Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)
by Patricia Briggs
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Book Reviews of Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)
Book Review: worth reading, but not as good as Moon Called
Summary: 3 Stars
Im so happy that I didn't fully enjoy this book. Recently I read Briggs' 'Moon Called' and enjoyed it quite a lot. Then I picked up Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series and devoured several novels from this series. They were great. Suddenly I was finding myself as a Vampire genre fan. What the heck? this is one of the hokiest genre's ever in my opinion. Romances gussied up as fantasies.
Blood Bound is a good story... its obviously a satisfying entry in this series for anyone who enjoys Briggs style. Moon Called was in my opinion a unique take on the genre, but Blood Bound is (a SEQUEL)... a sequel in the most Hollywood big budget action flick kind of meaning. Those are almost always underwhelming. A rehash of a story along almost exactly the same lines. In a lot of ways, Blood Bound is a duplicate of Moon Called.
The story here is secondary to the 'romance' between several characters. Mercedes Thompson, a walker, (think werewolf only instead of wolf, a coyote mixed with native american sensibilities). Stefan, a vampire (does this vampire have feelings for Mercedes?). Sam (a werewolf from Mercedes past). And Adam (a local wolf pack leader). Between these characters, you have 200 pages of heavy panting werewolf love).
The plot itself rotates around a sorcerer/vampire who is possessed by a very evil Demon who routinely kills handfuls of innocent people for pleasure and pawns the blame off on mystical people for kicks. There is a lot of goofy story line action here. I wont go into great detail here. If I did, I would be giving away the plot. But let me just say that its pretty strained.
So... the story itself... not too good. The characters, a lot of people will enjoy these characters the way people enjoy characters on afternoon soaps, not fully my cup of tea.
Book Review: Second Book Book 3 on way
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, Mercy is a used car auto-mechanic who specializes in German manufactured cars. Mercy is also a coyote skin-walker. Her best customer is a vampire who drives around in an old VW mini-van with a Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine paint job, and her next door neighbor is the alpha-male of the local wolf pack, who she has gone out on a couple of dates with. Her room-mate is the son of the chief were-wolf in North America, who she almost eloped with when she was 16. Her ex-boss is a fey who calls himself a gremlin, and whose talent is working with metal and iron (normally poisonous to all fey.)
With her first book, Moon Called, we barely meet the vampires and fey in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington State. In this book, not only have the weaker fey creatures been outed, but the were-wolves have also outed themselves to humanity. Vampires are still unknown however; and the local vampire sidhe queen needs help stopping a rogue vampire who is a sorcerer, a human who has invited a demon into his body giving him powers over vampires, were-wolves, and fey. Can Mercy stop this sorcerer/vampire?
Part of what makes this book and series important is the look into the politics of the various supernatural groups in Briggs's modern world, and Mercy's struggles as a businesswoman and member of the paranormal community. She must also help protect her fellow humans, while struggling with her potential boyfriends, and helping all her friends whether human or paranormal. Briggs along with David Weber, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris do an excellent job of this with differing levels of emphasis. By the way, I agree with Patricia Briggs that this 2nd novel is an improvement over the first novel, and I am avidly looking forward to book 3 which has been submitted to the publishers even as we speak.
Book Review: Well worth reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Like Moon Called, this book is very fast paced and gives you the feeling that you are experiencing Mercedes life right along with her. This is greatly helped by the fact that the book spans a very brief period of time which if not read in a single sitting could easily take as many days for you to read the book as it takes for Mercy to save the world. The downfall of this is that it feels somewhat like a television show where you have to wait a year in between episodes. Briggs is very good at character development and despite Mercy's stubbornness she is extremely likable. As someone else mentioned in a previous review, Mercy is a little too desirable to be real or relatable. A new possible love interest was introduced in this book, which seems a little extraneous even in light of Mercy's special circumstances. It is obvious that nothing will come out of this scenario so it felt somewhat like an add-in in order to create more drama where it wasn't needed. Her life is already dramatic enough. I do like the fact that Briggs has strongly alluded to who Mercy has chosen amongst the suitors. I think it would have been out of character if Mercy were weak in that respect. I have read a few of Briggs other books, and I find this series to be her strongest to date. This urban fantasy is well written and well worth reading. The only real complaint is the fast pace means that it is over very quickly which is a little depressing considering how long I am sure Briggs took to write it. Another two hundred pages would have been greatly appreciated and given the reader a little bit more time to get acquainted with Mercy, Adam and Bran. A few days in her life every year is somewhat a let down for how long we have to wait in between books. I wish we could see months or years as opposed to days or weeks.Book Review: Thrilling Sequel to Moon Called
Summary: 4 Stars
At the end of Moon Called (first book in the series), Mercy Thompson the shapeshifting mechanic, owed the local vampires a favour, and in Blood Bound they want paying back. A visiting vampire is causing problems and Stefan, (Mercy's vampire friend) wants her help whilst he tries to sort it out.
In my opinion Blood Bound is a much more tightly written story than Moon Called. We already know about the relationships, pack-conflicts and back story, so here we are able to get stuck in to the meat of the story straight away. Although I do think it's possible to read Blood Bound as a standalone, it would be much better to read Moon Called first so you've got all this rich background information in your head.
The relationships within the werewolf pack continue to evolve and I think this is far and away my favourite part of the story. Each werewolf is such an individual character and to see how they are located within the hierarchy and how they struggle or accept that, gives the story a depth it might not otherwise have had. In Blood Bound this pack structure is held in direct comparison with the more clinical vampire society, which makes for fascinating reading.
If I had a concern at all, it would be as mentioned in another review. Mercy picks up another admirer and I think this has the potential to take away from the tension in her relationship with the two werewolves already vying for her attention.
Blood Bound is resolved very nicely, but there are enough plot threads left dangling to leave me desperately looking forward to the next book in the series - especially the new werewolf who only appears off-page here.
There will be a short story set in Mercy's world in the On the Prowl anthology released in August 2007.
Book Review: Great Second Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book. I thought it was as good as, if not better than, the first.
Mercedes Thompson is a shaping changing coyote as well as auto mechanic. She's a tough, no nonsense woman who gives as good as she gets. She doesn't have superhuman strength and can't heal instantly. Her powers aren't unlimited and she struggles to deal with those she does have. Which is a refreshing change compared to other all powerful heroines in other novels.
The second book starts out with Mercy doing a favor for her vampire friend Stefan. It soon turns into something bigger than either of them initially thought. Marisilia the vampire mistress wants Mercy to track down a renegade vampire/sorcerer and his maker. Using her unique ability to talk to and find ghosts she manages to find the killer's lair. Clues along the way also help her to piece together his maker's identity.
While on the hunt for the murderous sorcerer, Mercy struggles to deal with her feelings for Adam and Sam. She's attracted to Adam, but hates that he can use his power as Alpha to control her against her will. She also still loves Sam, her childhood sweetheart. And if that isn't enough, the vampire Stefan is thrown into the mix with the revelation that he has feelings for her. Personally, I'd prefer her to end up with Sam. I think that now Sam is getting to know the real Mercy, he's begun to fall in love with her and wants her for more than just the mother of his children. Through everything he's been through I think he deserves to find happiness. I think he's more laidback and easy going than Adam (who comes off as controlling and bossy), and therefore much better suited to Mercy's independent fiery nature.
All in all this is a great book and I can't wait for the next in the series.