Had to Go Back and Reread Parts Due to Awesome Reveal!

Well I’ll be honest. The main reason why this book is five stars for me is because of the awesome awesome reveal that we get about a character that I was ultimately dismissive of while reading. I ended up having to go back and reread parts of the book though after that reveal and just chuckle to myself. I think long-time readers are going to love it, no spoilers.

Until that reveal I was probably firmly in the four-star range territory just because we have read previous books about either Adam or Mercy being abducted and being away from each other and how they do without being able to feel one another.

I think I’m just getting a little bit bored with the series because at this point with Mercy and Adam declaring themselves protectors of everybody in their territory it just kind of means we’re going to get some monster of the week type shenanigans happening. I don’t know how Briggs will keep topping herself, but it will be interesting. Since series like Kate Daniels have an obvious endpoint, I guess I’m curious to see what will be that point for Mercy. Them taking over more Packs, Mercy having a child?

In “Silence Fallen”we now have Mercy abducted and taken into Europe with Adam and their allies following. Mercy has been taken to The Court of the Lord of the Night. We’ve been hearing about this vampire for many books and long-time readers know that he is who banished Marsilia from Europe. We also get to see more on how seethes work. And we get a look at a European Pack as well.

There’s not too much to say about Mercy. She’s the same as she has been since book #1. Loving, loyal, and determined to figure out why she’s been kidnapped and could it mean someone is going to hurt her Pack. We get to also see her vulnerable and dealing with some lingering PTSD due to the rape she suffered in “Iron Kissed.” Can I also applaud Briggs again for how she set up that storyline and the healing that Mercy has undergone since? I loved we were told that Mercy had gone into counseling and even though it had been a while she still at odd times thinks of Kyle and gets angry at how he made her into a victim. But Briggs doesn’t allow this moment to make Mercy weak and I like that it’s not brought up every five seconds (looking at Eve Dallas in the In Death series) and is something that she seeks to deal with everyday, but doesn’t discuss in every book.

Adam we see is still dealing with the affects of when Mercy almost died in “Night Broken”. In “Fire Touched” we know that he still woke up night to make sure Mercy was breathing and cried. So having Mercy away from him is messing with his control. I also loved his relationship with witch Elizaveta. And we get to see how Adam deals with having vampires, werewolves, and even goblins around him in this one.

We also get some development of characters like Honey, Marsilia, and Stefan. I definitely enjoyed the more in depth look we get at Honey. She’s a rock star in this one. She’s also, besides Warren, and Ben been nothing but 100 percent loyal to Mercy.

And for once I loved Marsilia. She was fantastic. She’s always seemed power mad and just crazy. We get to see how smart and ultimately good she is in this one.

We also get an inkling we may see a Pack member leave soon to start their own Pack.

I really wish we had gotten more than just phone calls with Charles though. I would love him and Anna to put in more than a token appearance in the Mercy Thompson books.

I liked the writing in this one. Each chapter begins with some commentary by Mercy which made me laugh a few times. And since we shift from Mercy to Adam’s POV I really enjoyed this. We haven’t had an Adam POV since “Frost Burned” and I’m glad we got one here. We get to see Mercy get herself in and out of trouble. And we also get to see how Adam does when he can’t feel Mercy through their mate bond. I can see why some vampires think to control a pack through the mate bond, but we get to see more in this book why it won’t work on Mercy and Adam.

The flow was tricky though. The story is told in a nonlinear way that would not have given me pains if I wasn’t home drugged up on cold medicine. I had to go back a few times to make sure I had the days right.

The setting of Italy and Prague were actually pretty cool in his book. Reading about the Golem of Prague and Rabbi Loew was pretty cool. I always forget that the character of Mercy is fascinated by religion and myths. And who can blame her, knowing whose daughter she is.

The ending was a bit weird though to me. It was kind of anticlimactic. I guess I wanted a bigger hint at what the next book would be about.