Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs Series: Mercy Thompson #10
Published by Ace on March 7, 2017
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes—only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...
Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise...
As with every book in the Mercy Thompson series, I love these characters and especially Mercy. She has such spirit, compassion and intelligence. Her relationship with Adam is so solid now; the commitment is complete. Everyone else was just there in small bits. I did love seeing Stefan again; I’ve always liked him even though he is not completely safe – no vampire in this world is safe.
Silence Fallen is rife with politics and manipulations. This gives everyone a chance to learn more about everyone else, and themselves. Mercy learns more about her capabilities. When things are bad, and they are, everyone joins in to save Mercy. But the captors and friends can both be surprised, she doesn’t require much saving. I loved the twists and bits we learn about the characters and that add to this world.
There have been comments about the weird timelines. The chapters go back and forth between Adam and Mercy as they are not geographically together most of the time. This didn’t bother me at all. It must have been needed to let the information unfold in proper sequence. Anyway, I loved it! Humor always adds the extra for me.
Giggle-worthy quotes:
“Running from vampires, again. Still. Go me!”
“I only get weirder the longer you know me”
Jennifer’s Audio Review
Since I’m doing the audio review, I’ll address my thoughts on it first and in more detail.
I’ve mentioned before that I had a hard time listening to Lorelei King narrate Mercy. It’s not because I’m to a fan of King’s work, I am. But since I started out reading the series my mind was set on how Mercy sounded and her tone and personality. King blew that image out of the water and at first it was not a good thing [for me]. I have King firmly planted in my mind as Charley Davidson [by Darynda Jones]. The two series have different types of humor. In fact until I listened to King narrate Mercy Thompson, I didn’t pick up on much of the humor in the series. I read it much dryer and darker.
Now that I’ve listened to King narrate Silence Fallen I see Mercy and in a new light and I’m ok with it. In fact I’m more than ok with it. Mercy’s world doesn’t seem so dark and bland now. After listening to two Charley Davidson’s titles recently I can tell a difference in King’s performance between the two series. It’s subtle.
Many others have complained about the addition of the new male narrator, George Newbern but I really enjoyed his work on Adam’s POVs. I was a fan of Newborn’s performance within the first 10 minutes hearing him. I have never listen to him [unless he uses another name] but his voice sounded familiar*.
As much as I enjoyed the audio version of Silence Fallen I’ve come the realization this series is too complex for me listen to the audio while doing other things. I need to focus 100% to know what’s going on. I think a series reread is in order before the next release. I think I will stick to the audios as rereads and read it the first time around to get the full picture as to what is going on. I found myself lost a few times as to what was going on because I got distracted by the chores and my time at the gym.
As an installment in the series, Silence Fallen was a sort of road trip book where Mercy and the gang find themselves across the pond in Europe. Fans of the series know that Mercy is someone that can take care of her self. Now she reminds everyone around her that she doesn’t need help getting out of trouble. She’s been underestimated by several people in the past and it’s always fun to see her as the “Wile E. Coyote”. She truly is the strongest person in her pack.
Even though Silence Fallen was full of supernatural political crap that I could do without, it made me think of the earlier Mercy books before she joined Adam’s pack. Mercy is no damsel in distress and Adam lets everyone know it. I love how he believes in her and knows he doesn’t have to protect her but wants to.
I said before the audio portion of this review about the changing POVs. I really liked getting Adam’s POV. Briggs has a warning at the beginning that the timeline can be confusing but I didn’t have an issue. The story was told in a parallel type storytelling, kind of a “mean while”. Many of the chapters’ events are happening at the same time but of course we can’t read them at the same time since most of the book Mercy and Adam are not together.
I think fans of the Mercy Thompson series will highly enjoy Silence Fallen even with the different layout of the changing POVs. Dr. Who fans will have a giggle or two with the references.
*Now I know why George Newbern’s voice sounded familiar. After looking him up to add his bio to the blog he’s an actor I’ve seen in tons of movies.
About George Newbern
Actor George Newbern has appeared in Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride II, Evening Star, Adventures in Babysitting, and many other films. On television, he has had roles on Friends, Nip/Tuck, Hot in Cleveland, CSI, and more. George is also known for providing the voice of Superman in Justice League.
About Lorelei King
Lorelei King is one of the most successful and accomplished American actresses working in the UK today, appearing in numerous films and television shows. Lorelei is also a multi- award-winning narrator of audiobooks, recording the works of best-selling authors Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell among others.
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Los Angeles, Lorelei now makes her home in London, where she lives with her husband, actor Vincent Marzello.
About Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Anne: 2017 New Release Challenge
- Anne: COYER Winter Storm
I am really interested in your view of the audio giving Mercy a little lighter side than if just read. I’m going to have to go back and listen now. To me there is a lot of seriousness in Mercy and I don’t get a lot of humor. It would definitely be interesting to listen to King’s take on her.
The series has a different feel between reading and listening. At least to me anyway.
I really liked the addition of the male voice. I think King could’ve handled both sides, but I understand the need to have a male narrator handle the male POVs. It seems to be something that authors/publishers prefer. I really enjoyed this book too. My review will be posted later this week. Great review, gals!
Fantastic review ladies. I loved this one completely. I bet these are awesome on audio..but alas I have the voices in my head and must continue to listen. I am listening to the Alpha & Omega series on audio and love them.
Oh yeah A&O are on my audio only series list.
I really liked it. Took me a bit with George which I love based on my other ratings but after I did—I WAS ALL OVER IT. 🙂 Great duel review ladies 🙂