River Marked

I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory  issues. Read them at your peril! 

Mercy and Adam have Got married And gone away in a trailer for Their honeymoon To a campground near a river where a monster has been Tempting humans in to the river and eating them Assisted by The local 1st nation Americans, Coyote and others of his kind Mercy saves the world again. Not the best in the series, but entertaining enough. 

Whew, this one was fun and tough. I'm glad it worked out well.

Change is in the air as Mercy and Adam embark on their married life. It will be eventful if their honeymoon is a sign of what's to come. Far from home, Mercy and Adam find themselves in trouble as the River Devil takes an interest in Mercy. It's a wild ride with plenty of danger and new allies, but I found myself missing the usual gang.

The writing and characters are still very good, but there is clearly no plot worth telling. The author went on on a mystic rampage about Indian native myths. Almost a 3.

Another fabulous book. I will admit I didn't like this one as much as some of the others, but I missed the other characters. This was nice though because Adam and Mercy got some alone(ish) time and we could really get to see them in love and relaxed instead of being in love while in dangerous situations.

Glad Stefan got some mentions and that we learned more about Mercy's past!

Of course honeymoon couldn't be without monsters (or devil). Again fun and easy to read. And I really liked that we get to know a little more about Mercy's Indian heritage.

Not my favorite Mercy Thompson book. This one felt a little draggy in the middle. It was interesting to finally get more backstory on her origins though.

Here we have another tale of Mercy Thompson. River Marked started off a bit slower than the previous books, but with good reason. There was a fair amount of relationship development, but once that was out of the way the interesting bits began. The main focus of this book are the fae. Briggs has a great way of dividing up the encounters between the books so that we are not rehashing the same race as a focus. This time the water fae are at fault and we are allowed to learn more of Mercy's past in order for her to find a solution. I enjoyed learning about different walkers and Native American tradition. And I never tire listening to Mercy pick at Adam. She knows all the buttons to press and Briggs make sure the reader laughes at his expense.

I just love this series!! Mercy and Adam are camping on the Columbia River. When Mercy goes in the water to save a distraught fisherman, what she thinks is a weed wraps around her and when she finally gets rid of it, she sees that she has been marked. The fancy camper and campground loaned to them start to seem a little premeditated. Did someone point them in the direction of a monster in the river? Once again, Mercy has good intentions, but finds trouble instead.

I've enjoyed the series and the novel approach to urban fantasy using Native American legends with our more traditional werewolves and vampires. This one incorporates Coyote, Old Man, Wolf, Thunderbird, and other mythical figures into the engaging plot. Mercy and Adam are on their honeymoon when an ancient and magical river monster starts eating families. The book answers many questions about Mercy's family and history satisfactorily.

Briggs never fails to please. This time we get to see Mercy and Adam on their own, away from the pack. It's a very different dynamic, and a nice change of pace. Highly recommended!