“The coyotes are my brothers. Oh, I’m not a werecoyote — if there even is such a thing. I am a walker.”
Mercy Thompson finds herself deep in trouble when she tries to help a young untrained werewolf boy with a job and food. Unfortunately for her, there are a lot of people looking for him and they will bring death to her and all she loves.
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TITLE:
MOON CALLED
WRITER:
by Patricia Briggs
COVER ART:
Daniel Don Santos
SERIES:
The Mercy Thompson Series #1
PUBLISHER:
Book: Ace Books/Penguin (January 31, 2006)
MP3/Audiobook: Penguin Audio (Sep 01, 2009)
LEGNTH:
Book: 288pp.
MP3/Audiobook: 9 hrs. 14 min. (Unabridged)
GENRE:
Urban Fantasy, Horror, Suspense,
DESCRIPTORS:
Murder, Good vs. Evil, Werewolves, Vampires, Witches, Fae, Walker, Conspiracy, Medicine, Mercenaries, Victims, Test Subjects,
CHARACTERS:
Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson, A strong willed woman who is a Walker that changes into a coyote nearly instantly.
Stefan Uccello, A vampire from the local seethe who’s van looks like the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine.
Adam Hauptman, The alpha werewolf and leader of the Columbia Basin Pack.
Jesse Hauptman, Adam’s strong willed daughter.
Dr. Darryl Zao, Adam’s second — an engineer with a Ph.D.
Warren, An old werewolf who has like almost like a rogue because he is gay.
Kyle, Warren’s human boyfriend and a sharp divorce attorney.
Ben, Exiled from the London Pack, Ben dislikes women and may or may not be loyal to Adam.
Elizaveta Arkadyevna, A witch in Adam’s employ.
Bran Cornick the Marrok, A powerful alpha werewolf, the leader of all the North American Werewolves.
Samuel Cornick, Bran’s oldest son, a doctor and an alpha werewolf.
Charles Cornick, Bran’s youngest son by a Salish woman which has endowed him with magic and easier, faster change.
Marsilia, She is the mistress of the local Seethe and exiled to America for some reason.
Siebold “Zee” Adelbertsmiter (Adelbertkrieger), He is one of the Fae, a Metallzauber although he calls himself a gremlin.
SUMMARY:
Mercy Thompson is a Walker — able to instantly shapeshift into a coyote — who grew up in the Marrok’s werewolf pack until she left to start a new life in the Tri-Cities (Richland, Pasco and Kennewick)of Washington. For several years she was an assistant mechanic to Zee until she bought the shop from him after he had to reveal himself as a fae.
When a young, untrained werewolf come to Mercy looking for work, she takes him in and feeds him. Shortly after, they are attacked by werewolves and barely survive. Left with no other alternative, she calls in the local alpha, leader of the Tri-Cities’ werewolf pack Adam Hauptman for help. He takes the boy, promising to protect and teach him how to control the wolf.
Unfortunately, the companions of the fallen werewolf attack Adam in his house, nearly killing him and kidnapping his 15-year-old daughter, Jesse. Mercy arrives too late to do anything but try and save Adam.
A wounded werewolf is a dangerous werewolf and needs a healthy more dominant werewolf to help him heal and keep from flying into a murderous rage. But very few are more dominant than Adam. Mercy finds herself unable to trust Adam’s pack and races to get him to Bran in Colorado. Bran is the most dominant werewolf in North America.
However, while Mercy tries to save Adam’s life, no one is free to rescue Jesse.
APPEAL:
Despite the werewolf, vampire and witch trappings, most urban fantasy novels take their cues from the popular hard-boiled detective story. Like those stories, Moon Called is told in first person past tense, with the detective — Mercy — as narrator.
Patricia Briggs’ strongest talent is in characterization. Mercy is far weaker than the paranormal elements that surround her, but she has a strong personality and an unbreakable moral code. If you’re her friend, for instance, she’ll go to bat for you no matter how dangerous or personally painful it may be. And she can make the hard decisions such as choosing to save Adam’s life over finding Jesse.
Patricia Briggs is also very good about putting Mercy through the wringer. Mercy rarely catches a break and there is nobody coming to rescue her. The suspense kept me reading this book and refuse to let me go. I just couldn’t bring myself to put it down.
Scary? No. Suspenseful? Darn tootin’.
The world of Mercy Thompson is very highly developed. Even though you only see a fraction of it, it feels like there is a lot more. She has, on top of the Tri-City human culture, a werewolf pack culture, a rogue werewolf culture, a fae culture and a vampire culture with their own politics that affect Mercy in her quest. They also all have their own moral codes that she has to navigate — to get what she needs from them without offering offense — this makes for a highly complex and realistic world. It adds another layer of believability to the story.
AUDIOBOOK:
I listened to Moon Called in a 24 hour period over two days. I found it difficult to put down. I listened to it on an MP3 player which allowed me to do chores around the house without having to put the story down.
Lorelei King read the book. She did a wonderful job with story. Mercy’s voice, especially as she was narrator, was perfect for me.
Not surprisingly the male voices weren’t her best but I tend to cut a lot of slack when a reader makes a serious attempt to differentiate opposite-sex voices. I did like Ben’s voice a lot — the accent and the snideness in every word were perfect. She has British accents and Germanic words down pat. Zee was another good male voice.
READALIKES:
If you like Patricia Briggs’ Moon Called, you might want to try this character-driven urban fantasy series by Ilona Andrews: Magic Bites (Kate Daniels Series #1)
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