Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)

by Patricia Briggs

[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 !