I've read all of the Mercy books (through Rivermarked) and the Alpha and Omega spin-off series (need to read Fair Game). It does come out that most of Mercy's "all the women hate me" is mostly because she felt like a freak in the pack, and even if Bran did what he could to help with that (and in effect, Samuel, too), the rest of the werewolves only could after Mercy accepted their dominance. (Because wolf > coyote in the wild, bigger.) The only female I remember legitimately hating on Mercy is Bran's mate, Leah. But that's because Leah pretty much has tons of issues and hates all females? Bran's original mate was a Salish woman (Charles' mother) who died giving birth to him. And after several hundred years (or something) his wolf decided he needed a new mate, but Bran doesn't want one. So Leah is the wolf's mate, and technically Bran's wife, but Bran doesn't love her. He just respects her. So she's got issues.
Considering most urban paranormal series, I loved Briggs' version because the romance--while it's there, and plays a part--it's at least subdued. Not as much as Kat Richardson's in the Greywalker series, but lots more than others I've read. (I also appreciate that she always "fades to black" when it comes to sex scenes. I end up skimming those anyway, because they don't interest me.)
As for the whole Change, and why there aren't a lot of women. The Change has to pretty much kill them in the first place, so even a lot of men don't make it. But after that, the wolf/human side of the two souls have to come together and agree, and be compatible. And if that doesn't happen, they go crazy. And their pack leader (or Bran in the Aspen Creek pack, or Charles if it doesn't happen in outside packs) has to "put them down" before they endanger the rest of the pack family. So it's less physical strength, as a combination of physical/mental. And a lot of werewolf men are just hesitant to change women anyway because of the lack of being able to have children, and most women don't want that anyway. So it just doesn't happen often.
Mercy gets along better with the female in Adam's pack (Honey) in later novels, as well as a fae that comes in. But generally, there aren't a lot of females in her life, no. But she does get a older sister/younger sister thing going with Jessie which is nice to see. Mercy's mother did just dump her on Bran's pack because she couldn't deal with the coyote-shifting (which is semi-legit), and then her surrogate step-mother hated her (Leah). So that would color any kid's idea of female relationships.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-02-05 10:05 pm (UTC)Considering most urban paranormal series, I loved Briggs' version because the romance--while it's there, and plays a part--it's at least subdued. Not as much as Kat Richardson's in the Greywalker series, but lots more than others I've read. (I also appreciate that she always "fades to black" when it comes to sex scenes. I end up skimming those anyway, because they don't interest me.)
As for the whole Change, and why there aren't a lot of women. The Change has to pretty much kill them in the first place, so even a lot of men don't make it. But after that, the wolf/human side of the two souls have to come together and agree, and be compatible. And if that doesn't happen, they go crazy. And their pack leader (or Bran in the Aspen Creek pack, or Charles if it doesn't happen in outside packs) has to "put them down" before they endanger the rest of the pack family. So it's less physical strength, as a combination of physical/mental. And a lot of werewolf men are just hesitant to change women anyway because of the lack of being able to have children, and most women don't want that anyway. So it just doesn't happen often.
Mercy gets along better with the female in Adam's pack (Honey) in later novels, as well as a fae that comes in. But generally, there aren't a lot of females in her life, no. But she does get a older sister/younger sister thing going with Jessie which is nice to see. Mercy's mother did just dump her on Bran's pack because she couldn't deal with the coyote-shifting (which is semi-legit), and then her surrogate step-mother hated her (Leah). So that would color any kid's idea of female relationships.
/Devil's Advocate role