Novel Review: Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, #4) by Patricia Briggs

Rating (Out of 5): ~4+

Genre: Adult Supernatural/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Penguin (Ace)

Publish Date: 2009

Spoilers?: Somewhat Minor/Nothing Major.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

New in the #1 "New York Times" bestselling urban fantasy series.
In a world where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people" ("Booklist"), it takes a very unusual woman to call it home. By day, Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic in Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy's found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so- human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• "'Fear is a good thing,' he said at last. 'It teaches you not to make the same mistake twice. YOu counter it with knowledge. What are you afraid of?'" (Mass Market Paperback, pg. 99) Oh, Bran, always coming in with your knowledge.

Review:

I love this series. I love this series rather a lot. It’s just so good. It’s been a while since I read the last book, probably a month or two, and now I’ve gotten right back into it. As in, as soon as I finish this review, I will be starting book five, since I have it already. And I’m so excited. (I’m also very excited to read the second book in the Alpha and Omega series, but I don’t have that one yet.)

After what happened to Mercy in the last volume, she’s still having a hard time getting through things, particularly when it comes to Adam, but she’s getting better. Also, Adam and her are officially together now, which is just awesome. I like Adam, a lot, and I’m liking their interactions even more. I know that Briggs doesn’t really do very romantic scenes, but I’ve also noticed that there isn’t really a whole lot of swoon between them. I mean, we get the insight into Mercy’s head, but I’ve found that the reader is (at least, I am) kept at a bit of a distance. There’s still some, though. And I’m still looking forward to more.

Quite a bit happened with the vampires in this book. I don’t mind Stefan, but I don’t like Marsilia. At all. I’m honestly quite ready for her to go away, officially, and was hoping that’s what would happen in this book. It didn’t. Maybe (hopefully?) it’ll happen in the future.

Also, quite a bit happened with how Mercy can see ghosts, and we got a few hints as to her Walker abilities. That whole thing is interesting to me, and I hope we get to find out more, or that more of her abilities are used, in the next books.

Something else happened with a different vampire in this book, and it was quite interesting. I also quite liked the way that Mercy took care of most of it herself. She can handle herself in difficult situations, and I like that. She’s smart, can be calm, and she’s pretty good at handling things when they need handling. Which I really like. More heroines (and heroes) should be like that.

We met a person from Mercy’s past, a girl she went to college with, and I was a bit surprised by what happened with her. I particularly liked her son, though, this sweet, deaf ten-year-old. And I liked what happened between the woman’s son and husband. I doubt we’re going to see any more of them, but I would like to. Maybe we’ll get a glimpse or something in the next book. One can hope, anyway.

Oh, Bran also showed up in this book. Very briefly, but still. I rather like him. His appearances are usually important, short, but leave some sort of impact. I just like him, I suppose, and find his relationship with Mercy (and Samuel) nice.

I don’t want to talk too in-depth about what happened in this book, and I don’t think I have much else to say. I’m really looking forward to the next book, and seeing more of Mercy and Adam together, and possibly Mercy and Jesse getting closer, and just general character-relationship development. And now, I get to start that book.

The Cover:

  I really don't like these covers. Some of them are better than others, and this isn't one of them. I guess the art isn't bad, but that's not the problem I have with them. I understand the mechanic aspect, and that fits. But the rest doesn't. My biggest problem is that the woman on the cover always has a scanty top on--showing her stomach and a good amount of breasts, when Mercy doesn't dress like that, I don't believe. She doesn't really care how she looks, and I've always thought that she's usually pretty covered up. Then the model is posed kind of weirdly. And she always has so many tattoos, when I'm pretty sure Mercy only has the one, the paw print. Also, the model has blue hair---what for?

It just doesn't seem to represent the series very well, in my opinion. For instance, if Mercy wore scantily clad clothing, or even if there was sex and the romance had a big part, then the outfits wouldn't bother me so much. But it isn't. The romance is a rather small part of each book. And the tattoos are just unneeded.