destiny ♡ howling libraries's Reviews > Alpha & Omega

MercyVerse — Author's Order (MT, A&O, novellas, etc.):
novellas: in progress
GN — Homecoming: ★★★☆☆
MT — #1 Moon Called: ★★★★☆
AO — #0.5 Alpha & Omega: ★★★★☆
AO — #1 Cry Wolf:
AO — #2 Hunting Ground:
MT — #2 Blood Bound:
MT — #3 Iron Kissed:
MT — #4 Bone Crossed:
MT — #5 Silver Borne:
MT — #6 River Marked:
AO — #3 Fair Game:
MT — #7 Frost Burned:
AO — #4 Dead Heat:
MT — #8 Night Broken:
MT — #9 Fire Touched:
MT — #10 Silence Fallen:
AO — #5 Burn Bright:

After how much I've enjoyed what I've experienced of the more Mercy-based Mercyverse titles so far, I was a little apprehensive about kicking off the A&O series because I was worried I'd miss Mercy and the rest, but luckily, Patricia Briggs' narrative voice is so distinctly hers that it's impossible not to feel like you're in the same exact world. Plus, we get to see a few familiar faces (most notably the Marrok, Bran Cornick) and it was really neat meeting Bran's younger son after having spent so much time with Samuel in Moon Called.

This is a really short novella and it does fly by, but I was impressed by how much world-building is packed into so few pages. Patricia immediately builds up a lot of depth surrounding the Chicago werewolves and even gives us more back story on the Cornick family, plus we get to meet Anna, who is instantly such a likable character. She's been through a lot (major trigger warnings here for mentions of rape and abuse), but she's got a fighting spirit left in her and she really develops it quickly in these 61 pages.

The only reason this is getting 4 stars instead of 5 from me is probably more of a "me" thing than this book, because it's something I know is common with werewolf fantasy books: Charles' level of dominance was fine, but the way he acts regarding the whole "finding his mate" arc was frustrating and overly pushy at times. Here's a woman who's just been through hell at the hands of a ton of terrible men, and Charles comes in to "save" her, but is still kinda pushy and intrusive. It wasn't awful, but it made it harder to enjoy watching their relationship form.

All of that aside, it made me much more excited to dive into the A&O section of the Mercyverse and I can't wait to start Cry Wolf next!

REREAD UPDATE:
The "dominance" stuff didn't bother me the second time around — probably because I've read so much more UF and PNR since first picking this up, that while Charles felt "too alpha male" to me the first time, his alpha tendencies actually feel very subdued this time around. Go figure.