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:

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs