Moon Called is the first in a series of urban fantasy books that explore the life of Mercedes (or Mercy) Thompson.  Mercy lives in an alternative world where werewolves and vampires exist in secret.  This world is also populated with fey and other creatures but some of the fey have ‘come out’ to the wider public – really as part of political maneouverings as the really powerful and darker fey have remained in secret.  Mercy is a ‘walker’ or shapeshifter which means she can change her form at will to that of a coyote.  She isn’t under the influence of the moon and doesn’t run with any wolf packs.  During the day Mercy is a mechanic and runs her own business.  She works hard and is fiercly independent.  Not an easy feat when you have been raised by a pack of werewolves (headed by the Marrok – a bit like the king of the Weres if you will) and your next door neighbour is the local werewolf alpha.

The start of Moon Called finds Mercy taking under her wing a runaway boy – who also happens to be a werewolf and not one known to this territory.  Things quickly escalate from this point and without giving away spoilers we quickly have a dead body, warring werewolf clans and a kidnapping scenario and Mercy is on the road returning to the Marrok and her former werewolf family in need of help.

This series interests me.  I like Mercy, she’s tough, but she knows when she can’t win in a situation herself, she knows when to keep a low profile and when to come out fighting.  She isn’t too proud to ask for help and although she’s a tough cookie she still has a softer and caring side and is not afraid to show her emotions.  Her own strange ability as a walker, but without a pack, means she has a very low status in the general pecking order of things but despite that she seems to have the attention of the local alpha (who seems to have given her his protection), plus the friendship of a vampire from the local seeth and a colleague who is a fey but with the ability to deal with iron a – Gremlin (his own preferred term).  I did like this bunch of characters – particularly the vampire Stefan.  How cool – he loves Scooby Doo and has painted his own van like the Mystery Machine not to mention his ringtone is the Scooby Doo theme.  Ha.

I don’t suppose there’s anything really new or surprising in this story – not for anybody who already reads this genre that is.  But, I did like reading about all the detailed complexities of the wolves and how they interact with each other.  I also liked the way that all the different creatures seem to play more of a part in each other’s existence rather than being totally segregated from each other. And, I think by following the already well established conventions in relation to the creatures such as vampires, weres, etc, it allow the author to build on the other characters in the story rather than concentrating on finding a new take on things.

The writing was very easy to get along with and will definitely appeal to those who are not fond of a great deal of description and the story was fairly fast paced with the action starting virtually immediately.  I think if you’re expecting a romance you will be disappointed, there is the makings for a future romance but nothing really in this first edition.  That being said Adam promises to be interesting (pack leader/next door neighbour) and I dare say we will also get to hear more about Sam (Mercy’s love interest from her early years with the Montana Pack).

I will say that I personally struggled with the plot a little at the end.  It seemed as though so many characters were introduced and the actual story line didn’t really seem plausible.  Also, being the first in the series I thought there was a lot of information being given out to the reader which I felt broke the flow of the book somewhat.  But, I think that was just setting up the basic premise for the series and will probably be less evident in future books.

Overall, I thought this was a really good start to the series.  It had similarities to say, the Charlaine Harris books – but more gritty and dark.  I suppose it puts me in mind a little of a cross between the writing of Ilona Andrews and Karen Chance.

Anyway, I’ve already started No.2, Blood Bound, and I must say it’s off to a very promising start.

Rating B+

Moon Called