Monday 5 August 2019

SHIFTING SHADOWS


SHIFTING SHADOWS by Patricia Briggs (UK over)
Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Lorelei King
Novellas in the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson serieses
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook


About Shifting Shadows:
Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”
Source: Info in the About Shifting Shadows was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821263-shifting-shadows on 07/02/2018.

SHIFTING SHADOWS by Patricia Briggs (audio)
My Thoughts:
I believe that these collection of short stories or novellas in the world of Mercy Thompson would have been better read chronologically within the series' timeline. As it is, I read them in one bulk as given here in this anthology after I've read the books that has been published already thus far. And a few of those books were read, like, donkey's years ago, that I have forgotten the events in those stories already. This kind of diminished my enjoyment of the little stories here, however, I would still read them even though it is no longer according to chronological order because they are good reads. And I am a die-hard Mercy Thompson fan. Little bits of morsel to savour. Most of these little stories are like little snippets with in which the ending and the start was in the books in the series, therefore, if you haven't read the books, it would not make a lot of sense and I presume that it would just be more frustrating than an enjoyable read. So caution to those who are not followers of this urban fantasy world. This anthology book is so not a good place to start reading about the Mercy Thompson world or the Alpha & Omega series.

Plot... some of the short stories does not have much of a plot because it is just a little slice of the bigger story in whatever book in which the short story fits into the Mercy Thompson timeline. So, in so many ways, the plot rating does not apply to this anthology. However, even though the stories here are just short and/or snippets, the wonderful story telling quality that is the trademark of this author still shines through, that is why this book remains a good read despite all my whining about it.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = (N/A)
Writing Style = 4
Ending = (N/A)
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (14 hours & 52 minutes)
Plot = (N/A)
Narration = 3.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


  Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
                     


  Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:
             


About Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon


FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all it's purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Friday 5 July 2019

DEAD HEAT


DEAD HEAT by Patricia Briggs (US over)
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Holter Graham
Book 3 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Dead Heat:
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal — or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up — and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.
Source: Info in the About Dead Heat was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571699-dead-heat on 03/02/2018.

DEAD HEAT by Patricia Briggs (UK over)
My Thoughts:
I dove straight into this book right after Fair Game because by then I became a rabid fan of this series.

Why can't they keep Dan delos Santos' amazing cover art??! Somebody needs to clue in the UK art department that their cover art sucks!

This would be the second book I've listened to by Holter Graham. I have forgotten his halting way of reading. And he doesn't pause or give any indication that the scene has changed and suddenly the story lines does not make sense so I have to go read the ebook for that part to understand what is going on. That made the pace a whole lot longer than the 11 hours listening time that this book is supposed to be. And then there's the way he gives some characters a slurring way of talking, ala Al Capone or some such Italian mobsta. This made his words indistinct, and so not a desirable trait.

On the up side, this book has the same wonderful story telling quality and world building that this author is famous for! So needless to say that I enjoyed this book despite all my whining! The horse talk though, went right over my head.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (11 hours & 25 minutes)
Plot = 4
Narration = 3

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:


About Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon


FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all it's purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.