Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs

Wolfsbane is the second book in the stories of Aralorn, and it really doesn't break much new ground. As I mentioned in my review of Masques, there's a Bond-ian flaw in the stories, and it appears at first that Aralorn and Wolf have made a stereotypical Blofeld-esque mistake, leaving a live enemy behind them. When they faced down ae'Magi Geoffrey, the left him without his magic facing a horde of malignant creatures that he'd formerly been able to control, assuming that he would be torn apart without either of our heroes bloodying their own hands.

Aralorn learns that her father, the Lyon of Lambshold, has died, and so she travels with Wolf to the old family keep to pay her last respects. Her relationship with her family has been strained over the years, as she was an illegitimate child of her father's shapeshifter lover, and some of her brothers are uncomfortable with her powers. For them moment, most of that is set aside while they are mourning.

It turns out that her father is not actually dead, but has been captured in a spell that simulates death. It's too complex for Wolf to unravel by himself, and so they seek help first from Aralorn's shapeshifter uncle, then from a local priestess of death, and finally from the current ae'Magi. As they dig into things further, they come to believe that it may be Geoffrey's spirit - a dreamwalker - influencing the living to perform the spell that threatens the Lyon.

The whole plot appears to be designed to draw Aralorn and Cain (Wolf) to a place where they can be captured for Geoffrey again. In some ways the book is more about relationships than about defeating the dead wizard's evil plans. Aralorn and Wolf become more deeply involved and committed to one another, and Aralorn's relationships with her mother, brothers and sister look like they might be restored. Again, not Briggs' best work, but it's good clean fun.

Masques by Patricia Briggs

I believe that Masques was Briggs first novel, and evidently it was adequate to get her published, so she could follow up eventually with Mercy Thompson and friends. This book is mostly just classic fantasy, complete with an evil wizard, a plucky female lead, and her faithful shapeshifting wolf companion.

Aralorn, runaway daughter of a minor noble, is a shapeshifter and a spy for Ren, the spymaster of Sianim. Her assignment is to find out what she can at the court of the ae'Magi (archmage) Geoffrey, a well-beloved man who seems to have the magical situation in the land well under control. While she is there, she finds that Geoffrey is not the angelic figure he pretends to be, but that he is guilty of using black magic, fueled by pain, blood and death, to consolidate his power and influence.

There is a branch of the royal family that is immune to magic whom he is unable to influence with his charismatic spells, and Aralorn makes contact with the heir of that family, Myr, while she is spying at the court of the ae'Magi. When Geoffrey plots to capture or kill Myr, Aralorn goes AWOL from her next assignment to join his loyalists hiding in the mountains where Geoffrey's magic doesn't reach.

Sometime much earlier, Aralorn rescued a wolf from a pit trap who was actually a shapeshifter. Wolf has been her somewhat constant companion ever since, and he also is part of the resistance to the ae'Magi. Wolf has a more personal reason, though, as he is really Cain, the ae'Magi's son, who fled after being accused of working black magic. He had actually done so, under his father's tutelage, but had come to regret his evil ways and fled from his father's control.

The quest is relatively straightforward - kill Geoffrey and free the kingdom from his evil. The main problem with this novel, in my opinion, is that Geoffrey suffers from the same conceit as the Bond villains, he wants to gloat over his victims rather than just killing them quickly. This gives Aralorn just enough opportunities to escape him so that she can defeat him in the end. A good first effort by Briggs, but she's written much better.