Moon Called

by Patricia Briggs, review by Nessa

Overall score:

Mercedes is a mechanic, and it's while she's fixing a client's car that a werewolf in human form walks into the shop looking for work.

From that simple beginning, Moon Called launches us into the secret world of werewolves in present-day Washington state.

Mercedes had an usual upbringing: her now-deceased father was Native American, and her mother abandoned her to be raised by a foster family in Montana. Her foster father was a werewolf.

Does this mean Mercedes was a werewolf? No. But she's something not too far from weres: she can shape shift into a coyote. Apparently, this strange ability runs in the family on her father's side, but unfortunately it sets her apart anywhere she lives: among the werewolves, among regular folk, and even among the fae.

Recently the leaders of the fae, the Grey Lords, outed the fae, because they are part of the 'lesser' magical community, and more acceptable to the general public. That doesn't mean the general public like the idea of magical beings running around among regular folk.

The American werewolf pack leader, Bran, is thinking that the Grey Lords had the right idea, and wants to 'out' the werewolves, too--at the same time controlling how the truth is revealed. Modern forensics can't be so easily tricked anymore and some of the medical community are threatening to take the truth of weres public.

However, there are those who don't want that to happen. But what does this have to do with the lone werewolf who visits Mercedes with a tale of capture, medical experimentation, and murder?

Moon Called is set in the Tri-Cities of central Washington, an unusual choice for paranormal goings-on, but it works. The author knows the area well enough for us to envision the landscape, but not overwhelm us with trivial details. We also come to understand how an area that lacks in metropolitan feel could have such a large percentage of magical residents.

The characters are interesting and complex. We sometimes lose a little of the tension when Briggs gets wordy, but I rather liked having a female first-person POV, especially one who is bold, yet feminine, educated, yet living the kind of life she wants.

Adam, her next-door neighbor, is the Alpha of the Tri-Cities werewolf pack, and lives in a nice house owned by someone obviously of means (while Mercedes lives in a trailer). But what kind of man does it take to control a pack of werewolves? Despite his obvious leadership strengths, he also has his weaknesses, like his daughter, cats, and a particular next-door neighbor.

There’s also Samuel, the son of the American Alpha, who at one time was romantically involved with Mercedes, for reasons not clear to us at first, but as we learn more about the werewolf culture we begin to understand.

The political and cultural lore of the werewolf community is a particularly enjoyable aspect of this book. It answers the questions surrounding how a human and animal would live in the same body, and the culture that would surround it: the violence, how dominant males would behave, how females are incorporated.

The basic plot is pretty straightforward, as Mercedes and her werewolf friends try to solve crimes among the werewolf community; but underneath, the solution is a little convoluted and I still don't understand exactly what happened. My biggest disgruntlement with the book is the promise of romance, but then it doesn’t live up to my expectations. That although there is some ‘getting together’ at the end, it isn’t set up properly, so it feels contrived—made me feel jipped.

This is the first book in a series, and although I was annoyed with the resolution of the crime solving, I really enjoyed the characters and the way the werewolf community was portrayed.

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Written by Nessa on April 25th, 2007