Release-Day Review: Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs (Alpha and Omega #5)

Burn Bright (Alpha and Omega #5)
Patricia Briggs
Published: Mar. 6, 2018 (Ace)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Cry Wolf.

Burn Bright picks up immediately after the latest Mercy Thompson book, Silence Fallen. Bran has decided to extend his trip and visit Samuel, leaving Charles to run the Aspen Creek Pack for a little while longer than he expected. But the Marrok’s pack is unusual in that it includes the Wildlings, wolves who are too old or damaged to be part of a regular pack but live nearby under Bran’s supervision. It’s the mate of one of those ancient wolves who reaches out to Charles for help when their home is attacked. On their mission to rescue Hester from commandos, Charles and Anna discover that they have a traitor in the pack who may be connected to a familiar enemy.

There are big action sequences at the beginning and end of Burn Bright, but most of it is made up of character-driven moments. And I love the characters in the Mercyverse, especially the old wolves. Fans of Asil (like me) will be happy to see that he plays a big role in the story. We also meet Tag, an Irish wolf who fought for Napoleon, who I hope to see more of. And I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens with a certain Wildling.

Another thing I love about Alpha and Omega is stories about Mercy from someone else’s perspective—Charles tells one to Anna at the beginning of the book. We also get to see Bran’s mate Leah, who Mercy hates, in a new light.

Since the beginning of the series, Anna has grown so much. It’s great to see her become a badass in her own right. It’s even better that she does it in such a low-key way. Dealing with the Wildlings gives her opportunities to do new things with her Omega powers. Those scenes reminded me of the way Jane Yellowrock’s magic is depicted. But Anna is also still healing and some of their actions remind her of the abuse she suffered before Charles rescued her from her old pack.

And I love seeing Charles’s point-of-view as well. He’s different from most of the werewolves because his human side and his wolf side are so well balanced. His magic is also different, though it’s similar to Mercy’s in a lot of ways. His romance with Anna is so charming and it’s allowed him to grow as much as she has. When we first met Charles in the series he was kind of a lone wolf, isolated by his role as pack executioner. I like seeing him interact with the rest of the wolves more in this book.

Burn Bright actually feels more like a Mercy Thompson novel than it does the previous Alpha and Omegas. Instead of assisting the FBI on a magical case in the human world, Charles and Anna are staying home and working within the pack. I suspect that’s a conscious choice by Briggs because the timelines have finally merged. There are some loose ends in Burn Bright that may very well be picked up in the next Mercy book. I’m tempted to reread Alpha and Omega and revisit those “old enemies” before that happens.

Sexual content: fade-to-black sex, references to abuse in a previous book