Iron Kissed (The Mercedes Thompson Series, #3)

Iron Kissed starts out as a more than competent Fantasy read. You would expect nothing less from the talented Patricia Briggs. Here’s an author who stays true to her genre. If unadulterated, supernatural fare is what you crave, Briggs does a stand-up job of delivering just that.

Events travel at a well-planned out pace. Gruesome murders occur. The wrong people get blamed. Magical objects disappear and true-to-their-nature, magically reappear. Powerful paranormal creatures make dire threats/ play subtle mind-games/ lay out not-so-subtle bone crunching fight sequences. And at the helm of it all, you have the Buffyesque heroine, Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson. Top it off with a believable love triangle that cushions, but never overpowers the main plot and you have another fine offering from the Mercedes Thompson Series.

It’s a steady read. You are reading, sometimes skipping a paragraph or two. It’s okay. Your eyes aren’t out on stalks but you are trudging along...

And then...

*WHAM*

With a handful of pages, Patricia Briggs elevates the book to a whole.new.level.

In a flash, it’s no longer just a slick, smart paranormal read.
It’s a sucker-punching of emotions. It’s a phase when you watch your favourite heroine go through so much physical pain, mental anguish, self-loathing and a debilitating sense of defeat, that you want to tear up whole walls with your bare hands. It’s a spot where a misunderstood, seemingly creepy character puts forth her pain with so much cathartic clarity that your throat closes up. The honesty of the words drives home the fact that reality with all it’s flesh and blood villains can be infinitely more scary than all the fantastical evil that lurks in the myths. It is concise...it is uncomfortable...and it leaves you heavy-hearted with the truth.

And so, the author (who has found an everlasting fan in me), rises from being just an honest writer of Fictional Fantasy to a weaver of poignant words and heartfelt emotions. Not many can do it without sinking in a puddle of purple prose. Briggs, though....pretty much RULES.