River Marked

This series is fun and fast paced. I feel like there is a good balance of character development and personality with the action and horror elements. I think it's notable that even though the series is short, there is enough personality that even the minor characters have caught my attention and made me care about them. There is depth to even the most briefly sketched individuals.

River Marked by Patricia Briggs: Review

Some spoilers! Be wary!

Mercy is a nice mix of sassy and sensible, and her world is vivid and interesting. I think Patricia Briggs is #zomgawsome.

However, I think the series is at its apogee with this book. River Marked doesn't feel awesome,and though a nice read (there are some fantastic descriptions, vivid consequence filled action scenes and whatnot)that is all it is. A nice read.

My main problems: the Adam/Mercy relations and the overall Jump the Shark feeling of the supporting plot.

I always liked Mercy and Adam as a couple, but in this book they read like stereotypes of urban fantasy romance rather than individuals. There is lots of “mine”ing and general goings on about mystical bonds that cheapened their whole dynamic as people. Some might find it romantic, so try it out for yourself, but personally it leaves me a little cool.

As far as Jumping the Shark…I had always liked that Mercy wasn’t capital ‘S’ special. (The ‘only you can save us’ kind of Special) Unlike the hordes of other urban fantasy what-if-our-world-was-also-magical stories out there, Mercy knew Special people (Bran, granddaddy of all Werewolves etc), but wasn’t Special herself. She was just special (little s) because she was a Walker, which doesn’t come with superpowers. I really liked that. Sadly River Marked blows all that out of the water. Walkers, Mercy and even her trusty walking stick seem less unique by the end of it.

Perhaps this is a growth book, where certain shifts must be made to launch off into a far greater end of series arc, but the feeling I walked away with was this was the book where Mercy leveled up from real person, into Legend.

Mercy goes back to her roots, learns about her father and about her coyote side... all whilst on honeymoon. Plus there's something sinister in the river that can't be ignored and that walking stick returns for some more action. An improvement on the previous book, sad that I'll now have to wait for the next.