Iron Kissed is the third book in Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. Mercy Thompson is a young female mechanic who can shift from human form to coyote form in an instant, was raised by werewolves, and is currently caught romantically between two alpha werewolves. She also owes a favour to the Fae as a result of the events in the second book, Blood Bound.
The favour the Fae call in is Mercy's help in her coyote form to scent out who was committing murders on the Fae reservation. She does find out who, but before her mentor Zee is able to get there and confront the murderer, he finds the murderer already dead. When the police show up, they take Zee in as their prime suspect. The Gray Lords, the beings who govern the Fae, seem content to allow Zee to take the fall for all that has conspired - but Mercy is not - so against everyone's wishes, she starts investigating who did the bad guy in so she can clear Zee's name.
There are some interesting elements introduced in this books - the John Lauren Society and Bright Future, two anti-fae groups targeting opposite ends of the economical spectrum. Fae characters who had moments in the last two books are fleshed out more. Also, the history of the Fae in Mercy's world is expanded on, and it is revealed that the Fae are able to do things now that they haven't been able to do in a long time.
One reason I like Briggs' novels so much is because they are still wonderful stories and haven't fallen into the Anita Blake f*ck-everything-and-be-omnipotent pit. However, that is not to say a little more action wouldn't be nice... The last sentence in the book had me yelling, "Gah!" and flipping frantically to the next blank page.
When does the next book come out?!?!
3 comments:
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed when Anita Blake went the all-powerful, screw everything in sight, everybody wants me trap. It gave me this unflattering image of the author as a teenage girl with very, very low self-esteem. I have no idea what she really looks like, but after the second book, those were no longer worth reading.
Hey, I think you should check out Marta Acosta's Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. There's romance, but not of the constantly-screwing kind, her style is fabulous (the sense of humor is great), there's a fantastic sequel. And it doesn't fall into the other trap that gets on my nerves: vampires ruled by a vampire council, fae ruled by the fae court, everybody has these supernatural politics...
sorry, I'm ranting. But do check out Happy Hour at Casa Dracula!
I'll have to try this series!
Have you read the women of the underworld books, by Kelly Armstrong? It has two sets of books, one follows a witch, and one follows a werewolf. The two sets cross over and interact as well. Anyway, I enjoy them. :)
I love Patricia Briggs so much that for awhile Amazon ONLY included her in my "Recommended for Eryn" list. I do agree with your reaction to the last sentence - the next one should be out soon.
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