{"id":5839,"date":"2016-05-04T12:17:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T16:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5839"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:04:30","slug":"iron-kissed-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5839","title":{"rendered":"Iron Kissed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iron Kissed<\/a><\/em> (2008) Patricia Briggs<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is probably the hardest Mercy story to read, but I read it, and cried like I always do.<\/p>\n

Samuel had learned to write before typewriters and computers rendered penmanship an art practiced by elementary school children. His notes always looked like formal wedding invitations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cShoot,\u201d he said, the word obviously not giving him the satisfaction to be gotten out of cruder terms. <\/p>\n

\u201cCheeses crusty, got all musty, got damp on the stone of a peach,\u201d I agreed. He looked blank, so I repeated it with proper emphasis. \u201cChEEZ-zes crusty. Got Al-musty. Got DAMp on the StoneofapeaCH. My foster father used to say those around me all the time. He was an old-fashioned sort of wolf, too. He especially liked the Stoneofapeach. \u2018Stoneofapeach, Mercedes. You don\u2019t have the sense God gave little apples.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSandra is turning forty today. I think she needs a birthday dirge, whatd\u2019 you all think?\u201d <\/p>\n

The crowd erupted into applause that quickly settled into anticipatory silence. <\/p>\n

\u201cHap-py birthday.\u201d He sang the minor notes of the opening of the \u201cVolga Boatmen\u201d in a gloriously deep bass that needed no mike to carry over the crowd, then hit the bodhran once with a small double-headed mallet. THUMP. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s your birthday.\u201d THUMP. <\/p>\n

\u201cGloom and doom and dark despair, <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople dying everywhere. <\/p>\n

\u201cHappy birthday.\u201d THUMP. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s your birthday.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The time for keeping their secrets strictly to myself was over. <\/p>\n

If there was one thing I\u2019d learned over the past few interesting (in the sense of the old Chinese curse, \u201cMay you live in interesting times\u201d) months, it was that when things started to get dangerous, it was important to have people who knew as much as you did. That way, when I stupidly got myself killed\u2014 someone would have a starting place to look for my murderer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This story is not<\/strong> for everyone. Terrible things happen to Mercy, and they are hard to read, as is the time following the terrible things. (That part is probably harder to read, to be honest.)
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Ace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs This is probably the hardest Mercy story to read, but I read it, and cried like I always do. Samuel had learned to write before typewriters and computers rendered penmanship an art practiced by elementary school children. His notes always looked like formal wedding invitations. \u201cShoot,\u201d he said, the word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,48,291,41,16,934],"tags":[69,68,578,525],"class_list":["post-5839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-female","category-paper","category-reread","category-supernatural","category-trigger-warnings","tag-mercy-thompson","tag-patricia-briggs","tag-sexual-assault","tag-werewolves"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1wb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4856,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4856","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":0},"title":"Iron Kissed","author":"Michelle","date":"September 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs I had forgotten just how dark this story was. Bad things happen to Mercy. Very bad things. And Mercy just doesn't brush these things off, which means seeing Mercy suffer as she tries to recover. It's very hard to read. Don't get me wrong, it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ironkissed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10911,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10911","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":1},"title":"Iron Kissed, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Iron Kissed, Audio Version (2008) Patricia Briggs I almost skipped listening to this book, but instead I just skipped through the very distressing parts. This is a very good story, but a very difficult one. Publisher: Penguin Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ironkissed-e1510885998397.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":498,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/498","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":2},"title":"Iron Kissed","author":"Michelle","date":"January 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs I really like Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series, so I've had Iron Kissed on pre-order since I found out it was available. I had to finish the book I was currently reading before I started this, but yesterday afternoon I picked it up and didn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ironkissed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6290,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6290","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":3},"title":"Iron Kissed","author":"Michelle","date":"December 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs I still have great difficulty reading this book, and flat-out skip most of a chapter because it is so hard for me to read. Just so you know. Mercy is called by Zee to look into a death at the Fae Reservation; this will allow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ironkissed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22505,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22505","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":4},"title":"Wild Sign, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Wild Sign, Audio Book (2021) Patricia Briggs narrated by Holter Graham I was conflicted about this story the first time I read it, and so gave it plenty of time and decided to see if a second reading (and as an audio book) would change anything. It did, in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Wild-Sign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1597,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1597","url_meta":{"origin":5839,"position":5},"title":"Bone Crossed","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Bone Crossed (2009) Patricia Briggs Mercy is still struggling after the events of Iron Kissed, the previous book. Excluding the stitches, she is better physically, however, mentally and emotionally, she has a long way to go. Into this whirls a friend from college, Amber, who wants Mercy to come investigate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/BoneCrossed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}