Review: Silver Borne

Silver Borne
Patricia Briggs
Urban Fantasy
Mercy Thompson series/Book 5
Berkley/April 2010
Library book

*Spoilers for previous books*

From the inside cover ~

Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shape-shifter, never knows what the day-or night-may bring in a world where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people" (Booklist). But she is about to learn that while some secrets are dangerous, those who see them are just plain deadly...

Mercy is smart enough to realize that when it comes to the magical fae, the less you know, the better. But you can't always get what you want. When she attempts to return a powerful fae book she previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down.

It seems the book contains secrets-and the fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side - leaving Mercy to cover for him lest his own father declare Samuel's life forfeit.

All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she may not have many more...

One of my favorite series and after reading Silver Borne, it still is. Ms. Briggs takes us back to Mercy's world and the pack that Mercy is slowing becoming part of. This time the fae figure prominently in the the story. I like the fae of Mercy's world. I'm not always fond of fae in UF, or witches for that matter. But Briggs writes them well and integrates them into the supernatural world of the Tri-Cities.

Mercy is still living at her trailer with Samuel as her roommate even though she's mated to Adam, the local pack alpha. I keep waiting for her to move to Adam's house, it's putting a strain on the pack dynamics, having the mate of the pack's alpha not living with the alpha. I can't help but think the only way Mercy will cement her position as Adam's mate and get the rest of the pack on the road to accepting her is to move into Adam's house. I get that she doesn't want to leave Samuel alone because he's been on the edge for a long time but as much as I love Samuel, IMO, Mercy's first loyalty should be to Adam.

We get lots of Adam this time around. :) His patience with Mercy sometimes makes me forget he's a werewolf, an alpha used to being obeyed. I love reading about Mercy and Adam and their developing relationship. Silver Borne added more layers to Mercy and Adam. Both as individuals and as a couple. The fact that Mercy lived with Bran's pack helps her deal with her feelings for Adam and her conflicting feelings where his pack is concerned. The pack still hasn't accepted Mercy with open arms, something that Mercy knows is highly unlikely. Add to that the friendship she maintains with Samuel and tension stays high.

Samuel is a lone wolf. He's also standing on the edge and about to go over. He's been barely hanging on, about to lose control to his wolf. All that changes when he makes a decision that forces Mercy to come to his and his wolf's aid. Sam (Samuel's wolf) is such a fascinating character to read. I loved seeing this side of Samuel. We usually don't see much of the animal side of shape-shifters in UF or PNR unless they're in attack mode. That wasn't the case here. Sam is a wolf that can interact with others without going into attack mode. The war of power play that we see between Samuel the man and Sam the wolf gives the reader a view of what goes on inside the shape-shifters. The difference here is we get to see it played out, in person, with Samuel and his wolf.

I've always liked Mercy and that hasn't changed. She still works hard at her garage and doesn't want special treatment because she's Adam's mate. Although, it would be nice if some of the pack didn't treat her with such disdain. We again see Mercy's determination and loyalty regarding her friends. She is determined to help Samuel/Sam and her loyalty makes things difficult when she must side-step questions from both Adam and Bran about Samuel. She has to tread a fine line when skipping around the truth with the two alphas.

As I mentioned the fae figure heavily when Mercy tries and fails to return a book and gets caught up in a fight over the book. The tension in Adam's pack hits a peak and Briggs shows us one way that conflicts are dealt with in the pack. I loved the parts with the pack and learning more about the inner workings. Mercy also takes a more active role as the alpha's mate which also helped with the story arc. I was glad to see this since I felt something needed to happen with regards to Mercy's standing in the pack. She couldn't maintain her distance without weakening Adam's control over the pack.

While I liked learning more about the fae, I did feel that and the romantic element regarding Samuel were the weakest points of the story. There was a lot of build up to the finale' of Mercy vs. the fae which is why the defeat was anticlimactic for me. And Samuel's love interest wasn't what I was expecting. I found myself wishing it had been fleshed out more. It felt too much like a quick fix to Samuel's problem. But even with all of that I still loved the book. Still stayed up until 2am reading it. Weird I know, but I think it just goes to the power of Briggs writing that while I had a couple of minor problems they didn't dampen the overall enjoyment of the book.

If you want to read a really great review of Silver Borne, head over and read nath's review. :)

Rating: A-