Cry Wolf, by Patricia Briggs | Book Review #147

“Anna never knew werewolves existed, until the night she survived a violent attack… and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’d learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. Then Charles Cornick, the enforcer—and son—of the leader of the North American werewolves, came into her life.

Charles insists that not only is Anna his mate, but she is also a rare and valued Omega wolf. And it is Anna’s inner strength and calming presence that will prove invaluable as she and Charles go on the hunt in search of a rogue werewolf—a creature bound in magic so dark that it could threaten all of the pack.”

TRIGGER WARNING: Rape Mention, Suicide Mention, Self-Harm Mention.

I didn’t know what to expect when I first picked up Cry Wolf. I hadn’t really looked much into the book aside from knowing that Cry Wolf is written by Patricia Briggs, and that Cry Wolf is the first in its own series. Turns out, Cry Wolf is related to the Mercy Thompson series, but we don’t see Mercy at all in this first book. Even though she is mentioned a few times.

There are two points of view within this story, and I suspect that there will be these two points of view in the other books as well. The first view is of Anna. She’s had a definite rough go of things, and me saying so is taking Anna’s past lightly. The second view is of Charles, who is as much as a Macho-wolf as the next Alpha guy.

The differing points of view from Anna and Charles are something about this book that I found myself loving. There are other points of view that come into play as well, and I found myself also enjoying their view on things too. I don’t want to end up spoiling the book, so I haven’t said their names (if you were wondering).

I like how Anna and Charles; given how their circumstances were, came together to form this united front. When they first meet, they’re very obviously put off by each other, and needless to say, almost awkward. Which I absolutely appreciate overall. The characters being awkward just gives the story some overall authenticity to the story. The characters in this book are all realistic in the fact that they let their human side show.

Anna and Charles’ relationship together is something I found to be somewhat comforting. The relationship between these two is realistic for the overall genre of the story… For example: Anna and Charles both knew something was wrong within their relationship, yet when they confronted each other about it, the two of them were on totally different pages..One thought something was wrong with one thing, and then the other thought something was wrong in a total different area concerning themselves and their relationship. I really appreciate that Briggs put in the effort to make them this way. A lot of “Shifter” novels tend to end up with this “perfect” relationship between the main characters. And when that happens I tend to not enjoy the romance that can blossom between the two people.

Another thing that I ended up enjoying about this book is how the storyline also gave insight to the Marrok’s life.

I actually hate how Briggs has written her characters to the point of they’re in some situations because they’ve had shit things happen to them because shit people decided to prey on them. Like, can you not? I don’t like reading about a character that’s badass only because they’ve been abused in some way.

Even though I’ve discovered taht Briggs’ writing has a major flaw that she can’t seem to get over, I enjoyed Briggs’ writing in Cry Wolf. — I loved Anna and Charles. I can’t wait to read the next book, Hunting Ground. I’m also wondering when the two series will overlap, and how Briggs decides to write them in.

That’s all I have to say about Anna and Charles for the moment. Thank you so much for checking out my review!

Happy Reading!
Adele