Archive for March, 2008
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
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Iron Kissed represents Book 3 of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series. In this one Mercy once again finds herself thrust into the politics of one of the supernatural races; this time it’s the fae, one of the more secretive magical groups. She finds out the hard way that “curiosity killed the cat” can apply to shape shifting coyotes like her as well.
Oh, and on top of that her love life is an absolute mess.
The Story
Mercy’s mentor, former boss, and fae member “Zee”, asks her to accompany him to a crime scene to see if she can “sniff out” the identity of a killer (mass murderer to be exact). You see, someone has killed several fae and thus far, the murders have gone unsolved. Zee knows that Mercy, a shapeshifter that can take on the form of a coyote, has a heightened sense of smell after she’s shifted. He’s hoping she can identify the scent of the killer.
Since Mercy owes the Fae a favor she agrees to the proposal. As such, Zee takes her to one of the fae reservations, a guarded compound/community that the local fae relocated to soon after they revealed themselves to the world. The reservation is a strange place whose lands (and people) hold many secrets. The fae would like to keep it that way so Mercy is forewarned not to ask questions or dwell on any oddities she might witness. For her own sake, she doesn’t want the fae thinking she might reveal their secrets to the rest of the world. Security risks like that are usually dealt with swiftly – no questions asked.
Although apprehensive about the assignment, Mercy is successful in determining the identity of the killer but through a series of events Zee ends up in jail. As Mercy attempts to prove his innocence she learns even more about the Fae – too much some might say. It’s this storyline that provides heart stopping suspense and adventure.
Mercy’s relationships with Adam and Samuel, two werewolves interested in her romantically, provide some of the subplot material in the book although Patricia Briggs handles this in a manner that keeps the reader interested. It’s also handled in a very believable manner. I can actually identify with the uncertainties displayed by Mercy. Rest assured this is nothing like the tiresome Jean-Claude vs. Richard tug-of-war that occurred in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series.
With Iron Kissed Patricia Briggs has written another entertaining and action packed fantasy adventure. This book, more than the others in the series, sheds some light on the psychological makeup of the werewolves, in particular, Ben and Adam. Although it’s difficult to promote the humanity of aggressive and violent creatures like werewolves without emasculating them at some level, Patricia Briggs seems to have found a feasible and believable balance.
As with the other books in the series the pace is consistent and the storyline is nicely balanced with suspense, humor, action, and a little romance. Although I recommend that you read Book 1: Moon Called and Book 2: Blood Bound (simply because they’re good) it’s not necessary to do so in order to keep up with the story. Patricia Briggs has a talent for providing just enough backstory to get new readers up to speed while not appearing redundant to return readers. Not many writers can pull this off.
A very significant arc occurs near the end of this book. It’s actually quite heartwrenching and affects me even as I’m writing this review. I don’t believe I’ve read a fantasy book that touched me in this way. I commend Patricia Briggs for having the courage to write this into the storyline. It makes the series even stronger. Bottom line: Iron Kissed is an absolute solid winner for Briggs.
You can purchase Iron Kissed and spend several productive hours immersed in a fantastic fantasy story that’s entertaining and thrilling or spend the 7 bucks on two small chocolate Godiva truffles that will rot your teeth and expand your waistline. Your call.
See also:
Night Rising by Chris Marie Green: Babylon Vampire Series Book 1
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When Dawn Madison‘s father disappears she’s initially not too concerned. After all, her father is a bit of a free spirit and has a habit of getting on his Harley and going wherever it takes him.
So when she goes looking for him she’s pretty surprised to discover that her father has been working for a private investigation firm. He’s not one to hold down a job for very long. She’s even more shocked to learn that the firm specializes in investigating paranormal events. Her father’s co-workers are also concerned about her father’s disappearance and think it’s linked to another case they’re working on.
Dawn decides to join the hunt for her father and in doing so, becomes a member of the paranormal investigation firm. This begins her introduction to the world of supernatural creatures that she never knew existed.
The Story:
Dawn is a stuntwoman who’s worked in Hollywood films. As such she’s fairly strong, physically fit, and more than able to defend herself in a fight. She joins the firm thinking “how hard can this be?” only to discover that she has to face challenges most people only see in horror films.
The PI firm is run by a man referred to as “The Voice.” Why? Because no one has ever seen him. Dawn’s first encounter with him consisted of her entering a room and talking to a large blank television screen. Every meeting with him is like this; she’s simply talking to a mysterious disembodied voice. Think, Charlie’s Angels but with a much sexier voice.
The firm is currently trying to locate a dead male child star. The kid in question died at the age of twelve from a drug overdose. Although that’s startling by itself, that’s not the reason they took the case. They’re investigating his death because although the kid died several years ago his image appeared in some very recent film footage.
While investigating this case Dawn gets her first introduction to vampires. This encounter represents one of the most interesting aspects of the book: the mythology that Chris Marie Green creates about the vampires in the book.
It’s entirely different from any other urban vampire fantasy book I’ve read. The vampires have both an “above ground” persona and an underground life. As a matter of fact, they live in a place called “The Underground.” At times I found the vampire characters, their society, their interactions and the mystery surrounding The Voice to be more interesting than Dawn’s character.
As such, here are a few things that were somewhat annoying:
- The storyline drags at times and the dialogue can be a bit boring.
- The main character’s need for sexual stimulation was a little overdone. I mean honestly, this woman can’t see a good looking man without wanting to jump his bones? Chris Marie Green made Dawn into someone that almost shuts down physically if she doesn’t get a regular (i.e., daily) “fix.” It was akin to reading about a drug addict suffering through withdrawal pains. Although this book in no way falls into the vampire romance fantasy genre, a few scenes cross the line into fantasy erotica. Like most contemporary fantasy books these scenes do nothing to move the story along. Chris Marie Green is such a good writer that I’m thinking she’ll reveal more about why Dawn behaves this way.
- Too much emphasis is placed on Dawn’s issues with her mother, who died one month after Dawn was born. It definitely adds emotional depth to her character but I felt it was reinforced too often throughout the story.
Having said that I have to say that the positive FAR outweighs the negative in this book. There were times when I had a hard time putting the book down. As such Night Rising is a recommended buy. I’ll definitely purchase Midnight Reign, the next book in the Vampire Babylon fantasy series. I’m really curious about The Voice and who/what it really is. And I definitely want to know more about The Underground. As a vampire fantasy series I think there’s a lot of potential here. There’s room for Chris Marie Green to take some of the unanswered mysteries in the book and develop them into something even more exciting and full of intrigue. I’m looking forward to the second book.
Fantasy Contest Round-Up
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a listing of the contests I’ve found at some of my favorite fantasy sites:
Through The Veil: Shiloh Walker, the well-established author of The Hunters series is running a contest at her Vamps and Scamps site.
- To Enter: 1) Send an email to Shiloh at shiloh_@shilohwalker.com and put the words “BLOG CONTEST” and the URL to your blog’s site in the Subject line; 2) If you win you MUST be willing to write a review of her new book, Through The Veil (click on the link to read an excerpt from the book.
- The PRIZE: The winner(s) (yes, she may choose more than one) will receive an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) of the book. ARC’s are copies of books released by the publishers BEFORE the book goes to press for a final printing. So winning one of these would be pretty cool.
Colin “The Incubus” Ring: This is hands-down the funniest contest I’ve come across. Esri Rose is running a contest at her site which speaks to her infatuation with admiration of Colin Firth from Pride and Prejudice fame.
- To Enter: 1) Read an excerpt from her upcoming book Bound To Love Her and answer this question “What might some human women do after having sex with Galan the elf?” The excerpt contains the answer to the question; 2) Send an email to Esri.Rose@gmail.com and place the text I Want “Colin”! in the subject line.
- The PRIZE: Esri will randomly select a winner that gets an incubus nymph spirit ring which can be used to invoke an incubus called Colin. If you know anything about those creatures you know this could represent a “gift that keeps on giving.” Ahem. Visit Esri’s site Elves Among Us for the whole story.
Kelley Armstrong: Kelley actually has 2 contests running at her site.
- To Enter: Contest #1: Simply enter your name and email address into the form at her site. Contest #2: Complete a jigsaw puzzle.
- The PRIZE: An autographed copy of one of her fabulous books: Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Exit Strategy or Personal Demon!
