Charles and Anna, after much arguing, travels to a summit
with the leaders of the European werewolf packs in the Marrock’s place. They
need to discuss a world changing issue – the Marrock’s plan to reveal the
werewolves existence to the world. Not all the Europeans agree with the Marrock’s
plan and Charles needs to smooth things other
Not an easy proposition at the best of time – but the powerful, man eating werewolf Jean Chastel and his influence on the continent adds a lot of complication and difficulty. But just because he’s the most obvious threat, doesn’t make him the only one.
This was a pretty decent mystery, which I always
appreciate. I had suspicions about the culprit but the ending still took me a
little by surprise with enough red herrings and complexities back and forth to
leave me guessing – and second guessing – my assumptions and suspicions. That’s
a sign of a good mystery
We also got some nice world building details I appreciated
– some more touching on the fae, more looking at werewolf packs beyond North
America and some nice research as well – there’s definitely been some more
detailed readings of Arthurian legends here I liked to see.
I also liked Charles development – his own insecurities
don’t feel like angst but actual reasoned doubts and concerns from a man who
has been a killer for so long, hated it even while he considered it necessary
and now fears Anna’s disgust simply because he is disgusted with himself. We’ve
also got some very reasonable conflict from a very private, very close person
who is now finding his life blown open extremely quickly. Anna has had her
whole life changed, far more than Charles, but Charles has also had to change
centuries of habit which will take some time.
Anna is still very nervous even extremely afraid of Alpha
werewolves. Which forms a loop because the more afraid she is the more “protective”
they become which, in turn, makes her more nervous and them more agitated. I
actually really like this element for 2 reasons: firstly, Anna has faced
considerable abuse in her old pack. Alpha male werewolves abused and raped her -
that kind of trauma doesn’t just vanish overnight because she’s found a good
man – I like to see trauma given time to heal and grow and work through rather
than magically disappearing – and yes, that includes the issues she still has
with Charles.
I also like it because it helps poke a hole in one of the ongoing issues with this world setting, seen more in the Mercy Thompson series than the Alpha & Omega series; the whole idea of Alpha werewolves being sexy and the habitual tip-toeing around them all the time. While it’s very normalised in the other books, Anna makes it clear that it’s frightening, it’s intimidating and it makes Alpha werewolves difficult and unpleasant to be around.
