A review by C J Dee
Night Broken is the eighth book in Patricia Briggs’ series that follows coyote skin walker Mercy Thompson, now Hauptman.
Werewolf-pack alpha Adam Hauptman’s ex-wife Christy calls and begs for Adam’s protection from a dangerous ex-boyfriend. Being a naturally protective alpha wolf Adam agrees and Mercy assures him she is willing to house the manipulative and unstable Christy. However, Christy hasn’t even begun to realise just how dangerous her ex-boyfriend is underneath his sexy facade. Now the pack must face an evil the likes of which they have never encountered.
I enjoyed Night Broken so much that I wasn’t even halfway through it when I ordered its seven predecessors in the series. While it is the eighth book, Night Broken dips into enough of the back story to allow you to get a picture of the characters and events without retelling so much that it gets tangled.
I loved Mercy and the fact that she wasn’t a supernatural being to which I have had much exposure: a Native American being known as a skin walker whose beast is a coyote. Through other urban fantasy novels I’ve had plenty of exposure to werewolves, vampires, fae, demons, shape shifters and even mermaids, but this was an interesting twist.
The story is primarily based around Adam, Mercy and Christy with the occasional dip into Jesse (Adam and Christy’s teen daughter), pack members and allied fae. However, the surrounding characters weren’t given much depth and I felt they were pretty replaceable. This may be a result of not having read the first seven books though, so I’m not willing to hold that against an otherwise exciting and engaging book.
I couldn’t put Night Broken down and finished it in almost one sitting. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy novels and authors like Charlaine Harris (who according to the cover quote “loves these books”) and MaryJanice Davidson.
- Page count: 341 [excluding acknowledgments]
- Format: Paperback
- Publisher: Orbit
- Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
