{Review} of Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs

Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THEME: Werewolves, Fae, Vampires, Ghost
RECEIVED: Publisher

BLURB:

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”

REVIEW:

The Mercy world is one I love to step into whenever I get the chance, I cant even count how many times I’ve re-read the series because I love it so much. Patricia Briggs knows what her fans enjoy and in this short story set Briggs takes her readers into the lives of some of our favorite secondary characters, Samuel, Bran, Asil and my all time favorite, Ben. Plus a Mercy story with Mercy and Adam! I also loved re-reading older short story favorites that I haven’t read in a while and I was actually quite happy that Alpha and Omega was in this because I hadn’t read that one. (Loved it!)

Since some of these were already published I’ll talk about the ones that are brand new and seriously were awesome! I’m never disappointed and always love to know more about everyone in the Mercy world.

Silver is a story about Brand and Samuel, it follows their lives from when they became werewolves and it was not a good or easy life for either of them. I loved seeing so many interactions between Bran and his son, they are dealt with a hard blow when Brans mother turns them into monsters. I have to say Brans mother is intense and quite terrifying. She makes them live a life which she controls and it actually has them end up meeting Ariana, whom if you have read the Mercy books you know how important she is. In the end the readers will be thrilled to know the background story of Bran and Samuel, as well as how Ariana grew up and tough life too. Such an emotional story however, so be prepared for one heck of a journey.

Roses in Winter was fantastic, I ladored Asil and was so very curious about Kara, the youngest werewolf. Kara is such a unique case, being so young she has to grow up fast and Asil is the only one who can help her. I loved Asil in the story; he is old, wise and someone not to mess with. He also has a big heart when it comes to Kara and he helps Bran with patients and understanding when it comes to someone like her. Anyone who enjoyed Asil before will go crazy over this story.

Redemption was actually hilarious to me because I work for a computer and design company, so I loved the office banter. But mostly because Ben is such an angry fellow and totally a good guy at the same time, it was fun too see him in his computer techy setting. Ben is shown outside the pack, an office environment surrounded by humans whom he gets irritated with very quickly. He actually stands up for his offices’ secretary who is being harassed by her boss, but doesn’t really do it with grace. It was great to see how he handles the office staff and how he has a lot of alpha in him.

Hollow is all Mercy and of course she’s at her best. This story takes place after Night Broken so we all know Mercy has gone through a lot. In this story Mercy is approached by a woman who is in need of getting rid of a Ghost, who is haunted her boss and love. But this isn’t any normal ghost and Mercy who is still a bit injured is going to take on more than she should. Of course we get some awesome banter and I liked getting to know the new wolf Zack. But the murder mystery of the man Mercy is help was actually really cool and creepy. Of course I wont forget the readers do get some Adam in the mix, as he isn’t too far when Mercy gets herself in trouble.

Overall this was a fantastic bundle of new and old stories, it’s a mix of all the characters the fans have grown to love over the years. But the best part is being able to see the characters in a different setting as well as some background. Also I loved the outtakes from other books in the series, it was nice to see what happened in parts of the stories where I felt I wanted to know more. If you’re a Mercy fan you’ll love this and you should have this in your collection. If you’re new to Mercy, it’s a bit harder to understand but you’ll still get sucked into this series and should start it!

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