Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Reviewed for MonsterLibrian.com’s Werewolf Month

Ace Fantasy, 2008
ISBN:9780441015665
Available: New and Used

Coyote walker Mercy Thompson has faced killer werewolves and has gotten mixed up in vampire feuds, but in Iron Kissed she is roundly told to keep out of fae business. Her friend and mentor, Zee, is being set up for the murder of a cop (who wasn’t exactly innocent), by the local cops, and the Gray Lords are willing to sacrifice Zee to keep fae secrets hidden. But Mercy refuses to abandon her friend, no matter what everyone around her says, or what it might cost her.

This is possibly the darkest Mercy book so far. Still reeling from the events at the end of the last book, Mercy is questioning herself and her actions. This book takes her to terrible places, where the reader might have trouble following her. Briggs expertly portrays the fae in the tradition of Grimm’s fairy tales, complex creatures that despise humans, except as toys, but are strangely dependent on them.

Iron Kissed and the other books in the series are recommended for public libraries, and for private collectors who like dark fiction, but might be tired of the familiar tropes of horror.