Review of “Iron Kissed” by Patricia Briggs, book three of Mercy Thompson.
So, this book picks up shortly after the last book, and
starts the mystery off early. Mercy's fae friend “Z”, whom she bought her
garage shop from, call Mercy in to help solve a series of murders on the fae
reservation. Mercy visits a few of the victims houses and she accidentally
breaks through some fae magic entering the Undercity world, where the fae live.
She meets a threatening looking water fae, when Z escorts her out. At first you
think the book will focus on solving these mysteries, but it quickly takes a
turn when one of the guards on the fae reservation is killed, and Z is framed
for murder. Turns out Z discovered the killer, and went to confront him at his
home, only to be arrested for murder. The rest of the book is then about Mercy
trying to prove Z's innocence, by trying to find the person that killed the
guard.
Where the last book focused on the vampires, the third book
focuses on the fae. Fae is specifically defined here as being European
mystical/supernatural/mythological creatures or beings and portrayed in classic
fairy tales. Werewolves are not fae, but more like cousins of fae, as they
suffer the same fate of the fae in the public eye, and they do come from
Europe. Mercy is a walker, which is Native to America, making her NOT a fae,
nor a werewolf. While she is involved in the fae and werewolf worlds, her
status as a walker means she doesn't have to abide by their rules or laws. So,
she opens her own investigation to help Z.
The second book focused more on Mercy's relationship with
Stefan, and Adam, but this book explores her relationship with Samuel. He
starts off as a viable romantic partner, she often comments on his chiseled
body and how attractive he is; but throughout the book we get hints that maybe
Samuel doesn't want to be with Mercy. The two talks about their complicated
past, and the true nature of their relationship, resulting in them being best
friends, instead of lovers. This opens the door, for new guy to be a potential
interest, but the book takes a dark turn at the end.
When Mercy decides to help Z, she gets him a lawyer, and explains the world of the fae and that she's a walker. Z is a self-proclaimed Gremlin, but he is a metal working type of fae. This reveal is something that upsets Z, and he claims to be mad at her, but we find out he just wants to protect her from meddling with fae affairs. The Grey Lords are a governing body of wizards that control the fae community and laws. They've been mentioned in the previous books but are more of a looming presence in this book. The Grey Lords are described as beings you do not want to mess with or upset. Turns out the Grey Lords want Z to take the fall for the murder of the guard, for reasons that are never fully explained. The book also gives some backstory to Z, alluding to him being an old legendary killer with a sword. I don't think we find out the exact name of his type of fae, but at the end he does let his glamour down and shows his true fae form in front of Mercy.
This book is an improvement over the last book. Not too many
new characters are introduced, the plot is easier to follow, and I love
learning more about the fae world. The ending does take a very dark turn,
involving mind control over Mercy forcing her to do things, that is
uncomfortable to read at times. So, trigger warning for sexual abuse. I will
say that the end of this book doesn't really address Mercy's feelings and
emotions about what happened to her, but I hope the next book does.
“Iron Kissed” has great pacing, an interesting murder mystery
and feels like a police procedural show at times. It also develops Mercy and
Samuel's relationship in a positive way. A lot of the characters introduced in
the last book return here in better roles that don't over complicate the story
or pacing. While these books aren't as “trashy” as their covers art might
suggest, I do enjoy the sexual flirtations between Mercy and her love
interests. It keeps things sexy but in a teasing way. This is probably my
favorite of the first three books.
No comments:
Post a Comment