Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Looking for a new paranormal series I came upon the Mercy Thomas series. It was recommended to me constantly on Amazon and most people have given it good reviews so I decided to delve in, even though I have been turned off by a lot of these series that never end.

The first two books were better than I expected. (Moon Called and Blood Bound) The third book in the series (Iron Kissed) was where the series started to show its age.

The books are mysteries disguised as urban fantasy or sometimes even paranormal romance. The books so far are not romance, they have some underlying romance tendencies but there is no romantic action, besides a few smoochies. So, if you like your paranormals to spike up your temperature, these books will fizzle, in fact you’ll probably find yourself frustrated.

Mercy is what is described as a Walker. From what I can tell this is not a common paranormal race. I’ve never come across it in other texts, and from what I saw online the only references are to skinwalkers which are actual Native American legends. These are brought up in the books, but Mercy does not let herself be confused with skinwalkers. While skinwalkers have an animal pelt and can transform to that animal, Mercy as a walker can shift back and forth from her human form to a coyote effortlessly and without the use of an animal pelt. As a walker, Mercy is not necessarily very strong, or superfast. Her senses are heighten, but in comparison to the other supernaturals she is rather on the weak side. Personally I would feel ripped off if that was my supernatural talent.

Even though Mercy is on the weak side, she is constantly finding herself in the middle of the “sheet.” She has befriended someone from every community and often finds herself involved in that races’ politics. Also, she is constantly putting her life at risk to help a friend, or solve a mystery. She is also constantly being helped out by one supernatural or another, which lends her to owing people favors.

In the third book, Iron Kissed, a favor is called in my a so far unexplored race, the Fae. So far, the Mercy books have expanded on the werewolf race and the vampire race – in this book the fae come into light. Personally I find Brigg’s take on the fae to be very unnerving. Were’s tear out your throat, vamps will suck you dry…but there is something about the threat of being eaten alive by a slime covered horse that just sets my hair on end.

The plot starts out with seven fae deaths, and Mercy is called in after the seventh because the fae are unable to find the killer. As a coyote, Mercy sniffs out the killer and points Uncle Mike and her friend Zee (both faeries) in the direction of a human. Someone has found him first though, because when Uncle Mike and Zee go to confront the human he is found dead, and Zee is arrested. The rest of the book turns into a “who-done-it” mystery. Like the prior books, Mercy is told to stay away from the investigation by her close friends, even Zee himself, but her stubbornness and tenacity will not let her let it go. She continues to hunt for the killer, even though the faeries are now trying to kill her and her love triangle between Sam and Adam is threatening to explode in her face.

Speaking of the love triangle, it really has nothing to do with the plot and really only lends to expanding on the characters. Little happens between the three of them, if I recall correctly Sam lays a “claiming” kiss on her in a restaurant and Adam lets a few of his feelings leak out during the story.

One of the reasons I was disappointed in the book had to do with the love triangle. I had been rooting for Adam through the three books, Sam just seemed a little conflicted and their prior relationship didn’t seem very healthy…so hottie Adam was definitely my pick. Yet, how the triangle ended wasn’t very imaginative – the author took the easy way out. This seems to happen a lot in paranormal love triangles (i.e. Edward – Bella – Jacob). Hints of blood shed, hurt feelings, maybe even suicide are thought to be the Only-Way-Out, yet what happens? Sam just gives up. He is really not in love with her??? What? Too convenient. So he pursues her for months, pines over her for years, moves out of state to follow her, forces her to take him in as his roommate, but then he doesn’t love her that way.

The second reason that I was thrown off by this book was the killer / rapist. The introduction of the character was a little too coincidental. Sam’s all of a sudden has this passion for singing and can play any instrument under the sun…and his nurse just happens to force him to play a local festival…which just so happens to have him approached by a guy that studies Welsh. They also just happen to all go to a post party, which the guy just happens to go to, which Mercy just happens to sit down at his table…..it goes on. Also, the guy just happens to invite Mercy to his “hate-group” after only knowing her for a few hours.

The ending was also very dark, I don’t like reading about rape, but it was handled well and Mercy reacted in a manner that I would have expected of a victim. The final bit with her and Adam had me pulling at my hair. The author is a complete tease!

I do recommend this book to everyone. Though the plot turns were a bit convenient, the book was well written. I’m not sure if I will go on to the fourth book, give me some time and I might get desperate for a new book.