Hunting Ground review

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs is the second full length book in the Alpha and Omega series after Cry Wolf. Hunting Ground takes us closer to Bran's plan for the big reveal that werewolves exist.

In Hunting Ground, Charles and Anna travel to Seattle in Bran's place to meet with the European pack alphas about problems with revealing werewolves to humans. We meet lots of wolves - including Tom and Moira, Tom's witch mate and the Beast, a French werewolf who is basically a serial killer. I liked meeting more of the North American wolves that owe Bran fealty as well as the alpha wolves from Europe because Briggs does such a great job of giving each one a unique personality.

Briggs builds more supernatural into the series with Hunting Ground. In Cry Wolf, there were werewolves and witches and in Hunting Ground, Briggs brings in vampires, the Fae and the legends of Arthur, which may not be legends after all. It's a neat twist, especially since the Alpha and Omega series is set in the same world as Briggs' Mercy Thompson series but has focused more specifically on the wolves because of the isolated setting of Bran's pack in Montana.

I liked that Anna is clearly growing into her role as Omega and her increasing understanding of who she is and what being an Omega means is underscored by her remaining mental and emotional issues from being changed and her early years in the Chicago pack. It's an interesting dichotomy and one that a less skilled author would not be able to balance as well as Briggs does.

Hunting Ground is an excellent entry in the Alpha and Omega series and I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy and paranormal stories with interesting characters.

Synopsis

Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son — and enforcer — of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be either...

Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan — and it seems like someone else might be too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all — or risk losing everything...