Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3) Patricia Briggs

[rolanni]

The advertent auditor of this journal will have noticed that I keep a "books read" list. Mostly, this is for my own information, to prove to myself that I am too reading, at least a little. I rarely comment on the books, because I learned when I was working for SFWA that commenting truthfully on novels written by people I know was more likely to get me grief than not, and, thanks to the SFWA job, I know an awful lot of fantasy and science fiction writers.

That said, there was a conversation the other day regarding the third book in Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thompson series, Iron Kissed. It seems that the excellent buymeaclue had some issues with the third book, and the question was asked what I thought.

I have not read buymeaclue's commentary, and don't intend to. What I think is that the [spoilery thing] of which I understand she complains, and its aftermath is handled appropriately and believably for this reader. The book was not a warm and cozy read, but the [spoilery thing] worked on the storytelling level (again) for me. As always, YMMV. If you are a person who believes that fiction must never use violence against women as a "plot device," then you might not want to read this book; it'll only get your politics in an uproar.

What I understand to be a secondary beef regarding the structure of the werewolf pack and the peculiar powers of the pack Alpha -- these things were set up very clearly and maintained consistently from early in the first book. If a reader of the series managed to get to Book Three only then to be offended by the pack social structure, well...sometimes we don't read as carefully as we ought.

Comments

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "needed" thing was an authorial perspective--which I fall into naturally, being a writer type. You have no idea how much I wish I had written that scene and the follow up stuff. I thought it was handled very well--realistically and yet balancing the idea that in fact she *was* a victim of a horrific crime with the fact that she is also a *very* strong person and the two things collide in her with a devastating impact on her psyche, beyond the fact of rape. If that makes sense. That's why I think rape is so individual--it impacts every woman dreadfully, and the main thing in common that they share is always it serves to damage their sense of selves.

Which brings me back to that 'needed' thing. As a writer, I thought about what could be done to Mercy to really make her vulnerable on an emotional level, and I don't know that anything else would have. I mean, she's used to a lot of bad things happening to people she knows and cares about (Jessie, Adam for two) and yet she's able to deal with those things. That fear and that pain. But when it happens to her, and she's made to participate, it puts her out of control of herself--she can't cope with it, probably for the first time in the series.

Have you read the Anna and Charles story in On the Prowl? I can't wait to see how Patty deals with the complexities of those two. And you're right. I don't think we've begun to see the aftermath. I think she thinks she's dealt with it, but I don't think she has. It's going to come back and kick her when she least expects it, and more than once.

Di