Review
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"Cry Wolf" is a fun Urban Fantasy with a lot of strengths and few flaws that I felt brought this below the level of quality Patricia Briggs achieves in her Mercy Thompson series.
The magic used in the story, especially the concept of the Omega and the novel way the Pack Bond is exploited as a weakness, is original and well thought through. The centuries-long backstories of both The Marroc and The Moor are used well- The rogue wolf character is well drawn. The winter conditions in the Cabinet Mountains seem realistic except for the final drive out. The fight/conflict scenes are tense and the ways used to try to thwart mind-control are novel.
A few things got in the way for me. I felt I never really got inside Anna's head, even when the story was being described from her point of view.
I found the speed and ease with which Anna recovered from her experience of years of being brutalised unconvincing to the point where it seemed the brutalisation itself was being treated as less of a big deal than it should have been.
I felt the age gap between Anna and Charles should have presented more difficulties than it did. This was partially covered from Charles' perspective but never seemed to come up from Anna's side.
I think it was a mistake on the publishers part not to include the novella that really kicks off this series as at least a preface to this novel.
Despite the various flaws, this has enough in it, partly by virtue of its cross-over with the Mercy Thompson series, to make me keen to read the next book in the series.
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"Cry Wolf" is a fun Urban Fantasy with a lot of strengths and few flaws that I felt brought this below the level of quality Patricia Briggs achieves in her Mercy Thompson series.
The magic used in the story, especially the concept of the Omega and the novel way the Pack Bond is exploited as a weakness, is original and well thought through. The centuries-long backstories of both The Marroc and The Moor are used well- The rogue wolf character is well drawn. The winter conditions in the Cabinet Mountains seem realistic except for the final drive out. The fight/conflict scenes are tense and the ways used to try to thwart mind-control are novel.
A few things got in the way for me. I felt I never really got inside Anna's head, even when the story was being described from her point of view.
I found the speed and ease with which Anna recovered from her experience of years of being brutalised unconvincing to the point where it seemed the brutalisation itself was being treated as less of a big deal than it should have been.
I felt the age gap between Anna and Charles should have presented more difficulties than it did. This was partially covered from Charles' perspective but never seemed to come up from Anna's side.
I think it was a mistake on the publishers part not to include the novella that really kicks off this series as at least a preface to this novel.
Despite the various flaws, this has enough in it, partly by virtue of its cross-over with the Mercy Thompson series, to make me keen to read the next book in the series.
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