vampires, and I liked the reviews already here. (Plus it's part of Amazon's 4-for-3 deal.) It's definitely not the type of fiction I usually get, but I generally enjoyed it despite that - or, of course, maybe because of it. Anyway, this book is generally about character interaction, and written in the first person. You need good characters and good writing to pull the first off, plus a great main character for the second. This book has them. The descriptions are of the minimalist variety, giving us important and vivid details and letting our imaginations fill in the rest.
Perhaps it is best to give a bit of the plot. Mercy Thompson, a non-werewolf shapeshifter, meets a young, new werewolf at her garage. After the introductions to the author's world, the local area and Mercy herself are done, the young werewolf is dead, Mercy's neighbour's daughter is kidnapped, and Mercy is taking her badly injured werewolf neighbour to her foster family, of more werewolves. Then we get a long section of Mercy returning to where she grew up, dealing with the changes and the emotional baggage. Mercy herself is a great character. She's an independent, somewhat anarchistic person who knows how to maintain both her independence and her friendship with the very hierarchical werewolves and others around her. She's also just good at making people feel comfortable with her, the reader included. The other characters are also excellent. Every character, no matter how minor or short their appearance, is distinct. The main characters are fully developed and utterly believeable. It is also clear that the author worked out the laws and rules of conduct of the North American werewolf culture, and then determined how those laws would be bent and altered and fudged to fit in with what the characters deal with in real life.
With that said, about two-thirds of the way in the heart goes out of this book. While Mercy is with her foster family, or with her neighbour's wolfpack, the confrontations are generally between people bound by familial love or friendship. When she returns home, she begins to discover which of her neighbours are willing to work with lethal mercenaries against people they have known for years. After the concentration on the violence inherent in the werewolf nature, the shift to calculated human ruthlessness was too great and too abrupt for me. It took away a lot of the enjoyment factor of the rest of the book.
With that said, I quite enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book, and my issues with the last third are in style, not quality. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy stories that deal mostly with personalities and character interaction, and not combat or investigation. I can also say it makes a good change of pace for someone who generally avoids this style of writing.
Book Review: What a ride!
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the weekend, I've finished reading Patricia Briggs' "Moon Called" and let me tell you, that I've tremendously enjoyed that one. After the disappointment that was Anita Blake, this book was like a breeze of a fresh air. There was action, there was humor, there were very much likable characters and... WEREWOLVES! Yeah, yeah, paint me weird but werewolves and wolves as such fascinate me like few other things. Must be the whole Pack thing, dominant and submissive stuff etc. And this book is filled with it to the brim.
And what is it about? Mercy owns a car repair shop and lives a happy life with her Manx cat Medea. Her old boss is a gremlin, she repairs cars for the local vampire circle among other things, her neighbour is the local werewolf Alpha and her best friends is a cute gay couple, where one of the guys is a were and the other a divorce lawyer. Oh, and she can turn into a coyote. But otherwise, she is a completely normal young woman. She is spunky, she has guts but she doesn't have to be sarcastic or spiteful to prove her worth to others. She knows what she wants and she doesn't allow anybody, not even the Marrok to put her down. And so, Mercy, a walker, gets mixed up in the power struggle in the werewolf society when the werewolf that was helping her in the garage gets killed, her Alpha neighbour is almost killed and his daughter kidnapped. For once it's she, a mere coyote who has to save the life of a werewolf Alpha and figure out what the hell is going on!
What fascinated me the most was the hierarchy in the werewolf Packs. Especially the Marrok. It was so original and refreshing. I loved Bran and his sons, Samuel and Charles. And I loved Adam and Jesse. Even the character of the "rapist" Ben was interesting. But my most favorite among the weres was Warren. His relationship with Kyle and with the other werewolves was so complicated but so interesting at the same time!
I was happy to see another supporting gay character in Briggs' books, just like there was one in "Dragon Bones" and "Dragon Blood". I love it how complicated the gay characters usually are in her books. But this couple was much happier than the one in the Dragon books where it wasn't about love but about blackmail.
I think that one of the best things about this book are the relationships between the characters. Bran and Dr. Carson... Samuel and Mercy... Warren and Adam... It's about love and about friendship and in this book, these two feelings are actually inseparable.
Another great thing is that the book wasn't black and white. The good ones weren't just good and the bad ones just bad. Actually, at the end of the book, I've cried for the baddies! When you find out there reasons, how ever misguided they might have been, you just have to cry.
I would give "Moon Called" 4,5 stars. Why? Because I wish it was longer! XD I really do hope that Briggs will write a sequel.
Book Review: Wolf folklore at its grandest
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to expect from Briggs after reading so much praise for her books but it didn't take long to feel as if I passed out and woke up in werewolf heaven. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love werewolf anything so this was such a treat, totally unexpected because urban fantasy these days is such a wide mix, usually with witches and vampires with a wolf here and there, but this beast of a book has teeth, muscle, wit, charm and plenty of brawn. Briggs did an incredible job of floating the reader in a sea of incredibly perceptive werewolf folklore that was simply stunning and extremely interesting and she made it feel primordial and Earthy, the instincts, thrills and even some passion was intelligent and very deep. This book is merely a perception that its fantasy and fun, everything reads so realistically that I had a hard time believing that this world was made up. It was a lot to get through as the plot thickened very quickly, the main heroine had no other choice but to plunge and run wild with the pack and troubles never seemed to stay far behind.
Basically this novel is about Mercedes, a seemingly young girl (you never know how old those creatures really are) that can turn into a coyote at will. An echo of Native American folklore runs thorough the tale as she keeps herself busy running a car repair shop, pretending that she's nothing but an ordinary citizen. Never mind that her next door neighbor Adam is an alpha male, that's the big werewolf on campus, running a large pack of fluffy, irksome and very volatile werewolves. There is also Stefan, her vampire friend whose care she's fixing, and if anyone reads these kinds of books seriously, then they know that vampires are so much more devious and complex than the cunning and ultra sensitive weres and they can never get along! It isn't long when the two sides start to merge into Mercy's life when a strange boy shows up at her door, smelling like a wolf. He brings trouble with him and pretty soon something happens and Mercedes has no choice but get closer to the wolves and vampires to try and fight a new enemy, trouble is no one knows who the person is and why they are killing werewolves with strange drugs. When trust and loyalty issues come up between friends and pack members things get ugly as no one ever wants to refuse a fight, and fight they do.
I can't even scratch the surface of how freaking awesome this book was, so rich and intricate, totally delectable and gut stirring- a definite hit in my opinion. Now all I have to do is read the rest of the series to quench my thirst, I'm very curious future that unfolds in front of Mercedes and her very cool albeit dangerous friends. Briggs makes the life of a wolf almost beautiful, of course I don't know if I'd want to be one but it would be lovely to turn into one and run like a dog into the sunset once in a while.
Happy Halloween `08
- Kasia S.
Book Review: Over The Moon Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
If I could give this book ten stars, I would. This book was a smattering of 'Kitty and the Midnight Hour', a dollop of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books, a dash of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels and a sprinkle of 'Urban Shaman'. This book had everything I could possibly want and more: great characters, a wonderful story and enough intrigue to keep me wanting more.
Moon Called is about a new breed of shapeshifter who has the ability to turn into a coyote. Her name is Mercedes 'Mercy' Thompson. She owns and runs her own garage in The Tri-Cities, Washington. Our story begins when a runaway werewolf, Mac, finds himself at Mercy's garage looking for work for a few bucks. When another werewolf accompanied by a human comes trailing after Mac, Mercy learns that Mac was drugged, encaged and sold to another Alpha Male of another area. That's when the trouble starts. Soon Mercy is involved in a scheme to have the Marrok (The Ulrfic or Werewolf King, for better terms) killed. Who also just happens to be her foster father.
More is the fact that the night that Mac turns up dead on her porch, her sexy neighbor Adam, who is the local werewolf Alpha, is attacked by unknown visitors. Mercy, going with her gut instinct, takes Adam on a roadtrip bleeding and wounded to get help, traveling to her old hometown where she grew up and facing memories she would rather forget, namely a studmuffin werewolf by the name of Samuel.
As the story winds along, Mercy ends up seeking the help of her old boss, Zee, who you learn is a metalworking goblin. (The fey make appearances in this book, just so you know, but only as a shadowing part of the story) Mercy also ends up seeking the help of her vampire friend Stefan. She then finds herself toe to toe with the Mistress of the local vampire sithen, and not in a good way when the mistress tries to take a bite out of Samuel. Wait, there's more.
Just when you think Adam's pack is behind his attack, all the peices start to fall together and you learn the enemy is a little closer to home than you think.
This was an awesome read, one that I know I will read over and over. If Patricia doesn't make a series for Mercy, I think alot of fans will be more than just a little disappointed. She has to! Mercy's character was everything I was hoping it to be: down to earth, couragous and powerful in her own right. Hands down, I can tell you this character is going to give Anita Blake a run for her money! (Much like C.E Murphy's Joanne Walker aka Siohban Walkingstick) Since I had never read any of Patrici's work before this, I was very impressed. Excellent job!
I'm always on the look out for new authors and different perceptions on the whole werewolf/vampire world. Patricia's perception was refreshing and totally captivating. If you are looking for something new in this type of genre, I recommend picking up this book. You won't be disappointed. I promise.
Book Review: Yet another series
Summary: 2 Stars
We have yet another series, the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs. The first book, Moon Called, looked interesting when I read through the blurb on the back and the first couple of pages. I was intrigued by a shapeshifter who is not a were-creature, which is rather uncommon in modern dark fantasy. However, instead of focusing on just her abilities and her relationships with werewolves, we get introduced to an entire ecosystem of creatures. Far too many to populate one book, they were obviously included to remind the reader that many more books are to come in the series, and eventually, all these creatures' cultures will be thoroughly explored.
One of these days, I'd like to see a dark fantasy novel that tells you vampires don't exist! I'm sick to death of stories about or including vampires, as if they are absolutely essential. Mary Shelley's book didn't have a single vampire in it, yet she managed to write a scary story. If she were writing now, her editors would probably insist that she include them somewhere in Frankenstein. Oh, and her book was just that: a book -- not a series.
Now that I've complained about that, I'll mention that the vampires who did appear in this story seemed to be artificially added in, since they really served no useful purpose in advancing the main story.
Right after Mercy got back to her house after her trip to Montana, the plot slowed to a crawl. No, make that a dead crawl. Nobody seemed to know what to do, least of all our narrator. I got the impression the author didn't know what to do next, either. I grew bored with the book and put it down, not getting back to it until a couple of weeks later. I tried reading again, then got to page 220 and lost interest again. Another couple of weeks went by, then I picked up the book, determined to finish it. I'm still having trouble caring one whit about what happens to any of the characters, even Mercy. This is a sure sign that the plot has fallen to pieces and can't seem to get itself back together again. And as a couple of other reviewers have remarked, using the mystery novel "cheat" of bringing in evidence or witnesses out of nowhere near the end of the book is a sign of poor creative planning.
If this were Ms. Briggs' first book ever published, I might call this "first-novel syndrome", where parts of the novel are shaky, but obvious signs of great potential still shine through. However, I understand she has been published for quite a while before this book, so this kind of inconsistency is inexcusable.
I will definitely not be reading any more books written by this author, because if this is among her best efforts, then her lesser works will be too awful for me to even attempt. I am so glad I only got the first book of the series, and bought no more.