River Marked by Patricia Briggs

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Patricia Briggs' site
Series: Mercy Thompson #6
Copy obtained: bought, hb
Publisher: Ace (US), Orbit (UK)
Released: March 1st (US), March 3rd (UK)
Rating: 4.5/5

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shape shifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any other of her kind. Until now.


An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River - one that her father's people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help...

I love the Mercy Thompson series, it is easily one of my all time favourites. It's got very well developed characters, engaging storylines and each book brings something new to her world. And Mercy herself is one of my top favourite characters. So it goes without saying I was very excited to get my hands on River Marked, and it did not disappoint at all!

River Marked sees us, and Mercy, learning a lot about her Native American background and what her being a coyote shifter means. It also sees Adam and Mercy mostly on their own, away from the pack, dealing with a river monster, a creature huge and deadly, that some how connects with what Mercy is learning about her heritage. While in some ways I missed seeing more of the rest of the pack and the other excellent side characters, I really enjoyed seeing Adam and Mercy more on their own for once and getting to meet some very interesting new characters. I thought before hand that I'd like getting in to Mercy's heritage and learning it alongside her, but I actually loved it! I really enjoyed the direction the book took and how the plots twisted together.

Mercy has changed a lot over the course of the series, and it really shows in River Marked. I love how she's changed, through her relationships with Adam, the pack and her other friends like Stefan, and also by the events she's been through. River Marked shows us a more emotional side of her than we've really seen before, and also shows the strength of her relationship with Adam. And while we don't see too much of the rest of the beloved side characters, they still have some little developments going on in the back ground. I'd be very surprised if Stefan doesn't end up playing a more central role in the next book with some of the snippets we have here.

Overall, River Marked has to be my joint favourite of the series alongside Iron Kissed. It's much softer than IK in some ways, but it's still got a lot going on, plenty of tension and an ending I thoroughly loved! I found River Marked very difficult to put down and easily read it in a day. I'm now just very sad it's going to be roughly a 2 year wait for the next one! Though I'm certain it'll be worth it, I shall have to cope with it by lots of rereading. Slipping back in to Mercy's world is like putting on that favourite comfy hoodie, or pair of jeans, or whatever, and catching up with old friends and learning their latest adventures. Fantastic, gripping storytelling and a wonderful new edition to Mercy's series!

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

[Note: apologies for lack of reviews this week, threw my back out last Sunday spent 2 days in agony/doped up to my eyeballs on painkillers, a third day in pain throwing up cause of said painkillers, and basically been recovering since. Still not great, but I can read again now which is a bonus. Also, apologies for this review not being very well written, but I wanted something up sooner rather than later.]

"Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for the magic. When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it rose.

Kate Daniels works for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle—especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.

When she’s called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar midway between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers there’s a new player in town. One who’s been around for thousands of years—and rode to war at the side of Kate’s father.

This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family…"

Magic Bleeds is the 4th book in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. It's a series that has just gone from strength to strength. The third book, Magic Strikes, was immense and is one of my favourite books ever. I've been dying for this book since finishing Strikes over a year ago. This book had a lot to live up to, and it wasn't a let down in any way!

Kate has never had it easy, but after the events at the end of The Midnight Games (in Strikes), things are far more dangerous for her. There is an enemy out there who knows her parentage now, it's only a matter of time before she faces the fight she's been preparing for her whole life, the one that will likely kill her. It's a bleaker Kate we're faced with here. One trying to keep her heart protected, determined to protect those she loves, and yet facing huge odds. She can't walk away from her friends, or from her job at the Order. Her latest case starts with her investigating a bar room brawl that finished with a dead man pinned to a telegraph pole with a deadly, fast spreading disease of some kind. Powerful magic is behind the attack and Kate knows that the person behind them must be stopped before they destroy Atlanta. Easier said than done.

Like magic Strikes, the plot flowed smoothly and quickly, and its another book that is very, very hard to put down. However, while the main plot gets plenty of page time, it does take a back seat occasionally to the romantic subplot. Tension has been building steadily between Curran and Kate since book one, and something had to give, one way or the other. This book is where it happens. I won't give away details of the outcome, except to say nothing in Kate's world is simple and just because there is some resolution of some kind, does not mean trouble goes away! Overall, there is less humor than the previous books, but with the way things have turned, that is to be expected and the book is no worse for it. Also, it has the what is, in my opinion, the funniest moment of the series to date. Which given certain things from previous book, is saying something. This particular moment had me in tears I was laughing so hard and I had to stop reading for a couple of minutes to get myself under control. I am giggling about it again now just thinking of it.

The tension, of all kinds, rides thick through the book and you can really feel Kate's angst as she battles to figure things out, make the right choices, and fight for her life. One of the things I love most about this series is how real, complex and well rounded the characters are, secondary characters included. Most of them have their own little stories going on as well, and we get glimpses of them from Kate's POV at times. They all add to the story rather then being random things dropped in to attempt to add depth, these really work. It constantly has me wanting more on various characters, wanting to know more about their lives, as well as Kate's. The use of various myth and legend is once again used to great effect in this book as Kate's foe. And as always, it manages to stay interesting as it twists and turns while Kate figures out the facts, and what is pure myth.

There were some fantastic scenes in this book showing off the way Kate's changed through the course of this series, how she's grown and how she intends to face her future, as well as showing where she's come from, how she's never forgotten that. But Kate's past isn't the only one that gets an airing in this book. There is some tantalizing back story on Curran (finally!) as well, again adding further depth to his character.

The whole book was near impossible to put down, but the ending was very, very intense as things hit boiling point. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave it at that for talking of the ending. There were some interesting twists I really wouldn't have guessed, leaving some tough stuff to be dealt with in the next book. And while there are some resolutions to earlier plot threads, there are other issues just starting, waiting to be explored in the next books. I can't quite decide if I like this more than Strikes or not, simply because they are both immense books, but they are quite different. It's certainly no worse, and if you liked the previous Kate books, you're sure to love this one equally. I'd hate to choose between the two, but it's certainly an awesome edition to the series. My one complaint? Same as for Strikes, and Magic Burns before it: Too short. And that's even though this one is 40 pages longer than Strikes. This is a series not to be missed. Easily some of the very, very best urban fantasy out there with some of the deepest, most realistic characters I've read. If you haven't tried the Kate Daniels series yet, do so right now! And if you dropped it because the first book isn't great (I like it, but it's not all that) then pick up book 2 and keep going! Because the rest of the series more than makes up for it!!

Rating: 10/10

Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur

SPOILER WARNING!! Big spoilers for the previous book, Bound to Shadows, ahead. If you're not up to date with the series, skip this one :)

"Some nights never end.

Some desires never die. . . .

She ventures where no one else dares—into realms of peril and pleasure. But will this next journey be her last?

Shape-shifting werewolf and vampire Riley Jenson is through with death–causing it, solving it, surviving it. Her soul mate, Kye Murphy, is dead–and at Riley’s own hands. Not even the seductive embrace of her vampire lover, Quinn, can fully ease her mind, for she has begun questioning everything that makes her Riley–including her job at the Directorate.

Now, the ritualistically slain bodies of ex-cons have started turning up. Reluctantly, Riley takes the case, but something even worse is waiting in the wings. For a vicious enemy from her past is determined to strip Riley of everything that gives her life any meaning: her lover, her brother–and even her own identity. Can Riley survive this ultimate assault? All she knows is, she must fight one last time to find answers, before everything goes dark forever…"

This is the 9th and final Riley Jenson book from Keri Arthur. Riley has grown a lot though this series. She's learnt to do what she must in order to survive, but she's never been comfortable with what that might mean for her. She doesn't much like what she's become. But she can't just walk away from the Directorate. After the events of the previous book, Bound To Shadows, she's become more unsure of herself than ever.
This series took a while to grow on me. I didn't particularly like the first 3 books, and gave up on it for a couple years. But I did eventually pick it back up and I'm very glad I did. I've come to love Riley as she's grown and changed, and I can't help loving her reluctance to become the killer the Directorate wants her to be. The ending of Bound To Shadows was harsh and left me hanging. It left a lot to tie up in this final book and my hopes for it were high. Happily, it wasn't a let down in any way.
The story picks up a little while after the end of Bound To Shadows with Riley just returning to work. It doesn't take long for things to take a turn for the worse, but I so did not see what happened coming. It was a very different idea to anything I'd have predicted, and I think it works very well. Riley's past is haunting her, but not exactly the past she expected to. With the turn of events, it led to some interesting problems. The plot flowed smoothly and quickly, and I felt the up and down ride with Riley pretty cleanly. I don't want to go in to details and spoil anything, but I will say that I truly loved the ending. It had me tearing up and it was just perfect. And can I say that I just adore Rhoan and Liander? They are awesome. And I finally love Quinn too. It took 9 books, but hey, I got there in the end. I'm sad to say goodbye to Riley and the rest now, but at least the series ended on a high. This is my favourite Riley book for sure, I had a lot of trouble putting the book down. Threads that had been left from several books ago were picked up and tied off nicely, as well as some newer ones. Things were left neat enough for the end of a series, but not so neat you can't imagine more happening with the characters in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite being sad that Riley's series is over. I'm really looking forward to Keri's spin off series featuring Risa (Dia's little girl) when it comes out. I know she's mentioned that Riley and her team will make the odd appearance so as much as I'm looking forward to Risa's story, I'm looking forward to just a little more of Riley too. I loved this book and while I'm sure this series wouldn't be for everyone, I'd still really recommend it. And if you loved the previous Riley books, then this is clearly a must read.

Rating: 9/10

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

SPOILER WARNING. Some minor spoilers for the previous books in the series.

This is the 5th book in Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Mechanic and coyote skinwalker Mercy Thompson is used to getting in trouble with bigger, badder supernaturals than herself. She lives next door to, and dates, local alpha werewolf Adam Hauptman, works with a Fae and is friends with a vampire. She knows how dangerous the Fae can be, she's met with two of their leaders before. But why she seems to being targeted by them now, she doesn't know.

If playing the Fae's deadly games wasn't enough, Samuel, Mercy's roommate and long time friend, is in trouble. He's an old wolf, living as a lone one in Adam's territory. Being close to Mercy was supposed to help him, but now the depression that's been plaguing him for months suddenly worsens. Mercy doesn't know how to help him, keep him safe from Adam, and deal with the Fae at the same time. But Mercy hasn't survived in a wolfs world without being stubborn and learning a thing or two about keeping herself alive.

I completely loved this book. The whole series is fantastic, but this book is quite possibly my favourite of the series so far. Mercy is still dealing with what happened to her at the end of Iron Kissed (book 3) and Adam is doing his best to help her with that. Their relationship has grown slowly, carefully and I love it. There is something very real about their relationship. I also really love Adam's teen aged daughter, Jesse. She's smart and sassy and we get to see more of her in this book, showing how much she's got in common with her dad. I love the easy friendship she and Mercy share and how Jesse deals with all the werewolves, being only human too.

We learn a fair bit more about pack bonds and mate bonds through this book, as well as pack structure. And more about how a werewolf is a man and a wolf, and how the two work together, or don't as the case may be. The wolf lore and Fae lore explored here is interesting, without becoming boring or a lecture at any point. There is some really good character development through the book, with Mercy, Adam and Samuel in particular, but others as well.

The plot is tight with some very good twists and turns. I found this almost impossible to put down. There is some good humor and it's nice to get to know more of Adam's pack, as well as dealing with some on going issues (Samuel in particular). Both main plots, Samuel and his problems, and the Fae after Mercy, are both carefully woven together, neither taking away from the other, both are well developed. Mercy's emotions come across clearly and you feel all the ups and downs with her, understanding why she feels and acts the way she does. Overall, a really excellent series and one you must read if you like urban fantasy. This book is almost certainly my favourite so far with a great story, some very good sweet and funny moments, but pulling no punches when it comes to the bad stuff. Easily one of my favourite books so far this year. Can't wait for the next book, only wish we didn't have to wait a year for it!

Rating: 9/10