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shdnx 's review for:
River Marked
by Patricia Briggs
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Absolutely spoiler-free review.
This book of the Mercy Thompson series has left me with very mixed feelings. First of all, I've finished it very quickly, as I had a lot of time on my hands, and I have enjoyed the book. In the other hand, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Despite Patricia Briggs' excellent writing skills, it does show that this is the 6th book of the series.
The book starts of quite slowly: the first half of it focuses on Mercy's an Adam's life and their relationship. It's enjoyable (sort of), but after a while, it gets a little dull. I think this is the greatest flaw of the book, even though Mercy's and Adam's relationship is pictured really well, as it is developing. (It was really interesting to look back to the first book, [b:Moon Called|71811|Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson, #1)|Patricia Briggs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1272070347s/71811.jpg|69530] and see how far they got on the course of the 6 books. Amazing.)
The story really only picks up about halfway through the book, although romance gets more emphasis throughout the whole book than in any of the previous parts of the series. It yet again involves some mystery, but not nearly as much as in the previous books: by the 3/4th of the book we know pretty much everything (keep in mind that the story really hasn't even started until the half of the book!). This was also some disappointment. The final battle, which was really awesome and page-turner in all the previous books, felt... weird, as if the author has run out of ideas and just wanted to end the story quickly. I have expected much, much more.
What I did like however, was that we were introduced to a lot of new characters, and most of the story took place on an entirely location than the previous ones. In fact, none of the old characters (besides Mercy and Adam) really played an important role in this book. They appeared, sure, but not for more than a few lines - and to be honest, I really missed the pack. Now in itself, this wouldn't be a problem - my obsession with the whole pack-thing is too subjective, and I'm trying to keep my reviews as objective as possible - if they were substituted by other characters. But they weren't, in spite of all the new faces we meet. We don't actually get to know any of the new characters, except for one, and this is sort of sad.
The most interesting part of the book was learning about Mercy's roots, at least, for me. There was also a lot of introduction to the Amerindian culture, but for me some reason that part didn't really resonate with me, and it felt more like an obstacle to get through than background information, as it was planted just to the part of the story when things get interesting. So I was kind of like "Okay, okay, that's all cool, but what happens next?!" as I dashed through those pages.
Overall the book was a decent experience. I do feel that, however, the quality has decreased significantly compared to the previous book, [b:Silver Borne|6587387|Silver Borne (Mercedes Thompson, #5)|Patricia Briggs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1258762890s/6587387.jpg|6527865], so I really can't blame Patricia Briggs from taking a short break from the series, as the next part is only scheduled for 2013. That having been said, this is going be a very long two years waiting...
Absolutely spoiler-free review.
This book of the Mercy Thompson series has left me with very mixed feelings. First of all, I've finished it very quickly, as I had a lot of time on my hands, and I have enjoyed the book. In the other hand, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Despite Patricia Briggs' excellent writing skills, it does show that this is the 6th book of the series.
The book starts of quite slowly: the first half of it focuses on Mercy's an Adam's life and their relationship. It's enjoyable (sort of), but after a while, it gets a little dull. I think this is the greatest flaw of the book, even though Mercy's and Adam's relationship is pictured really well, as it is developing. (It was really interesting to look back to the first book, [b:Moon Called|71811|Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson, #1)|Patricia Briggs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1272070347s/71811.jpg|69530] and see how far they got on the course of the 6 books. Amazing.)
The story really only picks up about halfway through the book, although romance gets more emphasis throughout the whole book than in any of the previous parts of the series. It yet again involves some mystery, but not nearly as much as in the previous books: by the 3/4th of the book we know pretty much everything (keep in mind that the story really hasn't even started until the half of the book!). This was also some disappointment. The final battle, which was really awesome and page-turner in all the previous books, felt... weird, as if the author has run out of ideas and just wanted to end the story quickly. I have expected much, much more.
What I did like however, was that we were introduced to a lot of new characters, and most of the story took place on an entirely location than the previous ones. In fact, none of the old characters (besides Mercy and Adam) really played an important role in this book. They appeared, sure, but not for more than a few lines - and to be honest, I really missed the pack. Now in itself, this wouldn't be a problem - my obsession with the whole pack-thing is too subjective, and I'm trying to keep my reviews as objective as possible - if they were substituted by other characters. But they weren't, in spite of all the new faces we meet. We don't actually get to know any of the new characters, except for one, and this is sort of sad.
The most interesting part of the book was learning about Mercy's roots, at least, for me. There was also a lot of introduction to the Amerindian culture, but for me some reason that part didn't really resonate with me, and it felt more like an obstacle to get through than background information, as it was planted just to the part of the story when things get interesting. So I was kind of like "Okay, okay, that's all cool, but what happens next?!" as I dashed through those pages.
Overall the book was a decent experience. I do feel that, however, the quality has decreased significantly compared to the previous book, [b:Silver Borne|6587387|Silver Borne (Mercedes Thompson, #5)|Patricia Briggs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1258762890s/6587387.jpg|6527865], so I really can't blame Patricia Briggs from taking a short break from the series, as the next part is only scheduled for 2013. That having been said, this is going be a very long two years waiting...