I was giddy with delight to open up this one. Is there a better feeling than getting your hands on the next book in your favorite series? If you’ve made it here, it’s a no brainer: you’ll like Iron Kissed just as much if not more than its predecessors.
Mercedes is watching Queen of the Damned with her werewolf friend Warren when her cell phone rings. It’s a call from Zee, her former boss and mentor, who just so happens to be a very old, German fae (FYI fae=selkie, troll, or gremlin, etc.). Once again Mercy’s in the unique position to be of assistance in a way which no human, werewolf, vampire, or fae could be. Several murders have taken place on the local fae reservation, and Zee needs her unofficial help to sniff out the killer. The real trouble doesn’t ensue, however, until Zee is found at the newest murder scene when the blood is still warm. Immediately Zee is imprisoned for the crime, and despite pleas otherwise, Mercy begins the hunt for the real murderer. Meanwhile, things begin to heat up at home, and she’s faced with the decision: Samuel or Adam?
Without knowing it, somewhere between Blood Bound and this one, I got the hang of Briggs’ fast-paced writing style, and I actually like it. *Light bulb goes on* So that’s one of the reasons why I had a hard time with Moon Called (!). Mercy’s narration often includes alternating lines of dialogue and thought within the same paragraph, without an “I thought” or “I said.” With only the quotation marks to indicate the difference, it threw me off at first and kept me re-reading and questioning whether Mercy actually said something she thought or only thought something she actually said out loud. Well, I feel sheepish now. *Overanalyzing and overusing asterisks…* But if there were only one reason why the series has gotten better with each book is because like any good series they’ve built on each other. Moon Called, while focusing on werewolves, introduces us to Mercy’s entire world, vampires, fae and all. For urban fantasy/vampire-werewolf genre veterans, this may make perfect sense, but for greenies like me, this is a lot to take in. Ha! And I called myself a fantasy reader. So especially for me, the characters and world of Mercy Thompson has just gotten richer (and better) with age. Which means…
Hooray! In Iron Kissed I finally got to learn what the heck “fae” and “glamour” mean and why I should care (Insert because the fae are freaking awesome.). I loved the final scene with the fae and Zee. Fae magic is both frightening and cool. I also have a new character to love: Ben the tough werewolf from London. The “something more” about Ben that was revealed was unexpectedly great. I had worries about how Briggs’ would handle the major plot twist, but they were undue. It was a deft portrayal of a delicate situation. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether I agree with how Mercy broke the love triangle… Ahh, now that I’ve gotten a handle on Mercy Thompson’s world, good thing there’s still one more book to read and 3 more planned.
