Mercy Thompson, #2
Urban Fantasy
Ace
January 20th, 2007
eBook
306
Owned
Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen...
Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.
But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.
(via Goodreads)
Like Moon Called, the second Mercy Thompson novel, Blood Bound is establishing the series as a strong urban fantasy meets mystery series. I find these books very similar to the Sookie Stackhouse books I’ve read before (and probably a dozen other series I haven’t read yet, in all honesty…). If you are looking for a kick-ass strong female protagonist who deals with werewolves, vampires, and fae almost exclusively: This is the series for you!
In the second book of this series, Mercy and her gang are put up against a sorcerer-demon-vampire. More or less an invincible creation that is slowly killing everyone in the entire tri-state area and who happens to be WAY stronger than everyone else. The paranormal are kidnapped, killed, and act likes crazies in his presence. WILL THEY STOP HIM?
There are a lot of things about this book which I find incredibly frustrating.
(Just like you might find the following endless hidden spoilers frustrating… O_o)
1. Poorly masked sexism:
“You should be home sleeping. What is the use of having a man in the house, if he cannot take care of you for a while?”
“Mmm,” I said, “I give up. What’s the use of having a man in the house?”
2. Obvious Love Entanglements:
“Adam wants to know what took you so long?”
“Tell him I had wild, passionate sex with a complete stranger.“
3. Lack of relationship building:
Americans in particular are oddly innocent in their faith that science hold explanations for everything.
4. The most infuriating world building. EVER:
That said, there are a lot of great things about this series:
1. Diverse range of characters and personalities: Briggs does cover the gamut in these books. I adore Warren and Kyle. A gay cowboy werewolf and his flaming divorce lawyer human boyfriend? Brilliant. While the different groups of paranormals all fall into fairly stereotypical paradigms, they all have their own unique personalities. I do like that a lot.
2. Our characters are flawed: Yes, in the aforementioned stereotypical ways, but also in very realistic ways. This is the part of Briggs’s world that I find most relatable. These flaws make our characters more real to the reader.
3. Briggs is in this for the long game: I can tell Briggs is setting up readers for the long haul, too. Some lines stuck out as strange to me– they didn’t fit in with the current story sometimes. I started to see that she is prepping her world for future stories, and hopefully future big reveals.
The problem with deciding to bend the rules was trying to figure out just how far you could bend them.
All in all, I found Blood Bound a sometimes frustrating but fluffy read. I have been reassured by multiple friends this is the weakest of the Mercy Thompson books as far as world building, character development, and overall writing style is concerned. I flew through this book, and I will continue to fly through a few more before giving up. I have faith this will turn into something much better before it’s all over.
After all, you can’t just read Pulitzer Prize winning literature. Where would the fun be in that?
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