Have Mercy
Normally, a guy will steer clear of any girl he deems to be too stubborn, fussy, reckless and bold, clearly understanding that the bitch is so radioactive she’s practically glowing.
Normally.
Mercy Thompson is an entirely different story. From the first book, Moon Called, up to the latest, Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs has blended all the above mentioned characteristics into a character so confounding yet unique that I find myself endeared to her, even when I want to shake her.
Did I mention that she’s a tatted up shape-shifting mechanic?
The Mercy Thompson series takes place in modern day Washington State, in a world where the existence of faeries (called fae) and magic has been revealed to the general public. Mercy runs an auto shop with Zee, a cranky old German who is actually a fae in disguise. She lives next door to Adam, the local pack leader of the werewolves in the area, and is her off and on again romantic interest. Mercy is able to change into a coyote (her shape-shifting powers coming from her Native American father), and as the series moves along we start to learn that there are perhaps more powers that Mercy isn’t aware she possesses.
What makes her character so great – and infuriating – is that the same qualities that irk you are the same ones that drive most of her actions, and that stays consistent throughout the series. Credit Patricia Briggs for not contriving a bunch of bullshit reasons for Mercy’s motives; it usually takes you about two seconds to realize why she decides to put herself in harm’s way constantly. Sometimes I want to shout at her for doing these things, and other times I just shrug and say “well, that’s just Mercy”. Its really an accomplishment for a writer when you can write a character and have her evoke that kind of response from a reader.
The tattoos don't hurt her case either.
Bone Crossed is the fourth book in the series, and it picks up after some major shit has gone down in Mercy’s life in the last novel. She’s trying to just get back to life as usual when a friend drops in unannounced and with a warning – Mercy’s really pissed off the local head of the vampires with her antics in previous books, and now she has to pay for it. Another great thing about these books is that they are short, but they all blend seamlessly together if you read them one after another. If you’re interested with checking out the series, Moon Called is where to start. Surprisingly, I would say I liked it the least just because it spends a lot of time introducing you to the world and the hierarchy of the wolves – I would call it a necessary evil – but in the end it enriches the story of all the later books because you have the lay of the land. Bone Crossed has just hit paperback and the fifth book Silver Borne, drops sometime in March.
