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Silence Fallen

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Silence Fallen (2017) Patricia Briggs

I have no idea how I did it, but I somehow completely missed reading this when it came out last spring.

This story is slightly different in that for most of the book the POV switches between Adam and Mercy. Mercy is first person, Adam is third person.

This would be because Mercy is kidnapped by The Lord of the Night, Marsilla’s former lover, who exiled her to the New World.

The story was good, and I very much appreciated Mercy’s ability to rescue herself.

“If you are taken by your enemies,” he said, “don’t wait to escape. The hour you are taken is when you will be at your strongest. Time gives them the opportunity to starve you, to torture you, to break you and make you weak. You have to escape as soon as you can.”

It is emphasized that Mercy is fragile and easily damaged, yet she does everything she can (including regularly working out) to keep herself in shape and care for herself.

Another thing I appreciated was that despite her recovery, Mercy still falls victim to her past–and that she manages to do so after she is safe.

And just for a moment, I flashed back to the time when I had been rendered helpless by a fae artifact and a creep named Tim . . .

“Mercy?” Jitka asked.

I realized I was sitting on the floor in the corner of her room. Martin was as far from me as he could get, watching me with a concerned look. Jitka was crouching about three feet from me, careful to give me space.

I met her eyes and said, “I hate PTSD, you know?” I remembered I was talking to a werewolf and turned my gaze to the floor. It was less humiliating talking to the floor, anyway. “It’s been years— and I killed that bastard. And it’s not like I was really hurt, right? I’ve been sent to the hospital by a volcano god, and that didn’t do anything but give my husband nightmares.”

Jitka nodded like all this was making sense. “Hurt comes in all forms. I wake up at least once a year to a memory that makes me shake for hours— something that happened 122 years ago. I have seen and done so much worse since that thing, and it wasn’t even something that happened to me. And still.”

I do like that Mercy was given the time to recover, and the recognition that even years later she is affected by her trauma.

I did have a couple of issues with the story, mainly, the co-pilot.

Harris reached out to steady his copilot without looking at him when he wobbled on the ramp, too busy watching the vampire to watch his feet. The copilot was medium height and average-faced, and so intimidated by the vampires that he very nearly clung to the side of Harris. The copilot was a werewolf. The way he sought protection from Harris told Adam— and anyone else who was watching— that he was submissive. It was dangerous to be that submissive when surrounded by vampires.

I can’t say a lot about this without giving things away, but this is our first introduction to Matt Smith, the co-pilot, and, well, it’s complicated and I found it troublesome.

I did very much enjoy Larry the Goblin King. And I liked seeing Elizivita outside of the very brief interactions we’ve seen before.

I liked the plot, which was complicated and did make sense eventually, but I had issues with Matt Smith, and I had issues with a few bits of the story telling–primarily how Mercy’s narrative occasionally jumped back and forth in time. It perhaps made a better story-telling choice, but since we were already breaking with the normal way the stories are told, adding in Adam’s POV, then having Mercy relate her tale not into chronological.

All those complaints aside, I did enjoy the story, and I’m sorry I missed this when it first came out, for whatever reason.
Rating: 7.5/10

Publisher: Ace

 

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