Search - Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Bk 4)

I'm always a little leery of paranormal fiction. If done well, it can be some of the best fiction out there because there is a lot of room for creative license. But, there's also a lot of potential for dreariness.

I'm ashamed to admit that I was reluctant to read the Mercy Thompson series by Patrica Briggs. Based solely on the cover art, I was sure that these books were going to be dreary to the extreme. But I couldn't have been more wrong. The fourth book in the series, Bone Crossed, just reinforces the adage that you can't judge a book by its cover.

The fourth installment of the series picks up where the third, Iron Kissed, left off and takes off fast. Mercy (a coyote shapeshifter/VW mechanic) can't seem to get rid of those damned vampires. If they're not using her as a pawn, they're trying to kill her. Or possibly do both at the same time. Someone has vandalized her business, and and old college frenemy wants her to go to Spokane to ghostbust a house (nevermind that Mercy isn't a ghostbuster). On top of this, she's entering a new phase of her relationship with her alpha werewolf significant other, Adam.

I highly recommend reading the first three books in the series before opening this one. The universe is somewhat complex and there are many characters and settings not fully explained to new readers. Also, Mercy has had some traumatic life experiences in the past and her way of dealing with them might seem strange to those unfamiliar with her personality.

On the whole, Bone Crossed, is a super fun read.

I was sucked into this series ever since I picked up Moon Called on a whim. This isn't my typical genre, but Mercy is such a compelling character, and I'm a sucker for a character-driven series. Her supporting cast is written just as well — a group of vampires, werewolves, fae and ghosts that are written so realistically, and definitely carry their own. I loved that Bone Crossed picked up precisely where Iron Crossed left us, giving us a peek at the relationship between Mercy and Adam that continues to develop, then jumping right into the next chapter of Mercy's adventures. And I love that Briggs doesn't dwell too much on what happened to Mercy at Iron Kissed's end. While gut-wrenching, it would have been very un-Mercy-like for her to view herself as a helpless victim. She picks herself up, dusts herself off and dives right back in, albeit with an understandable amount of caution.

While the characters, mysterious plot and light romance kept my interest throughout, it's Mercy's relentless self-discoveries that keep me reading. She's flawed, and she knows it, and it's wonderful. I only wish I hadn't rushed through the series so fast. I'm looking forward to the upcoming graphic novel, Mercy Thompson Homecoming, this summer, but February 2010 can't come soon enough for the next official Mercy installment!

Bone Crossed starts off soon after where Iron Kissed left off - Mercy is still recovering from the events in the last novel when the charred, tortured body of Stefan drops out of thin air into the middle of her trailer. The obvious conclusion is that Marsilia, ruling vampire of the Tri-Cities has found out about their involvement in the death of Andre, one of her own, and now Mercy and all her friends are in danger.

OK, this is one of my favorite series, and I think I'm predesposed to like this book before even reading it, despite my feeling upset over what happened in Iron Kissed. I think what draws me to these books are the characters. Mercy of course is a smart, self sufficient character, but she has a lot of support from a very strong supporting cast. I feel happy reading this series because I know I'll get to see the satellite characters again. Briggs' tends to create some very interesting people with mysterious backstories and it's rewarding to catch glimpses of what makes them tick. Mercy is learning about them at the same time, and makes some observations which I don't think I'd have really picked up on myself. It's pretty hard for me to come up with anything negative about this book. There are only two really nitty things I can think of - a minor timeline thing I caught and something else not really worth mentioning here.

This fourth installment of the Mercy Thompson series begins a week after the drama that unfolded in IRON KISSED. Mercy just gets better and better. She has endangered herself and her friends by killing two vampires. The Mistress of the seethe is out for blood. Mercy finally makes a choice between Adam and Samuel. She discovers how good of a friend Stefan truly is when she becomes an object of obsession by another vampire Master. A must read for Briggs fans! 5 stars!!

Oh, what a great book! Mercy is such a wonderful heroine! This fourth installment was a good adventure. Really, this is such a solid series with great characters and fun plots that are not formulaic at all. I am also looking forward to reading the spin-off series, Alpha and Omega, but not as much as I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series!

Summary: Car mechanic and sometime shape-shifter Mercy Thompson has learned - the hard way - why her race was almost exterminated. When European vampires emigrated to North America, they found Mercy's people had a hidden talent for vampire slaying. Unfortunately for Mercy, the queen of the local vampire seethe has discovered her true identity.

The undead queen is also furious when she learns Mercy has crossed her and killed one of her own. Mercy may be protected from direct reprisals by the werewolf pack (and her interesting relationship with its Alpha), but that just means Marsilia will come after Mercy some other way. So Mercy had better prepare to watch her back.

I was a bit disappointed with this book. After the amazing and awe-inspiring third book in this series, I expected this one to be a home run, or well, a grand slam - if I am using baseball analogies. It seemed like the whole climax of the story was rushed through, I would have loved to have a better description of what went on when Adam and Mercy finished bonding, and also more about the mysteries stick that keeps following Mercy around, although it finally comes in handy in this book. I did like that we learned a bit more about Mercy's powers, and met some new and different characters. I am also still completely in shock and awe of what the mistress did the poor abused Stephan, that was just messed up. This book is a good read to hopefully bridge for a better book in the 5th installment of this series.We shall see.

Also posted: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2009/10/book-review-bone-crossed-by-patricia.html