Review : Moon Called

Posted by kay on October 20, 2009 11:02 am in 4 stars reads | 7 comments

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Pages : 288
Genre : Urban Fantasy
My Rating :

From the back of the book :

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they’ll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I’m not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson’s sexy next-door neighbor is a werewolf.  She’s tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself… and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

There is so much I enjoyed in this book, it’s hard to decide where to begin with! Of course, as most first books in a series, this one was a lot about setting the characters and the different aspects of the world. The great thing is, Briggs paces the information thorough the book in between the different scenes in a way that doesn’t seem too heavy. Plus the alternate version of our world felt well constructed and intriguing, so reading about was only captivating.

I loved the characters and the dynamics between them, and also the dynamics in the werewolves pack (and with Mercy, since she is kind of an outsider). They had very different personalities, and Mercy’s two would-be love interests had both great stories. I had a slight preference for Adam over Samuel, but honestly it’s a tough choice!  And while we’re on the topic of Mercy’s men, here is my next point : Mercy as a character and Mercy on the cover.

As much as I’m okay with the cover, I don’t feel it represents Mercy that well. That girl is a little too sexy, while Mercy didn’t give me that impression at all. I’m not saying this because Mercy was a mechanic and wasn’t feminine (and she was not “not feminine”), but because that’s not what mainly comes out from this novel. Sure, there is a tension between her and the two werewolves (Samuel and Adam), but if you’ve been put off by the cover, thinking it would be all about romance and sex in an urban fantasy setting (like I first thought), than let me assure you, it is nothing like this.

Mercy is an heroine just like I love them : strong, down-to-earth, practical. That’s not to say she has no emotions, but she doesn’t let them control her either. She also has some common sense : when she smells danger, she actually doesn’t run to it unless she has no other choice. She doesn’t risk her life every other page and plans carefully her actions. It’s kind of refreshing to have a character who’s not constantly endangering hers and her friends lives! Add to that a good sense of humor that doesn’t take over the story, and it pretty much was one of my favorite urban fantasy novel in a long time!

All in all, it was a great book, and I know I’ll be wanting to read more. Good thing too, since to this day there are 3 more books in the series, with a fifth being published next year.

Series Reading Order :

1. Moon Called
2. Blood Bound
3. Iron Kissed
4. Bone Crossed
5. Silver Borne (coming March 2010)