Sophia Rose Reviews: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

 

Today Sophia Rose reviews Fair Game by Patricia Briggs
Enjoy!

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs, Narrated by Holter Graham

#3 Alpha and Omega

Urban Fantasy

Publisher:  Penguin Audio

Published:  3.6.12

Time:  9 hours 58 minutes

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: audio

Source: library borrow

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

Patricia Briggs, the #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson novels, "always enchants her readers." (Lynn Viehl, "New York Times" bestselling author) Now her Alpha and Omega series-set in a world of shifting shapes, loyalty, and passion- brings werewolves out of the darkness and into a society where fear and prejudice could make the hunters prey...

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

I'm revisiting this series on audio and was excited about it because the books were starting to get vague in my memories after all these years.

 

Fair Game is the third installment to Charles and Anna’s story.  A quick word to any newbies to Patricia Briggs: One gets more out of these stories when both the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson series are combined as one series. There are references to the other series and the longer one reads in both series there is an understanding the reader-listener is already keeping up with both series simultaneously.

Fair Game begins about six months after book two, Hunting Ground. The wolves have just come out of the closet with the fae to the human public and it has made their every action much more important. Before the coming out, certain infractions among the wolves were left as a warning. Now, it is a killing issue and these killings occur more frequently than ever never leaving Charles, as the Enforcer, time to recover from what he must do. Charles’ has always done his duty and performed in the name of justice, but as of late he is weighted down heavily by guilt and remorse. He cuts himself off from Anna and she is terrified that they are losing him.

A creative solution is found to give Charles some respite from this soul-eating job. Bran decides to send Anna and Charles to liaison with the FBI in Boston to stop a serial killer who has targeted humans, fae, and werewolves.  Anna and Charles find that the FBI team also includes people from two other agencies who can barely tolerate each other (surprised?) let alone the idea of working with werewolves. Some of the team consider them as nothing other than monsters (yay team). They are joined by the fae father of this last victim. Time is running out as they all work to find the answers. In the meantime, Anna and Charles have Charles’ inner demons to work on too.

The plot was as intriguing and captivating as what one can usually expect in this series. It is multi-layered and kept me on my toes. The relationship between Charles and Anna is obviously a keystone to the story, but the action was exciting too. I was on pins and needles as Charles and Anna were working hard to repair the fractures in their relationship caused by his wet work for Bran and the deep guilt Charles was bowed under had a mystical quality that was keeping him from functioning at his best right when things got dire and deadly for them all.  Something big happens at the end that will have repercussions on both series.

The characters were well written. I loved the introduction to the new characters in Boston. The Boston alpha, Isaac, was amusing the way he deliberately tried to irritate Charles and soon learned that he had a tiger by the tail. The FBI agent, Leslie Fisher is tough, skillful, but has intellect and humor too. The small scenes with Bran and Asil are always good.

But as great as the plot and characters are, it is the world building that takes these books from just the ‘great’ to the abso-fabulous level.   Patricia Briggs is a world builder and story teller par excellence.  Now I’ll be impatiently waiting for the next installment.

 

Holter Graham is a fabulous narrator and I've been enjoying what he brings to the story.

 

 

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

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