Cry Wolf (2008) by Patricia Briggs is the first in a new fantasy series that is a spin-off of the Mercy Thompson series (Moon Called) that features Anna Latham, an Omega and her mate Charles Cornick, who is an Alpha, assassin and eldest son of the Marrok. Note: You must answer the question at the end of this review correctly to win a copy of this book.
The main story arc in Cry Wolf has Samuel’s brother, Charles, investigating a werewolf who has possibly gone “rogue.” The recent attacks are near the Marrok’s own territory in Aspen Creek. The assault on a grad student and another civilian has the Marrok suspecting that somebody might be against his decision to “out” the wolves to the public. Bran wants to present a friendly picture of the wolves to the world when they discover that werewolves inhabit this planet, too. However, there seems to be a subset of lone wolves who have the potential to cause problems but the reason behind these recent attacks has little to do with politics.
Another werewolf, Asil, has come to Aspen Creek for sanctuary and something else. He’s been having bad dreams that stem from a broken heart. Often Asil is referred to as a “Moor” which bespeaks of his Muslim faith and Spanish background. His back story is rather interesting considering the fact that he was around when Napoleon was fighting with the French against Spain. He is often labeled as “troubled” and “mad” by everyone else but Bran; and the Marrok is hesitant to fulfill Asil’s request for fear that his “madness” may just be a façade. Little does anyone know that Asil has brought trouble with him. Alongside Charles and Anna, Asil’s POV is also a significant part of this story.
The myths and legends surrounding the power of the Marrok is fully put to the test here and for once Bran finds himself faced with an ancient enemy so powerful that even his own son questions his invisibility. The Marrok is the most dominant Alpha and the oldest; he is in charge of all the werewolves in North America. The pack magic that he uses to connect and draw upon for strength has been compromised by an enemy whose dark magic has truly given the Marrok and his son a run for their money. The dark magic that they thought didn’t exist anymore provides them with a rude awakening.
While Bran’s vulnerabilities are exposed here, Anna’s addition to the pack proves to be a boon for them. She is an “Omega.” No one really knows much about Omega’s or the role that they play in the pack but their effects are immediately felt by those around them. The only other person who knows anything about Omega’s is Asil and that’s because his wife was one. Omega’s are ascribed with the power to soothe and calm. They are said to have all the strengths of an Alpha– without the aggression. Their main purpose is to protect those around them.
However, much time is spent and needed in bringing out Anna’s self-confidence. She left her Chicago Pack in order to live with Charles in Montana. Much of her life after the Change three years ago could be described as horrific. She was Changed without her consent and she was raped and abused by her pack until Charles and Bran stepped into the picture. Since the move from Chicago, Anna has shown flashes of her old self and she seems determined in reclaiming some part of her old life back. Like maybe connecting with her family again. I hope too much time isn’t needed to get her to fully come out of her shell.
While the overall story is somewhat dark, it is also very romantic. I think I like the fact that the relationship in here is pretty much resolved. No triangles and no second thoughts here: Anna and Charles are committed to each other. While their bond was weakened by the potential threat of another suitor, things did work out nicely for them. I really like Anna and Charles as a couple and together they promise to be a formidable adversary. Oh and I really like Charles. He is thoughtful and conscientious. He is also feared like his father and often has the duty of removing troublesome wolves who pose a risk for the Marrok and the pack.
Cry Wolf was by no means a perfect story and I didn’t love it like other readers. For one, I thought Charles’s possessiveness was a bit much but some readers may enjoy that more than me. Another thing is the referral of their “wolf” as a separate entity — can’t say that I liked that much and I thought it was odd. Lastly, I thought Anna’s character had regressed a bit from the novella. My hope is that we don’t spend too many books building her self-esteem back up. Given this fresh start, I feel that Anna has began to heal. This sentence towards the end seems to hint at just that:
Judging from the past few days, this new life of hers wasn’t going to be easy, but, she thought, she would like it just fine.
Over all assessment of this story for me would read like this: solid writing, solid world building and solid characterization made this urban fantasy hard to put down. The story had an excellent start but it was a bit slow in the middle with a battle towards the end that seemed really drawn out to me. Cry Wolf may not be the best place to start if you have never read and plan to read the first book in the Mercy Thompson series. Much of the plot surrounding the first book, Moon Called, unfolds here and is spoilerish for new readers. Moving on. Cry Wolf was a great read for all the reasons I explained. I look forward to reading more stories about Anna and Charles. My grade, a B+.
*****
Cry Wolf Reader Contest Begins..NOW
Which author am I referring to who killed off a major character in her series? I loved that series too. I just really wanted to rip out the last 2 pages of said book. The first three (3) readers who answer this question correctly with author and title of book will win a copy of Cry Wolf. Good luck! I will mail the books out to you ASAP first class. Please, once the announcement of your winning status has been made, contact me with your snail mail address within three days, after that, your winning status is null and void and I will choose another. Good luck!
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Either that or The Order of the Phoenix
J. K Rowling in Harry Potter
The Half Blooded Prince
well i haven’t read this book but from what i have been hearing about it i really want to read it
Keishon,
I understand what you mean about the possessiveness, even though I didn’t feel that way — we all have our hot buttons. Re. what Jane said, I may have been inferring too much; I think in her review of On the Prowl, she said that she felt that Anna was able to physically respond to Charles in too short a time. I can understand that viewpoint, even though it didn’t bother me.
Re. Anna’s emotional baggage, I don’t want it to drag out either, but I liked the way Briggs paced it in Cry Wolf. If Anna kept going through the same issues over and over again, it would get repetitive and frustrating, but at the same time, I think that characters without any emotional issues don’t bear much resemblance to real human beings (I have yet to meet a person who didn’t have some mixed up feelings about something). I think the challenge of a series that follows the same character can be how to keep that character both consistent (true to that character’s personality) and consistently interesting to readers. Briggs is such a good writer, I think she is up to the task and I’m really looking forward to the next book.
Re. the wolf self thing — you are making a lot of sense. It didn’t have the same effect on me, but I do see what you mean about wanting more subltety.
And BTW, I think your reviews make for very good reading, and stating why you like or don’t like a book is all that a review needs to do. There are always going to be differences of opinion because different readers respond differently to the same books — it doesn’t mean your opinion is off the wall.
I enjoyed your review with Briggs too and I liked her answer about the books being partway between parnormal romance and urban fantasy. That was how I saw Cry Wolf, too, though the “Alpha and Omega” novella was so romance and relationship-focused that it was basically a romance novella to me.
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I don’t know if Briggs will do this in future books but I really enjoyed the love scene in this one and I would enjoy seeing more, esp. since in ry Wolf, Anna called on her wolf to make love with Charles, and I’d kind of like to see her make love with him while her wolf is resting. It would show progression in the relationship, but I don’t know if Briggs will want to go there. I would love it if she did, but I’ll keep reading even if she doesn’t.
Hey Janine — sure. We can discuss [g] This review is really based upon a first impression of the story.
Charles is Alpha so I expected him to be possessive and to show aggression when other males were around Anna — but I felt it was too often that he showed that side of himself. It got my nerves, what can I say? [g] I can’t stand possessive men so maybe that’s more of a personal issue [g]
As for Anna’s regression — first let me say that I don’t know how in the world Jane concluded that she got her over sexual hang-ups quickly. [g] IIRC, she was worried that she’d have to have sex with Charles when they were leaving from Chicago to Montana (in Alpha and Omega).
I understand recovery needing to be realistic but I am hoping that it will not be a MAJOR part of this series. I asked Ms. Briggs this question regarding Anna’s emotional baggage and you should read her answer. It will post tomorrow.
As for the relationship being resolved quickly — I liked that it was resolved quickly in here versus the Mercy Thompson books where that part of the subplot took about three books to resolve. I think the Anna and Charles series will not so much be about romance. I predict based on how the relationship aspect was resolved, that it will be more about them as a couple against whatever obstacles they may have to face but I don’t expect there to be any romantic issues or entanglements (and I could be completely wrong). I just don’t see this series being overly romantic and the author hinted as much.
Re: wolf self-identiy issue — I can accept that they have a twin soul (wolf self and human self) but I think it was more of the delivery for me in conveying that concept that didn’t work. I’m not against the idea of it since it is an integral part of the series but my reaction whenever I came across the author referencing their “wolf self” in third person– it just completely knocked me out of the story. I guess I’m more for subtely in that regard.
I am sorry if this is not making any sense. I have a hard to analyzing the likes and dislikes of books as well as you guys do it at DA. It’s just not in me [g] I either like it or don’t like something and say why even if it is so totally off the wall.
I really enjoyed your review, too, Janine and so loved the scene where Charles changes back to his human form in order to soothe Anna’s ruffled feathers because she was losing her bearings and was threatening to leave him. One of the many memorable scenes in this book. The funeral scene almost had me in tears because it was just a brilliantly written scene/section of the book.
Great review, Keishon! I’m dying to discuss this book so I hope you don’t mind if I give my reactions to it and to some of the points in your review.
I often find possessive heroes annoying, but in this case, I actually enjoyed the possessiveness because Charles wasn’t comfortable with his own possessiveness. Part of it was him but a bigger part of it was his wolf, and Charles fought the wolf part of himself in order to give Anna the space she needed. I felt there was something noble in that, in the way he had to suppress his own impulses but was willing to do that for Anna because she meant so much to him. It was very romantic to me (not the possessiveness, but the struggle to be good to her).
I liked that a lot. I thought it was consistent with the story “Alpha and Omega,” where Charles referred to his wolf self as “Brother wolf.” There were times in that story when “brother wolf” had a differnent instinct or POV than Charles did. In the beginning, the wolf wanted her for his mate before Charles did. And later there was a great moment when Charles almost said something that might have hurt Anna’s feelings, but the wolf stopped him from doing so.
In Cry Wolf, this was expanded on — I especially liked the scene in which Charles thought (I’m paraphrasing from memory here) that he couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been aware of the fact that there were two souls that occupied his body. We were also shown more of how much this was the case for Anna, with the way she was able to call on her wolf half to give her strength.
I think there is a lot that Briggs can do with exploring this in future books, esp. the difference between someone like Charles, who is used to sharing his body with another soul (the wolf’s) from birth, and someone like Anna, who is less used to it and who had it forced on her. As I said in my DA review I think that maybe part of the arc of the series will be about Anna’s having to accept that aspect of herself and of the man she loves — that they are monsters, and killers, no matter how human they also are at the same time.
I can see why you might feel that Anna had regressed from “Alpha and Omega,” especially since she starts Cry Wolf feeling afraid. It is interesting to compare your reaction with Jane’s reaction to “Alpha and Omega,” where Jane felt that Anna got over her sexual issues too quickly. In Cry Wolf we saw that this was not entirely the case.
My reaction was somewhere in the middle — I feel that the regression is very realistic, since Anna had only known Charles one day, and he was wounded, and her entire life had been changed and she was uprooted from her home. I’m very glad that Briggs put some real obstacles in Anna and Charles’ relationship, esp. with Anna’s intimacy issues, since I think the kind of trauma Anna suffered isn’t something that people get over very quickly.
Oftentimes I do think that books gloss over the recovery process for rape survivors and have the heroine get over that kind of trauma in one love scene. That rarely feels realistic to me. Which is why I actually hope that Briggs continues to show the recovery as a gradual process that can sometimes be two steps forward, one step back, as she has done Cry Wolf.
I am very glad that Anna and Charles are committed to each other but I hope that doesn’t mean the end of their issues because for me, their relationship is what I love about these books and once the relationship issues are all resolved, I don’t know if I’ll be equally interested. Of course, there’s a fine line between resolving them too quickly and dragging them out too long, so I hope that Briggs finds that balance.
Hi guys, thanks for guessing and four of you got it right — RobinF, Janice, Popin and Laura D. You all get a copy of Cry Wolf. I know I said I had (3) copies but I do have (4) copies to give away. Please email me your snail mail (Robin, I have yours) and I’ll mail these out to you ASAP. Thanks for participating guys!
Also — just for the record — I’ve never read Mary Janice Davidson or Kim Harrison [g] and I’ve only read one JK Rowling book but it was not last one. Take care.
I’d have to go with Kim Harrison on this one. When she killed off K, I cried like a baby
I’ll go with Mary Janice Davidson as well.
heck i wish I knew that sucks. Great review and I am way tooo excited for this book.
I’ll guess Karin Slaughter’s Beyond Reach, but another one I wanted to kill was Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty and the Midnight Hour, right at the end.
How about J.K. Rowling or Mary Janice Davidson
Oh, it was definitely when Karin Slaughter killed Jeffrey in “Beyond Reach”. I will never read her again, she betrayed me.
J. K. Rowling — The Half Blood Prince and the character would be Dumbledore. Can’t remember another major character who was killed and make me want to trow the book against a wall.:)
Sorry, I forgot to add that it’s either Karen Slaughter or J.K. Rowling.
I would say kim Harrison as well.
I’m thinking Karen Slaughter, but I’m not too sure.
I can’t wait to get my hands on this book.
I want to read this one. Was it Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter??
If I am eligible to win a book from you again (I might be pushing my luck), I would guess Karin Slaughter’s Beyond Reach. I gave up on those books earlier than that one because they became so unrelentingly dark.
Kim Harrison, For A Few Demon’s More is my guess. Totally made me cry.