Sophia Rose Reviews: Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs

 

Today my friend Sophia Rose is sharing her thoughts on Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs.
Enjoy!

Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Lorelei King and Alexander Cendese

#0.1, #0.5, #0.7, #0.9, #1.2, #1.8, #4.5, #5.5, #7.4, #8.5 Mercy Thompson World

Urban Fantasy

Publisher:  Brilliance Audio

Published:  9.2.14

Time:  14 hours 53 minutes

Rating: 5 stars

Format: audio

Source:  Purchased

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

This was my second time through Shifting Shadows, but this time I had it in the fabulous audio edition which enhanced my experience tremendously. Shifting Shadows stood the test of time and was even better this time through. 

 

The World of Mercy Thompson represents a combination of two series that closely inhabit the same urban fantasy world.  Ten shorter novellas associated with both series were compiled together for this fabulous anthology and are organized in chronological order. 

Three of the stories were never before released when this anthology was compiled plus at the end there are two extended scenes from Silver Bourne and Night Broken.  And further, for each entry in this anthology, Patricia Briggs offers an explanation of background, where the story originally appeared, and how the story came to be which I thought was as wonderful as the stories. 

 

First up was Silver, a prequel that tells the story of Bran, Samuel and Ariana long ago from before they were werewolves to Samuel and Ariana’s meeting. It's an origin story of sorts and it is a tale of sadness, pain, hope and love.

Fairy Gifts was about a vampire who was turned during the height of the mining days in Butte, MT. Rescuing a fey girl leaves him with an interesting gift and many years later it is his turn to return the favor. Story is told in flashbacks and present day bits all from the vampire Thomas's perspective. Thomas is a minor character appearing in the Mercy Thompson series.


Gray took me up by my emotions and even wrung some tears from me. The author doesn't sugarcoat the transition people go through when they suddenly become one of the monsters. In this case, it is the story a woman's tragic life when she is changed to vampire. She leaves her Seethe behind to return to the place she thought of as home even if it meant returning to the territory of a powerful vampire seethe leader. Just maybe she will regain some of the humanity and the spirit of the love she lost in her old home.

Seeing Eye introduces the witch Moira and the werewolf Tom who later appear in Alpha and Omega's Hunting Grounds and Dead Heat with Charles and Anna. It was an engaging story as the two warily team up to search out Tom's brother and save him from the local coven to which Moira has an unfortunate connection.


Alpha and Omega is the prequel to the Alpha and Omega series.  Charles and Anna meet when Anna contacts the Marrok about a kidnapped werewolf and he sends Charles to investigate the situation.  A lonely alpha wolf and a downtrodden, abused omega wolf forge a new connection.

The Star of David was a feel-good follow-up story for David, a lone wolf secondary character from Moon Called. I enjoyed the holiday mission he was on for his estranged daughter and hope to encounter more of him in further books.

Roses in Winter was just captivating about the unique little girl werewolf Kara who has Asil and Bran to guide her. My heart went out to all three as Kara's struggles to learn how to be a wolf might force Bran into a hard decision. I love how the author infuses something tragic with hope and triumph.

In Red, With Pearls- Warren is the main character!!!!
I've loved cowboy werewolf Warren in the Mercy Thompson series and it was a blast having him in the lead role solving a mystery surrounding an attack by zombie and a missing woman.

Redemption featured Ben the obnoxious British werewolf from Adam and Mercy's Pack. Who knew I could be made to enjoy - even empathize- from his perspective that gave more details of his life before coming to Adam's pack and the character growth he undergoes in this story.

Hollow was an actual Mercy story. Mercy is left deciding what to do about her demolished garage, but in the meantime she is offered a ghost hunt to keep her and a lesser known pack member busy.


Two outtakes from Silver Bourne and Night Broken were cool extras at the end.

Stellar job of narrating from Lorelei King and Alexander Cendese.  Lorelei King is amazing the Mercy Thompson series narrator, but I was already familiar with Alexander Cendese’s talented narration work, too.

All in all, this was a fantastic anthology for fans and has me eager to press on and revisit more from the Mercy Thompson world on audio.

 

Author Bio:

Patricia Briggs steadfastly refuses to write a biography. She considers them narcissistic, and besides, she’d rather write something interesting! But. . .that is what a husband and trusty assistant are for (and if she doesn’t like it, she can’t complain!)

Patricia is the #1 New York Times best selling author of the Mercy Thompson series and has written twenty four novels to date; she is currently writing novel number twenty five. She has short stories in several anthologies, as well as a series of comic books and graphic novels based on her Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series. Patty began her career writing traditional high fantasy novels in 1993, and shifted gears in 2006 to write urban fantasy. Moon Called was the first of her signature series about Mercy; the non-stop adventure left readers wanting more and word of this exciting new urban fantasy series about a shape-shifting mechanic spread quickly. The series has continued to grow in popularity with the release of each book. Patty also writes the Alpha and Omega series, which are set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson novels; what began as a novella expanded into a full new series, all of which debuted on the NY Times bestsellers list as well.

Patty was born in Butte, Montana, back in 1965. If you’re good at math, you’ll have deduced that she’s currently twenty-nine. In fact, she’s been twenty-nine for a while and has no intention of getting any older. Fiction authors don’t obey the laws of space and time, they invent them. Don’t argue, or she’ll make up a dragon right behind you . . .

Patricia was born book-privileged. Her mother was a school librarian, and she shared a room with an older sister who loved to read. Long after they had been put to bed, her sister would use the small night light to read Patty stories; her early favorites were fairy tales. Knights and castles, fair maidens, and monsters of every ilk became their nighttime companions.

Soon, Patty learned to read, and whole worlds were hers to explore. She rode on the Black Stallion, and flew the skies of Pern on a dragon. Sometime during that period she stumbled onto a treasure trove. Her older sister had begun collecting comic books; pristine originals were place in cellophane sleeves and organized in cardboard boxes. When her sister was away, they were removed by grubby fingers smeared with peanut butter and jelly for a clandestine read, returning with a faint smudges and wrinkled pages from reading under the covers. To this day, her sister periodically calls Patty and tells her how much more her original copies of the X-Men would have been worth if left pristine in their sleeves. The number keeps going up.

Patty is a prevarication professional. She lies for a living, telling whoppers and fibs so outrageous that people pay her to fib some more. Her only concession to honesty is that she tells people she’s lying to them, which is what separates a fiction author from a politician. She loves to play with her imaginary friends, and meeting with readers who know her imaginary friends is a treat. Her biggest complaint with writing is that she has far more ideas for stories than time to write them.

Patty and her family reside in Eastern Washington near Tri-Cities, home of Mercy Thompson; yes, it's a real place! When not working on the next book, she can be found playing truant out in her horse pastures, playing with the newest babies.

Website:  https://www.patriciabriggs.com/

 

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose