Review: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

11480917Fair Game
(Alpha and Omega, #3)
By: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Ace
Published: March 6, 2012
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating:
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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…

1thoughtsThe book starts off with Anna arguing to Bran (the ruler of all werewolves in North America) that Charles’ job as his enforcer is weighing on him. Since the werewolves came out to humans, there is not longer any leniency with patrolling the werewolves. If you misbehave, you are killed, end of story. And it’s always Charles who deals the kill, whether he thinks it’s just or not.  Since the new laws, Charles has been pulling away from Anna and everything around him, and she has a feeling that it is connected to all the “jobs” his father sends him out on.  So when a werewolf is required to help the FBI in Boston for a serial killer case, Bran decides to send Anna and Charles. However, when they get out there they realize that the serial killer isn’t targeting humans, but rather werewolf and fae as well.

This story wasn’t as strong for me as the others. Maybe it’s due to the fact that there isn’t a lot of romance building between Charles and Anna. Half of the story is about the case and the other half is about Charles battling his ghosts. He shuts Anna out for the majority of the book and just when it looks like they are starting to get back on track there is another twist in the story that rips them apart. I fell in love with their love story but this book focused on their troubles, which wasn’t a bad thing. It just wasn’t what I was hoping for after a three year break in the books.

I will say that I am happy to see Anna become more of the rock in the relationship. Since Charles is apparently battling his demons, Anna takes it upon herself to become the more dominant of the two. She takes the lead and does whatever she can to bring Charles out of the darkness that he’s in. There was also a lot of time with Brother Wolf. Because of Charles barely holding onto his control, he allows Brother Wolf to take the reins quite a bit in this novel. Whereas before Brother Wolf tended to not be very vocal and was more short clipped in responses, he has become somewhat of a conversationalist in this novel. He talks with Anna a lot and definitely has a personality of his own that shines through. It’s no secret that Brother Wolf has intrigued me from the get-go. The fact that you can clearly tell the difference between Charles and Brother Wolf really helps you visualize the two as totally separate beings, even though they share the same body.

Even though this may not have been my favorite from the series, sorry but the prequel novella will always hold a special place in my heart, I can appreciate it for what it is. We get to see a huge roll reversal in this book. No longer is Anna the beaten down wolf, instead she has become a warrior in her own right. She fought her demons and will never allow anyone to break her like that again. While meanwhile, Charles is losing a battle with his demons. It’s up to Anna to save him from himself.

 

1favepart“Isaac was watching him, his eyes bright gold. And then he tilted his jaw, exposing his throat. Charles lunged forward and nipped him lightly before releasing him.”

I liked this part because all too often with paranormal books you forget that you are reading about werewolves. However, in this scene Charles and Isaac are in their human form and are with a pair of humans when this happens. The absurdity of picturing a huge Native American lunging and biting another man in the neck does not scream normal to me. This part snapped me back into the fact that they are werewolves regardless of what form they are in. Their wolves are always lurking behind their human skin.

 

Previous reviews from Alpha and Omega
Alpha and Omega
Cry Wolf
Hunting Ground

kRISTIN

3 Thoughts on “Review: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

  1. I really want to read something by her. I have the first book in …omg I can’t remember the series. It’s Moon something… it’s about werewolves. haha sorry Its so late here and my memory is fuzzy because I’m so tired.
    But yeah, I have that book. I think its’ from this series but I could be wrong. Do you think this series is better than the other to start with? I really heard so many great things about it.
    Great review!!

    • This one is a spin-off from that series. It’s actually a good series. I started with Mercedes and then Alpha and Omega came out and I started reading them instead. The only down side is that the author links the two series together. However the one you have is the main story so it’s probably best to start with that one.

  2. Although this one wasn’t as strong for you as the others, I am glad you were still able to enjoy it! I have seen a lot of reviews for this series up lately, and I am set on starting it myself at some point as well. The books look like they are good reads!

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