Silence Fallen

Wow. I like Mercy - mostly - but this may be the best one yet. Pretty standard start, with Mercy attacked and kidnapped (Mercy's in trouble, so what else is new). The villain is new and...complicated. But the whole thing with Mercy loose in Europe, and tripping over a whole bunch of unfinished matters there, is great. Particularly the bit Gary Laughingdog left for her - sheesh! Libor is also a very complicated person - there are a lot of them in this story. Old supernaturals tend to get that way. A lot of not quite saying what's expressed, a lot of outright manipulation. I am highly amused to think that with all the plots within plots, Coyote had the last word (or first), without even being there. A very rich story; a lot of insight show more into some characters who have been around the whole time, and some who are newer. The jumping back and forth in time only bothered me once - when we get two Mercy chapters (intentionally) out of order; that was annoying. Cheating, sort of - done purely for the cliffhanger. The rest was pretty clear (and yes, the chapter headings helped). Bran's part was interesting, but I was annoyed - that was author fiat. I'm not sure who was fooled and who was just going along with it. I was definitely fooled, though I did notice he was older and had more tricks up his sleeve than appeared at first. Love it, makes me want to read more in this series...I may do a partial reread, at that.
Reread - this time I particularly noticed how much of a spoiler Mercy is. How many plots and plans and schemes swirling around her - and not one of them completed the way the plotter intended. I don't know if it's Coyote's heritage (though his was one of the plans she spoiled) or just Mercy...but it's been true throughout the series and is particularly pointed here.
I have the latest Mercy, but this one's been nagging at me - so I reread. I remembered a lot of it, especially Bran - which did nothing to detract from the story. Still my favorite Mercy, I think. show less

Mercy is kidnapped by vampires and is taken to Europe, where she escapes, but has no clothes, no money and no passport and must stay on the run until Adam can find her and neutralise the threat to herself and her pack.

I'll admit I was less enthusiastic about this one that I normally am about the books in this series, because my first thoughts ran along the lines of 'oh, yay. Woman in peril who must fight to survive and over come obstacles over and over again.'

I could not have been more wrong. Yes, there are perils and obstacles, but they are more than balanced out by moments of control and action and intelligence. This book was also far more about political negotiations and intelligence analysis, if you'll excuse the out-of-place term show more here, and I loved that. This felt like a far more intelligent novel that the previous books.

And for the first time in I can't even remember how long, I was totally blown away by the twist. Never. saw. that. coming. I actually exclaimed 'holy sh*t!' out loud. Well played, Briggs. Absolutely brilliant.

There wasn't anything I didn't thoroughly enjoy in this book; I had no complaints at all. show less

"I'm a mechanic, I fix things that are broken. I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote. I have powerful friends. But when it comes right down to it, my real superpower is chaos"
-Mercy Thompson Hauptman, while sitting in a cage, waiting

Oh my, Mercy has been kidnapped and dropped into unfamiliar territory. Just when she thought she had met all the scariest of powerful beings she wakes up....in Milan, in the clutches of the Lord of the Night himself. Great Mercy....now what are you going to do? Adam is in the US and can't reach you through the bond. Stefan too is going crazy trying to figure out where you are and why he can barely "feel" you. Heck even Marsilia is having a fit over your disappearance.

Now who else but Mercy could bring show more together werewolves, vampires, goblins, and one freakishly powerful witch. And they are all working together. To rescue her. Again.

I'm not one for giving spoilers (it's been done to me a time or two and ruined the experience of discovery for myself). I will point out what I liked.

Mercy "talks" to us at the beginning of each chapters. Just like tidbits and observations. It comes in handy seeing as her and Adam are separated and their POV's aren't told concurrently. It could be a little confusing if you weren't paying attention or re-reading it as I was reading it the first time to make sure I didn't miss anything. You know how PB likes to drop little hints here and there if you pay attention.

Mercy's action is primarily the front half of the book and Adam is the last half. Not a bad thing just used to them being more together in battle...both of wits and physical ones. We do learn a little more about her gifts that came along with her heritage. (Coyote really knows how to screw with folks....and from the sounds of it if her brother, Gary Laughingdog, had done his part way back when this might not have happened. )

We heard Marsilia and Stefan talk about the Master in Milan, Lord of the Night, Iacopa...now known as Jacob. He's bad, he's temperamental, and he has his own hidden agenda. Woulfe, damn you, you started the ball rolling this time, hope Adam is allowed to kick your ass a bit. But all is not well within his seethe; his witch went missing, his pet werewolf is going off the deep end, and he's addicted to her blood. Yup, welcome to the world of the screwed up boogeymen.

We meet Libor, Alpha of the Vltava Pack. He's been mentioned once or twice in passing before as being a badass and not a fan of Bran's. There is bad blood between them and no one is saying what happened just that it's legendary the feud between those two.

And of course, the being Mercy accidentally meets/releases/owns ...the Golem of Prague. Another boogeyman we had only heard whispers of but didn't really think could be real. Silly us.

I love the twists and turns. The way folks just take for granted that Mercy is going to get in trouble, get herself out of trouble and cause someone a migraine (or a pain three feet lower) for someone. I simply adore the fact that while Adam thinks it's his "job" to keep her safe, he let's her try and do for herself. As long as he can "feel" her through their bond he can remain calm enough not to go charging around just killing whomever gets in his way. I love that yes, Mercy can find herself "caught", at the wrong end of weapons, or in the clutches of bad guys but she thinks things through. She recalls information she's heard or been told directly in forms of stories, history or just simple conversation. She takes the time to analyze what she should do and if her inner Coyote whispers in her ear she'll follow instinct and act. She's never played the victim even though the others around her are bigger, stronger, faster, and have more magic; she just knows she's going to have a little more brain power to figure out how to even the playing field.

Where Mercy's adventures will take her from here, who knows. Especially since her reputation will now be known world wide.

***I won an ARC of this book and agreed to post an honest review in return*** show less

I last read (/ listened to) the Mercy Thompson books back in 2016, so I thought it was about time to go through the series (plus the Alpha and Omega books) again. Imagine my delight when I saw both series had a new entry!

“I'm a mechanic; I fix things that are broken. I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote. I have powerful friends. But when it comes right down to it, my real superpower is chaos."

After the fallout of the deal with the werewolves and fae of a book ago, it seems someone (*cough* Wolf *cough*) told the Master of Milan that the most powerful being in the Tri-Cities... was Mercy. So of course he has to go and kidnap her and drag her to Europe, leading to all of Mercy's 'friends' (Adam, Marsilia, goblins[^sayhuh], and a show more young werewolf named Matt Smith[^who]) come to rescue her while Mercy leads everyone on a wild chase across Europe after she escapes (spoilersish, but of course she's going to escape...).

It's a solid book and feels both more grounded than fighting alongside Native avatars or against volcano gods while at the same time, expanding to a more worldly scope, seeing how the things go bump in other corners of the world.

This is definitely among my favorites of the Mercy Thompson series. It doesn't look like there's any end in sight, so I'm looking forward to a few years from now where I can listen to the whole thing for a fifth reread!

[^sayhuh]: Did I miss something? Everyone talks about the goblins like they're core characters to this world, but I don't really recall much about them before. Perhaps a side story or in the new Alpha and Omega? It's nothing world breaking, just felt weird.

[^who]: Got the Doctor reference, but the rest... totally missed that. Well played Patricia Briggs. show less

Well I'll be honest. The main reason why this book is five stars for me is because of the awesome awesome reveal that we get about a character that I was ultimately dismissive of while reading. I ended up having to go back and reread parts of the book though after that reveal and just chuckle to myself. I think long-time readers are going to love it, no spoilers.

Until that reveal I was probably firmly in the four-star range territory just because we have read previous books about either Adam or Mercy being abducted and being away from each other and how they do without being able to feel one another.

I think I'm just getting a little bit bored with the series because at this point with Mercy and Adam declaring themselves protectors of show more everybody in their territory it just kind of means we're going to get some monster of the week type shenanigans happening. I don't know how Briggs will keep topping herself, but it will be interesting. Since series like Kate Daniels have an obvious endpoint, I guess I'm curious to see what will be that point for Mercy. Them taking over more Packs, Mercy having a child?

In "Silence Fallen"we now have Mercy abducted and taken into Europe with Adam and their allies following. Mercy has been taken to The Court of the Lord of the Night. We've been hearing about this vampire for many books and long-time readers know that he is who banished Marsilia from Europe. We also get to see more on how seethes work. And we get a look at a European Pack as well.

There's not too much to say about Mercy. She's the same as she has been since book #1. Loving, loyal, and determined to figure out why she's been kidnapped and could it mean someone is going to hurt her Pack. We get to also see her vulnerable and dealing with some lingering PTSD due to the rape she suffered in "Iron Kissed." Can I also applaud Briggs again for how she set up that storyline and the healing that Mercy has undergone since? I loved we were told that Mercy had gone into counseling and even though it had been a while she still at odd times thinks of Tim and gets angry at how he made her into a victim. But Briggs doesn't allow this moment to make Mercy weak and I like that it's not brought up every five seconds (looking at Eve Dallas in the In Death series) and is something that she seeks to deal with everyday, but doesn't discuss in every book.

Adam we see is still dealing with the affects of when Mercy almost died in "Night Broken". In "Fire Touched" we know that he still woke up at night to make sure Mercy was breathing and would cry. So having Mercy away from him is messing with his control. I also loved his relationship with witch Elizaveta. And we get to see how Adam deals with having vampires, werewolves, and even goblins around him in this one.

We also get some development of characters like Honey, Marsilia, and Stefan. I definitely enjoyed the more in depth look we get at Honey. She's a rock star in this one. She's also, besides Warren, and Ben been nothing but 100 percent loyal to Mercy.

And for once I loved Marsilia. She was fantastic. She's always seemed power mad and just crazy. We get to see how smart and ultimately good she is in this one.

We also get an inkling we may see a Pack member leave soon to start their own Pack.

I really wish we had gotten more than just phone calls with Charles though. I would love him and Anna to put in more than a token appearance in the Mercy Thompson books.

I liked the writing in this one. Each chapter begins with some commentary by Mercy which made me laugh a few times. And since we shift from Mercy to Adam's POV I really enjoyed this. We haven't had an Adam POV since "Frost Burned" and I'm glad we got one here. We get to see Mercy get herself in and out of trouble. And we also get to see how Adam does when he can't feel Mercy through their mate bond. I can see why some vampires think to control a pack through the mate bond, but we get to see more in this book why it won't work on Mercy and Adam.

The flow was tricky though. The story is told in a nonlinear way that would not have given me pains if I wasn't home drugged up on cold medicine. I had to go back a few times to make sure I had the days right.

The setting of Italy and Prague were actually pretty cool in his book. Reading about the Golem of Prague and Rabbi Loew was pretty cool. I always forget that the character of Mercy is fascinated by religion and myths. And who can blame her, knowing whose daughter she is.

The ending was a bit weird though to me. It was kind of anticlimactic. I guess I wanted a bigger hint at what the next book would be about. show less

Mercy's life is settling into a comfortable normality for once. Naturally, this is all about to change. She is blindsided by a semi truck while on an errand to a local convenience store. This was not a simple traffic accident but part of an international conspiracy to destabilize the safe zone around the Tri-Cities. A group of European vampires have traveled around the globe to kidnap Mercy because they were told she is the most powerful being in the region.

Mercy wakes up in a magical holding cell, separated from her pack, her mate, and all her friends. Her captor is the former lover of the head vampire of the local seethe. His plan appears to be to charm Mercy to turn her to his will. He has failed to mark her because she is already show more held by Stephan. When his plans fail, he leaves her alone and Mercy takes this opportunity to escape. Unfortunately, when she does she realizes that she is no longer in America. She has been spirited away to Italy. Boarding a bus in the luggage compartment, she winds up in Prague of all places.

Meanwhile, all the powers of the Tri-Cities are arrayed to barter for Mercy's life. Adam and company are on their way to Europe to negotiate her release. All Mercy has to do is lay low with the local werewolves and stay out of trouble for a few days while Adam catches up with her. Not surprisingly, she almost immediately runs into the remnant of the golem of Prague and inadvertently awakens it.

I actually was surprised with how much I like this book. The characters all definitely benefited from a change of scenery. Prague is such a cool location and it was neat to learn more about the politics of the supernatural beings who inhabit the old world. There were still some cringey places but overall it was pretty engaging. show less

I’ve enjoyed every book in the Mercy series, some more than others. This quickly rose to the top as one of my favorites. I like when Mercy gets embroiled in supernatural politics and the story has as much intrigue and guile as action scenes.

Mercy gets kidnapped by a big bad vampire – one who is equivalent to the Marrok in influence and power. Mercy is separated from Adam for much of the book, so Briggs handles this by having the story alternate between his and Mercy’s POV. I liked this a lot because it provided a different perspective on events.

One of the best things about this character is that despite getting into so much trouble, Mercy is never just a damsel in distress. She has agency, and it’s recognized by other show more characters. This story moved at a brisk pace, with excellent character interactions and solid action scenes. Highly recommended. show less