Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)

by Patricia Briggs

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series has been hailed as “one of the best” (Library Journal). Now Mercy must deal with an unwanted guest—one that brings a danger unlike anything she’s ever known.

When her mate’s ex-wife storms back into their lives, Mercy knows something isn’t right. Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions—she wants Adam back, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him, including turning the pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. As the bodies start piling up, she must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.

• ISBN10: 0425256278
• ISBN13: 9780425256275
• Publish Date: 27 January 2015 (first published 11 March 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Ace Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425256275

Reviews

[booksandcats]

I am very conflicted about this book. I loved it on one hand, the storyline with the enemy was superb and I kinda liked how the relationship with Adam and Mercy progressed, as both of them actually seem very mature and try to deal with the situation in an understandable way.

I have to say, I just generally am over the drama with Adam's pack, I hate the drama that Adam's ex is bringing and how everybody else seems stupid enough to buy her shit, I just... it makes me really really annoyed and it doesn't seem necessary for the storyline and honestly, Adam's pack... god so many of them suck so much! It unfortunately kinda ruined an otherwise excellent story for me...

[Berls]

My Initial Reaction...

Night Broken may be my favorite Mercy Thompson book to date! After feeling lukewarm about the last one, I loved every second of the action, mystery, and the dynamic between Adam, Mercy, and the pack.

Note: Expect series spoilers - we're too far along to avoid them, sorry!


The Characters...

One of the things that felt off to me in the last book was Adam and Mercy's relationship. It just was just so easy that it didn't have the spark. Well, the spark was definitely back for me - even though I never doubted their relationship. But it did have a real stress put on it - Adam's ex-wife, Christy.

OMG I hated this woman. She was worse than any paranormal threat Mercy has faced! She manipulates and lies and tries to gain control and just... UGH!!! I found it surprising that she was so easily able to manipulate members of the pack who should have been more attuned to deceptive behavior. But she manages to not actually outright lie - perhaps because she honestly believes that she is this victim that needs protection and to be babied. But I wanted to throttle her!

Mercy wanted to too - but she didn't. I was so incredibly impressed with the way Mercy was able to handle Christy and keep her cool. Adam does a decent job too - he's aware of what Christy is doing and he does his best to let Mercy know that he appreciates her and loves her, despite Christy. Jessie too - she knows her mother is a piece of work, and even though she loves her she sees through her manipulative behavior.

A new character introduced in Night Broken was Gary Laughingdog and OMG I loved him. He is another child of Coyote and has a bit of a frustrating relationship with Coyote. He just wants Coyote to leave him alone because Coyote has gotten him into so much trouble - he claims Coyote tries to kill his children - something that Mercy can sort of relate to. Anyway, his life experiences have made him very sarcastically hilarious. I hope we see a lot more of him in future books. With him comes Coyote - and I always love Coyote, Night Broken was no exception!

All said - the characters were handled beautifully with a few new ones and little bits of new insight on characters we've known for a while, in and outside the pack.


The Story...

Night Broken centers on the return of Adam's ex - Christy - to the town. She's running from an ex-boyfriend who got abusive and possessive and she thinks might have even killed another boyfriend of hers. She's staying with Adam and Mercy for protection while Adam uses all his resources to try and find and stop her stalker ex. Christy stirs up plenty of drama within the pack on a good day, so Mercy and Adam are doing their damndest to keep things from getting crazy.

Meanwhile (because Mercy's life is never simple), Mercy has a Grey Lord showing up at her door wanting his father's walking stick back - yep, the one she gave to Coyote. She's been given a week to get it back, which wouldn't be easy EVEN IF she knew how to reach Coyote, which she doesn't. Oh and on top of that the police have asked for her help because they've got some horrific massacres taking place and they know it's supernatural - they think werewolf, but Mercy knows it's something else. Something big and bad and unknown to her.

Everything about the flow and pace of Night Broken was perfect for me. It struck me how naturally right it felt to have Mercy in Adam's house, at the head of the pack as his mate. She fits there and with the pack in Night Broken in a way she hasn't before, IMO. It was awesome to see and read :)


Concluding Sentiments...

The mystery and action was fantastic in Night Broken! I was pretty much constantly anxious about what was going to happen - when I wasn't I was either LMAO at Gary or yelling at Christy. There were a few tears, but thankfully not too many. All in all a great read, with some BIG changes at the end, hinting at another awesome read coming up next!




[Quirky Cat]

Night Broken is the eighth book in the Mercy Thompson series, and man is it still going strong. This novel takes a slightly different direction than the rest, throwing more emotional messes into the mix. But it's all balanced out by the introduction of a new and extremely dangerous supernatural creature.
There is so much to love about this series. I've been reading through them all (I was a bit behind) in preparation for Storm Cursed, and I'm falling in love with it all over again. I honestly read Frost Burned and Night Broken back to back in a single day, and I have no regrets about it.


Warnings: There are some fairly graphic moments in this novel, so consider yourself warned. There are animals deaths, and not of the werewolf food variety. More like the pet animal type. There are abusive relationships mentioned (both physical and emotional), as well as a story (folklore) told that involves rape.
Night Broken read differently to me than any of the other Mercy Thompson novels, but I'm not opposed to the change. If anything, it was refreshing to see different threats thrown into the mix. I absolutely freaked out at the introduction of yet another supernatural creature. The world sure is filling up fast!
Mercy and Adam have such a strong relationship, but even the best of relationships will get tested from time to time. What matters is that they make it through it in the end. I took a peek at the reviews before writing this, and it seems like people either loved this novel, or were driven nuts by the way Adam behaved. I was surprised by that. I always interpreted his actions as allowing Mercy to do her thing because it was what she needed to do. I never once felt that it was because he wanted her to deal with it alone. But maybe that's just my interpretation of the situation.
Related: man do I love to hate Adam's ex. Everything about her makes my skin crawl. And to make matters worse, I know people like her in real life. I imagine we all do, which is why she reads as such a horrid person to so many of us.
The new antagonist introduced in this novel was fascinating. Horrible, but fascinating. And to be honest, most strong supernatural beings in this world seem to have a very strong potential to be horrible, so it's not all that shocking.
I have a lot to say about the antagonist and how he was handled, and it's on the spoiler side, so on the off chance that you haven't read Night Broken, please stop reading here. First, I just want to say that he was an easy character to hate, for obvious reasons. If the way he acted wasn't enough, I think that his creatures would have been enough to make me hate him. Because there's no way those people were given the opportunity to consent to their situations.
As for the conclusion of the novel – I was so conflicted when Adam and his wolves went off to the fight, leaving Mercy behind. I didn't think that Adam would get killed off during the fight, but the situation certainly gave off that feeling. In a way I was relieved when they ended up being wrong about where the fight would happen. Though I'm sure that Adam will never forgive himself for that (since technically if he had taken Mercy with him she would have been safer – though it's likely that the humans would have died in that case, including his daughter...so there was no winning for this poor guy).
I also hate to say it, but I love that there's a sense of permanency with Mercy and her injuries. She took damage during this fight, and I know that she isn't going to be magically healed and free of scars in the next novel. Though realistically the next book won't start until after she's healed enough to be active again (since she's always in the thick of things – it's how she works).
All I can say is, I hope Adam's ex is long gone by the start of Fire Touched. Otherwise I'm rooting for Mercy to boot her in the face. Hard.


For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.75★ Audiobook⎮One of my favorites in the series!

Series Review to come.

[liz089]

Read more about this review and others on my blog Freyja Eats Books

STANDALONE or SERIES.
Series !!! This is the eight part in the Mercy Thompson series. I love this series !!

WHY this book.
This series is one of my favourite. Whenever I pick this one up, I fall right back into it. It is almost like visiting family, you know all the characters, what they are like and you love seeing them again.

FIRST THOUGHTS.
How much I’ve missed them all, and how happy I am to read about them again. For me, this is one of my favourites and I spread reading this series so I’ll always have some Mercy to get back to. It is seriously always fun to read, exciting and hard to put away. This one was no exception and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

PLOT.
In this part the ex-wife of Adam comes back in town (and in their house) because she is being stalked. She met a guy on holiday and he turned out not to be such a great guy. He murders a friend of hers, hurts her and burns down her condo. At first it just seems like a “normal” psycho following her, but when he comes into the Tri-Cities he turns out to be something completely different.
Around the same time a lot of bodies are turning up as well, and it won’t take long before they find out it is all connected.
If that is not enough trouble already, the son of Lugh (fae) turns up as well, looking for the walking stick. He has given her an ultimatum to get it back from Coyote, who is not the easiest person to find. If she doesn’t, the Grey Lord will leave some damage.
Apart from that, it is not easy on Mercy to have Christy in house. She acts like a victim the entire time and manipulates away.. and most of the people in the pack fall for it. Mercy already does not have the best bond with some of them, so this really isn’t helping. But Mercy would not be Mercy if she would let that bother her without doing something about it.

I really enjoyed the plot, it starts out with different problems and in the end it all comes together. It is not the most complicated plot, but it makes you wonder what is going on and cheer for her to succeed. I love how everything does not go easy and smoothly, but has some bumps in the road so to say. It makes it more realistic, and makes me cheer even harder for her.
What also was really cool, was how in the end we noticed how much Coyote had planned ahead to make things happen the way she would get out of it. He really put some effort in that !!

ROMANCE.
The romance between Adam and Mercy is just really beautiful. They already have been through a lot to get where they are and only get stronger with each hardship. I really disliked having Christy around and trying to mess with that, but Mercy stood above it (mostly). How I loved her messing with her shampoo haha.

SETTING.
Like the other books, this one is set in the Tri-Cities with all the supernaturals. There are not only werewolves, vampires and fae but a lot of other evils too. She comes up with old legends, and I really like how much effort she puts into that. It makes it more original and I am absolutely in favour of that. The humans are aware of some of the evils, but they let them stay in the dark mostly (and probably better anyway).
I also enjoy the way she lets Mercy’s job be a part of the story. It is not just “Oh she a mechanic and tinkers on cars” but she really put that in the next level as well.

CHARACTERS.
It is always fun to read about all of them again, the whole pack and how they are growing. Some of the vampires make an appearance again at the end, though this one is not really centred about them. Some fae, some old, some new. We got to know the ex of Adam better.. and some humans too. And, Mercy met her brother !! Really cool to meet someone from the Coyote lineage !!

FAVORITE.
Even though there are a lot of cool characters, I still love Mercy the best. Through the series we really got to know her and I just love her personality. She is funny and full of mischief. But she is also really brave, cares and protects people and well, she is just the way a real heroin should be.

LEAST FAVORITE.
I really disliked Christy. Of course, the plot was designed that way, put she really put together a very not likeable character. Christy is the one who left them all behind, and still she gets her way all the time. And doing that in a way that most people even don’t notice how mean and pitiful she is. She knows just how to manipulate them and I hate how she toys with that.

THE BAD.
Some things were just a little too obvious, particularly at the ending. Of course the evil dude would come to Mercy instead of the group of fireproof werewolves… Of course Coyote would turn up at the end.. Of course she and Stefan still have a bond.. But mostly I did not really bother me.

FAVORITE QUOTES.
“I sat down in the middle. “So,” I said to Darryl, “do you think Korra is going to be as good an avatar as Aang?” “Who’s Aang?” he asked. “You started him with Korra?” I accused Jesse. “That’s not okay. It’s like reading the last chapter of the book first.”
.
“I know right?” I said, swallowing hastily. “I had that same moment of disbelief. But for me it was when he threw his finger at me, and it burned through the top of the Passat I was standing on.”
She was silent for a moment, looking at the burn on my cheek.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything about the finger, but it kept coming up in my thoughts. I’ve never had a finger thrown at me before. A new-and-improved addition to my creepy-hall-of-fame nightmares.”
.
“Guayota is our enemy. He is not our enemy because he hurt one of our own, though he has. He is not our enemy because he violates our territory, though that is also true. He is not our enemy because he attacked my mate. He is not even our enemy because he is evil. He is our enemy because he kills those who cannot defend themselves against him. Because he will not stop until someone stops him.”
.

FINAL THOUGHTS.
I loved all of the Mercy Thompson books and this one is no exception. It was a fun and action-packed book that I finished in no-time. I really enjoyed myself and am kind of sad I only have one more at the moment to read from this series. If you have not read this series yet, I really recommend it to you. It is always nice to read and funny as well. It’s a good Urban Fantasy and keeps you on your toes. A lot of things happen and throughout the series you get closer and closer to them. I would like to give this one 4.5 Freyja’s !

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I do love this series. And yes, the staff on the cover does mean the walking stick pops back up in this book. We also get more Coyote tricks, and a few anecdotes about pranks Mercy pulled on Bran growing up.

There's a lot of Mercy and the pack being manipulated by Adam's ex-wife. And surprisingly enough, bonding time for Honey and Mercy. We also get to meet a half-brother of Mercy's, and get introduced to another set of fantasy creatures. Ones that almost no one has heard of before.

I liked how real the power games Christy was pulling felt. It helped you dislike her as a character, but also they were things you could see a real person doing to try to get their husband/boyfriend/whatever back. Besides manipulative, Christy was whiny and selfish, and didn't hesitate to cast Mercy in the worst lighting, trying to turn the pack against her. I really liked the prank Mercy pulled on her at the end of the book though!

I also liked the mythology that was used to explain and describe Christy's stalker. We finally get to see under Tad's glamour, and also get a stronger taste of his power.

All in all, if you haven't read this book (or series!) yet, what are you waiting for?

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Chelsea]

Initial Thoughts

I can't even tell you how excited I was for this book. I waited SO patiently for it while it took its sweet time coming in the mail. I finally got it though. I was a little nervous at the start because Adam's ex wife was making an appearance. I was really concerned that Mercy and Adam would break up and I just couldn't have that.

My New Best Friend

Honey. She was so supportive in this book when normally she doesn't like Mercy. I loved the subtle character growth there. I was seriously beautifully written. She also just lost her husband and I think that it affected her character too. I was really impressed with that because in other books I find that they get over death way easier. This was really realistic and I was really impressed.

My Crush

Adam. Holy geez is he ever fantastic. He is 100% perfect in every way. I love that he didn't let his ex-wife get to him as much as the others. He still let her stay with him because he's such a nice person. I really love that he's protective of all his friends and not just Mercy. He's a nice change of pace from all the other loveable characters in books. I find him really different and exciting. I never know how he's going to react to things. I just really, really, really love him.

Writing Style

Patricia Briggs has always been a fantastic writer and this book was no different. There's nothing bad for me to say about it. Everything was perfect.

Closing Thoughts

I just love the world that the author made it. I get sucked into it every time. I especially loved the drama between Mercy and Adam's ex wife. It was really well done. Usually I don't enjoy that kind of drama but it was different because the sides weren't clear. I was always rooting for Mercy though! I just love her. She's a fantastic character that likes to do things for herself. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. There was a lot going on in this book. Lots of little side adventures, but it went together nicely. I loved that we got to see Coyote again and there was even some new characters. I like how there isn't only vampires and werewolves and everything any more. There's lots of new creatures too which I find really entertaining and exciting.

Bonus

Adam is the dreamiest man ever. I'd do anything for him.

[littleread1]

I hate how these books end. I need MORE

[Linda]

Night Broken is fast-paced and filled with action, fights and romance, on top of that, there's a little drama because Adam's ex comes to stay with them - for once seeking help and comfort from the pack.

Full review to come soon.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com

In this installment of Mercy's story, we have Adam's ex-wife and Jesse's mom calling because she has a stalker and is scared for her life. Christy, who plays a major role in this story, left Adam because he was "a monster", which is pretty much what Adam feels too. Christy is a person who overplays her vulnerability, which is what drew Adam to her in the first place. She starts all of this before she even arrives at Adam's house. I have to hand it to Mercy, I couldn't stand the woman before she even showed up. Jesse sees her for what she is, but many of the pack want to fall back into protection mode over her.

While I hated Christy, a lot of the faults lie with other members of the pack and even Adam himself. Mercy gets to the point where she doesn't want to answer the phone when he calls, because it is more likely to be Christy telling her to pick something up on the way home. Mercy then also tries to call Adam and Christy picks up the phone and refuses to let Mercy talk to her husband. What I want to know, why was Adam letting his ex-wife anywhere near his cell phone? He knows what a manipulator she is, but lets her do it anyway. Mercy is in a lose, lose situation, if she lays down the law, she would be an evil bitch to the poor human who is scared out of her mind by the stalker. If she lets it lie or lets Adam deal with it, she is weak, which is something that that pack already believes, as does she. Adam does frequently tell Mercy how much he loves her and says all the right things, but actions speak much louder than words and he was still letting Christy get away with entirely too much. Mercy does get the last laugh in the end, as if there was any doubt that would happen.

We get to see a lot more of Coyote in this book and even meet another relative, Gary Laughingdog. I'm very interested to see where Briggs takes this character, because I don't think we've seen the last of him. We also get some time with Stephan. While his part in this story isn't large, a big truth comes out about him. Not sure where that is going, it will be interesting to see. I've always like Stephan, even if he is a vampire and vampires in this world are not good people and really can't be. I think he tries to be as good of a person as his "condition" allows.

I do feel like the pack rallies really well right before they go into battle with the big bad creature. Adam's speech beforehand was moving. It was great to see this unity that the pack showed right before this battle. Warren, who has always been a bit of an outsider to the pack, despite being third because of this homosexuallity, finally got the pack support that he deserves. It was great to finally see that and I think it surprised him more than anyone else, including myself.

While this isn't the best book in the series, and the relationship angst is a little much, I did enjoy the overall storyline. It proves once again, that Mercy is best alpha female out there (much better than Leah, Bran's mate, will ever be). There is a great story from when Mercy was a teenager and Leah pissed her off, which proves that the working smarter will always win out. Sneaky coyotes can outfox strong werewolves. Not sure how much this story builds on the overall arc of the series, but I feel like we see some real growth in character in Mercy and in many of the other characters. I think in the end, the events in this story will help bring Mercy further and more accepted into the pack.

The narration was great as always. The first time I heard Lorelei King it was with the Mercy series and I later found her again the Charley Davidson series (if you haven't tried that one yet, be sure to check it out, it is wonderful). I'm not sure that I've listened to a Mercy book since I started listening to the second series, and I'm amazed at the difference between the two. It is almost like two different people. She changes the tone between Mercy and Charley so much, because they are two completely different characters and that comes out in the narration. Charley's stories are full of a lot more snark and that is shown when you listen. Mercy's is much more serious, with a little snark thrown in for good measure.