Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)
by Patricia Briggs
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.44 You Save: $4.55 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.50 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)
Book Review: Coyote Kissed
Summary: 5 Stars
I got into the Mercy Thompson series by accident. I have never read a fantasy novel before. I picked up Moon Called on a whim because I liked the cover. Then I slowly became infatuated with Mercy. I thought Moon Called was a 3.5 star book due to all the tangents the story took. However, I liked Mercy enough that I decided to give her another shot. I Loved Blood Bound. I gave it 5 stars. The story in Blood Bound was a lot more focused and fast paced and the action scenes were a lot more fulfilling than in Moon Called. Blood Bound is by far my favorite so far.
Which brings us to Iron Kissed. I loved this book. The story is intriguing with a dangerous urgency. I could not put this book down. I think the Fae are the most evil adversary Mercy has faced so far because they don't operate with any guiding principles like vampires or werewolves, and their loyalties remain unclear.
Although I loved this book and gave it 5 stars, I think the unfortunate chain of events that involve Tim hurt the book and the series. I kept saying to myself, "Say it ain't so!!" As a guy, I enjoyed the tension between Samuel, Adam, and Mercy. I was enthralled by the romantic sub-plot of who would finally "get" this very cool chick. We find out who finally "gets" Mercy, BUT the magic of the romantic story was destroyed because of what Tim does. Which to me, fundamentally changes the allure of this series. After I finished reading Iron Kisses, I said that "I loved this book, but I think this was the last Mercy Thompson novel that I will read." Would it have killed Patricia Briggs to have had Adam save the day? HONESTLY? All the books in the series following this one are not going to be about an underlining love story, but a trauma survivors story. That's just not appealing to me. Mercy's world was dreamy, dangerous, and infused with the magic of exotic friendships and finding love. Unfortunately, it will never be the same.
Goodbye Coyote Review: Loving this series!
Summary: 5 Stars Mercy has been through a lot the past six months, but she's not prepared for the deaths she is asked to sniff out. But she owes the Fae a favor, and she's not one to not return favors. Mercy finds herself torn when her ex-boss and mentor, Zee, is arrested for the murders and says for her to stay out of it. She doesn't want to leave her friend behind bars no matter what him or the Gray Lords say. When Mercy finds out secrets about the Fae while investigating, she then understands why the Fae conceded to staying on the reservations. But the Gray Lords also know that she knows their secrets and they aren't going to stand by while she tries to solve this puzzle and find the real killer. They want Zee to be the fall guy, and pay the price so there will be no further investigations by the human police.
This was by far the best Mercy book yet. Relationships are expanded upon, and Mercy finds herself having to finally choose between Adam and Samuel. It's pretty obvious that she's known all along who she will end up with. I loved this mystery Mercy was working on. There were so many players and the Fae are quite intriguing. There was a good 10 pages where I was shedding a few tears even - last time I did that it was during Rachel Vincent's Prey. Mercy definitely shows a vulnerable side here, but it's not her own doing which makes it such a difficult read.
Briggs continues to make the secondary characters have their own roles to play, and I think that's the most important part. Without the Werewolves, Vampires or Fae Mercy wouldn't be who she is today, well, and she probably wouldn't be in as much trouble either. That's besides the point though. I really liked the addition of the Fae hate group, it adds a whole new dimension to the series. I'd wondered when the humans would get more involved, and here they are!
This one is a gripping page turner, and I was up way too late on a school night to finish it! Can't wait to get my hands on book 4!
Book Review: Awesome plot, but little too much Damsel in Distress for my tastes
Summary: 4 Stars
'Iron Kissed' was as good as what I have come to expect from Briggs and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of this genre, however there were some things I noticed in this book that bothered me that I don't recall from the other books. In 'Iron Kissed,' Mercy played the damsel in Distress role moreso than the first two books. She was constantly in situations where she needed to be rescued by one of her numerous make friends. frm the beginning of the book, Mercy acts like an incometant chidl, getting herself into dangerous situations for which she repeatedly calls herself 'stupid.' The "adults" in the story, all the men of course, have to set things right and constantly tell her to keep her nose out of her thei business. Mercy, instead of disobeying with some class, as I've come to expect, instead blunders into another mistake that she has to let someone else fix. Even the very last fight scene against a swamp fae, Mercy is waving around the walking stick and running wildly in the dark while Warren is able to 'sense' the fae and fight cometantly. Mercy realizes this and decides that she needs to 'get out of the wayt before [she] blundered and got Warren hurt" (282). Warren goes down and for brief moments Mercy is left to fight the fae on her own. She does not, however, get to defeat her last enemy. Instead, she gets knocked onto her knees and face totally "helpless" (283) and, without skipping a beat, Zee "[came] to her rescue" (283). Mercy again tries to fight the fae, is commanded to stop by Zee, and the fae is defeated with a show of power. No fight.
This book displays the adept penmanship and plot work that have come to make Patricia Briggs an exceptional author, but Mercy's character was lacking and the archaic (yet no less prominent) portrayal of women as helpless and in constant need of saving by the men in their lives, was highly disappointing, especially in light of the first two books where Mercy holds her own.
Ae.
Book Review: Jumping the Shark, Ms. Briggs?
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm SOOO disappointed in this book. Not to mention flat-out sickened. I think what it adds up to is Ms. Briggs didn't have enough plot to fill a whole book in a manner consistent with the series she created, and so she filled it up with shock value and violence. This book was by far the most explicitly violent. And the piece de resistance (I guess I should mention a spoiler alert, here... but honestly, I wish someone had told me before I subjected myself to this book!): Mercy is raped. We get to read about that in gut-churning detail. Yup. And this happens 50 pages from the end of the book. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I'm kind of curious about the reviewers who have said how "sensitively handled" the rape was. It was a brutal violation, excruciatingly described: how is that sensitive?
Here's the kicker. Mercy is raped and violently beaten on Thursday. On Monday, she finally has debut sex with Adam. Can you believe that? I'm a victim of rape, myself, and therefore particularly sensitive, but I have to say no one in any of the support groups I've been to would ever recover on a time line like that. So. Not only was this book weak in plot (and the mystery was only a surprise because you weren't given any information/clues to work with), I'm also disappointed because Ms. Briggs had spent the previous 2 books working on sexual chemistry between Adam and Mercy, and this is how they finally get together? Recovery from rape? That's not sexy, that's sad.
This book wouldn't be so upsetting if Ms. Briggs were a worse author. But she has just lost a fan, here. I read books to escape, not to be tortured. I can't believe she'd want to do such a thing to a character she's spent so long developing. I won't be reading any more in this series, which I had LOVED, up to this point. I have such a bad taste in my mouth.... I'm not even going to list my copy, as I don't want to subject anyone else to such a rotten ending.
Book Review: This series is being dragged kicking and screaming into decentness
Summary: 3 Stars
Those who have happened to read my earlier reviews of the previous two novels in this series will know that I consider the Mercy Thomson books to be largely derivative (mostly of Laurell K Hamilton) unimaginative and poorly written.
In saying that, unlike her predecessors, Briggs appears to be writing a series that actually improves as is progresses (unlike some).
Iron Kissed sees Mercedes somethingarather, brought onto a fae reservation to investigate a series of murders. After an obligatory "Hmmm there's something more to this protaganist than meets the eye" Mecry solves the murders surprisingly quickly and goes to a concert.
Then the story really begins. On his way to confront the murderer, Mercy's mentor/boss Zee is arrested by human police after witnessing the perp get torn a new one by a mystery bad-guy.
While I would have been content to dive right into this plotline, we have to spend several chapters dealing with Mercy's also obligitory love triangle, which is resolved a little too easily, when the dude who loses pretty much reveals that he had already had gotten over the whole thing.
Once we get back to the real action, we see some surprising twists, a rather awkwardly prosed action chase-scene where the Swamp Thing tries to take Mercy out, and a surprise injection of plotline from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While I enjoyed the murder mystery plot, things get pretty clunky as Briggs tries to get emotional with the sticky events leading towards the conclusion. Also the ending drags out as we experience another battle with jilted mr Swamp Thing who is upset after being revealed as a minor thug rather than the antagonist.
All in all, Iron Kissed is definitely a step up from earlier instalments, however there is quite a hole to be climbed out of, still with a couple more novels to read and a new release on the 2011 horizon things don't look too bad.