Showing posts with label Mercy Thompson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mercy Thompson. Show all posts

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Review of Silver Borne

Silver Borne is the fifth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It is currently available in hardcover and will be out in mass market paperback in January 2011. The first four books in the series are Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, and Bone Crossed. River Marked, the next book in the series, is scheduled for publication on January 25, 2011.

The day begins mundanely for Mercy Thompson as she works on fixing a car at her mechanic shop. When she receives a phone call from a friend passing along a message from Phineas to "tell Mercy to take care of that thing I gave her," she figures he just wants back the book about the fae that he lent her. Since Mercy's friend is worried that he cannot get a hold of Phineas she promises to stop by his bookstore to return the book that very night. However, once she gets there to find the shop closed and Phineas nowhere to be found, her instincts are screaming that something is not quite right.

Mercy doesn't have time to dwell on something that might be wrong since she has a date with Adam. Although her date begins well, it ends badly when she finds herself acting strangely, as though she is compelled to do so. Soon, she suspects someone is using the pack bond to control her- it's no secret that some of Adam's wolves are not particularly happy about having a coyote as a pack member.

Later that night Mercy receives a call from Samuel asking her to go get him from the hospital where he works. Once she arrives she finds that something is seriously wrong with him: his wolf half has taken over because Samuel is too depressed to continue. She can't tell anyone who may know more about the situation than she does because werewolves in this position must be killed according to pack law. Can Mercy save Samuel, salvage her relationship with Adam's pack and unravel the mystery of her fae book before it is too late?


It continues to impress me that Briggs manages to pack so much into such a short novel. Each of the books in this series are approximately 300 pages long, yet the main plot is always wrapped up by the end and the characters are further developed. What I love best about each new installment, though, is that reading a new Mercy Thompson book is like reconnecting with old friends. After five books, the characters are all so familiar and true to themselves that they seem real (in spite of any supernatural abilities). Mercy has such a natural voice touched with humor that always draws me right in to the story and keeps those pages turning quickly.

This particular volume has a main mystery involving the fae, a group I particularly love if they have a dark nature instead of being happy, human-like beings. Although most of the fae in this series fit into that category, there are a few exceptions and I don't even mind those because I love all the characters so much. While I loved the dark, fairy tale feel to the fae plotline in this story, the ending did bother me. It was just too convenient and seemed to come out of nowhere. It's the same complaint I have with a lot of urban fantasy - it seems as though every powerful creature in the world happens to show up in the one city the series takes place in.

This is largely Samuel's book as he's dealing with some of the issues that have been mentioned before. Even so, there are still plenty of great parts with Adam, Bran and many of the other characters (I'm starting to really want a series about Bran and/or Samuel's past adventures). Also, there's more information on pack dynamics and the different bonds, and learning more about the pack social structure is always interesting.

Silver Borne is another great addition to the Mercy Thompson series with some more plot revolving around the fae aspect of the world. Although part of the ending didn't quite ring true, the characters do and many readers will be happy to know that there is some special emphasis on Samuel.

My Rating: 8/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it (in hardcover even though it meant my books no longer matched - I found it for $11 and just couldn't wait).

Read Chapter One
Read the Author's Comments

Other Reviews of Silver Borne:
Reviews of other books in this series:
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bone Crossed Giveaway




A couple of days ago I got a copy of Bone Crossed, the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, as a late Christmas present. Since I already bought it the day it came out and just read and reviewed it, I'm going to give it away here. (This is the new paperback edition, not the hardcover.)

Contest Rules and Information

To enter, send an email with the subject line 'Bone Crossed' to fantasycafe @ novomancy dot org. Please include your mailing address. Addresses will not be used for any purpose other than sending the book to the winner and all emails will be deleted once a winner has been selected.

One entry is allowed per person. This giveaway is open to everyone no matter what country you live in.

This giveaway will close on Friday March 12.

Good luck!
Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels: , ,

The First Chapter of Silver Borne

Since I just reviewed Bone Crossed, it seems like a good time to post the link to the first chapter of Silver Borne. I saw this the other day thanks to a post on Angieville, which also mentioned this would be Samuel's book. I don't normally read chapters online, but I did read this one (partially because I was hoping it would help me decide about my dilemma about whether or not to wait for paperback - no, still undecided). Silver Borne is the fifth book in the Mercy Thompson series and will be released on March 30.

Due to an email from Borders, I also noticed that the first book, Moon Called, is coming to hardcover on March 2. The fourth book was the first one released in hardcover so the first three books had only been available in paperback (unless you include the Science Fiction Book Club version, which contained the first three novels as Preying for Mercy).
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Review of Bone Crossed

Bone Crossed is the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. The first three books in this popular urban fantasy series are Moon Called, Blood Bound and Iron Kissed, respectively. Silver Borne, the fifth book, will be released in hardcover in March 2010. Briggs is also writing a related series featuring different main protagonists called Alpha and Omega, which currently consists of two novels and a novella.

As this is a review of a book in an ongoing series, there will be spoilers for the first three books.

This novel picks up shortly before the end of Iron Kissed and expands on that ending. While Mercy and Adam are still discussing their relationship and the trauma Mercy recently endured, Mercy has several surprise visitors. First, her mother shows up after reading about Mercy's rape in the paper - Mercy doesn't exactly like to talk about it and would like everyone to stop looking sorry for her so she hadn't yet told her. Soon after that, Stefan appears in her living room in such bad shape that Mercy is afraid he might die (or whatever it is vampires do when they cease to exist since they're sort of already dead). All Stefan manages to tell Mercy is that "she knows," but Mercy is aware that he is referring to Marsilia discovering that she killed a dangerous vampire from the vampire's seethe and that Stefan covered it up. Now they are both in danger.

Soon after the first two visitors arrive, there is a knock on the door. It is Amber, an acquaintance of Mercy's from college, who also heard about Mercy rape in the news along with the fact that she is dating Adam, a werewolf. Now that Amber realizes Mercy's drunken ramblings about being raised by werewolves is plausible, she thinks perhaps she meant it when she said she could see ghosts too. Amber's house is haunted and she requests Mercy's help. Mercy finds the timing somewhat suspicious at first, but she later finds out there is no reason Marsilia would want her to go to Amber's hometown. Neither she nor any of her vampires would be able to get near Mercy there since it is inhabited by a very territorial, uncooperative vampire who will allow no others in his area. Mercy decides to pay a visit to Amber and investigate her ghost problem if it will get her away from Marsilia, especially since she believes Marsilia would not hurt any of her friends without Mercy around to witness it.


There is a lot happening in this latest installment in spite of the fact that is not a long novel. It has the vampire plot with Stefan/Marsilia and the ghost plot with Mercy's college acquaintance Amber and her family. Plus there is the aftermath of Mercy's traumatic experience from the previous book and great moments with many of the characters - especially Stefan, Adam, and Amber's ten year old son Chad. Briggs continues to maintain a great balance between keeping the plot moving and characterization.

Each book seems to contain some new insights into the various types of paranormal beings that inhabit this world. This one had most of the focus on the vampires with a little more information on the werewolves. There were also some interesting revelations about Mercy's own powers, which she knows very little about since she doesn't know of any other walkers like her. Mercy seems more like an ordinary human than most of them - she can shapeshift and is gradually learning more about her abilities but she's not dangerous like the werewolves or evil like the vampires.

Mercy is very enjoyable to read about and her character is one of the highlights of this series. The novels are all told from her first person perspective and she's such a fun narrator. She has a humorous way of looking at the world around her and Briggs gives her such a great voice that she comes alive. In spite of the fact that she can shapeshift into a coyote, she seems like an ordinary person with a mixture of real personality traits. She's loyal to her friends and seems to be very likable, yet she's also hesitant to really open up to others. While she likes to be in control and is stubborn and independent, she's also pragmatic enough to let others take over if it's the logical thing to do and seems necessary (at least most of the time). She's not so perfect that she's hard to relate to - she still has vulnerabilities and makes mistakes. Whenever she does mess up, though, it always seems to fit with her character and makes sense.

In this novel, there is a lot of hardship for Mercy. After her traumatic experience in the previous book, she still panics when she knows there is no rational reason to do so. While she does her best to overcome it, it's also not something that she can just brush off and forget about immediately, either, even though she seems to like to be reminded of it as little as possible.

In general, the characters are all very interesting and seem to have unique personalities even if lots of pages are not dedicated to their development. The friendships are well-written and enjoyable to read about. I was especially happy to see so much of Stefan in this installment - even though I am not normally a vampire fan, I do really like Stefan. Everyone always says he is not that bad for an evil vampire, but even he isn't what one would call a "good guy." He does have the capacity to care for others, but he'll also still commit acts like murdering innocent people if he thinks it's necessary. Stefan is more complex than good or evil and I like that in a character.

It's not a perfect book, although I had so much fun with it while reading it that I didn't notice many flaws until afterward. There is still some info dumping, but there is still a lot less of it than in the first book in the series. Also, perhaps there was a little too much going on in this novel sometimes - this one seemed to lack some of the emotional impact of the previous two books and that may have been because it was always rushing on to the next scene. Sometimes, as is often the case in novels, everything may work out a little too conveniently, too.

While Bone Crossed was not quite as good as the second and third books, I was immersed in the story from start to finish. Reading a new book in this series is like visiting old friends, and I'll definitely read the next one.

My Rating: 8/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Read Chapter One

Other reviews of this book:
Reviews of other books in this series:
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)