Reviews

Onder de maan by Patricia Briggs

b_dav1s's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

calycat2's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

crystalstarrlight's review against another edition

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4.0

Vampires, Werewolves, and Skinwalkers: All in a day's work
Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson runs a mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area. Life is pretty ho-hum until Mac, a 16-year old werewolf, appears asking for a job. Mercy agree and slowly gets sucked into a plot that involves her sexy neighbor, Adam, Alpha Wolf, and her ex-boyfriend, Samuel.

I Liked:
Mercy Thompson is rad! I love how down-to-earth she is, how there really isn't a whole lot special about her, even when there is something special about her (her skinwalking ability). She was a fascinating character, funny, witty, sympathetic, and enjoyable.
I also found myself fond of other characters, something that can be a little more challenging in books written from the first person point of view. Jesse was really quirky and fun; I liked how Tony didn't end up being one of Mercy's harem (at first, I thought he would); Warren was a very cool addition to the urban fantasy realm (a gay werewolf? Might sound odd, but Briggs does a beautiful job); Adam was charming and arrogant (and even made me want to smack him some times!); Samuel is sweet and endearing.
The story is very interesting, starting with a trivial incident (Mac working for Mercy), and then continuously building as it progresses. Coupled with this, Briggs does a marvelous job introducing us to her new urban fantasy world. Besides the obvious vampires and werewolves, she also introduces witches and fae, such as Zee. I thought that was really cool, as was her description of their being discriminated against.

I Didn't Like:
There is a lot of setup, as is expected from a first novel. All the characters have to be introduced, which ends up being time-consuming and a little confusing.
The end battle and the “who-dunnit” were both a little weak. The end battle felt a little confusing, disjointed, while I still am grappling with understand why “X” did “Y”.

Overall:
My biggest forays into Urban Fantasy have been the Twilight novels. I've been interested in other vampire-ish novels, but I'd heard so much about this series, I had to check it out. And am I glad! Mercy Thompson is a delightful protagonist, independent, strong-willed, and yet not so abrasive that you don't root for her. This book has made me 100% more interested in werewolves, and I am most definitely interested in checking out the rest of this series.

mpunkt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

k7honey's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

lessa_riel's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

prairiewolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

breezy610's review against another edition

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5.0

I love Mercy's and her rang tag gang of friends.

emmas_shelf's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I think I had super high hopes going into this as I was looking for recommendations for a new fantasy series to read. I had heard this series is well-loved, “an oldie but a goldie” type book series. Unfortunately, my library only has book 1 in its collection and this didn’t do enough for me to encourage me to go out and purchase book 2 myself in any format. 

It wasn’t awful, I found there was more plot than I was expecting. I don’t know tho, for me if you as an author have the opportunity to write a fantasy series - idk why you’d make the werewolves be misogynists by default. I just found the dynamic between the wolves uncomfortable because of that. Despite this, I found the diversity a pleasant surprise in terms of race and sexuality of other characters.

However, the writing didn’t really grip me enough. I finished and thought “oh, alright then.” I also thought Mercy’s “theorising” in the book about what was going on with the plot ended up being too spot on which meant the “grand reveal” fell a bit flat for me. 

I also had read this series had romance, I know this is book 1 but there was basically zero. So just go in knowing that bc I didn’t.

ladylarson's review against another edition

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5.0

My New Favorite Series

Amazing character development with a solid plot. Mercy is the heroine I've always wanted. She's not the strongest but her intelligence and boldness are all she needs.