Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, #2) by Patricia Briggs

Mass Market Paperback, 292 pages, Published January 30th 2007 by Ace, ISBN13: 9780441014736

 

Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen…

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places – and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary – and neither is the demon inside of him…

Review: An excellent addition to the first in the series!

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The second book in the series, we begin not too far where the first one left off.

Stefan, a vampire, calls Mercy for help. A vampire has come to the city but not has not asked Master vampire, Marsilia, for hunting rights. That is vampire law. But Stefan also believes that this is the vampire that hurt his friend Daniel, and he wants to make the vampire pay. But he wants Mercy’s help – in her coyote form. The vampire won’t see more than that, and if Stefan’s right, he’s going to need a human witness. Reluctantly, being the wee hours of the morning, she agrees, and changes form when he picks her up.

Trouble quickly escalates. This new vampire, Littleton, isn’t just a vampire. He’s also a sorcerer. This was known to be forbidden, to turn a sorcerer. Whoever turned him has lost control of him, and now they need to discover who.

Marsilia sends Stefan to hunt down this vampire. Stefan wants Daniel at his side, even though he’s in bad shape. Adam sends Warren and Ben with Stefan to help, and as back up. But then they all go missing. Warren turns up beaten and near death. Mercy has seen the ghost of Daniel and knows that bad is getting close to worse. Worse comes when Adam and Samuel both go missing after they set out to find Ben and Stefan. And the strange thing happens: Marsilia asks Mercy for her help. Together, with Marsilia’s second, Andre, they set off to find the missing and make sure Littleton’s dead. However it was unsaid, Marsilia wants Littleton alive. Mercy’s determined to make sure he’s dead.

Oh, I loved this one almost as much as the first! What I hadn’t realized in the first book, was that Mercy is a Shifter, not a were and because she is a Shifter, vampire wiles don’t work as well on her. Plus, she can see and talk to ghosts. I hadn’t realized that Mrs. Hanna was a ghost in the first novel. Oh, but I got it this time, when she saw Daniel’s shaking form and no one else did.

I was sort of surprised by who had turned the sorcerer, and sort of not. If I’d known about how jealous this vamp was of Stefan, I’d have caught on earlier. (And while my reviews are usually littered with spoilers, I’m not saying who!) What I truly took to heart and completely understood, was the final chapters and what Mercy felt and her actions. I completely understood and agreed why she went after the vamp. She did what she had to do, what she thought was right, regardless of whatever trouble she could get into. And for another vamp to tell her that he could do the same, gave me chills. Will he keep his word and not tell Marsilia? Will he keep his word and not turn a sorcerer? Only time will tell – but I get the chills every time I think about it.

Again, Mercy’s integrity plays a roll, and I adore her for it.

Samuel has been having a tough time. He’s admitted to something in his past, while he was in Texas, and I can understand why his current state of mind is close to destroying him. Still, I don’t trust him. I don’t trust that he truly wants Mercy for her, and not for the fact that she’s a Shifter and could very possibly carry their children to term.

The attaction between Mercy and Adam still simmers just below the surface, and I quiver every time. There’s a scene where they are sparing, and just when I think this is it, Jessie, Adam’s daughter, interrupts. Dang it!

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Raven’s Shadow (Raven duology, #1) by Patricia Briggs

Mass Market Paperback, 334 pages, Published 2010 by Ace Fantasy, (reissue of) ISBN: 9780441011872

 

For many years, the city of Colossae was a haven of magical study. As generations of wizards pushed the limits of their abilities, an evil entity was unleashed that could only be contained by the sacrifice of their city. From the ashes of Colossae, the Travelers emerged – roaming the world to ensure that the Stalker would remain imprisoned forever…

Seraph is a Raven mage and among the last of the Travelers. Unwelcome among those who fear magic, the wizard clans have been decimated by the very people they’ve sworn to protect. But Seraph is spared a similar fate by the ex-soldier Tier – and together they build a life where she is no longer burdened by her people’s responsibility.

But now Tier is missing – or dead – and Seraph’s reprieve from her duty is over. Using her magic to discover her husband’s fate, Seraph realizes the Stalker’s prison is weakening – and only she can fulfill her ancestors’ oath to protect humanity from destruction…

From the author’s website:
The first of the Raven duology. Can be read as a stand-alone novel (no cliffhanger endings), although some plot threads are not fully resolved.

Review: A terrific read from an incredible story-teller!

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After ten years of battle and war, Tier is finally on his way home. Coming to a village a few days from home, thoughts of a warm meal and comfortable bed are waylaid when he passes a pyre on fire – with a dead Traveler in the center of the blaze. Thoughts of leaving are reinforced when he walks into the local inn only to come upon the “trial” of the dead traveler’s sixteen year-old sister, Seraph, also a Traveler, a Raven of the Clan of Isolda the Silent. He feels her magic stirring when she becomes furious, for the innkeeper believes she cannot pay the outrage sum against her. She is now being sold to whomsoever will pay the wage. Tier comes to her rescue, and they quickly leave the village. But the nobleman who had intended on buying Seraph for himself has every intention of taking her back… And loses.

Tier has every intention of helping her find her another Traveler family, bought plans are waylaid again when he gets home to find his mother abed and sick. He has the bakery to run, even though his sister and brother-in-law had been doing just fine. He’s asked to stay a few weeks at least, so spend time with his mother before her passing, but the more time he spends at home, the more he wants to get out. Restless after so many years of battle, the thought of a monotonous life is too much to bear. And he comes to Seraph’s rescue once again. After yet more harrassement from Tier’s sister, Seraph’s anger gets the better of her and unleashes a wave of destruction in the front room of the bakery, breaking everything. Once they were married, he buys a plot of land believed to be of little value, and becomes a farmer.

Twenty years and three children later, Seraph is happy, even though the guilt of eschewing her people’s responsibility ways on her, even through her little family’s having rough times. Tier has gone on another winter’s hunting trip, and he’s late in returning home. When a hunter arrives, bringing news that he believes Tier to be dead, Seraph is getting the feeling that something is most definitely not right. Now she must tell her children what exactly they are. There are 5 Orders of the Travelers; her children were all born into different Orders. Something that had never before happened.

Unearthing the bones, Seraph is sure that the bones do not belong to her husband. Another Raven, Hennea, finds them and explains what she believes is happening. Rinnie, her youngest child and only daughter, gets kidnapped, and all four: Seraph, her son’s Jes and Lehr and Raven Hennea, discover where she is and get her back, leaving her with Tier’s sister. Seraph believes that Tier has been kidnapped much for the same reason: for his magic. While Tier wasn’t born of the Order, he is a Bard: he can keep people calm with his voice, he can absolve an argument, and his songs can create pictures with his words. Travelers are dying. The Masters of the Secret Path are stealing magic with every intention of unleashing the Stalker. And as a Raven of the Order, Seraph cannot let that happen.

Patricia Briggs is a Master Story-teller. She weaves a suspenseful mystery plot with excellent characters, great action scenes, and feelings. You can feel the inner battles of the main characters, from Seraph and Tier to Lehr and especially Jes. Every word pops the picture in your mind and you can swear you’re right along with each character, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel. What I also really liked wsa the ending of the book. Even though this is the first book in her Raven duology, it doesn’t leave this huge cliffhanger ending. While the book can be read as a stand-alone, only a couple of the plot lines are left unresolved, which does leave you wondering, but not frustrated. If you like fantasy novels, you will definitely like this one.

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Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1) by Patricia Briggs

Published January 31st 2006 by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated, Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages, ISBN-13: 9780441013814

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they’ll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I’m not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson’s sexy next-door neighbor is a werewolf.

She’s tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself … and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Review: Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson is a walker. A coyote, to be precise. As a walker, she can shift forms at anytime, between her human self and a coyote. Fast and nimble as a coyote, she is also somewhat stronger, with better hearing, sight and intincts, as a human.

She’d been raised by a wolf pack in Montana and was “forced” to leave at the age of sixteen, when the Alpha’s son was ready to declare her as his mate. Fearing it was for the wrong reasons, Bran lied to Mercy and sent her to her mother, who had since remarried and had other children. A husband and children who never knew about Mercy but welcomed her with open arms. Only there for a few years, Mercy left to be on her own, and it’s the way she likes it.

Now she’s a mechanic, owns her own garage, and fixes mostly import cars, such as VW, Mercedes, Jaquars, etc… She lives next to the Alpha of the local Tri-Cities pack, and while she keeps her head down, sometimes purposely does things to annoy him, because he contradicted her. And while werewolves don’t usually allow walkers to hang around, Adam has placed her under his protection, and the wolves leave her alone.

While fixing a VW in one of her bays, a newly made werewolf kid, seemingly no older than late teens, early twenties, comes looking for work. It’s obvious that he’s new – he didn’t realize what Mercy was, didn’t know the laws of the pack. But Mercy knows what he is and is determined to help him. Overhearing a converstaion he has over the phone, she knows he’s in trouble. And the following night, trouble found him. On the verge of being taken, Mercy attacks and manages to bring Mac to Adam, knowing Adam could help him. But the help doesn’t last long. Adam’s house is attacked, his fifteen-year-old daugther, Jesse, kidnapped, and Adam badly wounded. Mac was murdered and left on her doorstep as a warning; one that she ignores.

She brings Adam to Bran in search of help, and Samuel is back. It’s obvious that he still has feelings for her, but she’s determined not to repeat the past. With Bran’s help, they return with determination to find Jesse and find out what’s going on, because the attack on Adam looked like an inside job at first, but Mercy’s instincts are telling her that, while he may have a traitor in his pack, there’s more to this than what meets the eye.

**And right she was. Mercy has quickly become one of my fave characters, probably because I can associate with her more than I can with other characters. She knows she’s different and doesn’t let that stop her (I feel that), she’s a mechanic who owns her own garage (I may not be an actual mechanic, but I do know mechanics and I’m the office manager of our family-owned auto repair shop). She may be a coyote, but her determination and tenacidy is very much like a pit bull; she’ll keep at it until she gets what she wants or she’ll do it her way anyway.

Samuel bugs me. He has his way of thinking and refuses to think otherwise. There’s this snobbery around him that begs me to take a swing at him, and this assumption he has that what he and Mercy had was not over, the way he acts when other males are around her, makes me want to pound some sense in him. (I will say that I’m glad Mercy is doing what she wants and makes a very big point of it in the last chapter!)

And then there’s Adam. In my opinion, a very good Alpha. He may be rough, but he’s fair. And just like any alpha, he’ll fight to his death to save those he loves, including his kidnapped daughter. He’d declared Mercy as his mate, purely for her protection from the rest of the pack, but I know there’s more to it than that. I’m sure of it (which I believe stands out very well in the last chapter.)

The action scenes are well played out. The information/scene setting is well spaced out so that you’re not overloaded right at the beginning. A great cast of characters (add vampires, fae and witches to the mix,) from the lovable to the devious. I very much liked the world that Briggs created for Mercy. I highly recommend this one to urban-fantasy lovers, and plan on getting the rest of the series as soon as possible. I’m actually kicking myself for not having read it sooner!

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