Smoke Bitten: A Mercy Thompson Novel, Book 12

Love the Mercy Thompson novels. Her stories take me to a place that helps me not miss my mate so much.

So, before beginning Smoke Bitten, let's take stock. We just got out of a huge Werewolves vs witches+zombies fight (Storm Cursed). Also, in Fire Touched Mercy, on behalf of Adam's pack, took on the responsibility of keeping the Columbia Basin safe from supernatural threats. Then Adam's pack, and subsequently the government of the USA concluded a pact with the fae. Marsilia's Columbia Basin vampire seethe secretly agreed to cooperate. In Silence Fallen Mercy and Adam shut down a challenge from Bonarata, the vampire lord of Europe.Well, that all sounds great! Time to kick back for a little R&R, no?No.Adam is not in a good place. As America's Most Photogenic Werewolf, he has to be be perfect all the time. Adam has lived with heavy demands for much of his life -- the alpha of a werewolf pack cannot show weakness. But Adam has a weakness: his wife Mercy, who persists in putting herself in danger. Adam knows, intellectually, that Mercy can take care of herself, and he cannot forbid it. But the wolf in him cannot accept his inability to protect her. What's more, Adam personally executed his former friend and colleague, the witch Elizaveta Arkadyevna, because she had betrayed him by going Black. That's not a thing you get over in a day.Also, something is wrong with Marsilia's second-in-command Wulfe. As part of the witch+zombie banishment, Mercy caught up and dissolved all the life threads of the dead in the final battle at Elizaveta's home. Vampire sorcerer Wulfe was in that battle and it appears that Mercy accidentally cut his strings at the same time. He's not been destroyed, but he's damaged. (Based on the publisher's blurb, Wulfe's condition is likely to become important in Soul Taken, coming out 23-Aug-2022, three days from today.)Then there are the fae. It is in their nature to be restless, and it is becoming clear that there are factions who are not altogether thrilled with the deals that were made with the US government and the Columbia Basin pack. J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." A version appropriate for the Mercyverse might be "Do not meddle in the affairs of the fae, for they are deceptive and heedless of harm."No spoilers yet -- I've only told you things you should know from reading the last three books of the Mercy Thompson series. But I'm cheating a little bit, because the things I just reminded you of will become important in Smoke Bitten. The publisher's blurb tells us that something dangerous has escaped from Underhill. Underhill, I will remind you, was formerly the hidden land of the fae. But Underhill is also a person, Tilly. Since she shut most of the fae out, her relationship with them has not been great. And she seems to have let something out.So, no. No R&R for Mercy and Adam.

Monsters, check. Alliances forming and breaking, check. Mind-bending puzzles and ancient faerie lore, check. But above all things, family remains the most important.

And another great book by Patricia Briggs. I highly recommend anything written by her. But start a the beginning of the series.

This book is fun. A fast paced adventure, full of sex, mystery, and monsters that will just leave you excited for the next chapter.

Smoke Bitten is the 12th book in the Mercy Thompson series, a story about a coyote shifter who is married to an Alpha werewolf. Each book has a new series of problems and new bad guys to defeat and this one was no different. I love that we get such a nice mix of the paranormal creatures. Werewolves of course are at the heart of every book, but we often see vampires, fey, and other things as Merry and her pack try to keep the tri-states area safe.In this book we have a mysterious creature going around and biting people. Through its bite its able to take over the person, control them, and make them do terrible things. We don’t know its origin or its purpose but once a member of the pack is bitten Mercy and Adam have no choice but to go to battle.I absolutely recommend this book!You know how as a series goes on for a long time you start to wish the author would just stop?I never feel that about this series. The Mercy Thompson books continue to entertain and delight each time they come out. There was a short period of one or two books where things felt like they were starting to drag but they are totally back on track now.Even when we cover situations that have repeatedly come up before, like certain pack members taking Adam’s ex’s side against Mercy, Adam and Mercy having relationship issues, they are usually written from a fresh perspective and I don’t find them repetitive at all.My usual complaint about the oversexualized covers with aspects that don’t fit the character, still stands though this one was slightly better, mostly because we only see her upper body I think. Don’t get me wrong they are always beautiful and eye-catching, but they don’t fit Mercy. The feather earrings always seem like overkill to make sure we remember that she’s native American, she almost never dresses sexy, and it’s repeatedly said in the book that she has one tattoo—but for some reason the designers always cover her in ink. It annoys me, but not enough to skip the books.I don’t let the covers affect the rating because it’s almost never the author’s choice, but I do keep thinking if I say it enough the publisher will work on coming up with a cover that suits the main character better.

Love it!

As always this was an exciting adventure.I was worried at the beginning about Adam and Mercy. Sometimes the worst thing you can do in a relationship is just stay quiet about the problem.I'm looking forward to the next book, but I'm also sad this is the last in the series.

A good read as always!!! But there's a downside.... Waiting for the next book 🥺😔

Rimango sempre colpita dalla riserva di immaginazione di Patricia Briggs che molto abilmente trascina i lettori affezionati in questa nuova (dodicesima) avventura di Mercy Thompson Hauptman e della banda di amici e nemici che popola la sua vita.Poiché ogni libro può essere assimilato ad una nuova puntata di una serie televisiva ricca di colpi di scena, è evidente che per gustarsi al meglio le vicende e i personaggi bisogna iniziare dal primo volume.Ciò premesso, in questo lo romanzo, che inizia poco tempo dopo la conclusione del precedente, la nostra eroina deve affrontare tre pericoli che incombono sulla sua vita (e su quella del branco di lupi mannari di cui ha sposato il maschio alpha, Adam): una minaccia invisibile che è fuoriuscita da Underhill (il paese dei fae che esiste in uno spazio alternativo), un gruppetto di mannari che provano a prendersi il branco di Adam con la violenza e un malessere strisciante che mina il suo rapporto con Adam stesso e che, a parer mio, è la parte più emozionante del volume.L'azione non manca di sicuro, ma rispetto ad altri libri è meno preponderante e molto spazio è dedicato alle dinamiche fra i personaggi e alla loro crescita. Di questa serie apprezzo molto il fatto che molto spesso le vicende sono legate fra loro e una linea di racconto di qualche volume fa, viene riproposta in modo coerente nella sua evoluzione per cui il lettore ritorna volentieri a sfogliare i libri precedenti per trovare il momento da cui ha avuto inizio uno sviluppo narrativo. In questo modo, benché la trama della serie non abbia nulla a che vedere con la vita reale, le diverse storie hanno una loro coerenza interna ed una coesione per cui il lettore si abbandona volentieri agli eventi e non si sente truffato. Certo, alla nostra Mercy ne accadono davvero di tutti i colori: essa incarna il personaggio chiave di ogni racconto epico; quello che in barba agli eventi riesce sempre a cavarsela e a trionfare.Senonché questo genere di figure in genere risultano ammirevoli ma decisamente distanti dai mortali e non suscitano una grande empatia. Mercedes Thompson, invece, nonostante gli innumerevoli colpi di fortuna che capitano nelle sue avventure (ma infondo è una mutaforma coyote e la Fortuna ha una parte considerevole nella sua vita), è una creatura con difetti molto umani che con il passare del tempo cerca di correggere e che impara dagli errori: per questo risulta simpatica. Avanti così, Patricia!

Patricia Briggs never disappoints. New plots, new problems to solve and new partners to solve with. And new mysteries which will keep us waiting for the next book.

前巻はかなり深刻な話でしたが、今回は深刻さは少し↓、ただAdamに問題発生なので安心はできなかったものの、かなり楽しく読ませてもらいました。Smoke Weaverの正体は途中で予想がつきましたが、そこはまあ有名なキャラだから仕方ないかなという感じ。とにかく今回は感想二つ。物が復活してうれし泣きさせられたのは初めて。と、CoyoteになることとMagicがかかりにくい以外のMercyの能力がかなりはっきりしてきたこと。Mercyの寿命に関する話の時もそうでしたが、文章では明確にはどこにも書かれていないけれど実例で示していく作者Pattyの手法がかなり好きです。かなり前の巻でBran+杖の力なのかなと思っていたところが今回でMercy本人の能力だったと分かりました。かなり自分でコントロールできるようになってきたようだし、実はかなりPowerfulなのでは・・・ということで今後も楽しみです。

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