C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp continue to build on the fantastic world of the Sazis in Moon’s Fury, the fifth book in this interesting series. Full of animal instincts, pack politics, magic, and a wide variety of shapeshifters, this novel stokes your imagination. These authors have created an exciting and unique world that sucks you in and makes you wish you could join it.

Cara Salinas’ life is busy, spent juggling her duties as interim sheriff in her small town in Texas and her responsibilities as Alpha of the local wolf pack. Keeping the community unaware of the presence of the Sazi has always been important to their way of life and in a small town with gossip as the typical pastime, she finds her task especially difficult. But Cara’s pack of red wolves is small and all of the members are family of some sort. Then Adam Mueller comes to town and throws everything off kilter.

Adam has been sent by his Alpha in Minneapolis to scout out the Texas area. The Sazi council has commanded their pack to split and move half the members to Cara’s area. This command came after a bunch of skiers noticed the pack hunting and brought that news to local attention. Adam is the Second in the pack and feels completely responsible for the split, because he was in charge the night they were seen. It is now up to him to determine which of the wolves will be banished from their homes and sent to Texas, probably to live under the command of a stranger.

Lucas Santiago is the new head of the Wolven agents, but he was also the wolf representative on the council, so he comes down to Texas to try to smooth everything over. When Cara hears of the council’s order, she is furious and incredulous. She understands that unless there are believable reasons for a bunch of people to all of a sudden move to their town, people will talk long and often of what strangeness brought them. While the three try to figure out who would inconspicuously fit into such a small community, Cara’s job as sheriff calls her out to a death scene that is clearly the work of Sazi animals. Now everyone is thrown into battle with a murdering group of raptors and the different packs must find peace amongst themselves before a big showdown occurs.

This is only a small part of all that goes on in this novel. Many things happen, but they are never overwhelming. Everything flows nicely and comes together in the end, though there is certainly a setup for the next book in the series. The Sazi world is complex and I have never encountered so many different types of animals that share the same kind of magic. The authors certainly put their own spin on the shapeshifter world and it is fun and exciting. While I could have done with fewer “dropped jaws,” the writing is sharp and descriptive. Many characters carry over from previous books and add color to this installment without detracting from Adam and Cara’s story.

Adam and Cara fulfill the romantic part of this novel and their relationship is very hot at times – and slightly discomfiting at others. The two are attracted to each other from the start and Adam is a charming and charismatic man who somewhat easily sweeps Cara off her feet. The uncomfortable moments relate to the animal natures of these people. There were times when their beasts controlled their hormones and pheromones and made it obvious that any other body would have gotten it done for them. Other moments of animality went a little farther than I would have liked and brought the grade down a bit. Another issue that bothered me was sudden magic that would save the day, but had never previously been hinted at or described. One or two such occurrences could be expected in such a magic community, but there were so many that it seemed like the magic was always impromptu, rather than the studied art that the book described.

All in all, Moon’s Fury is a very captivating, fast-paced, and comfortably complex book. It captured my interest enough to make me want to read the previous books and the one that will follow. If you enjoy paranormals and haven’t yet checked out the Sazi series, perhaps it’s time you do.