Moon Called

Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs

I learned my lesson years ago, although sometimes I’d forget, this time I remembered: after reading Guy Gavriel Kay, I must read something absolutely different.

If I read any kind of historical fantasy after Guy Gavriel Kay, I am always sorely disappointed.

Since I was still in the mood for fantasy I decided that Patricia Briggs would fit the bill.

Very good but in a way utterly unlike Kay.

Once I started the re-read, I realized that I’d re-read these fairly recently, but decided I didn’t care.

Mercy Thompson is an auto mechanic, and a walker–a Native American shifter, but unlike weres, she can take one form only: that of a coyote. And she doesn’t have super strength or (more importantly) magical healing.

One of the things I like best about Mercy is that her past, although unconventional, has not hurt or harmed her, except in the ways events in our history shape us because we cannot control the acts of others.

I like my mother and stepfather. I even like all of my half siblings, who had greeted my sudden appearance in their lives with enthusiasm. They all live together in one of those close-knit families that television likes to pretend is normal. I’m very happy to know people like that exist— I just don’t belong there.

She’s level-headed and sure of herself while remaining aware of her limitations.

I’m in good shape, and I have a purple belt from the dojo just over the railroad track from my garage, but I’m no match for a werewolf.

This is world similar to ours, except that the Fae have outed themselves (before science and technology outed them).

And so the lesser fae, the weak and attractive, revealed themselves at the command of the Gray Lords. The great and terrible, the powerful or powerfully ugly, stayed hidden, awaiting the reaction of the world to the more palatable among them. Here, said the Gray Lord’s spin doctors who had been McBride’s lawyers, here are a hidden people: the gentle brownie who taught kindergarten because she loved children; the young man, a selkie, who risked his life to save the victims of a boating accident.

It’s a good story, and I enjoy re-immersing myself in the world of Mercy Thompson.

Published by Ace

Rating: 8.5/10

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