Mercy Thompson's second outing finds her battling vampires, sorcerers, and her own strong feelings for the two dominant werewolves in her life, Samuel and Adam. Picking up just months after Moon Called ended, as Blood Bound begins the werewolves have come out to the general public--albeit in a slow, deliberate, controlled manner--as the lesser Fae did some decades earlier. However, vampires are still a myth in the minds of most humans, and would prefer to remain so for the indefinite future. So, when a truly evil vamp comes to town and begins killing wantonly, with no regard to the dual vampire practices of carefully hiding their tracks and not shitting where they sleep, it's in everyone's best interest to hunt it down and take care of it.

Soon into the hunt, however, it becomes apparent that there's more to the situation than meets the eye. A demon is involved, and, perhaps, someone on the inside. Ultimately, with several of her strongest allies out of commission and at least one of questionable integrity, Mercy has to go it alone.

Patricia Briggs is one of the best practitioners of the art of urban fantasy around. Much fiction requires a suspension of disbelief, even mainstream fiction, but fiction involving the occult, the paranormal, and love affairs between supernatural beings requires more than most. And, where a Laurel K. Hamilton, for all of her crack-like allure, devolves more often than not into either high camp or soft core porn, Briggs doesn't feel the need to wink and nod at her readers (at least, not very often). She tells a good story, with believable (for all of their unusual attributes), well-written characters, and she leaves you clamoring for more.

So then, I guess she does have that crack-like allure in common with Hamilton... ( )

Nice little change to the story line here. This was one intense book and Mercy is a fantastic character! ( )

http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/... ( )

Mercy Thompson continues to attract trouble in this volume -- this time from her vampire acquaintance. She discovers more about them, and herself. She continues to date Adam, the local pack's Alpha werewolf, while her old boyfriend, the lonewolf werewolf Samuel, shares her trailer with her. All very prickly and needing some careful balancing socially. Meanwhile, vampires and sorcerers are leaving a lot of dead bodies around. Mercy is, reluctantly, in the middle, defending her friends and figuring out the mystery.

In the style of other modern urban fantasy series, we have a hero who is part of the supernatural scene, but outside it a bit also. Book one was about Mercy and the werewolves, book two has been about Mercy and the vampires. I expect book three is about Mercy and the fae, since that was the third supernatural race introduced. Like Anita Blake and Rachel Morgan, Mercy seems to attract a wide variety of supernatural men, but Mercy is less cynical and seems more connected to our world.

I'm liking the series. ( )

Even better than the first book. This time the storyline focuses much
more on vampires than werewolves, which I vastly preferred. The
romantic tension also increases in this book when a third suitor
makes his affections know. But tension is all there is. There is no
sex in this book. ( )