Review: Strange Brew (anthology)

Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs (12/15)

Seeing Eye tells the story of blind witch Moira Keller, who’s faced with a dilemma when cop/werewolf Tom Franklin from the Emerald City Pack requests her aid in finding his brother, who went missing on an undercover mission. The thing is, the person responsible for the kidnapping (wolfnapping?) is the same person who took out her eye – her father, Kournos.

Fans of Briggs’ works will recognise Moira and Tom as side characters from her second Alpha and Omega book, Hunting Ground. It was great reading more about witchcraft in Briggs’ predominantly werewolf fantasy realm. The interaction between Moira and Tom was great to read, and the concept of Moira being able to see when touching Tom was an interesting one to process.

Last Call by Jim Butcher (8/15)

Last Call follows Harry Dresden, a snarky modern-day wizard as he navigates some very messy business in Chicago. Jim Butcher tells the tale from a… well, very male perspective. The story exuded an excessively masculine “I am a P.I. wearing a hat with a holster at my hip, crime-doers begone” vibe, which didn’t really do it for me. If you’re into that kind of thing, though, you’ll probably enjoy the action a lot more than I did.

Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine (10/15)

Holly Anne Caldwell is a seventh-generation witch that specializes in resurrecting the dead. Rachel Caine spins a fast-paced, engaging tale of Holly and her reluctance to raise a particular dead man – Andrew Toland, a resurrection witch dead from the zombie wars. Orders from higher-up demand that Holly resurrects him (again) as a disposable for one of their missions – witches like Holly are being attacked en masse, and Andrew has to play bodyguard. Things get a little more complicated when Holly’s feelings for the dead man are reignited, but there isn’t much time to reminisce about old days when there’s a monster on the loose.

Overall, an enjoyable read. Caine doesn’t take it overboard with the romance, and the action keeps the plot flowing smoothly.

Vegas Odds by Karen Chance (12/15)

Accacila de Croissets (Lia, in short)’s job is to train young recruits at the War Mage Corps, and her life takes a turn for the worse when the delivery guy ends up being a trained assassin determined to blow her head off. Thankfully, her werewolf boyfriend Cyrus has some pretty good timing – the two manage to exchange some witty banter with gunfire going off around them. In the riot of action, Lia winds up accidentally killing one of her students, Jason.

I adore Karen Chance – she manages to inject life into all of her characters. Vegas Odds is no exception. The story is full of unexpected twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended read!

Hecate’s Golden Eye by P. N. Elrod (9/15)

Hecate’s Golden Eye is told from the perspective of Jack Fleming, a vampiric investigator situated in Chicago. His client happens to want to retrieve a little something known as Hecate’s Eye (eek!), an item known for bringing good luck to women and cursing men. Fleming and his partner, Escott, are flung into a wild goose chase up around town in search of the mysterious diamond, with one clue leading to another, culminating in an action-packed conclusion.

Bacon by Charlaine Harris (13/15)

Fans of Charlaine Harris (author of the now famous Sookie Stackhouse series) will LOVE Bacon. Dahlia Lynley-Chivers is an age-old vampire, and she has revenge on her mind. To avenge her late husband (a werewolf of the Swiftfoot pack)’s death, she seeks out Kathy Aenidis, a direct descendent of Circe, to aid her in killing her husband’s murderers – or so it seems. What Kathy doesn’t know is that what Dahlia’s really after is her prized grimoires. With the help of her friends, Taffy and Clifford, the impassive Dahlia manages to hatch a brilliant plan to turn the tables in an ending that you won’t soon forget.

Signatures of the Dead by Faith Hunter (9.5/15)

Faith Hunter steps it into gear with Signatures of the Dead, a tale told from Molly Meagan Everhart Trueblood’s (that’s a name I won’t soon be saying out loud anytime soon) perspective. An earth with with a flair for sensing the dead, Molly gets caught in more than she bargained for when vampires come into play whilst investigating a grisly murder. With help from Paul Braxton, Jane Yellowrock, and husband Evan, Molly pulls through some very messy vampire business. Not the best from Hunter (who’s authored some notable series, like the Rogue Mage), but a decent read nonetheless.

Ginger by Caitlin Kittredge (10.5/15)

Ginger branches off from Kittredge’s Nocturne City series (if you haven’t read it, give it a shot – it’s not half bad) and is told from Rhoda Sunflower (Sunny) Swann ‘s  POV. The story opens with Sunny on trial in a courtroom, but things go awry and Sunny is left using her magic to protect herself. As a witch using primarily white magic, Sunny is startled when she gets recruited to do some undercover work, wire and mouthpiece and all. The next thing she knows, she’s being caged as a prisoner underground, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s coming to her rescue…

Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine (10/15)

If you’re a follower of Jenna Maclaine, then you’ll be familiar with Cin Craven, a key protagonist in Maclaine’s works. A vampire and a witch, Cin and romantic interest Michael get sucked into yet another mystery as Marco Gage, Regent and local master vampire, has blood and revenge on his mind. Fast-paced and engaging, Dark Sins draws in readers with its quick, snappy narration.

See also: Hunting Ground

Review: On the Prowl (anthology)

Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs (13/15)

Fans of Patricia Briggs will appreciate the Alpha and Omega novella, which takes place before events in Cry Wolf and Hunting Ground. The story centers on Anna Latham, an abused omega wolf in a Chicago pack. When she suspects that her Alpha, Leo, might be responsible for a death of young werewolf Alan McKenzie Frazier, she calls the Marrok. She then meets up with his investigator, Charles Cornick, whose wolf takes her as his mate.

Things go as smooth as sandpaper from there. Assassination attempts, nasty confrontations, and brutal fight scenes ensue. Charles’ and Anna’s tale is a pleasant change from the Mercy Thompson series – it’s nice to see the story told from a perspective other than Mercy’s. While I’m not a big fan of rape stories (what’s with all the rape in Briggs’ recent works, anyway?), Alpha and Omega manages to deal with the beginnings of the recovery process realistically. Not a fluff piece, but it’ll leave you wanting more.

Inhuman by Eileen Wilks (12.5/15)

Inhuman is based on Kai Michalski, a girl who’s Gifted with an ability to read minds and emotions. She’s not technically a mind-reader – she can see the colour of people’s auras. After digging a bullet out of her hot non-human neighbour’s flesh, things take a turn for the disturbing as the story delves into the Nathan’s investigations as a Hunter. And the truth finally comes to light: Nathan was born a hellhound, which accounts for his insanely long lifespan.

The characters in Inhuman were engaging and well-scripted, and the attraction-charged interactions between Nathan and Kai were absolutely electric. Kai is a likeable heroine, and her unique urban fantasy universe Eileen Wilks paints is a fascinating and action-packed one. Kai and Nathan’s story continues in Night Season, book 4 in Wilks’s World of the Lupi series.

Buying Trouble by Karen Chance (12/15)

I usually have an issue with fey stories, since I’ve yet to read one that’s left an impression. Buying Trouble takes off with protagonist Claire being auctioned off to a bunch of Otherworldly beings. Claire is a mage, and her special ability is that she nullifies magic around her within a certain radius. She gets whisked off from the auction grounds and straight into Faerie by mysterious fey Heidar, and the action kicks in from there.

It’s a mad chase in the gritty alleys of Faerie as Claire and her savior dodge kidnap attempts by several… persistent clans, each determined to capture her and use her powers for their own means. Somewhere in the midst of all this running, they have sex. And… she turns into a dragon after the deed. Yep, weird doesn’t even begin to cover it. It turns out that Claire’s Two-Natured, and her other form is one of a baby dragon. Fun times.

Buying Trouble was a fun, fast-paced read, and throughly enjoyable. It’s written as a one-shot, and the story ties up nicely in the end, where Claire and Heidar relocate to the human world so she can come to terms with her dragon half.

Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny (6/15)

The story revolves around a Monère Queen (three quarters Monère, one quarter human), and the opening cahpter jumps right into the midst of the story. Mona Lisa is torn between Dontaine, her loyal follower and numerous other lovers in her bid to bear a child for the royal line. There’s loads of shapeshifting drama in this one – Mona Lisa’s other form is a tiger, and Dontaine’s is a wolf.

I can’t say I enjoyed this one as I did the others, mostly because the whole story seems very out of place with the other novellas that are clearly more urban fantasy-oriented. Mona Lisa Betwining is opens with more erotica than plot, and the protagonist’s promiscuity had me grimacing for most of it. If that’s your cup of tea, though, you can pick up other titles by Sunny that run in the same vein: Mona Lisa Awakening, Mona Lisa Blossoming, and Mona Lisa Craving.

See also: Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, Night Season, Mona Lisa Awakening, Mona Lisa Blossoming, Mona Lisa Craving

Review: Hunting Ground

Happy Hunting Ground Day!

Hunting Ground is the long-awaited sequel to Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs. The series takes place after the events in the Alpha & Omega novella in On the Prowl. While Cry Wolf focused on Anna’s adjustment to Montana and her new relationship with Charles, Hunting Ground takes place a few weeks after, where the two are more settled with their freshly-established mating bond.

Bran sends Charles and Anna to Seattle, where Charles is supposed to head a conference to the Alphas of various werewolf packs about coming out to the public. Needless to say, not everyone agrees with this notion, and there’s a fair bit of political conflict. Cue dominance battles, cold-blooded murder, attempted kidnappings, and numerous incidences of bloodshed and decapitation. Any attempts to put down the book will likely be thwarted by the constant new developments in the story – I had quite the full bladder at the end of it all.

We get to observe Anna settling into her omega influence here, and the impact of the mating bond on her existing powers. We get more insight on the Charles/Brother Wolf combo, which was pretty refreshing. Anna’s inner wolf also makes a quick cameo – blink and you might just miss it.  Fans of Charles and Anna will enjoy the progressing of the duo’s relationship, both emotionally and physically.

Overall, it’s an action-packed plot with excellent characterisation – the new characters introduced to the series were likeable and nicely fleshed-out. You might recognize Moira and Tom as characters from Strange Brew (which details how they met). A lovely read from start to end.

And my favourite quote from the book? It was close, but it’s just got to be -

“Women are the bloodthirsty sex,” said Ric sadly. “We get the reputation, but it is only because the women stand behind us and say, ‘Kill it. Squish it.’ “

Highly recommended.

See also: On the Prowl, Cry Wolf, Strange Brew

Plot/originality: 4.5/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4.5/5

Total score: 14/15

Review: Iron Kissed

Iron Kissed is Book 3 in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Following the love triangle with Adam and Samuel in Moon Called and Blood Bound, Mercy finally makes her decision between the two. Romance aside, plot-wise, in Iron Kissed, Mercy’s ex-boss Zee, aka Siebold Adelbertsmiter (cool name.) asks her help in investigating several murders on the Fae reservation, pretty much using her like a sort of police dog, with her useful coyote nose. Mercy eventually sifts out the scent of the murderer, but in the course of her investigation, Zee has been framed for murder, and with him being so important to Mercy and all, she decides to stick her coyote nose into the whole business, with very bad consequences.

Mercy has previously been portrayed with her share of weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the first two books, although nothing really bad ends up happing to her. However, in this book, Mercy really gets screwed up. I could barely bring myself to read the book through to the end, but retrospectively, I think I rather like it. Ok guys, spoiler alert! Mercy gets raped by the baddie! Briggs deals admirably with both the event and the aftermath, realistically portraying the emotional and physical trauma faced by Mercy.

I liked this plot event since it serves as a reminder of reality, that help will not always get there in time, even for heroines and Mercy certainly isn’t a textbook heroine, but very humanly vulnerable. That doesn’t exactly make reading through it easier though, even if we get spared gruesome details. I laud Briggs for her willingness to tread into dangerous territory and for not overdoing the aftermath angst, though Mercy is mostly in shock, and also not having Mercy make a miraculously recovery(because who walks away from something like this unscathed?), but going through the normal stages of acceptance and recovery.

See also: Moon Called, Blood Bound, Bone Crossed

Plot/originality: 3.5/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 9.5/15

 

Review: Cry Wolf

Before we begin, let me just say that Cry Wolf just might be one of my favourite books to date. I tend to be a fairly picky reader and I dislike Mary Sues with a fiery passion – so I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up Cry Wolf.

Cry Wolf is a continuation of Charles’ and Anna’s story from the anthology On the Prowl. If you haven’t picked up a copy of the latter, you might want to do so before you start reading Cry Wolf. The book jumps straight into the story without preamble, which might be confusing for those who aren’t familiar with the backstory.

The Alpha and Omega series operates in the same bookverse as the Mercy Thompson series, but on a slightly different timeline. The events occuring in Cry Wolf unfold in parallel with the Mercy books, albeit at a slower pace. The story focuses on dominant wolf Charles Cornick (Bran’s son) and his newfound mate, Anna Latham. A little background on this new addition to the werewolf family – she’s an abused Omega wolf that was brutally victimized by her previous pack, and carries numerous emotional and physical scars to show for it. She follows Charles back to Montana after the death of her previous pack leader, Leo, and tries to adjust to her new life as Charles’ mate in snowy Aspen Creek. I enjoyed Anna’s interactions with Charles immensely; Briggs explores and depicts their progressing relationship with great aplomb. I particularly loved Charles in this one – he didn’t get much screen time in the Mercy series, but his character was so well-fleshed out in Cry Wolf that I seriously contemplated constructing some sort Charles shrine (the shrine is a no-go, so this review will have to do).

I love Patricia Briggs’ writing style – Cry Wolf is written in 3rd person (unlike her Mercy novels, which are written from Mercy’s perspective). It provides a fresh sort of outlook on the dynamics in the Marrok’s pack, and the appearance of various characters (both new and old) tied in with the main story beautifully. The latter half of the book was action-packed and had me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommended.

See also: On the Prowl, Hunting Ground

Plot/originality: 4.5/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Total score: 13.5/15

Review: Blood Bound

Blood Bound is Book 2 in the Mercy Thompson series and thus the sequel to Moon Called. New adventure but mostly same old characters, and same old unresolved love triangle. The Adam/Mercy/Samuel thing is starting to get old and tedious, especially since it looks as if it will last a few more books down the series. More on Stefan the mysterious vampiric friend in this book, since the baddie’s a vampire with special powers (wow.) that has nothing better to do than cause havoc in town. New power revealed for Mercy, magic resistance. Something a little overused in this genre, but the explanation here is at least somewhat logical. There is the presence of inter-species politics again, blah blah and could Stefan possibly be a new love-interest? Love square! However, there is no expansion in this area yet. Possibly saving it for the later books. Plot resolution is a tad anti-climatic, and oh, did Mercy make new enemies? Again?

Blood Bound follows pretty much the same formula as Moon Called, and while not exactly fantastic, still keeps to Brigg’s usual style. So if you liked Moon Called, then you would already be reading this. If you didn’t, then don’t read this. If you haven’t read Moon Called, then go read it first. No one likes a book-skipper!

See also: Moon Called, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed

Plot/originality: 2/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 8/15

Review: Moon Called

Moon Called is the first book in the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. As any self-respecting fantasy reader is going to guess, this book, as evident from the slightly clichéd title,  is obviously  going to involve werewolves!  Mercedes, or Mercy Thompson as she tends to be referred to in the book, is the protagonist/ heroine, a car mechanic and surprisingly, not a werewolf. She is, however, a coyote shapeshifter who can see dead people, with the usual magic senses. Mercy barely stops short of MarySue-dom, due to Brigg’s realistic and down-to earth portrayal of her. It also helps that she isn’t exactly a teenager and is thus spared teenage angst.

So, plot-wise, Mercy meets a pathetic young werewolf in need of help and hires him, thus opening the door to more trouble.  Throw in animal experimentation, kidnappings and werewolf and vampire politics and we’ve got everything we need to rock n roll. Not to forget, the ever-present love triangle with animalistic lusts. Between Mercy, Adam, the sarcastic neighbor who also is the local Alpha werewolf (why is it always the alpha?) who happens to both be hot and have the hots for her (like we couldn’t see that coming) and Samuel, an old flame that once wanted her only for her womb (changed his mind now obviously), it does get a tad tedious after a bit.

There are an interesting variety of side characters, with Zee, her faerie ex-garage owner, Stefan, her vampiric friend with weird taste in cars and the usual local werewolf pack with more distinct personalities than most. Briggs manages to fuse the different fantasy elements quite well, creating a believable setting for the happenings of the book.

Overall, the book is not a bad read, it’s refreshing to have an older and practical heroine who isn’t infallible, but Briggs does tend to drone on in descriptions, possibly because this is the first book of the series and the plot is a little thin. I don’t really like the usual bestial sexual attraction that is often obligatory in werewolf fantasies, but it is almost bearable in this book. Characters are mostly well-fleshed out, with some more likable than others - I have almost total dislike for Samuel for his contrived angst, but each to his own. Moon Called isn’t the run-of-the-mill, bodice-ripping paranormal romance, but if you like not-so-heroic heroines, this one’s for you.

See also: Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed

Plot/originality: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 9/15