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A review by nancyotoole
Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs
3.0
After hearing that her father has passed away, Aralorn and her companion Wolf travel back to the home and family that Aralorn has not seen in ten years. When Aralorn approaches her father's body to say goodbye, she discovers that that man is still alive. Aralorn soon learns that her father is under the influence of magic, and will die very soon if they cannot figure out a way to awaken him. Meanwhile, they must also discover the culprit behind her father's suffering.
Wolfsbane is the sequel to Masques, Patricia Brigg's debut novel that was recently updated and re-released. Wolfsbane is its formally unpublished sequel, that spent years collecting dust before finally being released last year. Similar to Masques, Wolfsbane is a solid traditional fantasy that succeeds mainly due to the likableness of the main characters, and the strong relationship they share. Also similar to Masques, Wolfsbane is a flawed book, despite it's strengths.
One thing I noticed right away about Wolfsbane is that the quality of the writing was better than Masques, which makes sense giving that Briggs wrote two novels between Masques and Wolfsbane. The pacing seems to be smoother, despite the fact that there are fewer exciting moments this time around. I enjoyed getting to known more about Aralorn's past and family, and the fact that Briggs did not take the easy path of making all of her family utterly unlikable (which other authors would have done, seeing how Aralorn is the bastard daughter of Lyon, before he ended up marrying and having a legitimate family). I also enjoyed the fact that we got to see more scenes of Aralorn as a storyteller, as well as more romantic moments between Aralorn and Wolf.
At the same time, Wolfsbane is not without it's faults. The story may be a swift and enjoyable read, but like many books by Patiricia Briggs, the ending doesn't come together as smoothly as it should. I found the revelation about who the villain was, and why this person acted in a certain way, to be a little to convenient. I also wish that Briggs had taken time to further explore some other elements that were raised in this novel, such as Wolf's struggle between his human magic and green magic. Given that Briggs has found such success with her urban fantasy novels, I suspect that this is the last time we will see these characters, so it would have been nice to see a little more of them.
Wolfsbane is a satisfying sequel to Masques, an early work by Patricia Briggs. The book admittedly has it's faults, and really shouldn't be read without having read and enjoyed Masques previously. My positive experiences with Masques and Wolfsbane has convinced me to read more of Briggs's traditional fantasy works.
Wolfsbane is the sequel to Masques, Patricia Brigg's debut novel that was recently updated and re-released. Wolfsbane is its formally unpublished sequel, that spent years collecting dust before finally being released last year. Similar to Masques, Wolfsbane is a solid traditional fantasy that succeeds mainly due to the likableness of the main characters, and the strong relationship they share. Also similar to Masques, Wolfsbane is a flawed book, despite it's strengths.
One thing I noticed right away about Wolfsbane is that the quality of the writing was better than Masques, which makes sense giving that Briggs wrote two novels between Masques and Wolfsbane. The pacing seems to be smoother, despite the fact that there are fewer exciting moments this time around. I enjoyed getting to known more about Aralorn's past and family, and the fact that Briggs did not take the easy path of making all of her family utterly unlikable (which other authors would have done, seeing how Aralorn is the bastard daughter of Lyon, before he ended up marrying and having a legitimate family). I also enjoyed the fact that we got to see more scenes of Aralorn as a storyteller, as well as more romantic moments between Aralorn and Wolf.
At the same time, Wolfsbane is not without it's faults. The story may be a swift and enjoyable read, but like many books by Patiricia Briggs, the ending doesn't come together as smoothly as it should. I found the revelation about who the villain was, and why this person acted in a certain way, to be a little to convenient. I also wish that Briggs had taken time to further explore some other elements that were raised in this novel, such as Wolf's struggle between his human magic and green magic. Given that Briggs has found such success with her urban fantasy novels, I suspect that this is the last time we will see these characters, so it would have been nice to see a little more of them.
Wolfsbane is a satisfying sequel to Masques, an early work by Patricia Briggs. The book admittedly has it's faults, and really shouldn't be read without having read and enjoyed Masques previously. My positive experiences with Masques and Wolfsbane has convinced me to read more of Briggs's traditional fantasy works.