Moon Called

Title: Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson, Book 1 of 7
Publication Info: Ace Books, January 2006
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 (5 Hearts!)

My measure of a great book, one deserving of the coveted and rarely bestowed 5 heart rating, is if I feel bereft when I arrive at the last page. I’ve fallen so enthralled with the world and so in love with the characters that returning to the real world is physically painful and I must run out and grab the rest of the books in the series IMMEDIATELY. Mr. Wonderful is grudgingly tolerant of these 11 pm dashes across town to the Barnes & Noble, but he knows I need the next book like I need air to breathe.

Patricia Briggs has written one of these books. I want to chat with Mercy as she fixes my biodiesel Jetta and eat popcorn with Warren and Kyle. I want to date Adam and talk about babies with Samuel. I want to move to the Tri-cities, and I’ve been to the Tri-cities.

I read her novella in On the Prowl and was hooked, so I picked up Blood Bound (erroneously thinking it was the 1st book in the series and that it was a paranormal romance, since On the Prowl is a paranormal romance). The books are not romance (def: a story about a growing love relationship between a couple that has an HEA ending), but I hear Mercy finally picks one of her suitors in the third book Iron Kissed (which I will be buying as soon as Barnes and Noble opens in the morning!).

Mercedes is a Volkswagon mechanic who was raised by werewolves in Montana. She is not a werewolf, but a Walker: she can shift into a coyote at will, is independent of the moon cycle, and is resistant to many forms of magic. When a young werewolf, hungry, homeless, and lost, shows up at her shop looking for a job, she gives him one and introduces him to Adam, the local alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack who is also her overbearing and handsome neighbor. Men bearing guns show up in pursuit and suddenly all hell breaks loose. Adam’s daughter is captured, Adam is wounded, and it falls to Mercy to save the day. What else can a girl do? She wipes the axle grease off her hands and gets to work hunting down the killers, braving crazed vampires, crafty fae, and Samuel, the man who broke her heart.

Mercy is a great heroine: tough as nails but still sympathetic. She’s loyal, smart, brave, and not afraid to get her hands dirty. The other characters are just as well crafted. I often have trouble relating to the heroines and heroes in Urban Fantasy, because they have too hard an edge and are too cynical. Ms. Briggs succeeds in creating dark urban fantasy with heart. The world-building is fabulous too, particularly the interactions of the werewolf pack.

I highly recommend this original and action-packed book, and eagerly anticipate following the rest of Mercy’s adventures.

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Tags: Book lovers & reviewers, Fae, Moon Called, Patricia Briggs, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy, vampires, werewolves

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