Hunting Ground / Patricia Briggs

4 out of 5 stars

Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son — and enforcer — of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be either...

Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan — and it seems like someone else might be too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all — or risk losing everything.

I think I like this splinter series of Patricia Briggs more than her original Mercy Thompson series.  The first Alpha & Omega book annoyed me because it assumed that I knew things that I didn’t.  I hadn’t read the short story that kicked things off.  But with that in the past, I can appreciate this second book for exactly what it is.

I always love urban fantasy that includes the Fae.  They are far superior to vampires & werewolves in my reading experience.  I’m not sure what it is about the fairy tale aspects that grabs me—maybe it’s my Scandinavian background that makes me love a good troll.  And this story contains just enough Fae elements to keep me happy.

Then there is Charles and Anna’s relationship.  It’s a done deal and it’s working well.  There’s none of the “will s/he or won’t s/he” questions that occupied so much time and energy in the first several books of the MT series.  This seems to me to be much more interesting—how do two people work out their differences and make a relationship work?

A very satisfying urban fantasy and I will definitely be moving on to the third installment soon.