Review: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #2)

Publisher - Orbit
Publication Date - 3rd July 2008
Paperback - 352 pages
Genre - Urban Fantasy

Source - Received from publisher for review

Rating - 5 out of 5: It was amazing!

Book Info - Like most people who own their own business, I work long hours that start early in the morning. So when someone calls me in the middle of the night, they’d better be dying...

Mechanic Mercy Thompson is woken at 3am by a vampire calling in a favour. He has to deliver a message to a fellow undead and needs a witness that won’t be noticed – and Mercy’s shapeshifting abilities make her the perfect candidate. But the assignment turns into a bloodbath and Mercy attracts the attention of not just a powerful vampire, but the even more powerful demon possessing him. She can count on the supernatural community for protection – and alpha werewolf Adam would like her to rely on him in other ways too – but when it comes to being proactive, she’s on her own.

My Thoughts - Once again, I absolutely loved the character of Mercy – she is quite possibly my favourite character from an Urban Fantasy series! She is incredibly strong and brave, and she puts herself in a lot of danger in this book in order to help others and to do what she feels needs to be done. However, when she does find herself in these troublesome situations, she still manages to come across as a likeable and believable heroine due to the fear and struggles she faces when making certain decisions. Sometimes I think characters can lose a little bit of their believability if they come across as completely fearless, but this is not the case with Mercy. In fact she comes across as stronger than these other characters as she gets the job done despite the way she feels about the situation. I also really enjoy reading about Mercy’s interactions with the werewolves around her, and the way that she fits in with the Pack. This series is one of the best that I have read with regards to explaining a pack mentality and I find it fascinating to read.

But of course there are two werewolves whose interactions with Mercy I most enjoyed reading about, and these are Samuel and Adam. They both have feelings for Mercy, and she also has special feelings for them, but there are complications which stop her from being with either of them. As I said in my review for Moon Called, I am a big fan of Adam, and I have to say that I am very impressed with Mercy’s willpower as I don’t think I could have avoided the situation with Adam for as long as she has! But the fact that she has remained by herself despite the fact that she has got two very sexy werewolf males after her just goes to show how strong and independent she is. It also adds a lot of chemistry to the book, which I think could be spoilt if Mercy does ever choose between them.

We learn a lot more about the character of Samuel in Blood Bound and, because of the things that we find out about his past, he has become a much more likeable character for me. There are times when we see a very vulnerable side to him and I really started to get a feel for his character. Although I still don’t think he is right for Mercy, Samuel is definitely a great character in this series.

At the end of this novel though, the character I found myself thinking about most is Ben. He is a werewolf who we first meet in Moon Called and right from the start he is portrayed as a bad guy. He is linked with some bad things that happened a long time ago but it is never really known whether or not he was involved with these events. And throughout the course of Blood Bound we start to see another side of Ben until something very sad happens to him at the end of the book. I would really like to find out a bit more about him in future books, including whether or not he is really as bad as Mercy seems to think he is, and what really happened to him in Blood Bound. I hope that Mercy will now take the time to get to know Ben a bit better as I think that he could be a fascinating character.

Summary - Overall, I absolutely loved Blood Bound and these books are fast becoming my favourite Urban Fantasy series of all time - I highly recommend them to all fans of this genre! They are well-paced, with a good balance between characterisation, action, romance and story. I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series – Iron Kissed.

Other books in the series:
1. Moon Called
2. Blood Bound
3. Iron Kissed
4. Bone Crossed
5. Silver Borne
6. River Marked
7. Frost Burned

Other reviews of this book:
Book Chick City / Dear Author / Love Vampires
(If you would like your review of Blood Bound included here, please leave a link to your review in the comments and I will be sure to add it)