Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand

River Marked River Marked
by Patricia Briggs
Orbit

Supplied for review by Hachette New Zealand

Reviewed By: Jan Butterworth

The first half of the book starts off slowly and focuses on relationships. Mercy discovers Stefan and his menagerie are wasting away, due to apathy. He needs a friend to shake him out of it. After that is sorted, we have Adam and Mercy's long delayed wedding and honeymoon. Readers get appearances from just about everyone important to Mercy.

The second half was an exciting read. The fae loan Mercy and Adam a camper for a honeymoon in a campground where mysterious deaths and disappearances occur. A few days after they get there, they find an injured man in a boat. His friends, who are Native American, show up to help get him to the hospital. They know Mercy is also Native American, and she gets a mysterious visitor who knows who and what she is.

They piece together what's going on - there's a giant, unkillable river monster living in the local river, devouring pretty much everyone it comes in contact with. Its minions include some fierce fey known as otterkins, and once it gets a taste of Mercy, it knows high quality when it sees it!

Mercy is needed to fulfil an ancient Indian tale of a coyote defeating the river devil, something neither she nor Adam are happy about. She also learns about her father - who and what he really was. Mercy is a great heroine – she wins through courage and cunning, with a lot of help from friends.

This book mostly centres on Mercy and Adam's honeymoon. We learn a lot about Mercy's father and her Native American side. We find out that her constantly being in the middle of trouble and change is no accident, it is part of her destiny. We see why she is able to do things that other characters around her cannot. We find out the source of her strength and abilities and why vampires hate Walkers so much.

Another exciting, fast paced and well written read from Patricia Briggs. The Mercy Thompson series keeps getting better and better. I think it’s because the characters learn from the past and evolve, instead of staying the same.

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