Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

Storm Cursed is the latest novel in the Mercy Thompson series. Thankfully, it won’t be the last. Like the last ten novels, Mercy has shown us her unnatural ability to find herself thrown into the middle of the most insane and dangerous situations.

Every novel in this world has been a new adventure. Mercy has come up against dozens of supernaturals, from werewolves to vampires to ghosts and fae. But this time around, she’s facing an entirely new threat, and it’s up to Mercy to find the solution.

A quick note before we begin this review (and this may be considered a minor spoiler, so fair warning). The Mercy Thompson series isn’t afraid to show us gore and violence. It’s just part of the world and the stakes that these characters are up against. That being said, a few scenes in this one are more graphic than we’ve seen before. There are torture scenes described on both humans and animals. And they are fairly detailed, with an unexpected perspective making it an even harder hit. Hopefully, this warning will make those scenes a little easier.

Writing

Patricia Briggs has created this expansive world in which she writes, and it’s allowed her to take a lot of risks. It’s also opened up the possibility of having such a long-running series. Many other series would feel stale by book eleven – but Mercy Thompson is still going strong. Clearly, there is still a lot to her story, and fans are hoping to see it through to the end.

Rotating and introducing new antagonists does help to keep the plot fresh, admittedly. There is always so much between dealing with the vampires (a near-constant presence), negotiating with the fae, and living with the pack. And those are just core elements of the series – we haven’t even begun to talk about the main plot.

Storm Cursed took all those elements mentioned and then threw in what was possibly one of the most intense plots yet of the series. At least, it felt like it while I was reading it. The antagonists in this novel were admittedly a bit of a surprise. But at the same time, looking back at the last novel in the series, some subtle foreshadowing was woven into the plot.

Briggs took some risks with this novel, but they paid off. A brutal antagonist was introduced, as was a deadly secondary plot. Together, these plots kept Mercy busy and the reader completely enthralled.

Development

The pacing was steady throughout Storm Cursed – moving forward rapidly. Considering how much was fit into the novel, that’s not surprising. This book may be 384 pages, but it’ll go by in the blink of an eye. Trust me, I read it in one sitting and then found myself wishing I had read it a bit more slowly.

Mercy and Adam have faced a lot of character development over the years, but I feel like Storm Cursed allowed for a lot more than usual. And not just for them; a lot of the secondary characters were given a chance to grow in this novel, and it allowed the plot to continue moving forward.

In the beginning, there are some lighter tones – happy moments here and there that will help balance the heavier tones found later in the novel. These moments are vital to the series because they remind us that these characters have lives outside of the constant interruptions we enjoy reading about.

Conclusion

Storm Cursed had a lot of expectations and promises to live up to. But it’s safe to say that it exceeded all of them. This novel was intense; it was emotional and utterly unforgettable. Mercy and the Pack came up against something new here that they had been overlooking for a long time. In a way, it’s starting to feel like the world is coming full circle.

The novel does, without a doubt, have its own compact plot, but it also continues the negotiations the plot started previously. I love that this plot is taking longer to develop – because, let’s be honest, there’s no way an agreement would be found that quickly.

The only downside of having read Storm Cursed is that we are now up to date in the series. So now we have to play the waiting game – again. At least all the fans are in the same boat regarding that. 

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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