River Marked by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This Mercy Thompson rubbed me the wrong way a bit.

It's mostly the cliche story of a honeymoon gone really wrong, mostly, but while we're letting Adam lose more and more agency because he isn't Mercy, I get the weird feeling that the storyline needs to be forced into a bigger/badder direction. Specifically, we need to give Mercy a more impressive reveal/background, delving into the source of her shapeshifting, magic resistance, in a way that proves to us that she really is the *something something* chosen one.

And sorry, I get a bit annoyed with that if it's not getting pulled off with panache.

So. Am I happy about the reveal about her parentage?

Slightly. I like the mythos in theory, and I've seen it done well in other places. But this one? I don't know. He seems a bit... tame? Familiar? A lot less tricksy than he should be?

Well, it's not a dealbreaker, but my respect is .. a bit askew.

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