Night Broken (Mercy Thompson Book 8)
When her mate’s ex-wife storms back into their lives, Mercy knows something isn’t right. Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions—she wants Adam back, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him, including turning the pack against Mercy.
Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. As the bodies start piling up, she must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.
Reviews (186)
Wah, wah, wah It's not my faaauuuulllltttt !!!!
I generally enjoy the Mercy Thompson series and really admire Patricia Briggs talent. While Mercy is sometimes nerve-wracking with her full out dash towards self-destruction, I respect her spunk, her cleverness and the amazing way she can think on her feet. However, I have to say that this book Night Broken caused me to take a hard look at whether I wanted to continue patronizing the Mercy universe. The two biggest reasons for my possible defection are: 1. The constant need for Mercy to involve herself in near disasters. I realize that she’s unwittingly drawn into some of them, but others she plain old dives head first into without any thought for her safety. She's been physically damaged so many times that it is hard to believe she isn't a walking body of scar tissue. 2. In this book, Night Broken, the high school "mean girl" antics of ex-wife Christy. Christy is always described as "pretty" so I guess that makes her nastiness acceptable. She shows up unannounced at Mercy’s doorstep and goes full-tilt at trying to damage all of Mercy’s relationships. Sometimes it becomes a little too much to take and at times looks as if she’s succeeding. I find it difficult to believe that any woman (or man for that matter) would allow an ex-anyone to abuse them and their home in this way. Christy, took over Mercy's kitchen, ordered everyone around, put her toiletries in Mercy and Mercy’s husbands bathroom, connived to engender sympathy from and alienation towards Mercy from the pack; says pretty much whatever she wants to say to Mercy and to husband Adam while constantly whining that everything is always someone else's fault. No one comes to Mercy's defense, including Mercy herself (who keeps justifying her lack of defense by saying she doesn’t want to sound jealous and petty). The only person who attempts to support Mercy is Jesse ( the teenaged step-daughter). Warren and Ben make a couple of supportive comments. However, they mostly remain silent letting Mercy and sometime Adam take hit after hit from the verbal assaults of the "pretty" ex-wife. Ms Briggs did a lot of justifying as to why stalwart, take no prisoners Mercy would tolerate this kind of behavior. After a while, however, it just became excessive. I'm a woman and as much as I acknowledge that women have been abused (and continue to be), it doesn't make it acceptable for another woman to step into the role as the abuser and/or take advantage of another woman- especially in that woman’s own home. Eventually, there was some minor attempt at giving Christy her due, but other readers will have to decide whether it was enough.
Love this Book - I HATE Christy
It could be said, prior to this book, that all of Mercy’s problems have (nearly) always been aimed directly at her, Moon Called excepted. That’s not the case here. This problem heads straight for Christy – Adam’s ex-wife. Adam, being who he is, can’t deny protection. And I love that about him, honestly, I do. But I absolutely hate Christy in this book – and a good number of the Pack, too. Most of the books prior to this we could see more movement in the overall world and politics between the supernatural beings in it. Not so much here. There are glimpses, moments where we realize and find out that stuff is still moving along, and maybe not to the best of places, but for the most part this book focuses on Adam and Mercy’s Pack. That doesn’t mean it’s slow though. I think back to my experience reading it, and I realize that Mercy spends a lot of time trying to get away from Christy, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lot of downtime. We’re moving from one revelation to the next, learning more about some characters – with a few surprising me hugely – along the way. I don’t want to rant anymore, like I did when I first finished this book, but I still do hope that Christy goes away and never returns. She’s the most selfish, self-absorbed, horrible woman. I also really hope that someone puts the effing Pack in their place. The lack of respect that they show Mercy is absolutely ridiculous. Time and time again she’s put her neck out on the line for them. Time and time again she’s never left them hanging, or in danger. She’s never backed down from a fight – even when she didn’t think she could win. And how do they repay her? With betrayal and snide comments. EFF that. I am so pissed at (most of) them. There are a couple of notable exceptions, and I couldn’t love these four more. I want to gather them all into my arms and give them huge hugs for being decent, caring human beings….or werewolves. I found the mystery pretty interesting – not because there was a huge mystery, I don’t think, but because it was so different! And there are some downright amazing things that happen because of it. I can’t wait to see the consequences of some of the choices that were made here. I think that most fans of the series will hate the main aspect of the book – Christy trying to worm her way back into Adam’s, and the pack’s, life – and I can’t blame them. I hate it, too. A lot. But what I can say is that Adam makes it bearable. Those four other characters gave me hope to hold onto. Also, Mercy’s a better person than I. I’m not sure I would have taken Christy’s jabs with such grace. I get why she did – because of Jesse – but, man. That took some serious strength. I love this book. Now if Christy would just die, I’d be a happy woman. Or I, at least, hope the Pack gets an awesome set-down in the next book, Fire Touched….and that Christy goes back to Eugene.
Love this series!
The world building is epic, at the risk of sounding 16 instead of my 55 years. I love to read, but read enough of the same genre and it gets predictable. I turned to sci fi fantasy because it is not as predictable (for me) as other genres, but I also prefer happy-ish endings. The Mercy Thompson series is wild, fun, intense, and very engaging. The characters are very strongly written, and are constantly learning and growing. The relationships never stagnate. This book, Night Broken, #8 in the series was as riveting as all the others, which is not always the case. I found myself asking, how is she going to get them out of this one? And happy to not know the answer until I got to the end. Spoiler alert - I was so glad that the relationship between Adam and Mercy, while strained with Christy's constant manipulation, was written in such a way that it demonstrated the constant need to communicate, to fight one's inner demons of jealousy, insecurity, and desire to defend oneself against unfairness and injustice. It was so healthy! We don't see enough of that in books and movies. True, the relationship can be healthy since the conflicts are more external. I love that! And even better, I love a strong female protagonist. This series has that in spades. Urban fantasy at its finest. I'm really enjoying this. ❤️
Great addition to the Mercy Thompson Series
So I bought this because I love the series, even though after reading several reviews that talk about how whiny Mercy got or how the pack treated her so badly, I felt some trepidation about purchasing it. I’m glad I bought it. Adam’s ex-wife comes back with a bang and honestly, it is super easy to see how manipulative she is. I don’t like her; I understand her motives but I don’t like her as a person. However, I had been expecting tons and tons of things she would be doing based upon some more negative reviews and I just didn’t see that. There were maybe 5 “real” incidences that bugged me but the pack didn’t actually treat Mercy like crap like I was expecting. They might have given her disapproving stares or said one thing negative but that was it and not worth all of the hate I read from some other reviewers. As for how Adam handled things, I think he acted pretty in line with who he is and what Mercy has asked of him in the past. She wants to handle things on her own as much as possible, and so she does. I really missed Zee in this installment though because he was mentioned a few times but we never got to “see” him. I did enjoy the addition of Gary and I look forward to seeing him in future installments.
Five Star Read
I have to give some major kudos to Mercy in this novel. If my husband’s ex wife ever showed up on my doorstep in this manner I wouldn't have been half as charitable as Mercy was. Negative. Nope. Fug-get-a-bout-it. Christy is a trouble magnet, and this time has attracted a homicidal stalker bent on possessing her. A homicidal stalker who just so happens to be...oh, just a fire breathing volcano god. As Adam’s former wife, she is entitled to the protection of the pack, and many of them are still “on her side” as it were. Mercy does her best to handle the situation with grace, and in such a way to not make her look jealous or weak. But let’s face it, had I been Mercy, that chick would have worn the beating of her life for brassing up into my house like that. Seriously, Christy and her big eyed sugar sweet manipulations got so far under my skin that I was hoping the bad guy would get her. Yeah, the volcano god was a pain, but I wanted to KILL Christy. In addition to this wonderful situation, a Grey Lord (one of the major bigwigs of the fae) shows up on her doorstep politely (not so politely) requesting (demanding) that she return the semi-sentient walking stick that has following her around for the better part of this series. Every time she tries to return it to someone of the fae, it invariably finds its way back to her. Recently she gave it to her father, Coyote, and simply finding him will be a task all unto itself. I loved that Mercy gets to meet another of Coyote’s children in this book - with all the tension within the pack, I love that she has someone that is just on her side, even if he is a little screwed in the head. It’s my humble opinion that Adam needs to jack up some of his pack members for their blatant disrespect for his wife. And Tad! Tad’s growing up, and it shows! And Stefan comes back, after far too long an absence! And Mercy is still Mercy, the same Mercy that we met in the first book. I love how Patricia Briggs keeps her so consistent to her character. This is one series that I can always count on to deliver the goods. Long live Mercy!
In Defense of Adam/Not necessarily a review of the book so much as a review of behavior.
You know…. I was originally going to add a "typical" review of this book; until I saw that there are about 1300 of them already up here so what's the point right? Turns out, I was wrong. Turns out, a lot of these reviews remind me of the "B-fests" on IMDb. You know, the site people go to rip into something, or someone, just because they can. Well, of the 20+ reviews I've read on this book, virtually all of them contain some derogatory references to Adam in regard to his treatment of Mercy, Christie and the behavior of the pack. And many of those are followed with comments that continue the "B-slapping" to a degree that I finally just said ENOUGH ALREADY! Adam deserves better, MERCY, deserves better (because the degree of criticism against her mate diminishes HER accomplishments completely), and frankly, the pack deserves better too. So…. "In defense of Adam" here I go: First, does ANYONE remember that Adam was, at the very least, raised in the 50's? You remember… June Cleaver's pearls and wives who did nothing but stay home to care for "home and hearth"? His entire perception of how men respond to and treat women was instilled into him at a time when women weren't much more than appendages designed to silently "stand by your man". How many books did it take, how many YEARS did Mercy spend "teaching" him that she isn't made of glass, doesn't want to be on a pedestal and is QUITE capable (thank you very much) of opening her own bloody doors?! In the years since they've been a couple, she has also had to negotiate her independence right along with forcing him to realize that his need to protect her will NEVER keep her from defending others, even at the risk of her own life. And further, if he gets in the way of it, it means he doesn't trust her enough to let her be who she is thereby creating a situation in which surrendering to his will would "unmake" the person she has worked her whole life to be and consequently UNABLE TO BE WITH HIM! Adam, bless his heart, has taken a LOT of learning and trying to teach ANYONE to unlearn the lessons of their childhood and adolescence is both difficult and time consuming because it just doesn't happen overnight. Furthermore, in the fight to remain true to herself, SHE DOESN'T GO TO HIM WHEN SHE SHOULD because she wants to pick her battles and regards herself as perfectly capable of fighting most of them ON HER OWN. That fact is especially true when it comes to the pack. Mercy, more than ANYONE (except probably Bran) understands pack behavior, hierarchy and needs. What she didn't know, was that in the process of protecting her FOR THE MARROC Adam ended up "claiming her" as his and the whole pack knew it. So the fact that she spent YEARS ignoring that claim diminished their Alpha a fact that, in their eyes, is all on her whether she knew about it or not. So, right off the bat she has a HUGE strike against her for dissing their leader, a man they all love and trust. Furthermore, SHE IS NOT WOLF and pack structure is clearly a hierarchy that is much like the caste system in India. In many of their eyes, she is the equivalent of "the unclean"…. so far beneath him as to be untouchable, far enough beneath him that "touching her" sullies him. What King of England do you think could EVER have chosen a White Chapel "whore" as a wife/mate? Because that's how a number of them see it. And it's worse with the women because women are, in certain circumstances, so casually callous and hurtful to each other. In this case, their love for and admiration of Adam leaves them believing he deserves so very much more than this "mongrel" he has chosen. A "mongrel" who has brought HER battles, HER wars and HER problems and laid them at the feet of their Alpha and his pack more times than they can even count. OF COURSE MANY OF THEM BLOODY WELL HATE HER! Her very existence has threatened the life of their Alpha on more than one occasion and usually for something that would normally be totally outside pack business. As to Christy, the support of some of them for his ex is perfectly understandable. She was his first mate and she bore him a child they ALL completely adore. Because of pack structure and law, she (for those two things alone), to a degree, still belongs to them. Because she is human, she needs protecting even more. While in contrast, Mercy has never been helpless and, to the contrary, has brought her FIGHTS to them rather than her needs. Let's remember that most of the pack is filled with alpha-type werewolves whose first concern is PROTECTION. Christy needs it, Mercy doesn't. So Christy pushes a button in them that is instinctual; a button that also allows them to shove Mercy… who is so clearly undeserving of Adam in the first place, completely to the side. As for Adam, his role as Alpha demands that he not only protects his pack but that he keeps the peace within it intact as well. Given that Mercy has, time and time again, demanded that he let her fight her own battles up to and including those with the pack (by deliberately not telling him enough about them) what the *bleep* do you expect him to do when Mercy herself has told him to let Christy come? She has told him, demanded of him, that he allow her to make her own choices and to be responsible for them as well. So when SHE said "let her come", Adam was honoring his promise TO MERCY. Adam, as Alpha, is a caretaker by nature and Christy is the most high-maintenance, needy person we've met in this world. But until we met her, NO ONE could have foreseen how manipulative she is as well…. except Jesse, who is her child and who loves her Mom even though she knows EXACTLY how her Mother operates. How self-oriented Christy is and how dangerous that makes her to her Father, to Mercy and to the pack in general. But what is SHE supposed to do? She loves her Mom. She's outside the pack hierarchy and all of them see her as a child… with the exception of Mercy. Mercy, who doesn't want to be responsible for more stress on the pack. Mercy, who ALSO wonders if she is genuinely good enough for Adam. Mercy who has spent her whole life leaning on NO ONE, for anything at all…. EVER! And has forced Adam to accept her on her own terms while she in turn has promised to try to honor his need to keep her safe even though she still typically operates outside that promise whenever and wherever she chooses. You don't get to be pissed-off at Adam just because he is doing EXACTLY what Mercy herself has asked of him. Because he struggles EVERY SINGLE DAY TO HONOR MERCY AS SHE IS! So if you want to get angry, get angry with Mercy, for tying Adam's hands behind his back because SHE is the one who is ultimately responsible for this situation. She is the one who said "yes" knowing full well that the fallout would be on her. So I'm sorry… but I don't believe that you get to dump on Adam for things Mercy has asked him to do and you don't get to dump on the pack, who has been severely broken by ALL OF IT, just for behaving in the manner which they are driven to behave both by instinct and the nature of their wolves. I am sick to death of people who are always looking for someone to blame. EVERYONE, every single man, woman and child on the pages of novels and on the streets we drive, the neighborhoods we live in and the stores in which we shop… is responsible for their choices. With the sole exception being those who are mentally incompetent and unable to do so. Schizophrenics for example, cannot be held accountable for their choices because their brains are too dysfunctional to allow for it. Mercy made demands on Adam that limited his choices, so if you're going to blame anyone, blame her. Because he accepted her on HER terms and he sleeps in the bed that SHE MADE. Mercy, is the daughter of Coyote and because of that has a tendency to draw chaos like bees are drawn to honey. So honestly how could you possibly believe, given everything they've already been through, that the marriage of Mercy and Adam would be anything LESS than chaotic? That would be like saying that a walking stick made by a powerful Fae, is JUST a walking stick. Really people… have you read all of PB's books only to know so little about the rules on which they are built? Adam married Mercy, and she to him, with the full knowledge that their life together would always be a challenge and that they would never know from which direction those challenges would come. Adam's commitment to her is present in every single thing he does that goes against his nature because he wants to honor who she is. He is giving her the space and freedom to make her own choices at great personal cost. HOW, can you possibly blame him for that?
Can Patricia rewrite the book without Christy in it? Please???
I just read this for the second time(along with the rest of the series) and I just can't get past the whole Christy crap. I agree with other reviewers opinion the Adam really dropped the ball with how he let Christy take over the entire house including their bathroom. He then let's Aurelia not only treat Mercy like crap but even lets her interrupt their alone time together because Christy was waiting supper??? Then even Warren snarks about how he didn't see how much of a manipulator Mercy was until Christy came! Betrayal much, Warren? And of course Christy is telling Mercy to just die already when she very nearly was dying and all she gets is banned from the hospital rather than run out of town? Plus I just don't get how the hell the pack can stand by Christy when everyone knows how she has always treated Jesse and Adam. If Christy stays in town I'm not sure I will even read the next book as much as I love the rest of the characters.
Mercy must deal with Adams X, some super nastys and a half brother.
I love Patricia Briggs characters. They are always believable no matter how fantastic. Vampire, Fey, Werewolf, Coyote or Volcano god they all have depth and realty. The story is always a can't put it down read! This book is no exception. When Adam's X wife calls needing to escape a boyfriend who just may be killing people and has certainly beaten her, Mercy cannot refuse her refuge no matter how much she dislikes and distrusts her. She is also trying to contact Coyote because a Grey Lord wants the walking stick she gifted to him returned. Trying to remain nice to Christie, who is obviously maneuvering the whole pack, and trying to take back her old home and x husband isn't easy and gets a lot harder when the boyfriend turns out to be a very deadly supernatural. a shape shifting volcano God who refuses to let Christy walk away from him. In hunting for Coyote Mercy's family grows when she finds she has a shifter half brother. The Werewolves are busy protecting Christy Who is playing them to get rid of Mercy. The only two who don't fall for it are Adam and his daughter. Then Mercy kills one of the Volcano gods dog familiars when he comes after her in revenge for Adam protecting Christy and the battle begins in ernest, drawing in Tad, and other friends. In the end Mercy, like Coyote, proves that sometimes being clever and caring deeply is more important than being strong.
Wonderfully written, intense tension
*SPOILER ALERT!* Only a great writer could make a walking stick one of my favorite characters in this series. I missed The Walking Stick after River Marked, and am glad it resurfaced. Coyote and Gary Laughingdog have very well rounded personalities. The dialogue was hilarious, especially Mercy's inner dialogue wondering about Coyote's motivation. Briggs' excellent writing also differentiated half siblings Gary and Mercy. Without Mercy's keen insight into people, as well as her support system, Gary has a more bitter, jaded view of life, with few ties. However, he does share a nascent protective instinct, similar to Mercy, because he breaks out of jail and goes against his inner "Run Away! Run Away Now!", perfectly normal instinct to defend friends and family he's just met. I also enjoy how Mercy has such a strong Coyote attribute of not following the laws, but she does so in her intense drive to protect everyone around her (except herself) from harm. Which also made me want to smack some members of the pack for not appreciating a person who has bled buckets of blood for them. In fact, if Briggs keeps having Mercy get injured, I doubt she will have a square inch of unscarred skin left, and she's not going to be able to do karate anymore from all the soft tissue and joint damage. I was frustrated with Adam. I felt a lot of drama could have been avoided by making a very public announcement to Christy: "I love Mercy. I am with Mercy. I am never leaving Mercy. If Mercy died I would spend the rest of my life alone, mourning Mercy. So nothing you do is going to ever get you back into a relationship with me." I also felt that he should have had a talk with Arielle about how she would have felt if the pack decided that Darrel would be better off with some old girlfriend and created pressure to break the mating bond. I'm pretty sure there would have been massive carnage. But I suppose Adam needed some flaws because he was too close to the perfect husband. You know, the guy who can literally fight monsters for you, sees you for who you are and accepts and loves you, has resigned himself that you will continue to break the rules and not do as you're told, etc. This was very well written with characters I've become very attached to
B+ rating...
My Review: Once again, I loved this book, BUT...and this is a big but...I also had major issues with this one. Luckily it was so strong in other areas that it helped to negate those awful things, but *gah*....this book definitely has some serious love/hate issues going for me. So let's concentrate on the positives first... *Mercy...omg, Mercy is always a huge plus in these books, but in this one she was outstanding. She is so strong and honestly just good...she always puts the benefit of others above her own and that is so upfront and center throughout most of this book. She rocks and continues to just get better and better and better throughout the series. *Jesse...the only other person besides Mercy that could see what Christy was doing. And out of all of them, she was the one I could have forgiven for overlooking her mother's flaws. I loved that Jesse recognized the issue and stood up for Mercy and took Mercy's side over and over again. *Tad...wow, I did not see that badassery coming. And I loved it...YES!! Tell me, please Patricia Briggs, that Tad is going to get a spin-off series. That would so totally rock!! *Honey...LOVED her. I love her honesty even with Mercy who she really doesn't like. She's badass herself and is proving to be an ally for Mercy...who would have seen that coming? *Mercy and Adam together...despite the description I like that their relationship never really was in jeopardy because of Christy. That doesn't change that Adam is also a negative in this story. But overall, together they had some incredibly sweet...and even sexy...moments. I liked that a lot. The negatives... *Christy...okay, she's supposed to be a negative so mission accomplished, but ugh. My main issue with her though was in the way that everyone else responded to her. *Adam...this is where this book totally failed in my opinion. Adam is a stong, alpha who knows his own mind. I can't imagine that has changed so much over the years. How the hell am I supposed to ever believe that he would have gone for someone like Christy? I don't care how good of a manipulator she is. By writing that he fell in love with her, it takes his character down so many notches in my regard for him. And then in this story, he turned a blind eye to what she was doing which ultimately put Mercy in danger. No, just no. This is not the Adam I've fallen in love with in the other 7 books. *The pack...at some point, Mercy needs to be accepted. She has sacrificed over and over and over again. And they still have issues with her. I can't accept that. They don't deserve her. And then there is the whole story line in this about Christy's stalker. I can't decide if this is a love or hate issue for me because I really never understood his motives. Why Christy? I understood her attraction for him, but that really never explained the reasons behind his actions/obsession. Somehow it just didn't quite connect for me. But I did love the walking stick side of the story and I love that stick...LOL. It keeps me giggling when it shows up. It's definitely an unusual and fun piece of narrative happening in the story to keep it fun.
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