Review: Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

“I don’t need to swallow you whole, I don’t need to be in your head at all times. I just need to know you’re there.”

Some books are just worth the wait.  It has been two years since the last Mercy Thompson book was released.  Late 2011 when it was announce that we would be Mercy-less in 2012 I was pretty disappointed.  This series is one of the best UF series out there.  I am happy to say that Frost Burned, even after a two-year build up, did not disappoint.

Mercy and Jesse are out Black Friday shopping when they are in a car accident.  Something odd happened to cause the car accident and it wasn’t Jesse question of when Adam and Mercy were going to have children.  Mercy is not sure what caused her to lose concentration and rear end the vehicle in front of her but it becomes clear when they are not able to get ahold of anyone in the pack.  Mercy also receives a strange text from Bran, someone who never uses text messages.  Mercy and Jesse hitch a ride in the tow truck back to Mercy’s garage.

Once they are at the garage they find Gabriel and an incoherent Ben who is struggling to hold onto his humanity.  They are able to calm him down enough to learn that a group of men posing as federal agents drugged the pack and took them captive.  Even though he was drugged and shot, Ben was able to get to Mercy’s trailer where Gabriel has been staying and force him to drive them to the garage.

Mercy can feel from their mate bond that Adam is angry and in pain.  Once she calms down she is able to almost step into Adam’s body and view what is happening where he is.  She sees the pack hurt and unable to escape.  And she also witnesses a vital member of the pack being killed.  Mercy struggles to comfort Adam and to figure out what she needs to do to save the pack.

When I first read the blurb of Frost Burned I was so bummed to learn that Adam and the pack were separated from Mercy.  Since the books are from Mercy’s pov I assumed that meant we would not be getting much of Adam.  I was so wrong.  The reader is given TWO chapters from Adam’s pov.  TWO chapters!  Those two chapters were a whole pile of goodness.  Ms. Briggs is very good about showing Adam’s feelings through Mercy but this is the first time we were actually able to hear his voice.

I could go on for days about the awesomeness of this book.  Every beloved and hated character (other than Sam and Bran) made an appearance or played a part in the book.  Everything was so well done too.  It wasn’t like any of the character were superfluously thrown in just so they could have a shout out.  Each person played a part in the plot.  We got some of Zee, Sylvia, Tony, Stefan, Kyle, Gabriel, Ben, Marsilia, Tad, Warren, Honey, Peter and even a couple of new characters.  Plus did I mention there were chapters from Adam’s pov? 

The plot is pretty intricate.  You don’t really know who is behind the pack kidnapping until the last couple of chapters.  It wasn’t anything that I expected and the outcome makes me wonder what the relationship between the supernatural factions of the area with be for future books.  One thing that I also was impressed with was that Mercy is still dealing with feelings leftover from the rape.  Rape isn’t something that can be dismissed lightly and I was pleased to see that it hasn’t been here.  Something happens to Mercy that makes everyone, especially her, fight with emotions for a short time.  It was a scene that allowed the reader to feel the depths of emotion people have for Mercy and it allowed us to root for Mercy as she struggles to overcome the trauma.

If I have one minor complaint with the book it would be one that many characters have noted in the past and it really came into play here.  My complaint isn’t so much with the book but with Mercy’s character.  She is constantly throwing herself into serious danger and barely scraping by.  She is the weakest one in many of these books yet she is always the one that is front and center.  We know from the way Adam feels, and many others feel that, Mercy is the center of all of them.  If something were to happen to her, everyone would suffer.  I wonder at what point in the series, if any point, we will see Mercy step back or chill out some?  Although I am not sure I want that to happen.

Frost Burned is another excellent addition to the series.  Ms Briggs has penned another winner that once I started I didn’t want to put down.  There was non stop action plus we were allowed to explore the connection between Adam and Mercy.  Where I thought I would be disappointed in the lack of page time for Adam it ended up making things so much better.  Because of their incredible bond and unique abilities they were able to do things that have not been previously done.  I adored this book and I just hope we don’t have to wait another two years to get the next one.  Final grade- A-

Favorite Quote:

“Did you find out if they found out anything about them?” I asked.

Kyle gave me a look, then busied himself making me a peanut butter and huckleberry jelly sandwich.  “What really bothers me is that I understood that question.  You will eat this and go to sleep, so your pronouns get their antecedents back.”

Rating: A-
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
March 5th 2013 by Orbit
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