Wild Sign

Alpha and Omega, Book 6

By: Patricia Briggs

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Mated werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham must discover what could make an entire community disappear - before it's too late - in this thrilling entry in the number one New York Times best-selling Alpha and Omega series.

In the wilds of the Northern California mountains, all the inhabitants of a small town have gone missing. It's as if the people picked up and left their possessions behind. With a mystery on their hands and no jurisdiction on private property, the FBI dumps the whole problem in the lap of the land owner, Aspen Creek, Inc. - a.k.a. the business organization of the Marrok's pack.

Somehow, the pack of the Wolf Who Rules is connected to a group of vanished people. Werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham are tasked with investigating and soon find that a deserted town is the least of the challenges they face.

Death sings in the forest, and when it calls, Charles and Anna must answer. Something has awakened in the heart of the California mountains, something old and dangerous - and it has met werewolves before. 

©2021 Patricia Briggs (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Interesting if Unwieldy

This book wasn’t bad. It was certainly a fun journey, but she REALLY made a meal of this one for reasons that I still find unclear. I feel like she did a good job adding an engaging and unusual twist to a fairly easy to recognize fairy tale, but overall the book needed an editor willing to tell its author that the story was all over the place. The introduction of a new kind of magical creature that doesn’t directly affect the plot in any way felt forced and gratuitous and I don’t think she realizes that she’s losing balance and coherence trying to pursue so many unresolved threads at once.

Now with the bad part out of the way: there are a lot of really great things about this one. The villain was unusually scary (I have some opinions about deployment and the resolution, that felt like it turned a genuinely scary thing into a kerfuffle) and she is really going hard for the witches in ways that I really find interesting. But the best thing is how Leah really comes to be a whole person in this one, and in an opposite manner that I won’t spoil, so does Bran. The character development was good, but the plot kind of got (super got) out of hand for the third act.

I love this series, but she’s been building to big scary bad witch family/government threat/fae war/ vampire exposure across two series for like seven books. It’s getting Marvel-Universe unwieldy.

Well, I think that’s all I can say without spoiling anything. It’s better than Smoke Bitten, but the story’s not trending upward overall. :(

(And just while I’m at it, I don’t know how much more often we need to join A+C in their bed. Certainly less often in one book. It’s getting pretty old given that there’s no reason for us to doubt their relationship, love, or attraction.)

DNF

How I made it through the other 5 books with this narrator, I have no idea. But this one just broke the camels back. He.. sounds.. like he... graduated from the.. William.. Shatner.. school of acting... and speech. He does not do the story any justice. Female character voices are cringe worthy and just pulled me out of the story. Halfway through chapter 1, I was done.
I did, however, buy the Kindle version, and had a hard time pulling myself OUT of the story, it is so good. I adore this entire universe, but the narrator, not so much.

Deal breakers get what they deserve.

Sorry but i find myself constantly wondering why the author thought that a bunch of moochers who then broke their bargain were somehow sympathetic. Such a western way of thinking. bargains and honor only have meaning until they become the slightest bit inconvenient.
Who ever decided to have a man narrate a female led book was a moron. Also why was this guy doing a Captain Kirk impression the whole time?
The Epilogue makes ZERO sense if you think about it for more than a single second.
I'm sorry the book was fine but i really don't think i have anymore patience for Briggs dumb decisions and her female leads that belong in a fifties style kitchen waiting for their husband to approve the dinner they made. Not to mention how she hides her seriously gross racism in fantasy species. Kind of telling when death without hesitation is all that is ever the answer for anything that is not approved human in these books.

Just WOW

This is the best work of Patricia Briggs so far! The entire ride is on the edge of your seat! Lots of twists and turns. Lots of questions answered and more added plot twists for the future. Enjoyed every minute! I will definitely listen to this over and over!

Good overall

I've been looking forward to this book for years and mostly I enjoyed it. However, I found it jarring that briggs completely changed how Bran and Leah got together. She's spent a lot of time stressing that it was Brans wolf who decided they needed a mate and how bran picked someone shallow that he could never love. She didn't even try to mesh the new story into the old one, just changed everything. It made things weird. Outside of that it was great. I loved that we got to spend more time with Tag.

Narration really choppy

The cadence of the narration was extremely frustrating and jarring. Most narrators are so smooth and comfortable to listen to, but this one, especially when doing the accents of Charles and Bran, was really grating.

GAHHH!!! AWESOMENESS

This story’s last few chapters and epilogue makes me want to give it 10 freaking STARS!!!

Liked the whole thing, but that epilogue makes me want to “fast forward” to the release of the next book. Then again, maybe many more books as the doors have been opened to endless possibilities.

Highly recommended audiobook!

Dazed and confused

beware there are mild spoilers in this post...........

















I found myself irritated about Anna in this book, which is new for me with this series. The story seemed so different from past books with how much control the singer had over Anna when in the previous books magic seemed to affect her less due to her Omega nature. It got repetitive hearing Anna "not remembering " how old she was or thinking she was 17 , that she was a wolf, that she was Charles' mate etc. What I think bothered me was the music being used as a conduit for the mind control. I just thought ot was so unfortunate because music is such a huge part of Anna and Charles' life as a couple. It is how Anna and Charles play, how she connected with Charles in the beginning, how she calms and soothes him when he is disturbed by his "duty" and it was used in such an offensive way. It ruins that special connection between them for me in a way.
This series has more serious issues/plots and troubled characters than Mercy I think. The genesis of Anna amd Charles is due to egregious abuse of Anna. But it also seems that each book has gotten a bit more dark as far as the abuses that happen to people. This book was pretty dark in my opinion with layers of wrongful acts. It explained a few back stories that we have been waiting for but also left A LOT of questions. It didn't feel finished- the ending was a cliff hanger which I dont think has happened in any other book.
There was a lot to work through in this book. There were so many character plots going at one time, it was difficult to wrap my head around. I absolutely adore both series but Burn Bright is still my favorite in the A and O series

Briggs is back.

loved it. The last couple of Mercy books were a struggle but this was a great book. I was not crazy about the battle at the end but it is fantasy and it was well written. Plus I loved the little twists at the end that left open future books.

Another solid title

It is what you expect from Patty by now.

Can someone get the narrator some losenges please? The Batman voice is tedious.