River Marked (Mercy Thompson Series #6)

Another amazing book by an amazing author!

Patricia Briggs has once again outdone herself in her newest installment of the Mercy Thompson series.

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any others of her kind. Until now.

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River-one that her father's people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help.

18 out of 24 people found this review helpful.

River Marked is a wonderful urban fantasy that has characters who touch the souls of readers

The werewolves outed themselves and while humans debate the politics of the species living in their midst, car mechanic Mercy Thompson is a walker who can turn into a coyote at will. She is busy trying to elope with Adam the alpha werewolf of the Columbia Basin Poole. Her friends and family want to throw a wedding for the couple before they depart on their honeymoon along the banks of the Columbia River.

When Mercy finds out the Fae gave them a luxurious camper; she is upset because the Fae do not do favors without an exorbitant price. The fae wants her to investigate the disappearance of several people along the river. What they find is that there is an essence known as the river devil that is in a symbiotic relationship with the fae otterkin that looks human but is a deadly predator. She distances herself from the river devil who has marked her. The God Coyote informs Mercy about her parentage and she has a role to play as part of her heritage to end the river devil's reign of terror while a frustrated Adam must back away.

River Marked is a wonderful urban fantasy that has characters who touch the souls of readers especially the lead couple; a loving duet who lives for today as they may not see the morrow. Coyote the Trickster and the other gods of native American mythology enhances the Mercy mythos. With a strong cast including other walkers and a terrific malevolence, fans of the saga will relish Mercy's honeymoon.

Harriet Klausner

16 out of 18 people found this review helpful.

Just Ok...

This book was just ok for me...I loved this series in the beginning, but the last couple of books have been lacking me for. I did love the interaction between Adam and Mercy, something that you haven't gotten in any other the other books. I will read the next book in this series if there is one but I think I will wait until the price goes down from the "just released" price.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Completely Unremarkable Installment

I strongly recommend you read the previous books in the series (Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed and Silver Borne) prior to reading this installment.

I procrastinated to read this installment and for good reason. The plot was a complete and utter flop. It was so boring, reading this book felt like a chore. I was determine to finish this book, solely because I paid so much for it (talk about an over-priced e-book).

I have to agree with another reviewer that wondered "if Ms. Briggs was taken over by pod people." This installment wasn't as good or even resembled previous books. The main characters were basically a footnote. The storyline seem to come out of left-field, and lacked some sought of pizazz and direction.

In a lot of ways I wish the werewolves from Mercy's world were similar to the hellhounds from Sharon Ashwood's latest installment in the Dark Forgotten series, Frostbound or the weres from Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series. Sharon Ashwood's hellhounds and Ilona Andrew's weres feel more "alive" to me and have a greater range of supernatural diversity and freedoms. The werewolves from Mercy's world treat their wolf as a curse and don't seem to celebrate the connection to their wolf. In addition, the females are severely limited and function as nothings. They are low on the totem pole and equal to slaves with no other purpose than existing solely for mating and completely no other reason to be. And at that, they can't even breed as a were.

The story was overrun with an abundance of secondary characters. I rated this installment two-starts because I did appreciate the effort Ms. Brigg's put in to using a different culture for the basis of the book, instead of sticking to the usual European folklore, which most authors seem to do. I never really got to the point where I just couldn't put this book down or the story stayed on my mind constantly when I wasn't reading it. I was entertained at rare points but not held spellbound throughout most of this book.

In truth, I am contemplating if I really want to continue on with this series. I don't really see any point to it, what is the focus? Where is the series headed? Personally I feel like this series should have ended with Bone Crossed, then it would've ended on a high note.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Fabulous installment in a wonderful series!

This is going to be another one of those rambling reviews where I just throw all my thoughts in the air and let them fall were they may. I can't seem to get them to form into any coherent form:

There are mysterious deaths and disappearances in the Columbia Gorge area, which is "coincidentally" where Mercy and Adam are going camping for 10 days. A few days after they get there, they find an injured man in a boat. His friends, who are Native American, show up to help get him to the hospital. They know Mercy is also Native American, and she gets a mysterious visitor who knows who and what she is. As they piece together what's going on in the water, Mercy also learns about her father - who and what he really was.

Thoughts: I love this series! Let me say up front that I don't think this book would make a good stand-alone. I think you could do it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I loved seeing Mercy and Adam interact in River Marked. The wolf/coyote nuances, signals, and feelings that they deal with, showing their feelings beyond just saying "I love you" or "I'm upset right now". I like that their bond doesn't just automatically make things perfect between them, that there are issues they'll have to work through, just like any other couple (okay, maybe not just like any other couple, lol).

I liked that Mercy got some insight into her heritage as a Native American and as a Walker. She doesn't see herself as such, but it was a fun twist that in River Marked, Mercy was more accepted and Adam was the outsider. The Native American lore was interesting, although I was frustrated that a running joke was that several of the stories supposedly had a naughtier version, and when Mercy was finally told the naughty versions, the reader was not privy to the stories. I felt like I was missing an inside joke. The scene in mini-Stonehenge was fascinating on so many different levels.

The villain was pretty bad. Like creepy bad. And cruel. The fact that the victims walked complacently to their deaths made it worse. Mercy's tough decision regarding the girl and her brother was heartwrenching to read.

Confession: I've been fascinated with Mercy's "pimp stick" since the day it appeared. I love that it has been a constant through several books and am intrigued by the potential changes to the stick in River Marked.

I want more Stefan!!! I'm frustrated that we didn't see much of Stefan in this book or the last. The end of River Marked left me feeling hopeful about Stephan - both that we'll see more of him in the next book(s) and that things are going to work out for him.

I would have also liked to see more Warren/Kyle...I was glad she was able to work in the few scenes they did appear in.

All in all, I couldn't put it down. It will be a long, long wait until 2013 for the next book!

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic read! Another great book featuring Mercy.

This book was a great read and a brilliant addition to the series. In this installment you get to see more of the relationship between Mercy and Adam as well as get a peek into Mercy's heritage. More complex characters are added and the side story helps you get to know more about why Mercy has some of her issues. A wonderful story that catches your attention and keeps you guessing about one thing or another all the way to the end.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Felt forced

Okay I feel like this book was just a story to write a story. By that I mean "oh man I got contracted for two more books let me write anything." The only thing that kept me as a continuing reader of this series is the introduction of Coyote. I really was just going to give it up but I wanted to see where she plays this. My recommendation is to borrow or check out this book at a library because it isnt worth the money.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

BookWhisperer Review: River Marked by Patricia Briggs

As the sixth book in the Mercedes Thompson series Briggs has still got it. Mercy has been through quite a journey in the past five books, and the trouble seems to still be lurking around every corner. As the girl that began as a loner; she can now find herself surround by many friends that continue to show their support and loyalty. Along with the growing number of friends she seems to steadily increase or enemies. As a alpha pack mate Mercy is learning further the importance of her strong and independent nature. Although, it seems that with each additional book Mercy is learning to depend and rely with heart and soul on her Alpha and lover. With trouble allows lurking Adam's patience is tested time and time again. Though, it is obvious that the love this man carries would force him to walk through fire if necessary. I was surprised by the abruptness of change in the first few pages of this book. While I welcomed the change I had never expected it so easily. Suspense was not the nature of this book, as I have come to expect in the past novels. This book seems to focus primarily on Adam and Mercy to deepen the readers knowledge of these two characters. Without the intensity and fast pace this book was entertaining, but lacked the urgency that I have come to expect with a Briggs story.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

omg

o my god i love patrisha briggs!!!! i cant wait untill this book comes out!

2 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Good, but fell short..

I am a huge fan of Patricia Briggs, especially the Mercy Thompson series, but this book fell short. I hate to say it, but it was the worst book of the series - not terrible - but definitely now in par with the other 5 extraordinary books that was before it.

Let's start with the bad news:
It took at least 60 pages of dull reading to finally get to the real action. Instead of the normal start-off action, we received the overly long catch-up on what happened (none of which was very interesting), a few happy moments (here comes the bride!), then the history of her heritage. While I enjoyed the intro into her Native American roots, it was sometimes overly written and unnecessarily long. I also missed the rest of the gang who is missing for much of the book.

The good news
After the first half of the book, the action starts and you are reminded of why you love the series and Mrs. Briggs writing so much. You go from dull to over-time action when Mercy and Adam encounter a sea creature who marks Mercy and many of the residents near Columbus River. A person who is river marked does the creature bidding and soon the murders are adding up and in the middle of it all is Mercy with Adam by her side. Mercy can see visions of the murders and right now the creature has it's sights set on one person - Mercy. She is stronger than the rest of the river marked people, but she needs help and that's where the Native Americans come into play. They reside by the river and have a close connection to Mercy, closer than she realizes. Her father was one of them and one person in particular knows all about him - Coyote. He not only knew her father, he also knows how to defeat the creature. Coyote heads up the team set out to destroy the sea creature, including many of the old Spirits, but it will costs many their lives. With innocents dying and the creature in Mercy's thoughts, can they stop it in time or will the creature overpower them, changing the world forever?

The introduction of Coyote was brilliant and I absolutely fell in love with his character. He is witty, funny, strong and is pure entertainment. I also loved that we are introduced to more shifters and adored the fact that we saw more of Adam and Mercy.

This is definitely not up to par with the rest of the series, but after the initial 60 or so pages, it does pick-up and we are reminded of why we love the series.

It pains me to do this to what is normally a 5 fang series, but this series is rated: 3 1/2 fangs.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice Backstory to Mercy's Origins

Although not as good as Briggs' previous novels, "River Marked" is still a good book. It's not as fast-paced as the previous Mercy Thompson books, but the history of Mercy and her family is detailed in this book, which makes for enlightening reading. I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to more stories, if the author sees fit to write them.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Overall a good read...

First off, most of the book was done without the pack surrounding Adam and Merry, which I found to be a bit different (sorta missed Jessie). I did wish that Adam and the others played a bigger role,but it was a good read. Everything did seem to happen quickly which I found to be a bit annoying, also I did not like how she skimmed over the relationship between Merry and Adam. If you liked the other books in the series, most likely like this one as well (some might be a tad bit disappointed how little of a part the other characters play into this book).

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not What I Expected But Still Entertaining

I enjoyed this book simply because it showed a side of Mercy we have not seen and it allowed us to see the strength of the mate bond between her & Adam. Although this books puts all the other characters on the peripheral we were able to learn more about Mercy as a Walker and see her & Adam in action fighting the evil. It was a nice change and very insightful.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Mercy Rules!

I never get tired reading about these characters. Every book that Briggs publishes is worth reading, and this one is no exception. That said, this one is not my favorite of the series, but its still a captivating read in its own right. If you enjoy urban fantasty, this is my all-time favorite series of the genre!! If you liked this book, you might also like "Dead Witch Walking" by Kim Harrison for the plot, "Grimspace" by Ann Aguirre for the characters, and, of course, anything else by Briggs!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Native American Folklore & Suspense

Courtesy of Lost Art Audiobook Review

In the first 5 Mercy Thompson books, Patricia Briggs does an incredible job researching and weaving in historical folklore, especially with the faeries who in Mercy's world have revealed themselves to the public. We've seen every kind of fairy in the prior books, but we haven't seen any Native American folklore, with the exception of Mercy herself. This audiobook delves right in. River Marked includes the different tribes in the Washington area (Mercy is half Blackfeet), and includes the spirit animals of Thunderbird, Snake, Wolf, so on and so forth, and, of course, Coyote. We learn a lot about Mercy as she learns a lot about herself.

River Marked starts out much slower than the previous books. After the wedding, there is a ton of information. The action builds up a lot slower and the result is haunting suspense. Unlike the previous books, parts of River Marked aren't just entertaining but down-right terrifying. In one part, for example, Mercy hears about the death of a girl whose brother tries to save her. The girl says "it's so peaceful here" and then the brother discovers her body below her waist has been ripped off. The way it's described in the audiobook is nightmare-inducing. The prior books had scary moments and scary monsters, but they didn't haunt you like these scenes.

On Narration:
This is what makes a great audiobook: great writing plus great reading. Lorelei King is fantastic in the prior Mercy Thompson audiobooks and she doesn't disappoint in River Marked. I mention above that parts are very suspenseful, and that's a result of the way the book is read. One example is a scene in third-person that recounts the river monster taking over a school teacher who leads her family to their death in the river. In the middle of this dream, Lorelei King adds Adam's voice, disjointing the dream with "Mercy" over and over again, while the narration ignores him until Mercy wakes up. When this scene began, I thought I was in a different audiobook. Lorelei King reads the scene with a new voice, giving life to a new character and her new family. It is exactly how the scene should be read. Then, when Adam's voice starts breaking in to the internal dialogue, it brings not only Mercy back to her reality, but the listener back into River Marked. It becomes obvious that the scene is a dream. I recommend listening to that specific scene twice just because of how technically perfect the reading is.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly anticipated!

I can't wait for march 1st! I love this series...but, I gotta say...the inconsistent covers of Mercy and her tattoos are getting on my nerves! C'mon PUBLISHERS! get it together....

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is another great book by Patricia Briggs. There is enough

This is another great book by Patricia Briggs. There is enough detail to make it believable but not so much that it boggs down the story. The plot is fast and exciting and keeps you guessing. Wonderful imagination.

Love Them

Love the Mercy Thomposon series, Patricia Briggs pulls you in, just wish she would publish faster....

When will we get more Mercy

I am a huge fan of this seris but I am dying to have of it!

One of the best series ever!!

Never a dull moment and characters are great - can't wait for next book to come out!!