On Adam: A Review of Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

This poor book--it arrived right in the middle of my reading slump, so it took me way too long to finish it. The good news is, after all of that, I did not hate it. Mercy is like an old friend to me, and I'm always happy for a new book about her, and even more happy to see her with Adam. Which is why I was so bummed that he was kidnapped.

The book opens up with Mercy and Jesse getting into a car accident, and then finding out that the entire pack has been taken. Mercy uses her mate bond with Adam to contact him, finding him pissed off and in pain, in the hands of men who want him to kill a US senator and thus start a war. Mercy wants to rescue Adam, but her first priority is to protect his daughter, Kyle (Warren's mate).

I like that Mercy is still discovering the extent of what she is and what her powers are. She's always been appealing because she appears to be one of the weakest supernatural beings in her world, and yet she has hidden depths. This book specifically comments on her will and her stubbornness, and how she uses that to overcome impossible odds. It also shows us that she has some pretty serious and mysterious magic--she can do things that no one has ever heard of, and that makes her a wild card.

I've always found Adam likeable, in that usual alpha-shapeshifter kind of way. He's brave, loyal, self-sacrificing, and he actually likes Mercy for all of her flaws. I enjoyed the fact that we got to see a lot of him in this book, and that he was able to be at his most commanding despite getting his ass kicked and suffering major losses. I liked that some of the passages were more from his point of view, which helped to put a different spin on the state of things.

I liked that this book employed so many familiar and well liked characters from previous books--Stefan, Zee, Tad, and so forth. Mercy's world has really grown over the course of seven books, and it's interesting to see what the author can do in that well established world--both in terms of explicit plot points and hints of things to come.

Now, the core plot was serviceable, but to my mind not so memorable as some of the past books. That may have a lot to do with the fact that I spent so much time kicking and screaming my way through reading anything, and perhaps even a brilliant plot would have eluded me. But, in any case, while I can appreciate the dire concerns for supernaturals in law and politics, it seems to me that we're never given quite enough scope and context to become truly concerned, because we rarely step out of Mercy's head. I don't know that I got the high resolution big picture that I was meant to get. But that's okay, it was still enjoyable.

So to conclude--Mercy Thomspon should be at the top of your Urban Fantasy TBR if you haven't tried her yet. And this was a nice edition to the series, even if it took me way to long to get through. 4 stars.