Goldilox and the Three Weres: Review: Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Bone Crossed
(Mercy Thompson #4)
Patricia Briggs
Release: February 3, 2009
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By day, Mercy is a car mechanic in the sprawling Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shapeshifter with some unique talents, Mercy has often found herself having to maintain a tenuous harmony between the human and the not so human. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

Marsilia, the local Vampire Queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan—and she's out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack (and her close relationship with its sexy Alpha), it won't be Mercy's blood Marsilia is after.

It'll be her friends'.

Review by Rose Red:

Bone Crossed is the fourth installment in the Mercy Thompson series and is a direct follow-up to Briggs amazingly well-written Iron Kissed. Mercy is still dealing with the many problems in her life and trying to recover from a horrific assault that was the climax of the previous book. One thing I love at Patricia Briggs's writing is that she writes realistic character reactions to trauma. What happened at the end of Iron Kissed was some serious trauma and Mercy is reacting to it like a real person would. The situation is ripe with opportunities for the author to wave a magic wand and make things all better, but Briggs doesn't and my respect for her writing increased exponentially as a result. I really appreciate that especially because I've read so many authors take the magical solution route when there's a paranormal element to the story.

Mercy is coping and dealing with her new role as the mate of the local Werewolf pack. She is still suffering side-effects of previous events, but that doesn't mean that she's giving up. Briggs does a great job of keeping the story moving, introducing the next elements of the story and mixing in how the recent changes in her life require Mercy to reevaluate things and make adjustments. It's wonderful because too many authors don't bother to address these issues. Many authors in this genre let change happen and everything magically work out with any real effort by the main character.

Life keeps giving us problems even when we might wish otherwise and Briggs doesn't give Mercy a chance to rest. New issues continue to creep into the story and past choices by supporting characters come back to haunt Mercy and her friends. It's neat to see an author who is willing to let the main character actually cope with the second and third order effects of having broken with tradition and made enemies in previous stories. It's not like Mercy is just on a non-stop wheel of pain, it's just that Briggs doesn't let her just skip through life without paying the bill for being the cause of change that she often has been.

The story is not terribly long and Briggs doesn't cover tons of new ground, but there is still plenty to absorb. Complications between inter-species conflicts remain a central theme of Mercy's life and her relationship challenges don't simply fade away. Again, this effort by Briggs to keep a certain ethic of reality enforcement really deserves high marks because it increases the level of realism in a genre not known for it. Briggs deserves a lot of credit for keeping both feet on the ground while leading us on another exciting chase through an Urban Fantasy world that is as well-developed as any I have ever read.

While I didn't love this one as much as Iron Kissed, I still loved it. There was so much character growth for so many characters in this book and lots of problems to deal with like a super scary villain. I adore this series so, so much! Please go read it, if you haven't! I promise that you won't be disappointed!