River Marked by Patricia Briggs (Mercedes Thompson Series, Book 6)

River Marked by Patricia Briggs (Mercedes Thompson Series, Book 6)

Completion Date: March 12, 2011

Reason for Reading: Next Book in the Series.

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She’s never known any others of her kind. Until now.

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help…

New Mercedes Thompson book. YAY! I wait for these yearly and will be incredibly disappointed when the series comes to an end. They just keep getting better and better. This is by far my favourite in the series. I was a little worried at first because I did know that a lot of the secondary characters that I love play a minor role, but it all worked out. This was a chance to get to know Mercy and Adam better, so they had to be alone in order for that to get the attention it needed. There were still other characters, though, and I thought they were done really well.

Has anyone ever read Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King? That is probably one of my favourite Canadian novels of all time. It is about Native mythology, so characters like Coyote play a key role. I unfortunately read it before blogging, but I strongly recommend it to those that haven't read it. Anyway, this book by Briggs reminded me a lot of King's novel. Or, actually, Charles de Lint. He writes from the same ideas, but he puts his own spin on it. Briggs does about the same. She takes commonly held beliefs and does her own fictional account. She may have almost toppled King off my pedestal, but not quite. She did write my favourite Mercy book so far, though. I love history and mythology, so a book that includes both will have me very excited to begin with. If you can pull if off in a great way, though, I will be in love!

This paragraph will be a bit spoilerish for the previous books, so if you haven't read the series yet, don't read this paragraph. This is the book where Mercy marries Adam. I thought how that all came together was a fun idea. It was also a good way for the secondary characters to have a little bit of page time. The next Alpha & Omega book has been pushed back again, so you need to take what you can get. After this it is just short stories until 2012. There is also some continuation from Stefan after the events from the previous book. That's the thing I like about Briggs, though; she always tries to address on-going story-lines. Stefan is a different sort of vampire from the others in the book. The Scooby Doo idea is hilariously brilliant. It was good that in the midst of everything else that Briggs is trying to address, she finds time to fill the readers in on Stefan.

Okay, safe again. What I absolutely loved about this book was the addition of characters like Coyote. I think that Briggs captured them really well! She kept me glued to the book, so I wound up easily finishing it in essentially one sitting. If you haven't read this series yet, you are really missing out! If you have read this series before and just haven't made it to this book yet, you are in for a treat!!

Many thanks to Penguin Canada for sending me a copy of this book!

Mercedes Thompson Series:

Moon Called (reread)

Blood Bound

Iron Kissed

Bone Crossed

Silver Bourne