Not my favourite of the Mercy books but still a solid addition to the series. I liked how some old characters were brought back up and in an interesting way. I got a little bored near the middle but that "battle" at the end made it worth it. I love Wulfe as a character and am really happy we got to see him a little in this book. Plus seeing Zee and Tad working together made my heart really happy. I can't wait to see what kind of trouble Mercy gets into next. ( )

Things have changed around the Tri-Cities since Mercy took responsibility for the safety of citizens in Pack territory. Some evil characters think this means they will be safe from human law and try to set up house there. The big plots in this volume deal with a group of black witches moving in and wanting to take control and a major US Government and Fae meeting being set up to talk about how they will deal with each other. More background comes out about some of the major characters particularly Elizaveta and Sherwood. Wulfe shows up, and Coyote pops up in a scene or dream or two. And of course there is lots of blood shed, battles and a bit of humor before it is all over. Another great addition to the series. ( )

Storm Cursed furthers the wish of the Gray Lords of the fae to make a treaty with the United States Government. Thanks to Mercy's declaration in Night Broken, not only is the meeting place going to be in the tri-cities area of Washington State, Mercy gets to be the go-between representative.

If that's not bad enough, a couple of black witches from the Hardesty family of witches have come to the Tri-cities to take over Elizaveta Arkadyevna Vyshnevetskaya's territory. They have demands for the Columbia Basin Pack and Marsilia's vampire seethe. The Gray Lords want any direct confrontation with said witches to be handled by Mercy and the werewolves. How peachy. Coyote wants the witches dead, but, as he will explain in chapter 8, he can't do it. Instead, he wants Mercy to kill them. Well, Gary did warn Mercy about how Coyote reacts when his children survive a test. Gary passed up on freeing a spirit Coyote wanted freed and Mercy succeeded (see Book 10, Silence Fallen). I suspect that Coyote has elected Mercy his go-to descendant for difficult tasks he can't do himself. As a fan of this series might expect, Mercy's first response is hardly a, 'Yes sir! Will do, sir!'

We bid Cookie, Joel and Luisa's rescue dog an off-page farewell as she is taken to a new home, not incidentally saving Luisa's life.

Medea, Mercy's cat, gets mentioned, but doesn't get to do much. Jesse Hauptman has only one short scene.

On the other hand, we get to learn a bit more about some of the other werewolves in the pack and even meet a couple of wives and children. Sherwood Post shows some unexpected abilities his wolf remembers even when he doesn't. Mercy even gets Mary Jo to think about the latter's belief that Christy was a better wife for Adam than Mercy is. (It's about time!)

Senator Jake Campbell, who is very hostile to the fae, and whom the rogue Cantrip agents wanted the Columbia Basin Pack to assassinate (see book seven, Frost Burned), has reasonably big role in this book. I'm sure he would have preferred to skip some of that role. I like his assistant, Ruth Gillman, although I'm sure she'd have been thrilled to skip one of her scenes.

Uncle Mike and Stefan Uccello fans should be happy they show up here (the Mystery Machine as well!). Uncle Mike's role is bigger than Stefan's. Larry the Goblin King also has a role, though I am sorry for one part of it.

Note:

According to phrases.org.uk, 'as safe as houses' goes back to the first half of the 19th century. To quote the site 'So, while the current meaning of ‘as safe as houses’ is ‘secure; without risk’, to the Victorians it meant ‘certainly; without doubt’.' ( )

Much, much better than Silence Fallen. All the old elements that make this such a good Series are back. The only quibble I habe is the sudden appearance of “gray witches”. Always before it was black or white; now there’s gray? ( )

Good as the series gets, another installment involving all of the powers: fae, werewolves, vampires and the witches. The US gov is prepared to meet with the fae to discuss an amicable peace and of course Mercy's Tri-Cities is the ground chosen for this because it's supposedly neutral. However someone seems to be going out of their way to disrupt the talks and the number of suspects is quite large, ranging from disaffected humans all through to the fae factions themselves.

Mercey and crew discover that some other witch covens are also on the scene and while the miniature-goat zombies were amusing things rapidly get less so. For once it didn't feel like Mercy was in mortal danger, but several of her various companions for good or for ill and now no longer able to assist her. ( )

I so enjoy Mercy and Adam! I love Sherwood too.
Goblin King!!!!
I like how Mercy is growing in her Coyote powers.

Ding dong the witch is dead! Though my heart stopped there for a min. ( )

This story was a little shorter than other books in the series.
A few things to note:
Aiden is practically Mercy and Adam's son which is excellent.
Larry the Goblin King!!!
Mary Jo - ugh with Adam deserves better... Let it go already! Adam chose Mercy.
Pygmy zombie goats!!
At peace Wolfe lol

I really enjoyed seeing Mercy, Tad and Z together.

Ugh witches I can't even with them. I am saddened to see how Elizavetta (sp?) Has gone the dark route. There at the end I was freaking out with the kiss though I love how Adam delt with it.
I like how Mercy is learning how to use her coyote gift..even if she doesn't want to really deal with her connection to the dead ( )

Advance copy provided by NetGalley.

This one is so good, you guys. It reminded me of when I was new to the series and chain smoking my way through the books at an alarming speed. I love it when a book draws me in like this one did. It started with a bang and never slowed down.
The enemies this time around are extra scary, but our heroes have some fairly scary folk on their side too. Mercy has amassed quite the group of allies over the course of the series. Sherwood Post is intriguing, and I was glad he had a prominent role. I loved every scene with Wulfe.
I kind of want to go back and re-read the series (and Alpha and Omega, since they overlap) from the beginning, but I’m worried the books on my to-read pile will get jealous. Maybe I’ll do a re-read before the next book comes out. It feels like there’s still a lot more story to unfold, and I’m here for it.

2019 reread: I decided to go ahead right away and reread the entire Mercyverse—both this series and the Alpha and Omega books, stories, and novellas—and it made me very happy. I really can’t wait to see what happens next in this this world, especially after the surprises in this book. ( )

As with most Mercy Thompson novels, a bit of fluffy brain-candy. Unlike Silence Fallen, the previous entry in the series, Storm Cursed avoids the pitfall of appropriating yet another non-white cultural tradition. (If you ignore the cover art.)

The plot and action override everything else here. Unfortunately, this leaves almost no room for character development. The danger level is ramped up too high, and many of Mercy's most interesting compatriots are left out because they are too vulnerable. Those powerful enough to help out do... but without anything to say or any time to explain themselves if they do have something to say.

Even with those limitations, some old questions are given glimmerings of answers (or at least new threads to be pulled).

This series continues to coast at a comfortable level, and is a reliable popcorn read. ( )

I just can't get enough of this series. Every book is so immediately gratifying -- return to favorite characters, further action-filled step along a long path of story, further unfolding of larger power struggles. Really enjoyed it. ( )

Goblins. Pirate swords. Zombie goats. Hunting trips in the middle of the night. Strange magic that smells of dark witches. Alas, Mercy’s job is never done. I loved the return of some of our favorite characters in this… Mary Jo, Ben, Tad and Zee with such awesome roles to play (they’re some of my favorites!) Sherwood! And Wulfe! Gosh there were some great scenes with Wulfe!

This was a GREAT return to what felt like classic Patty Briggs with nifty supernatural worldbuilding, crafty plots to take down our favorite werewolf pack by (this time witches) and Mercy and her friends coming together in an epic battle royale to save the day. It looks like we’re leading up to major conflict between the humans and the Fae, which I really hope plays out in the next books. It was awesome getting so much Tad and Zee. Tad was such a bad ass in this one! We lost a few characters. I was somewhat surprised with one. There was a tiny bit of Stefan, but it was sad Stefan ☹ and kind of hard scenes to read. You really get the feels for the complexities his bond creates with Mercy. I love the way PB writes her characters. There was also a certain death scene that turned a character around for me and I thought was especially well done. And Wulfe the surprise White Witch? Bwahaha! I soooo loved Wulfe in this one! A sentence I thought I would never say! Look forward to seeing where this goes.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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This was better than the last Mercy Thompson book (Silence Fallen, I think?), so at least there's that.

So Briggs has done away with the Adam POV - thank God, those were like nails on a chalkboard. It's all in the Tri-Cities, so we don't have to deal with the weird Bran complication mentioned in the last book (Seriously, not everybody needs to not-platonically-love Mercy. I thought we'd mostly wrapped that up when she got married except for occasional Stephan stuff. Don't add more!).

The final villain wasn't quite as shoehorned as in Burn Bright, but I guess we're in that late-stage-long-series phase where there are too many characters, and it's easier to start paring down who we have rather than only introduce a new enemy. I still didn't love the resolution, but at least it was a person who'd been more morally ambiguous through the series.

So this still wasn't as fun as the first few books, but at Briggs has recovered a bit from the tailspin.

(and I'll still keep reading) ( )

My rating would indicate I wasn't all that thrilled with this book, but I was. I thought it was a very solid entry in the series – it holds its own – though it isn't the best.

I had, overall, three disconnects with the book that stick in my mind after 24 hours. From least important to most they are:

1. The blurb set up an unreasonable expectation for me. The blurb, coupled with the cover, made me think of the scene in X-Men 3, where Jane Grey unleashes the mother of all temper tantrums. The reality in this book, while horrifying in itself, is rather underwhelming in comparison; it's not really a storm so much as it's a killing spree.

2. I get it: Mercy really doesn't like being bound to Stefan, even though she freely admits she consented and that he's never, ever done anything to abuse her trust or exploit said bond. To Mercy I say: get over it already.

3. And this is really the stickler, the reason I rated a story I mostly enjoyed so low: animal cruelty and death. I get it - the story is about black magic that feeds on suffering - and I don't care. I did not like the long swaths of descriptions; the story didn't need it either - it was horrifying enough without Briggs putting images in my head I'm really not happy about. I frankly skipped large sections of the book when I discovered she was running with this "theme". I can't believe I didn't DNF the damn thing, though the rest of the story was good enough that I'm glad I didn't. But I'll vet her next books far more closely in future and I'm skipping any that appear to revisit this crap.

Beyond those things, the story really was good. I loved Sherwood's part in the story even though it was shades of Bran; Briggs still made it work well. I found Larry the Goblin King sort of funny, and definitely intriguing - I enjoy stories about, if not underdogs, people who are underestimated. It sounds like the goblins are woefully underestimated. I have mixed feelings about Elizaveta, though I'll probably not miss her, and I enjoyed Mercy finally figuring out that her own strengths were unexplored. It took her long enough, but at least she got there in the end.

Overall a strong story if you can overlook the animal cruelty, which I can't. My enthusiasm for this series has suffered a significant hit; I won't go so far as to say I'm done, but I'm certainly looking at the next release with a lot more circumspection. ( )

There's a lot a grisly witch action in this installment, tying in nicely with previous threads of the story but also taking it in new directions. Some aspects of the story were a bit complicated but it is, as usual, a great book. ( )

In this adventure, Mercy finds herself inundated with zombies. At first it's zombie goats, then a zombie werewolf attacks from within her own home. Making zombies is witch business, but the pack witch is MIA and possibly under attack by a coven new to the area. Of course this is all coinciding with an extremely secret meeting between the U.S. government and the Fey. The hope is that a long-standing peace will be established but terrorist threats are making it difficult.

When the witches take Adam and a U.S. Senator captive, Mercy will have to scrape the bottom of her pool of allies to avoid getting more werewolves killed. Black magic is a terrifying enemy to combat, but she can think of a few people who are scarier still.

Alas, Ms. Briggs is back to her old tricks - spending too much time explaining things at length rather than letting the story unfold. There's lots of exposition in this book - most of it taking place within Mercy's head. It gets tedious and robs her characters of much of their mystery. This book is definitely full of action, too full really. There's no time to breathe between disasters which really makes it feel like nothing is that serious. Also, Mercy is now walking around at all times with a cavalry saber? Because... something something something pirates? It's more than a little silly. This series jumped the shark awhile ago, but the sword thing really underlined that for me. ( )

It's been a while since my last re-read/listen through the Mercy Thompson books. I had forgotten just host much things had been changing on a larger world building scale in the last few books: since Mercy put herself and her pack on the line defending the people and territory of the Columbia Basin, things have gotten complicated. And dark. And did I mention complicated?

It's fascinating world building.

I think my favorite thing about the series remains the fact that the Fae have been out for decades and the werewolves for years now. There are still a few oddities/things that haven't seemed to change as much I think they would. But it's great to read about. And here, with all three groups coming to the table for actual negotiations and politics? Fascinating.

I also love hearing more about goblins and witches. Especially after seeing so many of the witch plotlines from the Alpha & Omega point of view, seeing Mercy's different background with witches (Elizaveta!) and take on their powers is wonderful. It's fascinating seeings how big of players witches are becoming in both universes despite only very rarely being core characters / never points of view.

Also... so much more Wulfe. I... have no idea what to think about him. As with many of the very old in the Mercy Thompson universe, he actually does feel just off enough to actually be his age. And it makes me want to know so much more...

"A lot of what I know about the witches comes from Wikipedia; it told me that coven had thirteen witches."

"I get the best spells from Wiki," Wulfe said. "Have you read what it says about werewolves? I keep editing the article, but someone - and I think it's Bran Cornick - keeps changing it back."

Oh Wulfe. ( )

I have been a fan of the Mercy Thompson series from the very beginning, with MOON CALLED, and always look forward to a new entry into the series. I appreciated the change up last time around when the action took place in Europe, but it was enjoyable to get back to the home front in this latest entry.

This time around the plot focuses on the witch who the Pack uses, Elizaveta Arkadyevna Vyshnevetskaya (and that's a mouthful)! When her entire family is slain while she is out of the country, Elizaveta relies on Mercy and her pack connections to figure out who is using black magic for nefarious means in the area. The action in this installment excludes a number of the usual crew, but we readers don't mind, so long as they show back up in the next title in the series!

STORM CURSED has some descriptions of torture that were hard to read (and I skimmed); and though I know this has been present in other books in the series, it was a bit over the top for me, with human and animal torture included. That is why I have withheld one start, as a 5 star read is one I can recommend with NO reservation.

I'm thrilled that STORM CURSED made the LibraryReads list, and apologize that I couldn't get this one read before publication. This series always circulates well here, and I buy multiple copies when they are released. Thanks for the opportunity to read a digital galley! Always appreciated. ( )

*Trigger warning - animal abuse.

I stopped reading this book some time last year, but didn't remember why. When I saw the next book in the series was coming out, I though, "ooh, I need to catch up before starting Smoke Bitten (which came out in March, 2020). I got the book out again and settled back into the Urban Fantasy world of coyote walker/mechanic Mercy Thompson, and all the characters I've gotten to know over the years I've been reading the series.

Not too far into the book, I remembered why I stopped. There is a very graphic scene of animal abuse (puppies and kittens) which is done by some evil/bad witches to increase their powers.

Authors: if you decide to add animal torture to a book in a series, you are going to risk losing new fans and alienating old ones. I realize that it must be hard to come up with new plot points and conflict/tensions in a long-running series. But this is not the way to do it.

I skimmed that part of the book, and will say that, for the most part I enjoyed the rest of it. I have read this series since the first book came out, and if you are an Urban Fantasy fan, you will love it. As a librarian, I have recommended it to men and women both at the library, and never heard a negative comment about it.

In this latest book, Mercy and her pack discover that someone has been raising zombie animals, and proceed to investigate this unusual state of affairs. Which is when we get to the evil bad witches and their black magic with baby animals. After moving on from that part of the book, it proceeds fairly smoothly in the same manner of the rest in the series. Great dialogue, action scenes, and family dynamics among the pack.

I have the next book in the series, and do look forward to reading it. I don't give up on an author or series just because I'm disappointed with both, one or two times in 10 years. But, as I said, this is not the best way to add something new and different and shocking to a story. ( )

Since Mercy declared the Tri-Cities under the protection of the pack she's called on frequently to deal with problems. And her mate Adam is off in secret meetings with government to facilitate a meeting with the Fae. In one day she's dealing with a murdering goblin hiding in a barn, chatting with the 'Goblin King' Larry and then off to deal with miniature zombie goats. There's simultaneously a lot going on but the pacing is a bit slow.

She and the pack uncover black witches, plotting to move into their territory, as well as learning more about Sherwood and Mercy's new abilities. The government uses a loophole to drag the entire pack into handling security for their meeting with the Fae and eventually the two issues collide together.

I loved seeing Zee, Tad and Uncle Mike helping Mercy. This book left lots of hints for future stories. I read this straight through and really enjoyed it. It's not just about the paranormal action but the daily lives as well. Patricia Briggs brings these characters to life in such a way that you don't want to leave their world.

More of my reviews can be found at https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/
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what the hell did I just read ( )

Awesome

Mercy is back and is as chaotic as ever. I love her and the pack. I liked seeing more of Sherwood Post. Coyote is as tricksy as ever. Now I have to wait for a whole other year for the next one. ( )

So. I initially was just going to give this three stars and move along. However, after thinking it through this morning, this book honestly doesn't deserve 3 stars (okay). This book's pacing was off, there was about zero character development, too much repetition, and I think at one point I even said to myself that this book was just filler. It's a book to bridge to the next Alpha/Omega book or the next Mercy Thompson. The book synopsis on this one sounded so bad ass and it had me convinced to go ahead and buy/read this even though the last Alpha/Omega book left a bitter taste in my mouth. Now I am just mad that I didn't suck it up and wait for it via my library. I don't know constant readers if this series is meant to go on. Maybe if Briggs decides to do some books set pre-Mercy that follow some of the interesting events mentioned in this and other books. I feel like the Mercy/Adam thing is getting boring and I am just so done with the black witches plots.

"Storm Cursed" follows after not only the last Mercy Thompson book, but also Alpha/Omega. Mercy is now training with a cutlass (I maybe laughed a few times not in glee about this) and carries it with her everywhere. After being kidnapped in the last book, apparently the cutlass has everyone calm about her protecting herself. I don't know, it makes no sense to me. Due to Mercy and her proclamation of sanctuary she and the Pack are involved with more disputes. And now Adam and the Pack are being asked to give security to a delegation including the United States government and also the fae. However, per usual, someone wants to throw a wrench in there and stop this meeting from going down. Supernatural things occur. The end.

The characters in this one were all over the place. I can tell you right now that I would have been happy to not read that Adam is most likely a Republican and voted for a President that sounds similar to Donald Trump. I just cannot today right now.

So Mercy. I don't get why at this point she doesn't start to punch the next werewolf that talks crap about her compared to Adam's first wife. I loathed the character of Christy and the fact that the Pack had the nerve to treat Mercy like an outsider when she popped back up in "Night Broken" (Mercy Thompson #8) still ticks me off. And yet Briggs has the character of Mary freaking Jo bring up again how Mercy is not good enough for Adam and he needs someone delicate like Christy. Hey you all remember how Adam put out that whole I will kill the next person who disrespects my mate in "Fire Touched"? Well it's nice that it's referenced, but ignored in this one. At this point I would not weep if Mary Jo had a bad end. I am over Mercy trying to get these idiots on her side. We also don't have Mercy really interacting with any of the long time favorites in this one besides Adam. We get brief appearances of Ben, Warren, (we hear about Kyle), I don't recall Jessie being around, etc. She meets up with Stephen and once again I don't want to hear about the bond or any of that crap anymore. Either Mercy does something about it, or just moves on from it. I swear we spent too much time inner monologuing with Mercy in this one. There's not a lot of development with Mercy though in this one besides one or two things that may be interesting in future books. I just wish she got more female friends and started to actually push back when people treat her badly. It's getting old.

Adam. See above.

Secondary characters we have followed get some more screen time in this one. We have a lot of focus on Zee and Tad which was welcomed. However, I call BS on a whole subplot dealing with Zee having to face repercussions from the Gray Lords if he helped Mercy. Either follow through or quit bringing it up.

Stephen reappears in this one and also Marsilla (via phone) as I said, it's crazy to me how so many scenes dealt with Mercy talking to someone via phone, text, etc. Yet we get about 20 mentions of this stupid Pirate game all of the werewolves love.

We have mentions of Bran (shudder) and Charles, but no appearances and that makes zero sense after the events in the last book. What irks me is that Briggs tries to write around this by saying that no one can know that Bran is still really connected to the Pack cause he cares about Mercy. Yeah but based on the plot in this book and the last Alpha/Omega book there's no freaking way that they would not have called at least Charles. It's beyond stupid. There's also a throwaway line about Bran's traitor that made me roll my eyes.

Speaking of traitors...is this going to be a thing every book? Long time characters we have gotten to know totally pop up not being who they have been through 11 freaking books? I won’t spoil, but I hated this entire plot and thought it was not well thought out at all.

And I just realized that Samuel has been missing for like 5 books. I guess he's just gone now. Along with Mercy's supposed female friends and half sisters.

Also there's a whole character that is introduced in this one who is apparently a gay woman who is married and has the nerve to call the Pack and fae abominations and how they are against Christianity and how no one didn't just hold up a mirror to her face and walk away from her is beyond me. I know people are this clueless in real life, but it made zero sense. There's also some language about ICE and how those with brown skin are being treated. If Briggs wants to touch upon the terribleness of the US government now that's fine, but the fact she turned Adam into a Republican. I am now rooting for him to get taken out by a rogue witch or werewolf.

Seriously though, this book was just not great. The pacing was so bad from beginning to end. I saw a lot of reviewers complaining about how slow it was. It wasn't just that in my opinion. We have Mercy and Adam going over everything regarding the events in Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson #7) and I just didn't want to relive all of that. It was beyond tedious and the reasoning and linkages did not make a lot of sense and I saw a couple dozen plot holes. At one point I was tempted to quit at 40 percent due to nothing really happening yet.

The world building in the Mercy Thompson series has always been one of its biggest strengths. I have to say though after what happened in "Burn Bright" I no longer want to hear about how werewolves can detect a lie. We already know that's not true and even in one scene again the werewolves that Mercy were with didn't catch the falsehood. So let's stop repeating it in every book.

The whole thing with witch-born people. Look it matters cause of Bran and Charles and all, but woo boy at this point we know that they have different reactions to magic. It's the 11th book. I don't need to have to keep reading how magic doesn't work on Mercy the way it does on others. If you somehow stumbled onto this as your first Mercy Thompson book that's not my fault. The author should realize that she's writing for long time readers, not pop-ins.

The ending was just a mess. It doesn't seem like this series is going to have a good stopping point and I wonder if there is a way to course-correct. ( )

Plans are underway for a meeting of officials from the US government and the Grey Lords in the territory of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack. There are so many things that can go wrong that Mercy would be hard-pressed to even make a guess as to how many.

What she hadn't factored in were a group of witches - a horribly powerful group of witches - who definitely don't want that meeting to take place. Interference from Coyote is also making things more difficult for Mercy because, as always, Coyote has his own agenda.

With Adam busy trying to remain neutral while being under contract to provide security for the meeting due to a bad contract lawyer and an almost forgotten line in an old contract, Mercy has to call in some old friends and some old enemies and some new friends to deal with the witches.

This episode brings in threads from earlier books in the series but stands alone quite well. I love Mercy's relationship with Adam and her growing bonds with the werewolf pack. I liked seeing Zee and Tad and even Uncle Mike again. I enjoyed meeting the Goblin King and, like Mercy, wonder about his cryptic comments about the future.

The book is filled with action and packed with magic. It was an exciting story that kept me up late because I couldn't go to sleep until I knew what happened. ( )

I came late to the Mercy Thompson series. I read the first book, "Moon Called"in January 2017, nearly eleven years after it was published and was hooked immediately. This was Urban Fantasy as I'd always hoped it would be. I've been playing catch up ever since and it's been tremendous fun.

"Storm Cursed", book eleven in the series, was the first one I'd had to pre-order (OK, was too impatient NOT to pre-order) so I'm finally up to date.

I did wonder how this book would go. Many series start to fade by the time they get to book eleven. Book ten, "Silence Fallen" had tried to stay fresh by moving the venue to Europe and telling some of the story from Adam's point of view. It was fun but I hoped for a return to a Mercy-centric story.

When "Storm Cursed" arrived, I pushed my current book aside and dived in.

It was wonderful: familiar but vibrant and with enough new things to keep it fresh. I love that feeling of coming home to a book.

The good things were:

"Storm Cursed" goes back to telling the story from Mercy's point of view. I like being inside her head. She's not quite the same Mercy. She's a little more cautious, a little cannier, a lot more powerful and very, very aware of her need for friends and allies.

The witchcraft-centred plot worked well for lining Mercy up to call on all of her allies, vampire, fae, goblin, even her half-brother, to win the day.

Mercy's snarky humour still works for me and the action scenes delivered.

The things that didn't work well:

Pack dynamics haven't moved on. I struggle to believe that Mercy is still getting hassle from the likes of Mary-Joe

Yet again, Adam, the Pack and Bran get sidelined. I see that this puts Mercy centre stage but it's wearing a little thin.

Yet again we have evil but incompetent government folks making a mess. I know that, given the current occupant of the White House, the government being evil and incompetent might be taken as a given but in Mercy's world I'd hoped for a little development.

The whole thing with the cutlas seemed odd. An M16 or even a Ka-Bar knife I could see coming in handy but a cutlas only works in video games.

I'm a fan, invested in the series and I had a good time but… I do wonder where we go from here.

Nevertheless, I'll pre-order book twelve when it becomes available. In the meantime, I'll catch up on the Alpha Omega books where I've only read book 0.5 and book 1. ( )

Possibly the nastiest Mercy story I've read - black witches and zombies. Betrayal, from some very unexpected angles. And help from some equally unexpected ones. As usual, Mercy got involved and plans that have been in train for decades, maybe centuries got thoroughly derailed. I don't know what she did to Wulfe - it will be interesting to see what happens in later stories. Very rich. And mildly amusing, after so many stories about werewolf and vampire and fae politics, to get one with a large dose of human politics in it. ( )