I’m still in an urban fantasy phase with my reading, so I decided to re-read the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Ms. Briggs has built a wonderful world and I love her character development; even her minor characters are well written and memorable. I’m partial to Mercy because she is my sister from another mister. Like me, Mercy has a problem with being ordered around. Ask politely and she will bend over backwards to help you. She will consider a suggestion, depending on the tone in which it was made. Telling her what to do? That’s going to backfire in a hurry. Kenn says anger is my go-to emotion, and Mercy has a tendency to get angry when scared or hurt or relieved… You get the picture. I spend a lot of time giggling when Mercy reacts to a situation the way I would and reading excerpts of the books to Kenn. (Kenn wants to know how long Ms. Briggs has been spying on me, LOL.)

Mercy is a VW mechanic, and yes, she has heard all of the jokes about Mercedes, the VW mechanic. Thanks to her late father, Joe Old Coyote, Mercy is a walker – a Native American shapeshifter who shifts into a coyote at will. When Mercy’s seventeen-year-old mom found a coyote pup in Mercy’s crib when Mercy was three months old, she realized she was in over her head; Mercy was then sent to live with a werewolf pack who raised her until she was sixteen. Now, in her early thirties, Mercy is happy with the independent, if slightly lonely, life she has built for herself.

According to the books, Mercy has a coyote paw print tattooed on her abdomen and a “couple of other” tattoos on her arms. The arm tattoos are only mentioned once. The book covers show Mercy with full-sleeve tattoos, chest and back tattoos, and a tramp stamp. Mercy would probably roll her eyes at the covers, LOL. Another thing to know about Mercy is that she has usually had the crap beat out of her by the end of every book; this seems to be what happens when a coyote shifter starts playing in the magical creature big leagues. There are currently fourteen books in the series. These are a some of the primary characters:

• Mercedes Athena Thompson, aka Mercy: walker, shifts into a coyote
• Adam Hauptman: werewolf, Alpha of the Columbia Basin pack, control freak (as werewolves tend to be), Mercy’s back yard neighbor, crazy about Mercy
• Warren: werewolf, third in Adam’s pack, Mercy’s best friend
• Jesse Hauptman: Adam’s fully human teenage daughter
• Siebold “Zee” Adlebertsmiter: iron-kissed fae, taught Mercy how to work on cars, Mercy’s extremely dangerous friend
• Tad Adlebertsmiter: Zee’s half-fae son, Mercy thinks of him as her little brother
• Stefan: vampire with a penchant for Scooby Doo, Mercy’s friend, more than halfway in love with Mercy
• Wulfe: vampire, bat-crap crazy, obsessed with Mercy in a creepy stalker sort of way
• Larry: king of the goblins; even though Larry doesn’t appear until later in the series, he is worth the wait

• Moon Called – At the beginning of the series, Mercy is working in the garage she bought from Zee and talking martial arts lessons. Run-ins with Adam not withstanding, she is happy to ignore and be ignored by the members of the other paranormal races. The appearance of a young, untrained werewolf at her shop changes everything.
• Blood Bound – As if regular vampires aren’t bad enough, demon-possessed vampires are worse.
• Iron Kissed – This one is a rough one, y’all. This time, Mercy doesn’t just get hurt, she gets raped. As hard as it is to read, I think it was handled well, and leads to learning more about another character. The PTSD Mercy develops as a result of the rape is also handled well in subsequent books.
• Bone Crossed – Vampires, and ghosts, and coyotes, oh, my!
• Silver Borne – The Gray Lords, the rulers of the fae, set Zee up to take the fall for something he didn’t do. Mercy isn’t about to let them get away with it, no matter how powerful the Gray Lords are.
• River Marked – Poor Mercy can’t even go on her honeymoon without ending up in a wheelchair by the end of the book.
• Frost Burned – Car wrecks, kidnapping, and a necromancer. Just another day in the life of your local VW mechanic.
• Night Broken – This book contains the first appearance by Christy, Adam’s ex-wife. I detest Christy. I’ve dealt with Christys and Ms. Briggs does an excellent job of writing a manipulative character.
• Fire Touched – Leave it to Mercy to make a declaration making life easier for the residents of the Tri-Cities area while simultaneously making things harder for the pack.
• Silence Fallen – This book goes international with various characters in Italy and Prague. When Mercy almost dies at the beginning of the book, you know you’re in for a ride. This book also includes a wonderful twist that I usually forget between read-throughs. This time, I remembered, LOL.
• Storm Cursed – Miniature zombie goats provide some levity. Otherwise, it’s another good story that’s a hard read. It’s always disappointing when a character – even a secondary one – betrays the others. I will admit to ugly crying over the kitten. Not when he was found, but when you find out why he survived.😭
• Smoke Bitten – Christy strikes again! The woman may be pure human, but her ability to cause problems is almost magical.
• Soul Taken – A creature from a horror movie comes to life and stalks the Tri-Cities. Also, as the owner of a Subaru Outback, the part with Mercy, Warren, and Warren’s Subaru Outback was priceless.🤣
• Winter Lost – Never trust a frost giant.

If you have read this series, I’d love to know what you think. If you have any urban fantasy recommendations, I’d love to hear them!