'Wild Sign' Alpha and Omega #6 by Patricia Briggs

 

From the BLURB: 

In the wilds of the Northern California mountains, all the inhabitants of a small town have gone missing. It's as if the people picked up and left everything they owned behind. Fearing something supernatural might be going on, the FBI taps a source they've consulted in the past: the werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham. But Charles and Anna soon find a deserted town is the least of the mysteries they face.

Death sings in the forest, and when it calls, Charles and Anna must answer. Something has awakened in the heart of the California mountains, something old and dangerous - and it has met werewolves before.

The last 'Alpha & Omega' (Charles & Anna) book we got was 'Burn Bright' in 2018, and I think reading this sixth instalment in their spin-off series I really felt that lag ... but I seem to be one of the only ones; everyone else is raving about 'Wild Sign' and particularly ~that ending~ (which I shall get to).

'Wild Sign' on the surface, is offering a tantalising bit of insight and history to one of Patricia Briggs' most controversial characters - mate to the Marrok, Leah. We learn how Bran and Leah came to be mated, under the strangest of circumstances and hardest of times for both of them - and we also learn that some malevolent evil *thing* has likely just awoken, and is calling to Leah again. Bran sends Charles, Anna and berserker werewolf Tag to go and investigate as this awakening has seemingly coincided with a mysterious disappearance of a colony of humans, with heavy Roanoke vibes - from land that Leah once lived on, and not owns but has now returned to in many many years...

This is the central whodunnit to 'Wild Sign' that Charles & Anna need to investigate, with "henchman" Tag tagging along. One of the side-effects of this strange magic ~something~ is a play around with memory and time, so the investigation sees Anna occasionally thrown back into the past when she was an abused werewolf Omega at the hand of her old and sick pack. This offers an interesting contrast and character-development; to see the old Anna alongside the new - who has been mated and nurtured by Charles for these many years.

But I still read Charles & Anna as overly careful with one another. On the one hand I appreciate this - Briggs is an author who treats trauma with the weight it deserves, and just as in 'Mercy Thompson' there are abuses and events from protagonist's pasts that they carry with them, always. They're never forgotten, only reformed in each new situation and with the passage of time. But alongside this were a couple of moments when Anna kept something - relatively minor, admittedly - from Charles, when she didn't confide and tell him. Similarly there was one or two instances when Charles knows that Anna is wary of him and his choices, or else he knows she's trying to protect him (by locking down the mate-bond) and this has the opposite effect to what she intends, but he doesn't tell her for fear of hurting her feelings ... And I just found that slightly ~odd~ that even now, after all this time and how far they've come, that Anna and Charles can still be so cautious around one another and lack that communication.

Maybe that's just me. Anna - like I said - is a survivor, and Charles has gone for many centuries on his own as an active outcast from most of werewolf society, who had to fear him in order to stay in line. These are effectively two 'broken' people now navigating the world together (and - sure - there's no tension if there's no room for growth, I get it!). But I think it's also the lag in book-releases for this series that makes me feel that way? I always tap back in (in this case, after a 2-year break between books!) expecting us to be further along in this epic love story relationship, and then little stuff like this reminds me; "Ohhhhh, okay. No. We're still in relationship infancy here."

In terms of other characters, I was also kinda disappointed here? Tag is great and funny, but I feel like we only got surface-level stuff with him. I was also really bummed that werewolf Asil didn't feature much at all in this book, and after he was sort of in the middle of the whodunnit in 'Burn Bright' and betrayed by a fellow pack member. I *love* Asil, he's one of my faves and a character I'd genuinely love to read a spin-off series for (like; knowing how much of Asil's character is built around the tragedy of losing his mate long ago, ~imagine~ if a new mate-bond called to him!?! ... though I admit, this could also be my pining for a story similar to 'Blood Challenge' book by Eileen Wilks, and the Benedict/Arjenie relationship.)

Bran and Leah really seemed primed to be at the centre of the 'Wild Sign' story too, but once again Briggs veers away from going too deep with these two - seemingly determined to keep Bran mysterious and ruined - and so they barely feature. I can't say I'm such a Leah fan (who is?) or overly invested in finding out her backstory, but I was kinda bummed when 'Wild Sign' failed to overly deliver on fleshing out her character in the here and *now* overly, and the tantalising bit at the end felt very tacked on. I know Briggs has said that Bran is too hard a character to spend much time with - he's too old and all-knowing, temperamental and it wouldn't work to dig deeper there for his mystery overall, but ... give us *something!*

And now finally - that ending that I've seen a bunch of people get excited over. Ummmmm. Again - is this ~just me~ who pulled the "meh" face throughout it all? <spoiler: highlight to read> Look; Samuel is still one of the biggest disappointments in this series, to me. From where he started - in this tragic and intriguing love triangle with Adam and Mercy - to the complete cop-out of Briggs saying "oh yeah, he had an old fae flame who was his actual true-love and now she's back in his life! Yay!" Samuel is the epitome of after-thought. So it almost makes 100% sense that he appears in the freakin' epilogue here and with another convenient "Oh yeah, Ariana and I had a kid and we can't keep it for ~reasons~ so now I'll be Uncle Samuel and you can raise this kid for me, Charles & Anna. Peace-out!" Like ... WHAT?!? Confession: I also 1000% forgot his mate's name was Ariana and what she was all about. That's how little impact Samuel has had on this series since Briggs effectively wrote him out. And also how little I care for any fae storyline or character. So: MEH. <end spoiler>

Am I excited for the next instalment in this series (that'll probably come in 2-3 years?) Sure! Absolutely! Do I still love these characters and want to keep hanging out with them? Yes! But do I need a *little* more give-and-take in the development overall? Heck yeah.

2.5-3/5
(I'm yo-yoing on this one, I know)

'Burn Bright' Alpha and Omega #5 by Patricia Briggs

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Mated werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham face a threat like no other - one that lurks too close to home . . .

They are the wild and the broken. The werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind. For their own good, they have been exiled to the outskirts of Aspen Creek, Montana. Close enough to the Marrok's pack to have its support; far enough away to not cause any harm.

With their Alpha out of the country, Charles and Anna are on call when an SOS comes in from the fae mate of one such wildling. Heading into the mountainous wilderness, they interrupt the abduction of the wolf - but can't stop blood from being shed. Now Charles and Anna must use their skills - his as enforcer, hers as peacemaker - to track down the attackers, reopening a painful chapter in the past that springs from the darkest magic of the witchborn...

‘Burn Bright’ is the fifth instalment in Patricia Brigg’s urban fantasy series ‘Alpha & Omega’, a spin-off to her ‘Mercy Thompson’ series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest book in Charles and Anna’s story, and I’m so glad because I haven’t been on the greatest reading streak with Patricia Briggs lately ... I was pretty “meh” on the last ‘Alpha & Omega’ book from 2015, ‘Dead Heat’ and thoroughly unimpressed with Mercy’s from last year, ‘Silence Fallen’. But Briggs is one of my favourite authors, and this is one of the few urban fantasy series that I’ve loyally stuck with, when others have fallen by the wayside – so I always feel a little discombobulated when I’m dissatisfied with my once-every-two-years dose.

‘Burn Bright’ follows on from the events of ‘Silence Fallen’ – when Mercy was kidnapped, and werewolf Marrok Bran left his Aspen Creek home to help with her rescue mission. When ‘Burn Bright’ begins, Charles has been left in charge of his Da’s pack for a month, acting as pack leader – and it’s all going relatively smoothly, until he receives word that some of the pack’s wildling werewolves are in trouble in the Montana mountains, seemingly being hunted by a covert operation for purposes unknown …

All of Patricia Brigg’s books are whodunits, that’s a given. But I find myself tending to favour those that stick close to home – both in the ‘Alpha & Omega’ series, and ‘Mercy Thompson’. So I was really happy that ‘Burn Bright’ takes place entirely in Aspen Creek, and reveals more than any other instalment about Bran’s werewolf pack and operations. I just tend to find that Briggs is less likely to go off on unnecessary tangents, introducing superfluous secondary characters and settings we have no connection to (as indeed, I thought she did in ‘Dead Heat’ with a trip to Arizona). ‘Burn Bright’ is brilliant twofold, not only because it’s firmly grounded in Aspen Creek and works to pull readers into the Marrok’s ordering of his werewolf pack – but also because the entire ‘whodunit’ mystery is centred in that pack, and builds upon the relationships with many established secondary characters … like Bran’s mate Leah, and the Moor, Asil.

The mystery in ‘Burn Bright’ is such a good one, and I was buoyed to see a hint of potential to build a bigger bad-guy arc around it in coming books. If that is the case, I certainly have more faith that this could give readers the layers and subterfuge lacking from the fae/Greylords build-up across both series in recent years …

So the plot in ‘Burn Bright’ worked for me, in a way that the last couple of Briggs books hadn’t been. This one felt very tightly plotted, and like it was serving a wider series purpose overall.

The character-building in this instalment though, was sometimes a tantalising mix of too much, and not enough.

For one thing, with Bran not around in this book – it gave Charles and Anna a chance to talk out some things about the Marrok that certainly Anna probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable airing, had he been closer to the pack bonds. In particular, Anna drops some bombshells regarding her observances of Bran and his feelings towards Mercy, which … BLEW MY FREAKIN’ MIND, and then blew it again when Charles conceded her point and agreed with her. This was … I was shook, people. I had never thought of Bran and Mercy in that context (no, not even after the reveal in ‘Silence Fallen’, which now also takes on new meaning – not to mention a certain conversation that Adam and Mercy had early on in the series, about Adam doing the Marrok’s bidding in watching over her) so this was just a whole lot of revelations coming thick and fast and then just left to sit, simmering on readers minds, probably until the next ‘Mercy Thompson’ book most likely (March 2019, for anyone who is counting down).

These revelations also made me yearn, more than ever, for Bran to get his own spin-off. But I think Briggs has repeatedly nixed that idea, citing that he’s just too commanding a presence and would overwhelm any book. But still – Briggs threw these big character reveals about him out there, and now I kinda want her to pick them up and run with them.

But ‘Burn Bright’ also stumbles somewhat with continuing to advance Charles and Anna’s relationship, and in highlighting how loving one another is changing them, for the better. Charles briefly mentions Anna’s restlessness at not knowing what to do with her life. Seeing as werewolves are very hard to kill and can live immortal (or – more likely with all that could try and kill them – at least hundreds of years) it helps if a person can figure out what they’d like to do with all that time on their hands. Charles mentions Anna half-heartedly looking into finishing her music studies, and Bran offering to help them look into adoption … this particular aspect is key, since past books have given readers Anna’s interiority and desire for children (possibly even in defiance of Charles, similar to how his own mother sacrificed herself to have him). I totally accept Charles’ assessment that Anna isn’t the sort of person to feel restless and think that a child will solve all her problems of self – but I still feel like that aspect of Charles and Anna’s relationship (foreshadowed really, by the story of Charles’s mother) will have to come around again, and ‘Burn Bright’ might have been the book to continue laying that groundwork …

But, honestly, these are minor quibbles about Anna and Charles and their relationship. Overall, ‘Burn Bright’ is one of the best Briggs instalments in recent memory. Tantalising character tid-bits are dropped, secondary characters advance in my estimation and a whodunit to sink your teeth into make this a stellar instalment.

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5/5

'Dead Heat' Alpha and Omega #4 by Patricia Briggs

Received from NetGalley

From the BLURB:

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.

‘Dead Heat’ is the fourth book in Patricia Briggs’ insanely addictive ‘Alpha & Omega’ urban fantasy series. We haven’t had a new instalment in the series since ‘Fair Game’ came out in 2012, and left fans on one hell of a cliffhanger.

At the end of ‘Fair Game’ – and after a traumatic investigation – the Fae revealed themselves to the public and declared war against humanity at the same time. It was a dramatic and fantastic place to leave Anna and Charles Cornick and the werewolf population in general … Briggs also hinted in that book, that Anna was starting to think about wanting a family with Charles, and that’s where ‘Dead Heat’ picks up.

She hid that monster from everyone because it would hurt Charles if he knew that she carried those scars still. But since she was admitting her weakness here, if only to herself, she also worried that it would interfere with his image of the person he thought she was. He thought she was brave and true and good, and she wasn't. Inside, she was dark and ferocious. If he truly understood that she had this twisted and broken part, maybe he could not love her. 

Evidently some time has passed since the Fae declared cold war, enough that Anna is now openly addressing her want for children with Charles. This is a frightening concept for Charles – his mother Blue-Jay Woman was a Flathead Indian, and used magic to carry Charles to term against her own werewolf instinct to change … suppressing her wolf side killed her. When Anna starts broaching the topic of having a child with Charles, she speaks of how his brother Samuel is dabbling in medicinal ways to help women carry to term, and Charles is adamant that no magic will be used – something Anna agrees to avoid, but may still use as a last resort.

But just as quickly as Briggs dangles this deep, emotional storyline before readers, she snatches it away as Anna accepts that Charles needs time to process. Instead, the two of them travel to Arizona in the lead-up to Anna’s birthday, to find her an Arabian horse as a gift … but also so Charles can catch up with an old, dying friend who he has avoided seeing for the last 20 years (he is human, and Charles can’t bear to see him old and dying). But Charles and Anna arrive in Arizona at the house of Charles’s old friends, just as strange happenings are affecting the family … soon they find themselves embroiled in a Fae kidnapping case that could have deep ramifications for human and supernatural alike.

I was initially really excited at where this story was going. When we arrive in Arizona, readers and Anna realise that Charles’s old friend – Joseph – has known Charles since he was very young, and Joseph’s family were once the closet friends Charles had ever known. We also discover that Joseph’s wife once had a love-affair with Charles, and though Maggie is an old woman now, she still stirs Anna’s jealousy in weird ways. And this was all really good – I love any Briggs story where there’s a strong focus on the old lives of these werewolf characters, the likes of Charles and his father Bran (the Marrok) especially because they’ve been around for so long. But then the story gets bogged down in everything else – extraneous detail and a ho-hum whodunit – and it all started to lose me …

There are pages and pages of boring scenes about the Arabian horses Anna and Charles are checking out. Either Briggs is a little horse-mad or she did a hell of a lot of research – either way I commend her attention to detail, but I just didn’t care in this book. It’s the fourth in Anna and Charles’s story, and Briggs normally brings high-adrenaline in her urban fantasy tales … so all these scenes observing horses and talking about how many hands they are, how strong their backs and long their legs – I’m sorry, but *snore* – right when I had the big emotional upheaval of Anna wanting babies dangled in front of me, all these slow scenes horse-shopping just infuriated because it bought the tension that had been established way down.

I also didn’t love how involved Charles’s old friends were in the whodunit. Readers meet Joseph’s family in this book which centres around his daughter-in-law and grandchildren especially – again, we spend a lot of time learning this family’s dynamics, when all I really wanted was more time to explore Anna and Charles’s emotional struggles. The grandchildren characters also started to grate on me towards the end – Max, Michael and Mackie didn’t read very childlike to me, Mackie especially is a big focus in this book but her ‘old soul’ spiel just kind of had me eye-rolling.

There wasn’t as much Anna and Charles in this book as I would have liked – the horses and getting to know Charles’s old friends seemed to take a lot of page time away from them. And after that emotional bomb that went off in the first chapter, I was frustrated.

"You need to understand something," she said intensely. "Charles is my husband. You can't have him. Mine. Not yours. There are lots of nice, unattached men out there, I'm sure. Pick one of them and you might live longer." Then her body relaxed and her voice regained its usual cheeriness. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Newman." 

As they left, Charles turned back toward the teacher and shrugged helplessly. Then he put on his meekest face and turned around to follow Anna. 

"I saw that," she muttered at him. 

"Saw what?" asked Charles in mock innocence. 

Brother Wolf was pleased with her claiming of them. So was Charles. 

But the whodunit is pretty good – it’s based around a Fae mythology that lots of people will be familiar with, so Briggs is really building on an ages-old spook story that will really captivate readers. And for all that I wanted more Anna and Charles (especially because we haven’t had a book with them since 2012 – I was starved of them and I wanted to gorge!) Briggs does mark some very important growth in their relationship that’s touching and tender, and I really look forward to where these new revelations take them in future books …

3.5/5

Interview with Patricia Briggs, author of the 'Mercy Thompson' series

•

So, as a book nerd I tend to fan-girl over many series and authors - which is perfectly normal. But if there is one particular series that gets more of my fan-girl obsessive love, it is without a doubt Patricia Briggs' 'Mercy Thompson' urban fantasy series. 

I sweat, I started reading those books about three years ago and they were a revelation - in noir, romance, mystery, fantasy ... I pretty much wanted to rent a soapbox and sing Mercy's praises (and to some extent I do do that - I recommend these books to absolutely every person I know - as well as a few strangers I just met). 

So when the opportunity arises to ask questions of the author responsible for one of my most beloved series OF ALL TIME - I hyperventilate, happy-dance and then I get my questions on. 

With many, many thanks to Hachette Australia for making this happen, and Patricia Briggs for being herself - I give you the interview!

•

Q: Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’? That is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

A: Mostly a pantser.  I have outlined exactly one book – and the outline took me longer to write than the book.  Worse, once I had the outline, it was tough to come up with the enthusiasm to write the book because I already knew how it ended.   When I started writing I approached every book the same way.  About ten books ago (Frost Burned is my 19th book) I discovered that it was more effective to let each book start where it wanted to. 

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

A: When I am not writing a series book – so I only have to live with the decisions I make on the fly for one or two books—I prefer to write free-fall.  Sometimes that means that I am deleting  scenes almost as fast as I am writing them, but it gives the stories an unpredictability that I like. 

Writing a series as long as the Mercy Thompson books, means that I have to plan a bit more.  I want to make sure that each story is fresh and is going somewhere new and different – and driving future storylines.  I’m not to the point of outlining yet, but I’m not freefalling either.

Q: In my review of ‘Frost Burned’ I suggest that perhaps Jesse’s question to Mercy about the possibility of a baby (which is then followed quickly by a head-on collision) was a subtle message to fans that they shouldn’t look too far into the future. Care to comment on that? Or answer Jesse’s question: ‘will Mercy and Adam have a baby together some day?’

A: I would like to think that she and Adam have at least one child—but I’m still trying to figure out how that would work for future stories.  I am a mother – and as soon as my oldest child was born I changed how I lived.  I started wearing helmets when I rode horses and quit jumping them almost entirely.   Associating with vampires and werewolves would have been out.  But I’m not saying never, just that it would be miserably hard on me to make it work.

But, yes, in general, I think it is important to pay attention to what’s going on right now.  That doesn’t mean not to plan for the future – just that worrying too much about it is counter -productive.  No one knows what’s going to happen in the future.

Q: ‘Frost Burned’ follows on quite nicely from ‘Fair Game’ – with regards to an uneasy supernatural/political climate and perilous Fae/human relations. And, of course, we get Asil stepping out of ‘Alpha and Omega’ and into the ‘Mercy Thompson’ world (with terrific results!). Does this all suggest that the time is closing in when we’ll get a crossover book?

A: I used to say never, and the thought of trying to balance a story with Anna, Mercy, Charles and Adam in it makes my head hurt.  But I’m always looking for new challenges.  Let’s just say that it is not happening in the next book and leave it at that.

Q: You’re currently working on a book of ‘Mercy’s World’ short stories. We know you have a story for Samuel and Ben . . . can you give anything else away? Will Asil get a story? Will Ben get a bit of romance in his story?

A: I don’t like to give too much away while I’m still working on something.  Then people will read it and say, “I thought you promised that you were going to do X”.  There will be a Tad story and, though I’m not there yet, an Asil story.  Also I am including a story version of  “Homecoming”.

Q: The ‘Alpha and Omega’ spin-off has been such a success – fans embrace Charles and Anna as they do Mercy and Adam. When did you first suspect that Charles could carry a series on his own? Are there any other ‘Mercy’ characters you’ve day-dreamed about writing a spin-off for (perhaps everyone’s favourite British werewolf!?)

A:  Charles stalked onto the pages of Moon Called fully formed.  At that point, Moon Called had so many characters I stopped typing and told him,  “Really?  Now?  We have to do this now?”  I managed to do little more than hint about him and set him aside with the promise of more later.  When Anne Sowards, my editor, asked me to write a novella, I let Charles out to play.  It was Anne who asked me if I could write a series with Charles and Anna and I jumped at the chance.

Q: Purely out of curiosity . . . will we ever meet Adam’s ex-wife?

A:  Funny you should mention that . . . yes.  Mercy #8 will have Christy Hauptman on stage.

Q: So, we know you’re working on the short story collection. But how many more ‘Mercy’ books are you contracted for, and how many more ‘Alpha and Omega’ books?

A: I have three novels under contract.  Two more Mercy books and another book in the “Mercyverse”.  That other book might be an Alpha and Omega book, or I might pull another character out to play.  That said, I am sure there will be more Alpha and Omega books, I just wanted a little more freedom to explore the world.  I will keep writing both series as long as they continue to feel fresh to me—and readers still like them.

Q: What books and TV shows are you currently loving at the moment?

A:  I love The Mentalist (anything except the Red John episodes.  He doesn’t make sense to me as a character.), Criminal Minds, NCIS (okay, the stories don’t always make sense but . . . Gibbs makes up for it), Warehouse 13, and Haven.  We are watching the DVDs of Game of Thrones. Terrific acting, scriptwriting, story, and the filming is amazing – but I’m a happy ever after kind of person and George Martin never met a character he couldn’t torture and kill.  So “loving” isn’t really the word for my relationship with The Game of Thrones.  Awed, maybe, but not loving.  

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

A:  Read!  Read outside your genre.  Read good books and figure out what you like about them.  Read books you hate and figure out why you hated it.  Then write, write, write and write some more.  And . . . get a day job.

'Cry Wolf: Volume One' Alpha and Omega graphic novel by Patricia Briggs

 From the BLURB:

Anna never knew werewolves existed, until the night she survived a violent attack…and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’s learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. Then Charles Cornick, the enforcer—and son—of the leader of the North American werewolves, came into her life.

Charles insists that not only is Anna his mate, but she is also a rare and valued Omega wolf. And it is Anna’s inner strength and calming presence that will prove invaluable as she and Charles go on the hunt in search of a rogue werewolf—a creature bound in magic so dark that it could threaten all the pack…

‘Cry Wolf: Volume One’ is the first graphic novel instalment of ‘Alpha and Omega’, an adaptation of Patricia Briggs’s urban fantasy werewolf series of the same name.

‘Alpha and Omega’ is the second of Briggs’ series to get the graphic treatment, after her New York Times Bestseller ‘Mercy Thompson’ series was adapted in 2009. I was a very big fan of ‘Homecoming’, so was thrilled to learn that Anna and Charles (themselves a spin-off from Mercy’s world) would also be bought to drawn life. I was especially happy that the adaption would be based around the first book in their series, ‘Cry Wolf’ which follows Anna and Charles shortly after their first meeting under terrible circumstances in Chicago.

Anna was turned against her will by a crazed werewolf and beaten into submission at the hands of a sick and weakened Chicago pack. And then Charles Cornick, son to the Marrok in charge of the North American wolves, was sent to investigate the brutal goings-on in Chicago, where he met and fell quickly in love with Anna (with the help of their wolves too). After the terrible, bloody ending of the Chicago pack, we meet Anna and Charles at the beginning of ‘Cry Wolf’ when Anna is new to his Montana wilds home and finding her feet in Charles’s pack and family.

But Charles and Anna don’t get much of a honeymoon period – first because of the nightmares Anna still has, remembering her abuse at the hands of the male Chicago wolves, and then because of wolf attacks in the Montana mountains forcing Marrok, Bran Cornick, to send his son and executioner to investigate. Charles’s new wolf mate insists on tagging along, if only to take care of the injuries he sustained while saving her in Chicago.

So, there’s plenty in Briggs’s ‘Cry Wolf’ story for readers to sink their teeth into – and the storyline was sure to offer some interesting illustrations. Particularly because quite a bit of ‘Cry Wolf’ is based at the pack home of Aspen Creek, and I’m sure curious fans will be eager to know the look of this werewolf hub. But just generally, ‘Cry Wolf’ has some lovely settings – with the snow-covered Montana Mountains making the backdrop for the second-half of the story.

This is also a really important story for Anna and Charles, because it’s really a chronicle of their coming together and I knew that would be hard to communicate in images. There’s a lot of tension and push-pull between Anna and Charles in ‘Cry Wolf’ – because they have only known each other for a few days, but their wolves have played a big hand in choosing one another for their ‘mates’. Their human sides are yet to catch up, and with Anna’s abuse still fresh in her mind, it makes for some friction between them. 

First of all, I think the story of Anna’s abuse at the hands of the Chicago pack is handled beautifully. I really didn’t want to see any awful images, and while artist Tod Herman has relayed the brutality, he doesn’t go too graphic with these. I also thought it was very telling that the flashback images of the violence Anna suffered often mimicked the images of wolf packs – to give the impression that Anna’s abusers were very much acting with a pack mentality separate from their human conscience.

I also loved ‘Cry Wolf’ simply for being able to see what a few of my favourite characters look like. I will say that there were times when Herman’s drawings didn’t like quite right; not edgy enough or just a bit too simple. But then there were times when he nailed it; like Bran’s mate Leah (who reminded me of Claudia Furschtien from ‘The Chipmunk Adventure’ – but that oddly suits). I liked Asil and Samuel’s looks, and particularly appreciated Charles’s masculinity (even with the infamous pink bandage). But perhaps my favourite images were the issue covers by Jenny Frison – which I think beautifully captured the look of Anna and Charles, and were closer to how I pictured them in my mind.

I’m a big fan of graphic adaptations; I think they add layers to the already intricate worlds built in urban fantasy stories and I think Briggs’ werewolf world is one of the most interesting to see drawn to life.

4.5/5

Text adaptation by David Lawrence
Art by Todd Herman
Colours by Mohan
Letters by Bill Tortolini
Issues covers by Jenny Frison
Contributing editor Rich Young
Front jacket by Daniel Dos Santos

'Fair Game' Alpha and Omega #3 by Patricia Briggs

From the BLURB:

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind. 

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles. 

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

A serial killer who has evaded capture for decades has now turned an eye to werewolves and Fae. In Boston there has been a slew of murders; women and children abducted, raped and tortured before being killed. The suspected killer continues to run circles around the FBI, but when a number of werewolves fall victim the Marrok steps in and sends his best to aid the authorities.

Normally Charles Cornick would be the last person to help the FBI in their investigations. The werewolf ‘boogeyman’, Charles is less than hospitable at the best of times … but he has grown worse in recent months, with the ghosts of vengeful werewolves haunting him. Charles is not the best man to finesse this job with the FBI, but his wife is.

Anna snorted and lied like a politician. “Look. Becoming a werewolf doesn’t make you a serial killer – and it doesn’t make you a superhero, either. Whoever you were, that’s who you are. If a bad guy gets Changed, he’s still a bad guy. However, we police our own and we’re pretty good at it. Mostly we’re just ordinary people who turn into a wolf during the full moon and go out and hunt rabbits.”

Anna Cornick, a precious Omega werewolf, knows a thing or two about being a victim. It is her intention to make sure she and Charles aid the FBI in catching this deranged killer, and ensure no more people (werewolf, Fae and human alike) are never again made to be victims of a madman.

‘Fair Game’ is the third book in Patricia Brigg’s ‘Alpha & Omega’ urban fantasy series, a spin-off of her original ‘Mercedes Thompson’ series.

‘Fair Game’ is one of the most anticipated paranormal novels of 2012, but I can safely assume that fans of Patricia Briggs have been counting down to the book’s release for quite a few years. Fans have not read a Charles & Anna book since the 2009 instalment, ‘Hunting Ground’. A new contract for Briggs negotiated that she would have alternate release years between ‘Alpha & Omega’ and ‘Mercedes Thompson’ – so while 2011 gave us ‘River Marked’, we will have to wait until 2013 for a new Mercy instalment. Alternatively, we won’t be revisiting Charles & Anna again until 2014 (if at all?). That makes ‘Fair Game’ about as precious as hen’s teeth, and places a high level of expectation on a novel that has been so long in coming, and will be a while in returning … so it’s lucky then that Briggs delivers, ten-fold!

Readers pick up the story when times for North American werewolves are tough. Since being ‘outed’ to the public, the wolves have had to partake of some serious PR campaigns, to convince humans (and more importantly; law-makers and the media) that they are not the monsters of comic books and horror films. To this end a tough love initiative has been enforced by Bran Cornick, Marrok of the wolves. Any misbehaving wolves that step out of line are not given three strikes or warnings – instead they are dealt with harshly and swiftly, and the deathblow comes from Bran’s son and executioner, Charles Cornick.

Charles has always been the North American werewolf law enforcement – but this public awareness and PR campaign has seen his job increase exponentially. He no longer has his mate, Anna, accompany him on interstate missions that see him enter pack territories and kill misbehaving werewolves (whose actions could lead to explosive news stories on the violence of the species). As a result of an increased kill-load and strict ‘show no mercy’ hard line approach, Charles’s mind is slowly buckling under the pressure. He sees ghosts when he looks in the mirror and has turned away from Anna’s comfort, silencing their mate bond for fearing of infecting her with his darkness.

When the Boston killing spree (which includes the murder of innocent werewolves) is bought to Bran’s attention, he sends Charles along with Anna on her advice – to give Charles a chance to be the ‘good guy’, and remind him who the bad guys really are.

When ‘Fair Game’ begins, a few months have passed since the events of ‘Hunting Ground’. In that second book Anna was only just starting to come into her own, to stand up for herself, learn to fight and move on from the horrors of her past. When ‘Fair Game’ begins Anna is a whole new person, and Charles is the emotionally weaker of the two. The altered dynamics are instantly recognized, and alarming for their switch.

From the moment we met him in Mercy’s first book, ‘Moon Called’, Charles has been the stoic warrior. He has always done what needs to be done, his father’s right-hand-man. Charles is executioner to Bran’s judge and jury. So to read his altered mind-set in ‘Fair Game’ is disarming, and illustrates just how far the fracture goes. He has locked down his mate bond with Anna, he doesn’t sing anymore and is seriously thinking that his time as a sane werewolf is at an end. And, really, his love for Anna is all that is keeping Charles afloat in his dark days… he sees it as a selfish love, knowing that his soul is deteriorating, but he holds on to Anna because she is the only peace he has ever known, and he loves her too much to let her go.

To try to encase his Anna in bubble wrap would be to kill the woman who protected him with her grandmother’s marble rolling pin. She was the woman he fell in love with.

Anna, meanwhile, has transformed into a fierce and feisty young woman. She does not bend before Bran’s stubbornness, and while Charles’s dark outlook has been sending other people scurrying, Anna meets his despair with unwavering loyalty and the steadfast belief in her ability to help him. Anna is such a wonderful character – and with ‘Fair Game’ Briggs is illustrating her character arc and transformation. From Anna’s beaten and terrified introduction in ‘On the Prowl’, to this sweet and tough mate in ‘Fair Game’. I have always thought that Anna and her character path was sort of running in the opposite direction to Mercedes. Anna started out beaten and downtrodden, and over the course of her series she is learning to rebuild and not be fearful… Mercedes, meanwhile, was bought up a coyote amongst wolves and learned to hold her own against bigger predators. For a long time, Mercedes was a little cocky … until the events of  ‘Iron Kissed’ saw her confidence shattered and her soul wounded. It’s only now, with Anna in ‘Fair Game’ and Mercedes in ‘River Marked’, that both women are feeling whole again; ready to face down the demons of their past and rebuild. I’m interested to know what happens next – when the internal conflicts are (mostly) overcome, what will be the next hurdle that these characters have to overcome…

And, on that note, there is a hint, in ‘Fair Game’, of a possible direction that Anna & Charles’s story could go in the near future… Anna is thinking about the werewolf cause, now that her kind is out in the open, and what benefits werewolves will reap from being in the public domain. No werewolf female can reproduce – the change is too harsh on the foetus and remaining wolf for nine months is too risky on one’s psyche. So what about adoption rights for werewolves? Surrogacy? These are all very interesting topics that Briggs is bringing up, and I do hope that even though it’s a passing thought in ‘Fair Game’, that it’s a hint of things to come…

I will warn that a lot of ‘Fair Game’ is police procedural. Charles and Anna are involved in an FBI investigation, so a lot of ‘Fair Game’ is concentrated on catching the killer, looking for clues. Each Briggs book is a ‘whodunit’ in some sense, but ‘Fair Game’ more than most feels crime-heavy, with Charles’s emotional state the real focus of the book. That being said, ‘Alpha & Omega’ is very much a romance, and there is plenty of Charles & Anna sweetness in ‘Fair Game’, reminding me why these two are one of my all-time favourite couples in urban fantasy!

The end of ‘Fair Game’ is a game-changer for the series… which will also impact the ‘Mercedes Thompson’ world. I refuse to give anything away because the shocking finale is too draw-droppingly good to spoil. The end also has me salivating for the next Mercy book (hurry up 2013!) and crossing my fingers for at least one more Charles & Anna book (2014? Pretty please?).

Patricia Briggs is one of the best urban fantasy writers around at the moment. Both her ‘Mercedes Thompson’ and ‘Alpha & Omega’ series are sublimely sensational spins on the old werewolf folklore, and ‘Fair Game’ is a highly anticipated instalment in a much-missed spin-off series. Charles & Anna’s relationship is as complex and epically romantic as always, and the character transformations in this novel are incredible and unsettling. There is upheaval in Briggs’s werewolf world, and I can’t wait to read what happens next.

5/5

Waiting on Wednesday: 'Fair Game' by Patricia Briggs

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

TITLE: 'Fair Game' Alpha & Omega #3

AUTHOR: Patricia Briggs

RELEASE DATE: January 2012 / February 2nd 2012 ???

BLURB:

When the FBI request a pack consultant on a serial killer case they're following in Boston, Anna and Charles are sent in. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves – all of them were.

Someone is targeting their kind. And if Charles and Anna can't get to the bottom of this mystery, they may be next...

I am cra-cra for this book release! Especially because Ms Briggs has (understandably) cut back to only one book release a year - which means 2012 we will be without Mercy.
I'm not going to lie, it will be tough. Especially since things got to a really good place with Mercy and Adam in 'River Marked' - I (and many fans) cannot wait to read about their loved-up marital bliss.

However. I am also a BIG Charles Cornick fan, and I am a HUGE Charles & Anna shipper. It has been ages since we last read about this unlikely duo (not since 'Hunting Ground' way back in 2009!) - it's high time we revisited this pair.

The cover art is (as always) to-die-for, courtesy of Daniel Dos Santos. I have been keeping track of Mike Briggs's blog posts concerning Patty's progress with 'Fair Game' - and it sounds like this hasn't been an easy book to write. But that makes things all the more intriguing.

I'm a little perplexed with release date discrepancies - on Briggs's site it's down as a firm January 2012, but Goodreads has it has February 2nd. The optimist in me is choosing to believe Briggs's website.

Anyway. I can't wait for this book. Mercy went out on a bang this year, to mark her hiatus - now let 2012 be the year of Charles & Anna!

My favorite books of 2009

Thorn Queen ‘Dark Swan #2’ by Richelle Mead

I was very disappointed to read Mead’s announcement a few months ago that there would be no book #3 released in 2010. According to Mead, a decision had to be made and her publishers cast the final vote that the 5th ‘Georgina Kincaid’ and 5th ‘Vampire Academy’ would receive more publicity (and Mead would do more author tours to promote the books), which meant she wouldn’t have time to release 3 books in one year. To be honest, I would have been more upset by this news if ‘Thorn Queen’ hadn’t been so damn satisfying. So much happened in this second instalment – true, it finished on a serious cliff hanger that left readers dangling over the edge of a potentially explosive plot for ‘Iron Crowned’ – but there was so much Dorian/Eugenie smuttiness and such HUGE plot advances that I can forgive Mead’s decision to hold off on book 3 until she has more time to properly promote it.

Succubus Heat ‘Georgina Kincaid #4’ by Richelle Mead

She is clearly a favourite author of mine – but I have a love/hate relationship with this series. No doubt I absolutely *LOVE* ‘Georgina Kincaid’, but I *HATE* how emotionally invested I get. I don’t think I ever laugh or cry so hard when I read these books. One minute I’m chortling along after one of Georgina’s wise-cracks, the next I’m bawling my eyes out over Seth’s callous actions (or feeling furious and wanting to poke a fork through Maddie’s eye!). Never before has the emotional rollercoaster of Georgina’s life been so hellish and smutty as in ‘Succubus Heat’. It was a phenomenal read, even if the ending left me feeling a bit depressed. I went to Richelle Mead’s book signing for ‘Blood Promise’ – and I am really looking forward to book #5 ‘Succubus Shadows’ after hearing a few of her comments regarding character development.

‘Soulless’ by Gail Carriger

I LOVED this book! Thankyou to Mandi at Smexy for pushing me to read it. I was a little hesitant at first because of the whole ‘Steampunk’ genre being totally foreign to me – but Carriger has written such a brilliantly fanciful and lustful supernatural story that is impossible not to love. Parasols and vampires, dirigibles and werewolves – what’s not to be obsessed about? I loved leading lady Alexia Tarabotti and her beau Lord Maccon – they were such a hot couple, they put the ‘steam’ into ‘steampunk’ and I cannot wait to read more of their adventures in ‘Changeless’ (March 30th 2010).

‘Frostbitten’ by Kelley Armstrong

This was the 10th book in Armstrong’s ‘Women of the Otherworld’ series – and it went back to being about my favourite ‘Otherworld’ couple, Elena and Clay. So much has changed for these two since we last saw them in ‘Broken’, I kind of loved that while there have been books in between, Elena and Clay have been expanding their family and carrying on in their lives. ‘Frostbitten’ had a fantastic, edge-of-your-seat mystery at its centre, delved deeper into Elena’s past and included plenty of lovey-dovey scenes between Elena and Clay. But best of all, ‘Frostbitten’ revealed the depths and changes to Elena and Clay’s characters and relationship – making this my favourite ‘Otherworld’ book yet. It will be a bit of a wait until Elena and Clay take centre stage in Armstrong’s series again, but ‘Frostbitten’ well and truly tied me over until that book comes.

Hunting Ground ‘Alpha & Omega #2’ by Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs is one of my all-time favourite authors. My favourite thing about Ms. Briggs’ writing is her masterful character development. Briggs’s characters are flawed, damaged and just generally frayed around the edges – none more so than Charles Cornick and Anna Latham. Charles sees himself as a cold-blooded killer, and doesn’t believe he deserves his mate, Anna’s, love. Anna is a werewolf Omega still recovering from the abuse she suffered under her previous werewolf pack. Charles and Anna are mated werewolves – two slightly damaged individuals who are learning to heal with and because of each other. I love this series. To be sure it is a fantastic Urban Fantasy – and this series, more so than ‘Mercedes Thomspon’, delves into the fascinating world of werewolf politics – but at its core ‘Alpha & Omega’ is a love story. ‘Hunting Ground’ had a wonderful mystery as its central plot, but it was amazing because it delved further into Anna and Charles’s romance and explored the repair of their fractured psyches.

Bone Crossed ‘Mercedes Thompson #4’ by Patricia Briggs.

This is probably my all-time favourite Urban Fantasy series. I loved everything about ‘Bone Crossed’ – from the cover art (drool worthy by Daniel Dos Santos) to the development of Mercy and Adam’s relationship. Mercy and Adam have been in a ‘will they or won’t they?’ dance from book #1, and in ‘Bone Crossed’ their mateship was finally cemented in a fairly anti-climactic, but wonderfully romantic mating. ‘Silver Borne’ is probably my most anticipated book for 2010, mostly because I want to see how Mercy and Adam handle their newfound relationship.

Magic Strikes ‘Kate Daniels #3’ by Ilona Andrews

Oh. My. God.

That’s all I could think reading the last 2 chapters of this book. Such an amazing final battle – I was bawling my eyes out, and cheering Kate on. And that Kate/Curran tub scene – woah! It says a lot about this author-duo that their leading man and lady have still only gone as far as first base but readers are 100% hooked on their relationship. I am *dying* for book #4, the first teaser chapter has only whet my appetite and now I need May 25th to hurry the hell up.

‘Goddess of the Hunt’ by Tessa Dare

My favourite regency romance – possibly ever. I love, love, loved this book! Again, thanks to Mandi at Smexy for recommending. The romance between naïve tomboy Lucy Waltham and stiff-upper-lip Jeremy Trescott was heart meltingly romantic. These two are such sweethearts, and even though I didn’t like the other 2 books in Dare’s series, ‘Goddess’ has made her a ‘must buy’ for me. One of the best scenes in this book occurs in a wardrobe – a wardrobe! Any author that can make a wardrobe sexy deserves to be an automatic buy.

‘Jane Jameson’ series by Molly Harper

This debut series from Molly Haper is brilliant! A comedic Urban Fantasy with one of the best and funniest leading ladies I have ever read. Jane Jameson is my hero – I want to be her BFF. Book #3 ‘Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever’ came out December 29th, but I’m still waiting for my copy – though I am sure I will love that book as much as her first two. This series has made Harper an instant buy for me – so unbelievably good, I hope Molly Harper is contracted for many more books in the series.

‘The Forest of Hands & Teeth’ by Carrie Ryan

One of the best books I have ever read (with one of the best titles). It’s a very different post-apocalyptic zombie book – Ryan writes beautifully and vividly, and the story is edge-of-your-seat from the first page. I adored this book. It is very bleak, but Carrie Ryan is such a masterful storyteller, and the world she’s created is so fascinating you can’t help but be 100% sucked in. I could easily see this book being adapted into film – it has a very cinematic quality and an epic feel to it. Ryan has a second book (set in the same universe) called ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ coming out March 9th 2010 – I am definitely reading that one!