Silver Borne

Author: Patricia Briggs
Published: March 30, 2010 (Ace)
Category: Urban Fantasy
Series: Mercy Thompson #5
Rating: 9/10

In the year that I was spending planning for my wedding, I didn't get around to reviewing my discovery of Patricia Briggs's "Mercy Thompson" series. This review will sort of cover my liking of the series rather than just Silver Borne.

Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson is a Volkswagen mechanic (Yes, she's heard all the "Volkswagen mechanic named Mercedes" jokes) who also happens to be a walker, a creature of Native American myth that can turn into a coyote at will. This is not to be confused with a skinwalker, which is an evil, nasty creature. I think I've seen skinwalkers featured in Supernatural and Dresden Files episodes. She lives in the Tri-Cities area in Washington, and she's not the only supernatural creature in the neighborhood. There are vampires, werewolves, Fae, and ghosts. In this universe, Fae have come out to the public, although the Gray Lords who rule the Fae are sure to control how much humans learn of them.

Mercy is closely linked with the werewolves, who eventually come out to the public eye as well after Moon Called, the first book in the series. She was raised by the head werewolf in North America and fell in love with his son, Samuel, another powerful and old-timey werewolf. While Mercy believed herself in love with Samuel, he wanted her more for the possibility of living offspring with her. Female werewolves cannot bear children because of the involuntary monthly change to werewolf (in this universe they can become werewolves at will), and Samuel has lost loved ones already in his centuries of living. His father realized what was going on and packed Mercy off, leading up to her life in Tri-Cities, where she happens to live in the territory of another (very hot) alpha werewolf, Adam Hauptman.

The love triangle of Mercy-Samuel-Adam stretches over a few books, finally sort of resolving at the end of Iron Kissed, the third book and really picks up in the last two books, Bone Crossed and Silver Borne. SB is my favorite because Mercy and Adam's relationship is firmly cemented, and Samuel's loneliness is finally addressed.

I can't say enough good things about this series. You have a smart heroine with a sharp tongue, a backbone of steel, and a propensity to attract trouble. Over the course of the series, she fights vampires, Fae, werewolves, and humans while slowly building a love life with Adam, who she has described as "the hottest man [she] knew." While I'm no prude when it comes to reading books, it's nice to have a heroine who isn't jumping into bed every other chapter like some other urban fantasy series. I can't get enough of the world Patricia Briggs has created, and the only reason this book got a 9/10 is because I want the next book already! The sixth book in the series, River Marked, is scheduled to release Spring 2011.