Fire Touched

Fire Touched (2016) Patricia Briggs

The 9th Mercy Thompson book finds the problems with the Fey becoming even greater. They Fae are still hiding on their Reservations or Underhill.

(W)e thought for a while that we could stay on our reservations. No humans could get in, not with their fighter jets or tanks. A bard might have managed, but your bards are not given to wandering in the wilderness in this era.

HOwever, internal tensions are leading to trouble for Fey like Zee, Mercy’s former boss and the former owner of Mercy’s former auto-repair shop.

Because the Fae are in hiding, when a giant troll shows up on the Cable Bridge and starts destroying cars (and the bridge), it falls upon Mercy, Adam, and the Pack to fix the situation (ie, kill the giant “car-eating monster”).

Somehow, a troll hadn’t seemed as scary when I was reading about it in Ariana’s book. The drawing had been about four inches high by two inches wide.

(T)he traffic on the highway to town bogged down. A traffic jam on this road was unusual, but then so was a monster that destroyed cars. I suspected there was a connection. Sometimes, I’m observant like that.

I think what I like best about this series is that Mercy’s humanity and fragility.

I was as vulnerable as any human. My superpower consisted of changing into a thirty-five-pound coyote.

Yet despite that, she continues to do what is right, and she does get hurt (although when she has been hurt seriously, Coyote has stepped in to help out a bit, but she still has a lot of rehab to deal with).

Additionally, although Mercy is a part of the tumultuous events in the world, the is neither the cause of the problems nor the secret savior. She has gifts, but she doesn’t save the world and isn’t built to save the world.

There’s another interesting thing about this series. Although, unlike Jane Yellowrock, Mercy isn’t offended by cursing, she generally doesn’t curse. But other characters do (much like the general population) and so it gives those characters (ie, Ben) additional traits that make them stand out.

“Car?” Ben said, and glanced around. “Fucking troll throwing fucking cars. What’s the world coming to?” He pointed a finger at Scott and Sherwood, who’d followed his sprint. “You and you, come with me. We’re to rescue our Zackie boy, who might have gotten smashed by a fucking car.”

Although Mercy does frequently paraphrase what Ben says, if it’s not a direct quote, which amuses me.

This book introduces Aiden, the Fire Touched of the title.

“You aren’t a werewolf,” he said, but I could tell he wasn’t sure.

“No,” I agreed. “But I am in charge right this minute.”

Aiden made an angry noise.

“If Zee promised to do his best to see that we protected you,” I told him, “he’s fulfilled his word to you.” I smiled grimly. “If he’d come singing your praises, we’d have killed you where you stood.

This bit cracked me up:

“I could smack you,” I said. “Just saying.”

“I’m driving,” he answered meekly.

We have a rule (it actually stems back to my days in college) along those lines, except it is expressed as “Don’t Fuck with the Driver.”

Once the driver is done driving, however, all bets are off.

I quite liked this book, and was glad to spend more time in Mercy’s world and with Mercy. And I’m still pleased with the way this series is going.

However, don’t start here. Just don’t. You possibly could, since it’s been two years since the last book, and I didn’t get lost, but you really need to watch Mercy grow into her relationship with Adam and the changes within the pack (not to mention everything with the Fey).

And that’s one other thing I love about this series. Mercy and Adam are a solid couple (although they had difficulties, mostly stemming from the Pack’s acceptance of her) and that is one of the strengths of the story. It’s a lovely element to the series.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Ace

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