[Book review] River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Click image to purchase from Amazon

I’ve been following the Mercy Thompson books from day one.  I found myself drawn to Mercy’s no-nonsense personality and the realistic characters that she interacts with.  So it was a bit of a surprise to find that her newest book features almost none of the people that readers have come to know and love.  Even so, River Marked is a good addition to the series, full of action and mythology.

Mercy and Adam, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, have finally tied the knot.  Their honeymoon takes them to the Columbia River basin and an idyllic campground all to themselves.  But even on their honeymoon, the pair can’t escape from otherworldly doings.

People have been vanishing around the river at an alarming rate.  While it might seem that it’s merely a rash of drownings, Mercy has caught sight of something odd deep in the water.  And her dreams have been haunted by an enigmatic creature calling to her.  But it’s when the spirit of her father visits her that events really begin to spiral out of control.

As I said earlier, I like the characters that Briggs has created for her series.  Most of this book, however, follows only Mercy and Adam.  While I’ve seen some reviewers who haven’t liked this change, I found it to be one that I enjoyed.  There’s usually a lot going on in Mercy’s life, so it’s nice to see her interactions with Adam outside of the strictures of the werewolf pack and the other supernatural beings that live around them.

It also allows the author to explore the logistics of being an Alpha a little more closely.  That might sound contradictory, given that Adam is away from his pack, but the extended time spent on him and Mercy lets readers see his protective instincts towards her in particular and how they manifest.  Readers have had several books already in which Adam demonstrates his interactions with the pack, but this is really the first time that he and Mercy have been alone together long enough to get a good look at how they work together.

Briggs has finally begun delving into Mercy’s Native American heritage in this novel.  Her writing about the sites in the story is evocative, and the myths that she tells with them make for a compelling combination.  At some point in the not too distant future, I’m probably going to do a Google search to see which of these places are real and if I can find pictures of them.  She gives readers the sense not only of the history of the area, but also of how it is in the present day and age.  Allowing both to exist side by side gives her a varied backdrop against which to tell the story.

The one thing that surprised me was the way in which she included some of the old Native American mythological figures.  I really liked seeing them in the novel, and since the tale deals with shifters in wolf and coyote form, it’s a logical step to take.  But these characters didn’t seem as dangerous as I expected them to be.  I’ve read other novels with Native American figures (Charles de Lint and his portrayals of Coyote and Raven, for instance), and these characters usually exude an air of danger, no matter what their outer seeming may be.  In this novel, Coyote comes across as fairly affable, and it’s not what I expected.  I find it odd to see these beings actually being helpful, honestly.

But there’s plenty enough danger in the Mercy Thompson books to keep the main characters busy for the duration.  River Marked builds even further upon the backstory of its signature character and creates a story that is energetic and engaging.  I always look forward to a new novel in this series, and River Marked doesn’t disappoint.