Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #3)

I'm finally getting back to this series after a hiatus--I have the fifth book slated for a reading challenge category this year, which obviously means that I need to read the third and fourth books first.

Iron Kissed picks up in the wake of Blood Bound, with Mercy basically terrified that the vampire queen is going to figure out that she killed not only the demon vampire of the last book, but the vampire who created it as well.  She's also found herself at a crossroads where she absolutely has to decide what's going to be done about her two romantic interests, Samuel and Adam--which was excellent, because I don't think that I could bear that being dragged out for another book.  This book's central plot gets going when Zee the metal faerie recruits Mercy to help track down someone who's been murdering faeries.  She does, and Zee and another leader of the faerie community go to confront the murderer...only to find him also murdered, and Zee suddenly on the hook for it.  So Mercy, of course, sets out to clear Zee's name, and gets herself into a world of trouble.

I am so, so happy that Briggs finally wrapped up the love triangle here, though I'm not sure that I totally bought into how she wrote Samuel out of the picture love-interest-wise.  Don't worry, guys, Sam isn't written out of the picture; he's still alive, guys!  But Mercy puts off dialing Adam into her decision, though, until it's pretty much too late and some very, very bad things happen to her--things that are totally not her fault, and which Adam realizes are not her fault, but still, not the best time to dive into a new relationship, you know what I mean?

This book is markedly darker than the preceding two, particularly near the end.  It seems like the next one might be pretty dark, too, but if you're here for the pluck heroine who sticks her nose into other people's business, solves the crime, and gets off without any lasting consequences--well, that's not happens here.  Mercy has met her match in more than one way, and she's having to accept help and ultimately come to the conclusion that yes, she has been making some stupid decisions and maybe needs to re-evaluate.  Again, what happens to her is not her fault.  But Mercy does some pretty stupid things in general and really needs to come to a reckoning with that, and it seems like that's coming about here.  I'm hoping it will stick, but we will see.  But again, let me emphasize: this book is much darker.  The climax of the book was hard to read and could definitely be triggering for some, though Briggs does try to keep it from being explicit and in a sort of hazy cloud.  Still, it's very clear what occurs (rape, guys, it's rape) and though Mercy is a fighter, part of what happens to her messes with her way of thinking and is even more problematic for her than the actual rape is.

This was an excellent book; there are some hints at who is responsible, because Briggs doesn't really write in supercilious characters, but it's not screaming obvious.  Yes, the romantic resolution is, in many ways, too easy.  But I don't think that Briggs could have dragged it out longer without losing some people, and having more drama involved with it on top of everything else here would have been too much.  So maybe it's what had to be done?  I don't know...not totally sold, but I'm willing to let it go.

Anyway, I'm still greatly looking forward to reading the next book in this series, seeing how Mercy and Adam tread in their new relationship, and so on--especially as it seems like Mercy's vampire reckoning is finally about to come.

4 stars out of 5.