Review: Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

 Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, 2) by Patricia Briggs

Urban Fantasy

Ace (August 25, 2009)

ISBN: 978-0441017386

304 pages

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles’s reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer—or Charles will take the fall.

This series just keeps getting better!


For those of you unfamiliar with it, this is the second novel in Patricia Briggs's latest series, but there's also a prequel novella, "Alpha and Omega", that does a great deal to establish everything. It's set in the same world as her Mercy Thompson series and deals with a mated pair of werewolves who've recently met and married.

Briggs is great at creating believable fantasy plots . This installment is even more action-packed than the last one and builds nicely on the established story arc. The impending revelation of the existence of werewolves is causing a great deal of tension and Anna, Charles, and Charles's father Bran, the ultimate Alpha, are being bombarded with problems and don't know whom to trust. Vampires, which are prevalent in the companion Mercy series, are introduced for the first time in this series. Their involvement further complicates matters and makes it all but impossible to figure out what will happen next.

While this is an urban fantasy series, the real draw is not the action but the novel romance of the two main characters. Both Anna and Charles have come into this relationship with significant baggage. Briggs does a excellent job of developing the intimacy between these two. After a pretty non-existent courtship, they're both still learning about each other and how to deal with one another. The intense nature of their bond and feelings both aids and hampers them in their efforts to grow as a couple.

I highly recommend this series for everyone, especially those unfamiliar with the genre who would like to try a great example of urban fantasy.

Grade: A