The ninth Mercy Thompson novel is very much about Mercy Hauptman. She is standing by and maybe slightly behind her man, but in a strong way. I'm not sure why Briggs draws so much attention to Mercy's lesser strength. I might just be tired of the Mercy stories, and I definitely don't like Briggs's voice as much this time around. Has she always been so full of annoying pop culture references that aren't current (The Princess Bride, for example), don't move the story forward, and don't jibe with Mercy raised-with-wolves/amateur historian.
Even when she is being fierce, she attributes her strenght to men.
He thought he was fighting a girl with a stick when he was fighting Adam's mate, Coyote's daughter, armed with Lugh's staff.
Now I'm snickering at the implications of "Lugh's staff" and Mercy being armed with an ancient fae's penis.
The more weird and disturbing thing is that this installment feels a little racist, which I don't remember from previous novels. In fact, in the past I've liked that Mercy's world is representative of the human population.
Of course, that only made him laugh, his teeth flashing whitely in amusement. Darryl was a happy blend of his African father and Chinese mother, taking the best features of two races and combining them.
And later, from a passerby, so maybe excusable since it's not someone we're supposed to know and love? But really, ugh.
"That thing was coming right for me, and this big black guy ran past and hit it with a baseball bat."
Even though it's an action packed page turner, I thought about giving up a few times. I hope Briggs's next Alpha and Omega novel won't have gone downhill like this Mercy Thompson.