Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson, #9)

by Patricia Briggs

[Quirky Cat]

Fire Touched is the ninth book in the Mercy Thompson series, though honestly it doesn't feel like the series has been going on that long, relatively speaking. It's funny how quickly time passes when you love a series.
This series is amazing for a lot of reasons, but one of them is the sheer amount of supernatural creatures Mercy comes up against. In Fire Touched Mercy is forced to face off against various fae, all of them more or less hoping for the same goal (with a few exceptions).


Warnings: The fae are not known for their kindness. There is abuse mentioned here, as well as the implied abuse and torture of children and people with the appearance of children.
Fire Touched was a whirlwind of a story, to put it lightly. It frequently looked like our heroes were in over their heads, and Mercy's mouth didn't exactly help the situation any. Though for the record I agree with her decision and declaration.
I absolutely love the way that fae are represented in Patricia Briggs' novels. They're dark and dangerous, but their motivations are as different as all humans are from one another. It's brilliant, and it makes it impossible to tell their motives as a whole, thus making them an even larger threat.
In Fire Touched many of the fae were of the same opinion and seeking the same goal. But the way they went about it was different. Some were more political in their attempts, willing to negotiate. Others were fully content to burn through the city – thus ruining any chance of peace with the humans – to get what they want.
Oh, and did I mention that what they wanted was a person who by all appearances is a child? He was kidnapped back when he was truly a child, and his exposure to fae magic has given him the ability to control and create fire. Unfortunately, his nature also makes the fae jealous of him. He can go where they cannot, and thus a threat.
The dynamics of this situation were very carefully laid out. You can tell that Patricia Briggs put a lot of thought into it. And honestly, it was impossible not to feel awful for this kid. Even knowing that he wasn't technically a kid.
The way Mercy and the pack got into this mess was absolutely amazing. It started out as a call to join a fight – that alone is impressive, since the humans reached out to the werewolves. And then it turned into a declaration and offer of protection. All of which came from Mercy.
Mercy's proclamation was without a doubt the right call. Adam himself said that he would have said and done the same thing, had he been capable of doing so. But by her being the one to do it, it upped the tension within the pack. This pretty much forced the building tension and general wariness against her out into the open. While Mercy would have preferred to deal with it, Adam had other things in mind. All of which proves that my theory about Adam was right (that he had been letting her fight her own battles because he knew it was her preference, not because he enjoyed watching her suffer).
On the whole I'm loving the newly revealed pack dynamics, and how Aiden fits into it all. I hope Aiden stays with the pack long term. And I swear I'm not just saying that because I'm still curious about him (though that is part of it).
I'm looking forward to started Silence Fallen next in my binge read session. It looks amazing.


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