Twisted Kingdom

Book Description:

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

I just finished reading this new book from Patricia Briggs. The sequel to Moon Called, which I read last year, this was a good way to start of February. This book has quite the paranormal cast of characters, there are werewolves, vampires, fae, witches, and many more characters to attract your interest. Patricia Briggs is best known for her fantasy novels, but this move to paranormal fantasy has been quite enjoyable. I started to read her backlog of books, but I have not read them all yet. I have lots of time to do so, though, while I wait to see if there is going to be a book three, and if there is, when it will be out.

In this book, Mercedes is proving to the paranormal world that she may not fit into the categories that their society has made for non-human creatures, but she is worthy of many "bad" guys. Mercedes is a Walker. She has the ability to turn into a coyote. The Walkers were destroyed many years ago by the Vampires, so a part of Mercedes heritage has been lost. She knows what she is, but the only people that can really tell her what she is capable of are the vampires, and they are not talking. Mercedes learns a bit more about herself in this book, though, mainly because it is the vampire society that she is helping.

One of the things that I like about this book is that she writes tastefully. There are hints at romance, but other than a few kisses, the book has been pretty tame in that department. That means that there is more time to concentrate on action. Many people will not read fantasy novels by female authors because there generally is a great deal of romance, but so far Briggs has done a good job in giving the readers action and a strong female that you can respect.

There is the potential for the books to go in any direction. I am worried, there is a bit of a hint at a possible love... situation... that could present itself. I hope that Briggs figures out what she wants Mercedes, um, doing, before she writes the next book because the last thing I need is there to be more about the romance and less about the fantasy. So far she has done a very good job. I believe that this book stands up well to the one that came before it. Let's just hope it stays that way!

That being said, I liked the first book better. Not by a lot, but I am not getting into part ratings, so I will give it a 4/5 and you can pretend it is like a 4.25 or something.