Product Description

Charles Cornick is his pack's enforcer and lives a harsh life, doing jobs other wolves can't - or won't. And his most recent task was rescuing Anna Latham from a life of brutality. This leaves him shot and wounded, but he's happy to pay the price. Charles is strongly drawn to Anna, and her growing 'Omega' powers will see his people through dangerous times. Anna desperately needs her new mountainous home to be safer than the life she's left behind. But when a rogue werewolf starts murdering hikers, Charles and Anna are sent into the winter forests to investigate. Charles is still weak and will need Anna's strength as they discover a web of witchcraft that could drag down the whole pack. Including its leader Bran, Charles's father, head of a vast network of wolves. And if Bran weakens, dark madness could run like a fever through half a continent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14603 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Patricia Briggs graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German. She worked for a while as a substitute teacher but now writes full time. Patricia Briggs lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews

Great continuation of the Mercy Thompson world
I love the Mercy Thompson books, and this one is a continuation/spin-off of that world. It is about Samuel's brother, Charles, and his newly found mate, Anna.

Since Charles lives in Aspen Creek, Montana, we get to learn a lot more about the Marrok, his home and his pack. I really enjoyed this, and look forward to reading more in the future.

However, I was seriously confused when I was reading the book. There are frequent, detailed, references to earlier events, and yet this is the first in the "Alpha and Omega" series. I even re-read the Mercy Thompson books (hardly a chore!) to see if I had missed the plot development there.

But my confusion may be solved. I think that Anna and Charles met and "clicked" in Patricia Brigg's short story, which can be bought in the "On the Prowl" collection of stories. I can only assume this from one of the detailed reviews written for Patricia Brigg's short story in that collection (thank you "clairefromwales"!). I have ordered a copy to check this, and will update this review once I have.

So my suggestion - I think you should read that short story before this book. Having said that, even without having read the story of their meeting, I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to all those who love the Mercy Thompson world (or, alternatively, it you have not read that series either, then check out at least the first Mercy Thompson book (Moon Called (Mercy Thompson)) before this one !)

Acceptable but not great
To be honest I'm a fan of Patricia's heroine Mercy Thompson however for some reason I really had a hard time getting to grips with her latest heroine set in the same world. She felt a little under whelming and whilst characters need vulnerabilities to keep the reader attracted to them, I was not sure that she was the right one for the role that was thrust upon her. Add to the mix a very possessive male principle protagonist who treated her a bit like a china doll and you can probably imagine how much I started to loath her.

That said however, the adventure that you get with Patty is always going to be something special as the scrapes really are close and she does play for keeps which always keeps me glued to the novel. Add to the mix an uncertainness in regard to the outcome or which way it is going to unfurl next and it's a magical mystery tour of an adventure. Don't get me wrong, Patricia's writing is still several rungs above a number of others within the genre today but I never lost that niggling feeling to do with the female lead and whilst she does emotionally grow within the context of the tale I do hope that she goes further next time to make her a character that I can not only respect but one that I can empathise with one hundred percent.

A disappointment
I absolutely love the Mercy Thompson books so was thoroughly looking forward to this spin off: but what a disappointment. First, as the previous reviewer mentions, there are loads of references to the short story published elsewhere, which is really annoying and I don't see why the book couldn't have started with it.
That aside, or possibly because of that, I found both Anne and Charles uninteresting and unconvincing characters. Mercy Thompson and the crowd of characters who surround her all leap off the page at you and sparkle. Anne and Charles are just dull, dull, dull.
On the bright side, there is interesting pack stuff, such as the role of an Omega, and the witch stuff, especially in relation to Bran's past, is interesting. So I will try the next one, to see if Patricia Briggs can bring them up to scratch, but I am not holding my breath. On the whole I would say borrow it from a library or buy a second hand or sale copy, don't rush to get it at full price (unlike the Mercy Thompson series, which I would highly reccommend!!!!)