Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson: Book 5)

9/10

The fifth book of the Mercy Thompson series, our werecoyote heroine is still recovering from her most recent run in with the vicious vampire queen of the local seethe and powerful fae, as well as dealing with her new place as mate of the area’s alpha werewolf and looking after her unstable lone wolf roommate Samuel, when once more somebody kicks down the door.

More involved with the fae and their rare magic-infused objects than anybody would like her to be – an ancient walking stick from folk legend is still appearing out of thin air occasionally for its own mysterious reasons – Mercy also has a book of fae legends, and somebody wants it back. As innocent friends get drawn into danger, Mercy has to again walk into the lion’s den and use her wits, and her magic, to outsmart no less than a fairy queen.

This has been a really enjoyable series so far, with Mercy filling the familiar role of a strong, independent woman who has magic powers and fights against - and with - local vampires, werewolves, and old magic fairy folk, but for me she is best example of this kind of urban fantasy trope as she’s such a fun, unaffected main character. Having been brought up as part of a werewolf pack, her interactions with local alpha Adam’s pack is written really well, with Mercy understanding how werewolves work, particularly with regards to dominance and hierarchy issues regarding female werewolves, but always managing to get her own way. The pack’s structure, how the different pack members act towards one another, and the magical bonds that interlink the members and Mercy, which she is only beginning to understand, forms the main backbone of all of the novels and there is a strong emphasis on wolf behaviour that makes these novels stand slightly apart and have their own feel. I think it is due to Mercy’s unflashy powers and therefore reliance on being able to talk her way out of a situation and use her brains is why I like her so much.

These books are easy to read and follow the basic outline of Mercy getting herself into trouble with somebody very powerful, usually to help somebody else, and everybody having to work together to overcome their differences to beat the ‘Big Bad’ to reference Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but this isn’t putting them down at all – they are highly enjoyable and fun reads with well formed characters who develop throughout the series. Silver Bourne focuses closely on the state of the werewolf pack, as various instabilities have to be worked through, as well as Mercy inadvertently drawing the attention of a powerful fae, and this tightly plotted fifth book keeps up a cracking pace throughout.

I think this is a fantastic series, and would recommend to anybody who enjoys Jim Butcher, Kelly Armstrong and Laurell K Hamilton to name just a few as it definitely stands up better than a lot of similar series in this genre.