Fair Game

Oh how I love this series and this world. Honestly.

I could never say whether I love A & O more than Mercy, I really just love love love the world, the constructs and the huge cast populating it. And this book did not disappoint.

I loved watching Charles and Anna struggle to make a functioning relationship, despite their tremendous differences (in personalities, in ages, in roles, in pretty much every tangible way). They are such a complimentary pair, and together they make such a much stronger whole.

I was thrilled and terrified by the big shift in the Mercy-verse that was heralded by the finale of this book. I can't wait to see where it goes!

Re-read April 2017

I do love this series, and in this book, Anna became a bit more of a real person to me (I thought she was a somewhat weak, milquetoast heroine in the previous books... nowhere near as compelling as Charles).

One thing that was startling to me on the re-read (that apparently wasn't on the initial read, because I didn't mention it) was opening with Charles and Anna's relationship falling apart. Given that I just came out of book 2 (in the re-read) and they seemed super strong, like they'd finally found a solid foundation for their whirlwind relationship ... it was a shock to open in this book with such a chasm between them. A lot of time passed between books 2 and 3 in this series (book 2 happened, in the Mercy-verse timeline, before Mercy book 2... and this book happens after Mercy book 6), and so we just didn't get to see the slow deterioration as the wolves had to more firmly police themselves, after coming forward publicly.

But it didn't detract from the book. In fact, I think it's good, and is probably what contributed to Anna's development. Jump forward so they aren't a new shiny relationship, but rather, are a couple struggling to make their real selves work together (after the honeymoon period is over). We get to see an Anna who knows a little bit more about herself, and feels a little bit more comfortable in her own skin. And we get to see her struggle, which is good, because in the previous books everything came so easily to her, which (imo) made her a little flat.

Definitely my favorite of the A & O series.

Re-read April 2020

Yeah, what I said above. This one and book 1 are my favorite of the A & O series, with this one pulling probably a hair ahead because it turns Anna into a real character.

The injustice of this one ... I want to punch all the humans in the face, in the end. Frankly, the fae restrained himself admirably when he didn't kill them all. I think he should have.

Love all the books from Patricia! They are amazing!

I've read some so-so reviews of this on blogs I generally like, so I was surprised to find it so engaging. Briggs is well known for taking the romance genre trope of the alpha male and turning it on its ear, especially in this series, in which the heroine is an Omega wolf who stands outside the pack hierarchy and has the ability to calm all wolves. She carries her genre-tweaking further by pointing out that while assassins and their ilk make cool heroes, they also make messed up heroes, and that's just what Charles is in this book: totally messed up. He and Anna negotiate that messed-up-ness while investigating a serial killer in Boston that seems to be targeting fae and werewolves. I enjoyed the suspense plot as well as the romance plot, and absolutely loved the ending, which will shake up not only this series but the Mercy Thompson one as well. Good times all around.

I have started this series not so long ago and I was really surprised how much I liked it. The third book is as good as the previous ones.

Charles has to kill more wolves as the rules of his father become more strict. He is seriously struggling with this responsibility and even Anna is not able to help him. Then Brian sends him and his wife to Boston to work out a case of a serial killer whose victims were werewolves. As the next girl being kidnapped, they have to do something quickly and in the meantime convince the public opinion that werewolves are not murderers and monsters.

The whole case of a serial killer is quite entertaining, although I suspected some things, like the personality of one of the killers, from the beginning. I also really enjoyed the relations between Charles and Anna and I would like to see even more of them working on their problems.

I will definitely continue with the series.

This book has an engaging murder mystery, but the reason that I love it is because of the emotional character arc for Charles.