Moon Called by Patricia Briggs: Review

Moon Called

By: Patricia Briggs

Synopsis (From Goodreads): Mercy Thompson's life is not exactly normal. Her next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a VW bus for a vampire. But then, Mercy isn't exactly normal herself.

My Review: I seriously almost didn't post the cover of this book. I feel like it so poorly misrepresents the book that it would turn off potential readers, and I'd hate to do that. I didn't pick up this book for months because it looked like a trashy romance novel.  The trend of scantily clad women in leather on urban fantasy novels has got to stop. Blegh.

Anyway, I love Mercy! What a fantastic female protagonist.  As I was reading this book, I made a list of things I liked about Mercy:

• Not only is Mercy strong willed, she has the skills and expertise to back it up. (Unlike some protagonists I know. Yes, I'm looking at you Bella Swan-Cullen).
• Mercy doesn't put herself in harm's way on purpose and knows her limits.
• But, she's not afraid to follow her instincts and test those limits.
• Mercy's shape-shifting abilities are very awesome.
• Mercy can and does cry. She's not a whiner, but she is still female and has compassion.

Gosh there were so many things I liked about this book. The fact that vampires were creepy and unpredictable. I loved the fast pace of the book. The plot kept rolling right along and each interaction in the book had a specific purpose. I didn't feel like there were any loose ends that needed to be tied up. Briggs did a fantastic job of explaining Mercy's past without spending too much time going backwards.

I am going to admit that the climax/ending really puzzled me. I think I left off at a bad place in the book, because I got really confused about which characters were doing what and with what motives. I think too many characters were introduced at the end, and I'm so bad at retention that I couldn't figure out where they all belonged. I had to read a couple chapters twice to get it all.

But, it was a fantastic urban fantasy. I'm excited to continue reading in the series

My Rating:
I gave this book 5 stars

Book-a-likes:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Profanity: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Sexuality: Moderate. It's quite tame, but it is mentioned

Violence: Moderate. Lots of werewolves die.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare: Review

City of Bones

By: Cassandra Clare

Description: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Review: I didn't know this going into the book, but apparently the author is quite famous in the Harry Potter fandom world. I really didn't have any idea what the book was about when I started. Frankly, I just liked the cover.

This book was pretty much a combination of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I could pick out elements from all the different books/series, and use them to predict what was going to happen next.  In some ways, that was good, in others, it was a little corny.

The characters were mostly good, none really stood out to me as being fantastic.  Except perhaps Luke. I really liked his character and learning more about him as the book progressed.  I also really liked the integration of vampires, werewolves, faeries, and demons. The vampires were not sparkly, and the wolves were not full of teen angst. The underground world was fascinating, similar to Harry Potter's world.

Overall, the book was fun. It wasn't brilliantly original or anything, but it had some good points. It was good enough for me to continue the series.

Rating:

I gave the book 3.5 stars, and rounded up to 4.

Book A-Likes:

Harry Potter, Star Wars (even though that isn't a book), Recommended for those who like Urban Fantasy.

Profanity: Mild

Drugs and Alcohol: Mild. There is mention of drugs and clubs with alcohol.

Sexuality: Mild

Violence: Moderate. I mean, they are vampire/werewolf/demon killers. There has to be some killing.