These later books (after book 5) just don't have the same urgency as the earlier ones. Too much of the real action takes place in the latter 1/4 of the book, so even when the first 3/4's is interesting, it feels like part of a different story. Mercy is a pretty cool chick and I love Adam, like a lot a lot, so they make up for a fair bit, but now, instead of reading because I am truly invested, it feels like I am reading out of habit.

Giving it a 4 because Briggs is still telling a cool story, even if they don't quite compare to the early Mercy stuff. ( )

2019 reread:

In an unprecedented move, I bumped this from 3 stars to 5 after rereading it. So exciting. I’m exhilarated, let me tell you, and I’m putting my happy review on top and my crabby one at the bottom.
I don’t know what bee was in my bonnet when I read this the first time. I do think it helped to read it after rereading all the preceding Mercyverse novels and stories so recently. But I wonder if the published copy edited out some of the longer conversations that got on my nerves when I read the advance copy. I don’t know. But it didn’t seem like there was too much talking, which I had complained about the first time through. Everything made sense and moved things along nicely. I was quite happy with it.

Old crabby review from 2016, when I gave it 3 stars. What a jerk:

Advance copy provided by NetGalley

I always look forward to reading a new Mercy Thompson book. The characters are so familiar at this point, it's easy to slip inside and feel at home.
This installment started with a battle. Nice beginning. From there, it quickly resolved something that has needed to be resolved for several books. Also good.
Sort of.
The result was a bit tidy. And while I'm sick to death of the problem it solved, I'm also not satisfied with the solution being the last word. Maybe it's not, and there will be some fallout in the next book.
I'm sad to say (I really am) that this wasn't my favorite Mercy Thompson book.
There was a lot of talking. Talking about feelings. Talking to dump information. Talking about relationships that we never hear about again. Tallllky talky talk. There were a few other things that bothered me, but I mostly wanted people to stop talking so much.
Fire Touched was only OK, but Mercy fans are going to want to read it, and they should. I still think it's a great series, and one I will continue to follow. ( )

I was much happier with this book than the last Mercy book and that is almost wholey because Adam was such a dick in the last book. He treated his ex wife too nicely at Mercy's expense. Here he was all about Mercy so I'll forgive him. The story was pretty straight forward and easy to understand if you've been reading both series up to now. There were some story lines drawing to a close and I like when the over arcing story doesn't drag on forever. But I do think there is plenty of room for more of this and also for another over arcing story. So hopefully we'll have much more Mercy and Adam. ( )

Liked it so much, I read twice back to back. I love how Briggs balances the larger story with the episodic kick-ass adventure. I love the characters. I love the setting. I love the weird political negotiations with Fae. Yeah, I got nothing here except Awesome! What's next? Please don't ever stop writing these, I look forward to them all year.

And the image of Mercy on the bridge brandishing the walking stick and defying the Fae is just one of my favorite things ever.

Update: read 3 times so far. The audio book versions are good, too! ( )

Patricia Briggs is one of my very favorite authors because she makes the little things about being a werewolf/supernatural FUNNY. Like being trapped in the kitchen while your daughter's friend's mom tries to sell you catalog products and the pack laughs at you from upstairs, or the police not knowing which scary creatures are the bad guys. I absolutely love her writing and hope this series never ends.

Like so many of Briggs' books, in "Fire Touched" she manages to connect little things at the beginning with plot points later at the end, so readers who pay attention are rewarded with those awesome ah-ha moments. Here the opening chapter or two has several of those. One of the great scenes with a friend of Jesse's mom is on the one hand comical, but also makes a great touchstone for Mercy and Adam the rest of the book.

They jump right into action and the central conflict of the book is opened up with a threat to the tri-cities area. This book deals heavily with the Fae, and one thing I'm continually impressed with is how Briggs fleshes out minor characters I had only a passing interest in before. She really made so much more out of the Fae in this one, and I found myself really fascinated with Zee and Tad in particular. Tad, especially, has been only a very minor character in the first few books, has become a slightly more important character in the last few. He's just cool, becomes more interesting every time we see him, and I'd like to see more of him around. We find out about someone who is "fire touched" much as Tad and Zee are "iron kissed" and that person becomes a key player as the book progresses.

We also get to see Bran and a bit of Charles as well as some vampire friends and of course the werewolf pack. I always love it when Briggs spends some time showing us how the pack works things out, whether it's through little memories Mercy has of growing up in Montana, or showing them having a pissing contest in the house. The group dynamic and how the secondary characters, who are some of the most beloved in the series, play off each other is what makes this series great, and there was plenty of that here. But this one is definitely mostly about the Fae, and the majority of the story stays there, something the narrative doesn't suffer for. It will be interesting as the stories continue to unfold how things will work out as politics become more complex for Mercy and all her friends. 5/5 stars. ( )