I was a little worried when I saw that Mercy’s bond to Adam, and the Pack, was going to be broken. Again. The blurb makes it sound much more familiar than the reality of the circumstances are. I was thankful for that, because I might have been a bit frustrated had I been compelled to deal with the broken bond again. Honestly, for me, Mercy and Adam are so tightly wound that I know there is nothing that can break them apart. And that’s just the way I like it.
Fair warning: Mercy and Adam spend the majority of this book apart and out of contact. It’s not as bad as you might fear though, because we get ALTERNATING POVs. That’s right. You read correctly. Nearly every chapter switches back and forth between Adam and Mercy. It’s an interesting storytelling tactic, not least of which because the timeline isn’t linear. Patricia Briggs jumps around a bit in the timeline, and as the Author’s Note at the start says – pay attention to Mercy’s notes at the beginning of each chapter. The flow of the story worked very well for me, but if you don’t pay attention it might get a bit confusing.
__This wasn’t the first time chocolate got me into trouble.__
I’ve read this book twice now, the first time I could hardly process my feelings, so I had to re-read the entire series and then start again with fresh eyes. I’m not sure I’m beyond the fangirling still, to be honest. I loved this book. I get so frustrated with the relationship drama in some series, though I know it’s a popular way to keep the drama tense and the story fresh. Part of what I enjoy so much in this series is that the relationship is never the source of the drama. There are always outside factors that are driving the plot. It makes things so much more interesting.
__I’m a mechanic, I fix things that are broken. I turn into a thirty-five-pound coyote. I have powerful friends. But when it comes right down to it, my real superpower is chaos.__
Mercy continues to be one of the most subtle kick-ass characters that I read. She truly believes that she’s weaker than most everyone around her, and that is kind of true. I mean, she isn’t as strong or invulnerable as the vampires or werewolves. She doesn’t have as obvious of magic as the fae. But what she does have is an indomitable will. She survives. No matter what.
Better than that, though, is the fact that she does it without hiding or cowering from what she believes to be right. As Honey said about her previously, once Mercy has your back, she has your back. She will never give up, and she will do everything in her power to help you out. Despite the consequences to herself. Maybe that’s not as kick-ass as some other characters (whom I love as much), but you can’t deny that Mercy gets things done.
__“I only get weirder the longer you know me,” I told him, quoting one of the T-shirts I’d gotten for my last birthday.__
A large part of what makes this series so great is the characters. They’re incredibly complex. The werewolves aren’t just strong and turn into wolves. They are more prone to violence, and have to work hard to keep control of their tendencies in that direction. The vampires aren’t just sexual blood-drinkers, they’re dead and they kill people to survive. It’s hard to justify it, even within the world, even knowing some of them are much better than others. The fae aren’t simply powerful fairies. They’re the stuff of nightmares that our fairy-tales tried to warn us about.
And even still, with such generalizations, there are individual differences. Some characters, in all factions, are supremely intelligent and able to move the world like it’s their own personal chessboard. Some are manipulative as hell. Some care, but pretend they don’t. The machinations that each character is sometimes hiding makes them all fascinating. There are layers and layers to these characters, and often I don’t see them all until the end.
All these different characters, jockeying for position and power, playing a game that is larger than may even be understandable, make the world a fraught place – full of danger and intrigues around every corner.
__[He] thought of himself as a peaceful man. But he couldn’t deny that there was beauty in violence, a battle between two well-trained warriors.__
We’ve spent the entirety of our time with Mercy (and Anna and Charles) in the United States, which makes sense. But I found it really cool to visit Europe here. Especially Prague, which is a city that tugs at my heart. Though I’ve never been, I can say that the book set the feel for Prague, and Europe in general, making me feel and imagine that I could be there with Mercy. I appreciate the atmosphere that it built.
I was on the edge of my seat both times reading this book. The plot is full of tension. Mercy and Adam were still separated; outside forces were continuing to subtly guide events; and I was always wondering when the other shoe was going to drop.
__Water is wet and vampires are treacherous.__
I am struggling with how much to say about anything that happens here. There are a couple of things that I don’t even want to allude to. Forgive me for being a bit light on details about the specifics of the plot. I will say that Silence Fallen is an excellent addition to the Mercy Thompson world, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Another spectacular Mercy adventure!
I've been a voracious reader for 30+ years, and read - and loved - my share of genres, but if you asked me today what my favorite genre was, I would reply without thinking: urban fantasy. And it's all thanks to Mercy Thompson.Patricia Briggs introduced me to the genre with her Mercy series and I fell for it hard and fast. In fact, I hold Mercy to such a high standard, that hardly any other urban fantasy heroine measures up (actually, only two that I can think of). You could say I judge all urban fantasy by the Mercy standard. Or should it be the Briggs Standard?People will tell you that when you love something so much, it's impossible to be objective. They're probably right and I was probably predisposed to love this book no matter what. It's Mercy, after all. It's Mercy and Adam, to boot! Yet thinking back over my years-long love affair with Mercy (and "Alpha & Omega"), I can still think of twists that fell flat, and the one installment that disappointed. So it's possible.That said, I had pretty high hopes for "Silence Fallen" from the beginning, not just because it's Briggs and it's Mercy, but because of the premise. One, Mercy and Adam are separated, violently. Two, Mercy goes to Europe. There it was, simple as that, the most perfect Mercy Thompson adventure I could dream of.Let me elaborate, and if you don't mind I'll start with point #2.Europe. What a refreshing change of locale. Don't misunderstand me, the Columbia Basin pretty much feels like second home to me, and I will never get enough. But moving the gang to Europe gives us more than just a change of scenery, but what that change entails: largely untapped European history filled with myth and lore, ripe for the picking. And, of course, the book delivers here in a major way. You might be able to take Baba Yaga out of Easter Europe, but you can't take the Golem. You very specifically cannot.Having been born and raised in Europe, only several kilometers away from Prague, and having traveled the continent far and wide, I felt acknowledged and appreciated by Ms. Briggs. She brought Mercy to my neighborhood, and described it so accurately, it was uncanny. What an unbelievable treat for a long time fan - and I'm sure all European Mercy devotees will feel the same.Back to point #1. Mercy and Adam separated, by violent means. Having spent a better part of the decade with these two characters, one simply knows how they're going to react to a rupture of that kind of magnitude. And what a promise of a story that is! In any long-running series, written or televised, the couples we love start feeling stale or unexciting sooner or later. The Moonlighting curse if you will. Somehow that curse always avoided striking at Mercy and Adam (must be Mercy's special powers!), and yet the prospect of an ENTIRE book of Adam's wolf just barely hanging on, while Mercy does the impossible trying to get back to him - well, that just cannot get any better. It's fanfic readers' dream. Only canon!The novel delivers on that promise in a magnificent way. The narrative - TM Briggs - is filled with twists you simply will not see coming, and one of them will actually leave you screaming.What else can I say? In a word: spectacular. I rue the day Briggs delivers Mercy's last adventure.
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La venezianaReviewed in Italy on July 16, 2018
Intrighi europei per Mercy e i suoi amici (e nemici)
