From
the BLURB:
Mercy
Thompson returns in another thrilling instalment of the major urban fantasy
series from No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs
I am
Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman. My only 'superpowers' are that I turn into a
thirty-five-pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places
and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I'm going to need them.
Centuries
ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill. When they were cast out, they left behind
their great castles, troves of magical artefacts . . . and their prisoners.
Without the fae to mind them, those creatures roamed freely through Underhill
wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived.
Now one
of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like any creature it chooses and if
it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction and can make
you do anything - even kill the person you love the most. Now it is here, in
the Tri-Cities. In my territory.
It
won't, can't, remain. Not if I have anything to say about it.
‘Smoke
Bitten’ is the 12th book in Patricia Brigg’s Mercy
Thompson urban-fantasy series.
I was a
little wary, going into this one (and, no – not just because I started reading
it *right* when the world went to bedlam) but because I’m not a fan of the
fae-world that has largely entered into the ‘Mercy Thompson’ universe. I seem
to always have this issue with long-running paranormal series (‘Sookie
Stackhouse’ by Charlaine Harris comes to mind) where an author decides to bring
fae into the supernatural and have them be the scapegoat for all manner of plots
and random character-arcs. I just don’t like the fae. Unless I’m deliberately
reading a book/series for them (hi, Holly Black!) then I want my series to
stick to werewolves, or vampires, or … no; they’re pretty much the best two.
‘Smoke
Bitten’ flagged from the blurb that there’d be a fae-villain running around in
this book, and I kind of inwardly sighed and resigned myself. BUT – there’s
also a pretty cool power-play with werewolves going on in this instalment too,
that actually worked to harmonise the fae-storyline for me.
There’s
also plenty of Mercy and Adam in this book to satiate fans who love this
couple, even as we’ve all felt them get a little stale since ‘Happily Ever After’
… I will say; ‘Smoke Bitten’ has the couple needing to communicate better, and
bearing the consequences when one of them shuts down. There’s also peripheral
stuff with Adam’s daughter Jesse, and her mother Cristy – that kind of feels
underdeveloped here, but could just be that there’s set-up for future books
(and right now the idea of future-books is a real balm, let me tell you!)
There’s
also some storylines for secondary-characters; like mated pair Auriele and Darryl,
that has me intrigued and wondering if we might see some crossover with ‘Alpha
& Omega’ (of which, there is a new book coming in 2021 called ‘Wild
Sign’!) if this secondary-storyline goes the way I think it might, then I’m
keen to see how Anna and Charles deal with similar moral and relationship
conundrums.
My one complaint
about ‘Smoke Bitten’ – despite great action and character arcs – is the
complaint I was bound to have, which was the less tangible parts of the story
when dealing with fae, underhill, and Mercy’s chaotic magic. The climax scene
takes place inside Mercy’s other-world … or something? It’s all very confusing and
loses my interest pretty quickly; So it was a sucky place to end up for the
finale (especially when compared to book 11, ‘Storm Cursed’ and the show-down
with witch Elizaveta). It’s a small complaint, but a complain nonetheless.
Overall though;
I love this series, and twelve books in – I continue to love it. It was really
nice to read a series that feels a little bit like coming home and catching up
with old friends during uncertain times.
4.5/5
