Moon Called (2006)
by Patricia Briggs
1st Mercedes Thompson novel
Another first novel of an urban fantasy romance series, more or less following the whole pattern that is symptomatic for this genre. Strong-willed heroine with an odd gift (this time she’s a walker who can easily transform into a coyote), who is more or less an outsider but has contacts to the local supernatural community (werewolves, faes, vampires) and has to help her friends with solving some problems including murder and kidnapping.
This feels like an optimized and adapted variation of the Anita Blake world, instead of all supernatural creatures coming out, only the weakest have, while the stronger ones are still in hiding and watching how the coming out of supernatural creatures turns out. In a neat, SFnal twist the coming out is forced by the level of technology humans have developed in the last century, since hiding becomes more and more difficult, even with the aid of magic.
It’s a nice read, but two thirds into the book it turns out the real villain is less than impressive and his plan is extremely convoluted to gain a simple goal, which IMHO would never have worked at all, because people, even predictable ones, have a tendency to not follow carefully laid plans. Still, a nice read and I’ll try the next ones in the series.
Rating: 4/5
