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Title: Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)
ISBN: 0441015662
Author:
Patricia Briggs
Publicate Date: 2008-01-02
Publish: 2008-01-02
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.16
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.90
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Enjoyable, but a bit of a cheat
IRON KISSED is everything a reader of the previous two novels has a right to expect. Although elements of the plot are completely predictable -- Mercy will get involved in a dangerous magic-related situation, she will do it against the advice of friends and enemies, she will require the assistance of her friends, and this will put some kind of strain on her relationships with her hunky, handsome, much-much-older, paranormal sort-of boyfriends -- many of the details and some of the plot twists are not predictable. The latter are enough to keep a fantasy reader who is not a romance reader happy, but the romance portion is enough to make even some romance readers (I would think) a little bit queasy--not simply because the romance is important, and not because it is pukey (which it isn't, although it may come close), but because of the undercurrent of violence against women and capitulation to that violence.
When I talk about violence, I am not referring primarily to the rape that some reviewers have made negative comments about. I am talking about the violence that, Mercy tells us, is implicit in male-female relations among the werewolves she was raised with and hangs out with now. Females are expected to defer to males and they can be subject to male violence at any time, particularly when they don't show due deference. Females are not allowed to live alone--and trying to live alone could be a death sentence. Females may be able to choose their own mates, but only within certain constraints, and they must choose someone. Mercy is not technically subject to these constraints, but she would have to leave her current life and her business and friends to escape them. In making a choice to be with a werewolf -- which she does, although I won't say who -- she capitulates to violence.
Returning to the topic of rape, given the sexual subjugation of female werewolves and the constant undercurrent of violence, it would not be surprising if one of the male werewolves commit a rape. To have Samuel or Adam rape Mercy, for example, would have been much powerful (albeit devastating and cruel), and it would have followed logically from what has gone before. I think, however, that Briggs is actually fond of the violent edge of the werewolves and ambivalent about their sexual politics, and she doesn't want to spoil their edge by having one of their leaders commit such an atrocity. Instead, the rapist is a secondary character we have little or no attachment to. While virtually everything else in the novel reveals something about the world Mercy inhabits, this rape seems more like an opportunity for Briggs to be didactic. She gets to teach us that rape is at least as much a psychological violation as a physical violation, and that a woman who knows her attacker and doesn't resist is nonetheless not guilty of inviting the rape. Those are important lessons, but given the pervasiveness of violence (actual and threatened) against women in Mercy's world, they are (narratively) almost beside the point.
Anyway, my "real" rating is 3.5. It's a (mostly) enjoyable book with some interesting plot twists, but not more than that. People mostly satisfied with the series should pick this one up, but those who got bored with book 2 can safely leave it alone.
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2: Werewolves, Fae, murders, oh my...
Gee, how many times do I use that title? Anyway, Mercy is in deep trouble. Because somebody has been killing Fae and the Fae are not happy. But do they want help? Do they want a spotlight on them and their doings? Heck no. How do you solve a crime when it may mean becoming a victim yourself? A very action packed yet mature story. And while it may seem the final book in the series it is not. Number Four is already on the way!
Only problem I had - no vampires. Bummer.
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3: Angieville: IRON KISSED
Wow. So this series just keeps getting more and more intense. And in such unexpected ways. I love it when an author has the ability (and the guts) to slip in a real shocker without compromising her characters or the story as a whole. In a series, that's particularly hard to do without making it seem like a gratuitous plot twist inserted merely to keep the series going. Patricia Briggs has a 7-book deal for her Mercy Thompson series and book three has shown that not only does she know exactly what she's doing, but that we can trust her. To keep her characters and her world consistent. To take them down the right paths and introduce them to the right people...or werewolves and vampires in this case.
Mercy lives in a world where werewolves, vampires, and the fae exist side by side with humans. The first book, Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1), focuses on the werewolves. The second, Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2), centers on the vampires, including Mercy's quirky Scooby Doo loving friend Stefan. In this third installment, coyote shape shifter and VW mechanic Mercy Thompson is called in to help the fae solve a series of murders on the local fae reservation. Soon after, her friend Zee is arrested for the murder and, just like that, Mercy's in the thick of it, determined to clear Zee's name no matter what. Add to that the increasingly imperative choice she must make between the two werewolves in her life: Adam Hauptman (the Alpha of the local pack who's already claimed her as his mate) and Dr. Samuel Cornick (the wolf she fell in love with at 16). In what is becoming classic Briggs style, IRON KISSED combines an intriguing mystery with a streak of compelling romance, interspersed with glimpses of your worst nightmares. The combination is the height of entertainment. And what holds it all together is Mercy herself. The girl doesn't know the meaning of the words back down. I absolutely love these books.
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4: Better than the last
This was a good one, better than Blood Bound, because the key supernaturals in this one live up to their hype, unlike the mostly-likable evil vampires in Blood Bound. The Fae are mostly insular and private, wanting to keep their secrets and using their magic and an inhuman ruthlessness to accomplish that. But since humans now know about Fae, there's no way the Fae can live quietly enough to keep humans from sticking their noses into Fae business, because that's what humans do: when we discover a new animal, we need to observe and record it. When we find a new star, we need to map it, name it, and figure out its composition, color, strength, age, height, weight, and hair color. When we find a new element, we have to mix it up with other things to see if it'll explode. And, because our fascination with newness and our insatiable curiosity are results of our fear of the unknown, we also tend to form hate groups opposing the very things we have discovered. Like people who think of the snowy owl as an enemy, because it represents the conservationist movement. I mean: they actually hate a fluffy little owl. Along with the bleeding-heart liberals who protect it, but still.
So this one focuses on a string of Fae murders. Mercy is brought in to help investigate, because she has both a coyote's powerful nose and a human's mind and memory, and so she is an excellent scent tracker -- which makes sense. I also liked the comment that there are not many Fae who could do the same, because that was a gift mostly given to the beast-like Fae, most of whom are gone. Mercy figures out the culprit, and Zee and Uncle Mike, the two Council members who brought Mercy in, go to take care of the problem -- only to find the problem's already been taken care of, because the murderer's been beheaded. Uncle Mike vanishes, but Zee is left to take the fall for the murder of the murderer, and the Gray Lords, who have that wonderfully pragmatic and evil policy of sacrificing any individual in order to protect the group, want Zee to die in prison just after he confesses: an open-and-shut case.
But Mercy won't let it go. She investigates, and pokes her nose in, and fights for Zee even when Zee doesn't want her fighting for him -- Zee accepts the Gray Lord's absurd policy (Absurd because the line becomes ever more blurry over time: you sacrifice one person to save the lives of many, and then sacrifice two people to save the lives of five -- and then one to save one? Or you sacrifice one to save lives, then one to save homes, then one to save Christmas presents, and then one to save -- what, lawn ornaments? At some point you lose what you're trying to save.) and is willing to die for the Fae. Though I notice he didn't kill himself as the Gray Lords would surely have preferred.
And, of course, Mercy gets to the bottom of it. One of the greatest strengths of these books is in the climactic action sequences: the fight with Littleton and the hunt for Littleton's creator in Blood Bound, and the last few chapters in this one. They are a great strength because Briggs doesn't overdo it; as well as she writes an action scene, the character is not action oriented; she's a mechanic with a kinda screwed-up love life involving her neighbor and her roommate (I was also glad to see that resolve in this one, and now I'm eager to see where it goes from here). Mercy wouldn't be in the thick of things all day every day, and so she isn't; this book starts out with her watching "Queen of the Damned" with Warren and Kyle, a hilarious but quiet and peaceful scene. But the final fight in this one was fantastic, both in terms of how Mercy wins, and also how Mercy suffers at the hands of the villain -- please note that I mean it was well-written and therefore fantastic; it was extremely hard to read because it was well-written, but that is ever a strength for me, particularly in books that can so easily fall into sensationalism or fluff. And, of course, the resolution was fantastic, as well. And we also got to meet some seriously scary Fae, and Zee with his cloak off, which was super-sweet. It was a great book, and I will be reading more of these.
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5: Hooked on Mercy
This book hooked me in and didn't let me go. I had to stay up late while my husband and daughter slept just to finish the book. My tears of sadness turned to happiness at the ending. I cannot wait for the next book to come out. I really love this series and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good werewolf/vampire/fantasy series. I am definitely hooked on the Mercy Thompson series now.
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