Mercy has been abducted and taken to a whole new continent
– but like so many times before, she has again been underestimated and is able
to make her own way. She must navigate out of the hands of the vampires.
But being Mercy she can’t help but stumble upon another ancient power that needs untangling with her own brand of Coyote magic.
While Adam is riding to the rescue – but it’s not simple as
charging in with tooth and claw. There are politics and the entire stability of
Europe’s supernaturals may be in the balance – to say nothing of major forces
making a play for his new, “neutral” territory.
We’ve written
a lot about this series and how Adam is rather terrifying in his
relationship with Mercy, his control of her and how the story and world is
written in ways to continually limit Mercy’s independence and “justify” Adam’s
“protectiveness”. I was expecting some bad things as usual – so was surprised
when Mercy got to leave the house (alone!) and go to the shops (totally alone!
No tracking chip, no bodyguard, no drone) I was shocked. I was surprised. I
wondered if this was a new turn
And then she’s kidnapped. Her car is rammed off the road
and she is kidnapped because she went to the shops alone. I admit it, I
laughed. I howled. I giggled for hours – because it’s just so typical of this
series that any independence is punished severely.
Thankfully after that moment we see much less of this. In
fact one thing I really really liked about this book is how much time Mercy
spent separate from the pack. In fact I quite liked the whole concept of
building on Mercy’s own heritage as a child of Coyote and him influencing her
into a random adventures because he has decided there’s an important reason (or
for funsies). It’s an interesting way to give her plot lines that could take
her t new places and expand her plot line and get her involved in wider world
building issues she isn’t directly connected to as well as add layers to all
what has come before and build still further on the neutral zone that Adam and
Mercy have built
Similarly it was interesting to see Adam involved in a
plot line that involves minimal violence and a lot of diplomacy and back and
forth. After all, if Adam and Mercy have become this neutral zone where
politics can take place then this is a skillset they have to produce. I love
how everything is laid out in this about how the Neutral Zone works along with
how different groups are coming together – bringing in Elizaveta the witch, the
Goblins, werewolves and vampires. So many times we have seen these as side
characters, antagonists or, at best, rivals but rarely creating something this
unified. It all promises to be a new chapter in this series, perhaps even a
reboot. I think it could work especially well in bringing the two elements
together – the greater political meaning of the neutral zone against Mercy’s
random attraction to chaos and trouble due to her Coyoteness.
