Bookworms: Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3), Patricia Briggs
Impulsively, I closed my eyes, as I had in the first house, and concentrated on what my other senses had to tell me.I heard it first, the sound of surf and wind. Then a chill breeze stirred my fur. I took two steps forward and the cool tile softened into sand. When I opened my eyes, I stood at the top of a sandy dune at the edge of a sea.
Where Moon Called was a fast-paced introduction to the werewolves and Mercy’s history, and Blood Bound moved slower, yet raced against an unknown deadline, Iron Kissed has a different, hesitant urgency all its own.
It is interesting to note that while the covers of the Mercy Thompson novels are considered provocative, there’s next to zero swearing or sexual situations in the novels. Instead, the power and depth of the novels come from each character’s internal motivation to do as they do. In one particular point, revelations of Ben and his character will shock and cause empathy, perhaps to the point of tears.
A month after Mercy killed two vampires that threatened the Tri-Cities, werewolves, and her vampire friend, Stefan as well, it is for her friends again that Mercy becomes embroiled in her next mystery. And because of her inability to follow simple and direct orders when they get in the way, Mercy not only lives in fear of the Mistress of the vampires realizing she was behind the killings, but now must survive the fae as well.
It really ought to surprise no one that when her fae friend and beloved mentor, Siebold Adelbertsmiter – Zee, needs help from the mischievous coyote, Mercy may not be wholly ready, but is willing. It is, after all, the tools and trinkets of the fae that allowed Mercy to kill said vampires and escape relatively unscathed. Except for the debt to the fae. Mercy’s most recent ghost seeing abilities has been revealed and it is discovered why Mercy has yet to find another walker like herself; vampires don’t want to be found. But where vampires are, gruesome deaths have occurred, and where those deaths are, ghosts will be. Finding them was one thing, killing them was another.
See, thanking a fae indebts one in unknown ways. Accepting help does the same. It was with that full knowledge Mercy accepted the help of Zee and Uncle Mike in Blood Bound. And it is to collect payment on that debt that Zee and Uncle Mike turn to Mercedes to aid unraveling the mystery of Iron Kissed: who’s killing the fae?
Though the Tri-Cities is fairly large, it already holds a regional werewolf pack. They’ve been out since book two. The fae have been out for twenty-odd years, but have been moved to reservations to provide a sort of quality control. Which, considering the nature of the fae, is in actuality a joke. Regardless, someone’s been murdering the fair folk and they want answers. Mercy, with her coyote nose and sensing abilities finds more about the killings – and the fae – than the fae want her to know. When one of the human guards that worked the checkpoint to the reservation is killed, it’s Zee, Mercy’s teacher and loved one, that’s arrested. Mercy’s told to mind her own business, which only drives her further and further into unraveling what she can and clear Zee’s name. It is a fair reminder of how manipulative the fae can be with the truth and just with people in general.
What she exposes and solves is more than just the main murder mystery. There’s been a love triangle between her, Adam Hauptman, and Samuel Cornick. She and Samuel come to realize they love each other but as family, not as mates. While Mercy so very often takes center stage as the sole pragmatic heroine of the Mercyverse, and rightfully so, it’s nice to have other female characters have a shot, too. Jesse, Adam’s daughter, and Honey, a werewolf in Adam’s pack, help Mercy understand exactly the toll Mercy’s indecision between Samuel and Adam had been taking. Briggs, not one to continue a central issue beyond a normal span of time, gives Mercy the requisite, and surprisingly unforced, tools to resolve this.
Additionally, the Grey Lords’ (the fae’s ruling body) knowledge of Mercy’s use of their enchanted items to kill the vampires, as well as something so seemingly simple as her knowledge of them, have her in their magical sites. And because of what she discovers, and who discovers her, while investigating the murders on the fae reservations, she finds that the fae have found entrance to Underhill, The Fairy Land, once more. It is Mercy’s doggedness, rather coyote-ness, withstanding fae and human assault alike, that cause the fae to eventually recuse her of this… slight, as long as she keeps silent.
Two disappointments, though small and niggling, continue to be the low status of women in werewolf packs, as well as the open hostility to homosexual male werewolves. Notably, there is no such information about homosexual female werewolves. While the characterization of Warren, an intensely self-controlled and purposefully non-threatening though dominant werewolf, he and his pointed relationship with his boyfriend, Kyle, are used to keep Mercy safe, but not in the hands of other male wolves. While the aggression and dominance game is cleanly, and often cleverly explained, the fallback grows a bit wearisome. It is clear that Briggs is painting a woman, strong in her own right, who knows her weaknesses, but there are points where Mercy’s development fears of being controlled by someone as Alpha as Adam becomes trite.
However, these are cursory issues that sometimes prick at the pacing of Iron Kissed without truly slowing it down or detracting from its profound story. There is one item, however, that once come across by the reader, will light up as This Is A Thing That Will Help Mercy. It has its place, and its purpose is to aid, but just barely survives becoming the gimmick.
Much like Blood Bound, Iron Kissed ends up not being so much about Zee, but about the fae, and what lengths they are willing to go to keep their secrets. The surprise is that they, too, have limits on what they will allow to befall those who have aided them. Perhaps Brigg’s greatest gift is taking the truly powerful and giving them something meaningful to care about.
It is necessary to advise that this novel requires a trigger warning for its last act. It is powerful, well written, and in no way dehumanizes anyone nor lays blame where it is not due. Patricia Briggs wrote the last sixty pages of Iron Kissed with a tender frankness and a surprising lack of sexism. I applaud her candor and temerity to include it in the novel, as it is an oft-used trope, but here it works. Here it invokes an understanding and awareness and is handled with simplicity, strength, and class. It speaks to hope and to life. I will not lay forth spoilers, but I alert you to what lies within. It is difficult to read, but in many ways, worth it.
Iron Kissed, Mercy Thompson #3, Patricia Briggs 2008, 287 pages (softcover)