2007 Book Log #61: Blood Bound, by Patricia Briggs

[annathepiper]

Blood Bound is the sequel to Patricia Briggs' first urban fantasy, Moon Called, and it continues the story of the mechanic and walker Mercedes Thompson. This one is all about a demon-bonded sorcerer on the loose in the Tri-Cities area--with the added wrinkle that he's also a vampire. Called upon by the vampires to hunt this sorcerer down, Mercy gets pulled further into the politics of both the local vampires and the local werewolves, and gets to juggle conflicting feelings for not only the wolves Adam and Samuel, but now the vampire Stefan as well.

Part of me is a little tired of the whole "girl gets caught up in vampire and werewolf politics and juggles several preternatural boyfriends while trying to learn about the extent of her powers" schtick; it's all too common in urban fantasy these days. On the other hand, Briggs' writing is solid, Mercy is tough and yet remains likeable, and Briggs is taking her time developing the relationships between Mercy and Adam, Samuel, and Stefan, all of whom are interesting characters. And, the possible relationships do remain a sidenote to the main plot, rather than dominating it. I hope this trend continues as the series progresses. Three stars.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I was rather creeped out by the sequence where she's checking out vampire houses, and she hears a victim scrabbling, and idly thinks "gosh, I know how you feel." I didn't necessarily expect that she'd make a move to rescue them, given the situation she was in, but I expected at least wishing she could not indifference.

[annathepiper]

Huh, are you talking about when she's hunting Andre, towards the end? I didn't parse it quite that way at all, at least when she finally got to Andre's house; she did try to get two of his victims out of there before she actually diced him, I noted. But I think I remember the bit where she was in Wulfe's house and heard someone whimpering, yeah.