In "Bone Crossed," Patricia Briggs continues the Mercy Thompson series with a plot involving vampire politics, a foreign vampire threat, and a ghost. The story follows Mercy Thompson, a coyote skinwalker, as she navigates through challenges, including dealing with aftermaths from previous books, facing personal struggles, and encountering supernatural beings in the Tri Cities of central Washington. The writing style is described as engaging, addictive, and filled with twists and turns that keep readers entertained and immersed in the complex world of werewolves, vampires, and fae.
From The Publisher:
Welcome to Patricia Briggs's world, a place where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people" ( Booklist ) . It takes a very unusual woman to call it home-and there's no one quite like Mercy Thompson.
By day, Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic in the sprawling Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy's found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so-human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.
Marsilia, the local vampire queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan-and she's out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack (and her close relationship with its sexy Alpha), it won't be Mercy's blood Marsilia is after.
It'll be her friends'.
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Loved It (28) | |
Liked It (7) | |
It Was OK (3) |
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4 comment(s)
Re-Read: 10 Apr 2021 // ✮✮✮✮½
( as a part of
SOS' Mercy Thompson series read )
First Read: Feb 2009 // ✮✮✮✮☆
I knew, with absolute certainty, that I was right to trust him to protect me and not turn me into his mindless slave. Stefan didn’t turn on those he loved. No matter what.
Bone Crossed picks up where [b:Iron Kissed|1412138|Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)|Patricia Briggs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358229529l/1412138._SY75_.jpg|1178926] left off. It's main focus is on the vamps, Stefan and others. I miss Stefan in current installments, so it's nice revisiting him and his relationship with Mercy.
❝ Like a coyote, Mercy is adaptable, ❞ Adam told Marsilia. ❝ She belongs to whom she decides. She belongs everywhere she wants to, for just as long as she wants to. ❞
It's also a lot of fun watching (again) Mercy and Adam's relationship start to take shape. He's so good for her, I'm so glad she didn't end up pursuing anything with her past/first love.
Re-reading these after more than a decade has been a lot more fun than I'd anticipated. I look forward to continuing on with my re-read. It's a great recap before book 13, expected in early-ish 2022. Side note: poor oakman, Donnell Greenleaf
(No original review)
Re-read March 2017 - I liked it very much, but it isn't my favorite, only because I thought that Mercy made some stupid decisions when dealing with the ghost/Blackwood situation.
Not telling anyone about the bites? Come on. That's ridiculous.
But I loved Chad, and I loved the drama at the seethe. Poor Stefan.
Re-read July 2024
This is the beginning of my least-favorite series plotline: the Pack being complete asswipes to Mercy.
There are many things I hate about that plotline, but I think the thing that most pisses me off is how they act like she brought all this trouble to them. No, fuckers. Book 1 was werewolf trouble that was coming for Adam with or without Mercy. It is only
because of Mercy that things worked out okay - without her, Adam would be dead, at minimum. And at worst, there'd be a nightmare situation of Bran being assassinated. Book 2 was vampire trouble that Mercy was only marginally involved in - she had to go visit that hotel in the very beginning of the book, to repay the favor from book 1
where she used the vampires to help figure out where Jessie was being held (so, again, werewolf trouble, not something Mercy caused). But then she was entirely out of the situation - the werewolves decided to hunt the demon, they got captured, then Adam and Samuel got captured, and so Mercy
again put her ass on the line to save werewolves. And the problems with the vampires in this book stem directly from that. Not something Mercy brought on their heads, just yet more consequences of saving their asses.
They make it seem like she's a burden, when she's the only reason they even HAVE a pack right now. This whole plotline is infuriating and Mercy tolerates it for way too long - she should have let Adam beat the shit out of them very, very early on. Or just outright hurl their asses out of the pack.
So now there's a certain level of dread on the re-read of the rest of the series, because I know I'm getting into that complete pile of stinking horseshit.
But it is only a mild damper on my enjoyment, because I love the rest of the characters so, so much.
Probably the best installment of the series so far. Briggs ended book 3 with a plot twist that many readers objected to - I won't spoil it, but will mention that I found the scene heartbreaking, powerful, and generally well-done.
Briggs' prose feels a bit clunky at times, but her worldbuilding gets stronger with each book. Better yet, Mercy shows real growth in book 4. I could never quite call her TSTL*, but her stubborn streak was starting to annoy me. No longer! I'm firmly in her corner after this book. A fun series for fans of urban fantasy.
*too stupid to live.
Mercy is not my favourite series from Briggs. I definitely prefer her Alpha & Omega series. Anyway, this book is quite a nice read.
Mercy is healing after the events in the previous book surrounded by the pack and her friends. But she is brought into a complicated game played by the vampire mistress Marsilia. Unexpectedly she is also asked for help by her old school mate whose house is hunted.
The plot is okay but it's not really memorable. I don't think I will be remember what happened after a week or so. The good thing is that Marcy is no longer involved in the love triangle with Samuel and Adam. I hate love triangles, so her blooming relationship with Adam is a nice thing.
I will keep on reading this series while waiting for another addition to the Alpha & Omega series.
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