Review: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs
 |
| Collage by the lovely Olga Daniels |
Keep reading after the jump for a spoiler light review!!
As with all of the Mercy books, I really enjoyed this one! The world Patricia Briggs has created is a great one and I always look forward to a visit to it. Normally, I would have re-read the whole series, or at the least, the last book. But, I have a newborn, so my time is not my own anymore. However, I discovered that Ms. Briggs is quite adept at slipping in reminders about former plot points and characters' traits. This is really helpful for this book. There are a lot of characters from previous books who make appearances, including some of my favorites. I was glad to see them all! And, there are a few mentions of things Mercy has gone through and monsters she and Adam have defeated. I wish I had had the time to re-read, but Ms. Briggs writing helped me remember what I had forgotten.
In the last Mercy adventure, we saw Mercy and Adam's wedding and honeymoon. In Night Broken, we see them living in peaceful marital bliss. But then, Adam's ex-wife Christy calls and shatters the peace in their lives and in the pack. Christy is being stalked by a man she was seeing. He's become violent and Christy is scared. So, as she always does, she calls Adam for help. This is not unusual; he has been helping her in various ways since their divorce, much to Mercy's chagrin. Mercy has never liked Christy, even before she and Adam became involved. Christy is a very passive aggressive and manipulative person, but she does it in such a way that you hardly realize you are being manipulated. Christy's presence causes a lot of tension in the Pack that could cause trouble for them eventually. While I didn't like Christy, she is a very well written character, regardless of how irritating she can be. She really challenges Mercy in a lot of ways and it helps Mercy to do a little personal growing and maturing. 
In addition to the introduction of Christy, we, of course, have a new
monster on the block. And, as most of Ms. Briggs' monsters are, this one
is based on a legendary tale. This time, the tale is from the
Canary Islands, rather than closer to home as these villains usually are. Without giving too much away, this monster is actually a
deity, according to legend anyway. One of the things I love about these
books is the interesting villains. It's not always just vampires or the
Fae or something we've seen before. Ms. Briggs really goes out of her way to
find new and interesting villains. Mercy, Adam and the gang have a hard
time figuring out what this one is, initially. But, the Pack wins in the
end, as always. 
Much
to my delight, we get some appearances from a lot of the Mercy gang.
Tad is sticking around to help Mercy in the shop, since Zee was forced to go back to the reservation. We spend a lot of time
with him, which makes up for the lack of Zee. We learn a few new things
about Tad and Zee as well, some of which could make for some
interesting events to come, should Ms. Briggs decide to use this new
information again. We also get to spend a little time with Stefan. I was
so excited to see him. He's one of my favorites. We learn an
interesting tidbit from him as well. And, of course, we spend a lot of
time with the Columbia Basin Pack. We see all the regulars, including my
personal favorites, Warren and Ben. We don't see enough of them, in my
opinion. I'd read a whole book of Warren and his partner Kyle, and I
wouldn't object to Ben having his own book as well!
Along
with seeing a lot of familiar faces, we see a couple new ones too. I
don't want to give too much about them away. All I will say is there's a
wolf, a shifter, and a Fae. I also think that two of those will play an
integral part in future stories. Of course, I may be wrong about that.
But, my instinct is that at least two of these new characters were
introduced for a reason. And, that reason is not just to fill out the
world a little more. But, I guess I'll have to wait and see if my
instincts are correct.
And, once again, we spend some time dealing with the Fae in this book. Even though they have retreated back to their reservation, they are still causing problems for Mercy.
Not Tad or Zee, of course, but the other Fae. They make a demand of her that hangs over her head for the majority of the book. And, of course, with the demand comes a threat of violence....again. Mercy also gets a visit
from the walking stick. I don't know what it is about her, but that
thing just can not stay away from her for long. Even though the walking
stick has already played a pretty big role in Mercy's life, I think it
still has some more work to do for her. I think it has some tricks up
its' sleeve we haven't seen yet that will help Mercy in her
adventures. The Fae themselves also aren't done with Mercy.
We've dealt with Fae villains before, but I think there is more still to
come from them. It may be a war on humans, or it may be Mercy/Pack specific,
but their story isn't done yet.
So, to wrap up, I very much enjoyed this book. I am also thankful to Penguin Publishing
for offering us an advanced copy! This book is well worth your money and
your undoubtedly precious reading time. Not only is it a very
interesting book in it's own right, I think it also sets up some very
interesting stories to come. I love my yearly visits with Mercy, Adam
and the rest of the Pack. I can't wait to see what their next adventure
is going to be about. I hope you lovely readers enjoy Night Broken as well!
Are you excited for Night Broken? Let me know below and then come back after you're done and let me know what you think!!
**All GIFs came from Tumblr!
Comments
Post a Comment