Dear Ms. Briggs:

I read on JMC’s blog the other day that she was having a hard time crafting her thoughts about Bujold’s Sharing Knife: Horizon without coming accross as an incoherent fan girl. I’m a bit like that with your books. I hope I can provide some insight as to why I liked the book so as to help others who might be making a purchasing decision.

Bone Crossed is our 4th entry in the Mercy Thompson series and it is the first hardcover. Immediately, I think you get judged by readers by a different, tougher measuring stick. Because of the cost, readers forgo other purchases. So, is it worth it? Read on.

Mercedes Thompson is a walker. She shapeshifts into a coyote, is a fairly good singer, and has an immunity to magic. In the Tri-Cities area, that latter is a positive because the area is rife with other beings: werewolves, vampires, Elf kind, and faeries. A previous power struggle between the vampires led to Mercy making a powerful enemy in the form of vampire queen Marsilia. Everyone around Mercy thinks she should get the out of Tri-Cities until Marsilia calms down.

Mercy accepts an invitation from a college friend, Amber, to come to Spokane to investigate a haunting in her friend’s house. Despite Mercy’s doubts as to the veracity of her friend’s complaint, the truth is that there is not only a ghost in Amber’s house, but the ghost is threatening Amber’s son. Worse than the ghost is that there is a very old vampire who holds Spokane; so powerful that he holds it without any other vampires; so powerful that he can walk in sunlight.

Mercy must ultimately face a reckoning with Marsilia, the vampire of Spokane, and her own inner demons.

Bone Crossed begins almost immediately where Iron Kissed left off. Mercy Thompson, the narrator, is bruised, both in body and in spirit, by a rape. She must face up to survival which means coming to grips with her abuse, her love for Adam, her feelings regarding the Adam’s pack, and her own vulnerability.

The latter is probably the issue that bothers Mercy the most. While she acknowledges both outwardly and inwardly that she is not the strongest creature out there due to the fact that she shifts into a coyote shape and has not extraordinary magic or strength, her life long resistance to magic has possibly given her a false sense of security.

The problem for Mercy is that she is so used to surviving on her own and that the people in her life that have professed to love her: her mother; Bran, a father figure; Samuel, her first love – have only loved her under certain conditions. To become part of the Pack means to necessarily rely on others for support, both emotional and physical. To allow herself to be fully embraced by Adam makes her vulnerable again.

These internal emotional struggles are what draw me to the series, in particular, and to your writing, in general. Certainly the worldbuilding is interesting (I’ve certainly not read a machiavellian villain such as Marsilia in a long long time), but the depth of the characters and how each suspense encounter serves to either buttress or challenge Mercy’s foundation makes the Mercy Thompson series rise above the ordinary flotsam of urban fantasy books.

There was one point, though, in the book where I was jarred from the story. Early on, Mercy’s mother comes on stage. I didn’t recall her playing a big role in Mercy’s life in the past and didn’t recall Mercy having strong feelings for her mother. The way in which the character was portrayed seemed at odds with my memory. I kind of understood the purpose (I think it was to juxtapose Mercy’s relationship with the mother against Mercy’s relationship with Adam). It was the one jarring note in an otherwise smooth story.

I was happy with how the romance progressed. Mercy didn’t gain a bunch of new powers in order to save herself. I felt the world was consistent. I totally adore Samuel and hope that sometime there is a good match for him (Adam’s daughter maybe?). In all, it was worth the hardcover price. I bought my own copy from Sony today.   B+

Best regards

Jane

This book can be purchased in hardcover from Amazon or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
2. REVIEW: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
3. REVIEW: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

"Mercy Thompson: Homecoming" is a four-issue mini-series with issue #1 hitting comic book shelves in November 2008. The series will be collected in hardcover and distributed by Del Rey in 2009.

Dabel Brothers Publishing is excited to premiere the first eleven pages (DOWNLOAD HERE) of the much-anticipated Dabel Brothers project, "Mercy Thompson: Homecoming". Artist Francis Tsai beautifully illustrates all the covers and interior pages to this series, with author Patricia Briggs herself penning the original story. Place your orders today before the first issue ships this November.

From me: looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see the full version.

Via Fantasy Book Critic.

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I’ve been putting off writing this review for some time. As readers, we each have our own preferences and quirks in what we like to read. We also have our personal hot buttons with regards to what we don’t. While I liked the first two-thirds of Iron Kissed, the last third hit my biggest hot button hard and it’s taken me this long to work through my distaste and articulate why.

Jane posted a favorable review a few weeks ago, which contains a good summary of the book, and I encourage interested readers to look at it if they’ve not done so already. I found it beyond my ability to write about the book without mentioning significant spoilers, so let that be a warning to people who haven’t read the book yet and wish to remain spoiler free. This second half of this review is not vague.

First, the good part. I admit I don’t particularly care for the Fae when it comes to urban fantasy, or any fantasy for that matter. I don’t actively dislike them the way many readers do vampires; they just don’t do anything for me. But I really enjoyed the way the Fae were portrayed here. They had the right mix of otherworld strangeness and danger, and it worked well. The mystery plot was my favorite part of the book, and it showcased how good the writing is. In urban fantasy, often times the mystery plot gets sidelined for the romantic plot and that very rarely works for me because I prefer both plots to be strong and on even footing. I like some meat with my romance and if I find the main plot is merely scaffolding for a romance plot, I become cranky. I don’t have that complaint here.

That said, I will be honest and say the love triangle of the Mercy Thompson series has never worked for me from since the very beginning. It has nothing to do with the fact it’s a love triangle. I can go either way with those, depending on how they’re executed and handled. It has to do with the fact that choosing between Adam and Samuel never felt like an actual choice to me. For all that their backstories were different, their interactions with Mercy were too similar — that of an overbearing Alpha wolf relentlessly pursuing his potential mate — and most of the time I wished Mercy would ditch both of them. I knew that would never happen, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t harbor that hope.

While I liked the fact that the love triangle was resolved midway through the book and did not resort to the “One of them dies” option, I felt a little disappointed. After all that build up through two and a half books, the actual resolution was a letdown because  again, it didn’t seem like Mercy made an actual choice.   I think I would have been more satisfied  if  Mercy had chosen one of the men instead.

And now for the bad, and my disappointment, and the part of the review that is laden with spoilers: the tragedy that occurred at the climax of the book did not work for me at all. It didn’t help that the antagonist obviously needed to read the Evil Overlord List. Specifically Points 26 and 53, taken from the traditional fantasy landscape and adapted for an urban one. He pulled one of the biggest clichés ever to grace the fantasy genre: invite the enemy into your lair, tell them your plans for world domination, and gloat. All he lacked was the flamboyant cape to twirl and curly mustache to stroke. I’ve read a number of fantasy novels that use this particular cliché. They all end the same way: the enemy gets free and kills the bad guy, because the bad guy is so convinced of his own brilliance, he never considered the possibility of failure. This plot sequence might have worked for me once but after a hundred or so times, it loses its impact.

But that’s not my hot button. If I were that picky about insecure, undersexed, megalomaniacal antagonists, I’d have stopped reading the fantasy genre years ago. My hot button is rape. The issue of rape comes up in other genres and mediums, but what I’m specifically referring to here is how rape is used as a narrative shortcut in the fantasy genre. Longtime fantasy fans might be familiar with this storyline: Woman gets raped and survives, so she learns swordfighting (or magic or political dealing or…) to get revenge on her attacker (and/or fight bad people like her attacker). The trope even has its own name: Rape and Revenge.

Then there’s the other main rape trope in fantasy: A woman is doing a man’s job in a man’s world and because it’s dangerous for a woman to do a man’s job in a man’s world, she gets raped. But if the job is that dangerous and the default punishment for taking that risk is rape, why is it that male characters rarely suffer the same fate? And that’s why, when I reached the climax and read what happened to Mercy, I nearly threw this book against the wall. If it’d been a less skilled writer, it would have but Moon Called and Blood Bound had built up my trust and I  hoped the remaining pages would save me from disappointment. When they didn’t, I was left feeling hollow and cheated.

I’m not saying these tropes should be thrown out and never written about again. But what makes readers weary of them, what makes them a well-trodden cliché, is that they’ve become shortcuts and substitutes for actual character and plot development. Need to give the heroine an angsty backstory that makes her vulnerable? She was raped! Need to explain why the heroine fights crime? She was raped! Need to make the strong, independent heroine an emotional wreck so she’ll run to the hero for help? She gets raped! And then she can heal herself through the magical power of sex with the hero.

If it were organic and essential to the plot, there’d be no complaints. But more often than not, it’s a piece of information that’s never mentioned or referred to again or, as I felt was the case here, it’s a convenient plot device used to make the characters do certain things and act a certain way.

I’ve no doubt the Mercy Thompson series will continue on to bigger and better things. It’s getting its own comic book, and I predict hardcover format in the not too distant future. But for all that we try to approach our reviews here at Dear Author with a critical, detached eye, it’s still a reader blog at its core and you can’t control reader hot buttons. This was a well-written book and if I were grading solely on the first two-thirds, I’d give it a B+.

That said, endings also matter, and an ending can determine whether I plan to pick up the author’s next book. Sad to say, the last 50 pages of Iron Kissed left such a bad taste in my mouth, I don’t even want to look at my copies of Moon Called or Blood Bound anymore, let alone any future books in the Mercy Thompson series. So while this bus continues on the road to continued bestselling success, I think it’s time for me to get off at this stop. Some readers pass over books about vampires. I pass over books in which rape is used as a plot point to force the heroine along a certain path and nothing more. Using Dear Author’s grading scale, this ultimately gets a C+ from me.

~Jia

This book can be purchased in mass market or ebook format.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
2. REVIEW: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
3. REVIEW: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Via ICv2 News.

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My discovery of your novels began with the Hurog series at the recommendation of fellow reviewer and long time friend, Jan. I am ever so grateful to her because your books are subtle treasures. The Mercy Thompson series provides the perfect blend of world building and complex character arcs so that both the reader who wants their action with a twist and the reader who wants to be moved emotionally will be satisfied.

Mercy Thompson is a walker. Walkers are low on the paranormal/otherworld power chain. Mercy is not stronger, smarter, or magical when she shifts. The only benefit is that she is immune to magic. This immunity is a benefit and a curse because her immunity is a tool that those in power would like to control for their own selfish purposes.

Book three in the series, Iron Kissed, is packed with emotion, mystery, romance, and fantasy providing a full bodied read for the urban fantasy fan. Mercy is at a crossroads in her relationships with the two men in her life, Samuel and Adam Hauptman. Both are alpha werewolves although Samuel has no pack and Adam is the alpha of Tri Cities werewolf pack. Mercy must decide which one she loves more because Adam has declared his feelings for her and her lack of definitive response is weakening the clan.

When her mechanic mentor, Siebold Adelbertsmiter aka Zee, calls upon her to repay a favor to the Fae, she is grateful for the distraction. There have been several unsolved murders on the Fae reservation and the magic which the fae can call on without incurring the wrath of the Grey Lords has been insufficient in finding the perpetrator. Mercy is called in to use her nose to see if she can find an identifying scent of the murderer.

She does and completes her task only to receive a call that Zee has been accused of murder himself. Zee is a surrogate father figure for Mercy and the possibility that he will be a scapegoat spurs her into finding out who is the real murderer. This investigation triggers a whole set of terrible consequences for Mercy.

Mercy eventually figures out who did the killing but not before something tragic (and I know this is an overused word but it is totally appropriate here) befalls her. In order for her to move on, she must come to terms emotionally and physically with this tragedy. The way in which this tragedy was worked into the story was organic to the mystery. I never felt manipulated.

As a reader of primarily romance, this hit all the right buttons for me. There is a depth of emotion in this book not often found in the urban fantasy trope. Many times urban fantasy is compelling for external motivations: world building, mystery, action. The last third of this story, though, was truly emotional. I was moved to tears at Mercy’s struggle with the aftermath of her tragedy and grateful for her eventual triumph.

The love triangle was resolved beautifully and not in a way that I saw coming. I generally hate love triangles, particularly when the author is skilled in making me believe that both are good choices. Samuel and Adam are both decent, honorable men. They also both have their overbearing negatives. I was torn going into the story about which Mercy should choose and while I wanted her to choose someone, I wasn’t sure which one and when. The way in which the triangle was resolved was subtle and satisfying. I felt good when I read how the triangle concluded.

If readers haven’t picked up a Mercy Thompson book, I think they could start with Iron Kissed although I am sure reading one will spur the desire to read the previous two in the series. It’s definitely a series I recommend to romance readers, particularly those that enjoy strong fantasy elements.

I hesitate to give out perfect grades, but I’ve read this book three times since I received it and each time was transportative. I don’t know that it was a perfectly crafted book (there are tendencies towarynnecessary repetition such as Mercy’s previous vampire slayings and Samuel and Adam as dominants) but it was near perfect for me. A-.

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased in mass market or ebook format.

***

Just a note to clarify some speculation that this is the end of the Mercy Thompson series. It is not. Patricia Briggs is contracted for 4 more Mercy Thompson books and has started book 4.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
2. REVIEW: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
3. REVIEW: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

As I was reading this book last night, I turned to Ned with an epiphany. “Ned,” I said, “When an author of a fantasy book can make you believe her truths, that’s a great book.” He replied, “that’s why I read fantasy.” Indeed. You have the unique gift of being able to make the reader believe, for the space of 300 some pages, of your truths. That vampires, fae, werewolves, and magic makers live in tentative harmony with humankind. Mercy Thompson’s world is just like ours, only a bit more dangerous and a bit more sexy.

Mercy Thompson is a walker. As a walker, she has very few powers. She can shift into coyote shape and is somewhat resistant to other magics such as vampire compulsion or werewolf pack control. Because of her magic resistance, vampire friend Stefan calls upon her to deliver a message to a visiting vampire who has failed to pay the proper respects to Stefan’s seethe. Stefan is fearful that the visiting vampire has some type of magic that can compel him to do things he wouldn’t ordinarily do and that Mercy is hopefully immune and will be able to report back to his seethe should anything happen to him.

Of course, things go badly and soon Mercy is wrapped up in a hunt for a vampire/sorcerer who is causing the Tri Cities area to have an increased rise in violence, harming werewolf friends, and endangering lives of innocents. To complicate things, her feelings for Adam, the local Alpha, are scaring her and her feelings for Samuel, an old flame, appear unresolved. Throw in a bit of vampire, fae, werewolf politics and the story does not stop.

The strength of this story is in that the details of the world construct and the consistency of characters that create a believable alternate reality. Mercy has a keen sense of smell, consistent with the canis species, that she employs on an everyday basis. She uses it when she is in danger, when she is working and when she is full of desire. She uses her brain to solve problems but doesn’t hesitate to ask for help when she needs it. Mercy is portrayed as unassuming but loyal. She is the kind of person that you want to befriend so that when she is in danger or hurt or angry or in lust, all those emotions are felt keenly by the reader.

The complaints that I would have for the book is that, at times, Mercy monologues in a very educated manner. She uses words like effluvia and quotes old Benjamin Franklin maxims. That is not to say that a garage mechanic can’t be a poet ala Nick in Crazy for You, but there wasn’t any part of Mercy’s backstory that suggested she spent her time in pursuit of the literary arts. In this, I suspect that Mercy is more a reflection of the author, than being in character. You also have a small tendency toward repetitiveness. For example, you described Samuel as being more dominant than the Alpha, Adam, about five times.

Additionally, there is another love interest developed for Mercy other than Adam and Samuel and while I am not philosophically opposed to this, I wince because any movement toward the multi partner route reminds me, sadly of Laurell K Hamilton’s series debacle, the Mary Sue that Sookie Stackhouse has become, and the tedious Ranger/Joe triangle perpetuated by the ever popular Janet Evanovich. I would loathe to see Mercy’s unaffected charm be wiped away by having everyunattached male in the Tri Cities area falling for her. I have no problem with her being conflicted about her feelings for more than one guy but to make it so that she is just irresistible to everyone makes me groan in dismay.

Those are small quibbles and didn’t really affect my appreciation for this book. The characters, the action, seem so alive. That’s power of the pen – the ability to change a reader’s perception. It’s why we readers read fantasy. A-

Best regards

Jane

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1. REVIEW: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
2. REVIEW: True Blood by Patricia Waddell
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