Sometimes I don't read one of these for a long time and I start thinking they're too real, too gritty, too bloody; and then I read a new one, or I re-read one, and I breathe through my level 2 catharsis (I save 1 for the rare few that leave me actually dizzy) and I think, with satisfaction: *Yes. Book.* ( )

I'm really not a fan of the recent trend to write in multiple povs and with nonlinear time hops, it doesn't feel right that this wasn't a trend until books 10 and 13... ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of blood, violence, gore, death, captivity, starvation, and controlling behaviour. There are flash back scenes that depict long periods of captivity, torture and abusive behaviour (physical and controlling).

In Soul Taken, Briggs has delivered a smasher of a book that is fittingly spooky for the thirteenth outing for Mercy Thompson. It’s Halloween and the local cinema is showing a B horror movie based on the local legend of a mythical figure called The Harvester. In true Mercy style, there’s of course more than a little truth to the local legend and Mercy and the pack soon find themselves right in the middle of things. It’s not just them this time though; one of the vampires is missing.

It’s Wulfe, one vampire that Mercy and her allies never know what to expect nor the true scope of his powers. He’s a wildcard, and to make matters worse, the leader of the vampires has given the pack an ultimatum; find him or there will be war with the vampires. Marsilia’s strange ultimatum isn’t the only thing that doesn’t make sense, and as Mercy and the Pack start to look into things they find even more questions.

Soul Taken dips a bit more into the horror genre than previous books, and mixing it with the pop culture of horror movies takes the edge off it for readers who might not like their books that dark. It also allows for some excellent conversations with Jessie and Mercy on the subject. The world-building of this book was delicious, and I enjoyed every single moment of it. I especially loved learning more about characters that we’ve known for a long time. This series just keeps getting better!

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( )

This seems to be the current end of the Mercy series which is hard to comprehend. It's not a particularly dramatic or climactic finale, but certainly rachets the tension and danger up for a while, and is much better than a few of the mid-series books.

Set around halloween, all is more or less ok with the pack, recovering from the drama of the previous witch-based dramas. The most pressing need seems to be the dominance struggle with the newly absorbed Sherwood, who's memory as an old and powerful wolf appears to be returning. In the midst of this discussion a damaged Marsella appears and demands that the pack find her Wolfe. Shortly afterwards news reaches them of human deaths marked by wounds caused by a sickle - the latest film having a nemesis of the Soul taker bearing such a weapon, and indeed based on a local legend of events 40 years ago. ( )

Goddamnit, Patty! Every year you come out with one of these and every year you leave a little hook at the end of the story that leaves me desperate for the next one, and now I have another year to wait. ( )