From The Publisher:
Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must stop a disaster of world-shattering proportions in this exhilarating entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable.
My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It's a hard job, and it doesn't leave much room for side quests. Which is why when I needed to travel to Montana to help my brother, I intended to go by myself.
But I'm not alone anymore.
Together, Adam and I find ourselves trapped with strangers in a lodge in the heart of the wilderness, in the teeth of a storm of legendary power, only to discover my brother's issues are a tiny part of a problem much bigger than we could have imagined. Arcane and ancient magics are at work that could, unless we are very careful, bring about the end of the world. . . .
Ratings (19)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (13) | |
Liked It (2) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (28):
Read It (21) | |
Want To Read (5) | |
Not Interested (2) |
2 comment(s)
This series has been a firm favorite for a very long time. Mercy and Adam are so great that every book is like getting to visit some of my most dear friends, and the entire secondary cast is wonderful. I especially love when Coyote has something afoot, which is most definitely the case here. It gets twisty and convoluted as the story unfolds, but in the best kinds of ways ... because Coyote plays complicated games, that always fall together beautifully.
I've bailed on the A & O spin-off series, sadly - I know I'm in the vast minority here, but I don't really like Anna. She's just this perfect combo of self-righteous and naive (in a YA-ish way) that just sets my teeth on edge. That plus the retconning happening in that series really just pushed me away, but again, I know I'm in the minority. I'm only mentioning it for the folks wondering if they HAVE to be current on A & O to follow this series. The answer is: no. I'm not current, and there was no place where I felt like I was missing crucial info or events. So the threads where the two series braid together - and I'm sure they're present, they were in the earlier A & O books that I read - were done subtly enough that they don't feel like a big neon sign in these books screaming "IMPORTANT INFO THAT YOU ARE MISSING HERE!" I feel like that's perfect - a fun bit of extra for the folks reading them both, without ruining the story for folks who aren't.
However, there were details from Mercy's series that I could have used a refresh on, and felt like I was floundering around them for a bit. I remember Bonarata from the book where he kidnapped Mercy to Italy, but not any other appearance in books since then (which is weird to me, because he's such a big presence, but apparently my brain didn't agree). I think that's because there are 2-3 years between books, and some of the details just slide away. Briggs gives you enough of a refresh in this book that you can follow the story, but I was kicking myself for not doing a re-read of the series before hitting this book, honestly. I may do that now.
Only other quibble: I know their split from the Marrok is not as real as they try and make it look to the outside world (and I agree with their reasons - a war between the supe communities would be a disaster), but I missed the little interactions with those characters - Bran the father figure, Charles and Samuel as brother figures, and the overall feeling of a dysfunctional family that has been trying to mend the bonds between them. It was nice, in previous books, having them as even somewhat distant secondary characters (though I miss the Samuel of earlier books, who lived in the Tri-Cities too). That said, I'd rather not have them at all than have to deal with the retconning that goes on about them in the A & O series, so it is what it is.
While this book itself is probably 4-4.5 stars, I gotta give it 5 because this series is a long-time favorite.
I missed them so much <3
I love a good Mercy book and this one was so good <3
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