Rach's Reading Club

For some reason WDC/Amazon review isn't working for this book.

I read "Soul Taken (A Mercy Thompson Novel)" by Patricia Briggs.

Here's Amazon's spiel:

"Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must face her greatest fears in this chilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

The vampire Wulfe is missing. Since he’s deadly, possibly insane, and his current idea of “fun” is stalking me, some may see it as no great loss. But, warned that his disappearance might bring down the carefully constructed alliances that keep our pack safe, my mate and I must find Wulfe—and hope he’s still alive. As alive as a vampire can be, anyway.

But Wulfe isn’t the only one who has disappeared. And now there are bodies, too. Has the Harvester returned to the Tri-Cities, reaping souls with his cursed sickle? Or is he just a character from a B horror movie and our enemy is someone else?

The farther I follow Wulfe’s trail, the more twisted—and darker—the path becomes. I need to figure out what’s going on before the next body on the ground is mine. "

I think this series is best read in order. Knowing Mercy and Wulfe's history in the series would help a lot, I think, to the enjoyment of the story. I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't the best in the series. Mercy is usually a strong, kick-butt character. She was weaker than usual here, although she did still kick butt. I didn't like how the book started. It's like that part was only used to bring it full circle at the end and explain her concussion (which I guess explains why she was so much weaker than usual) but I think the book would have been better without it and with her being more like her normal self.

Briggs is really creative though, and I liked some of the twists and turns.

There are many paranormal elements in this book, Mercy herself is a coyote shapeshifter and her husband Adam is leader of the local werewolf pack. She brought in fae friends to help in this battle and had to interact with vampires and Underhill and more, so it definitely fits the October theme here. I think I read it in September so there's some time (and other books) between this review and my reading. I enjoyed the book. I'll most likely read the next in the series when it's published, and I do hope she'll be back to her strong self for it.