River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Title: River Marked
Author: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Mercy Thompson # 

Mass Market Paperback, 291 Pages
Publication: January 31, 2012 by Ace

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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Coyote shifter Mercy Thompson knows that life with her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will never be boring, but even their wedding doesn't go as planned. Nevertheless, a ten-day honeymoon camping on the banks of the Columbia River, alone, just the two of them, should make up for it. But the trip - and the pimped-out trailer they're using - is courtesy of the fae. And nothing from the fae comes without strings attached...

Being a different breed of shapeshifter - a walker - Mercy can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River - and innocent people are dying. As other walkers make their presence know to Mercy, she must reconnect with her heritage to exorcise the world of the legend known as the river devil...

Mercy has come a long way since the beginning from a regular mechanic to a revered member of the supernatural community. If anything happens, you can count on Mercy to save the day. In the opening of River Marked, Mercy and Adam finally get hitched and like all newly wed couples are about to jet off on their honeymoon. Except the honeymoon doesn’t go as planned with Mercy getting pulled in to investigate a murder and find herself attacked and marked by a river demon hellbent on killing her.

I very much enjoyed River Marked and loved that Briggs explored and incorporated Native American lore into the storyline. I haven’t encounter many novels with Native American Lore/Mythology, so it was a nice and welcomed change. With that said, I however, didn’t think the river demon was all that scary…Mercy has faced scarier, life threatening opponents before in my opinion. In addition to learning more about shapeshifters, we finally learn more about Mercy’s background and who her parents are…Especially her father.

All in all River Marked was a solid read, but not the best in the series. But I am still excited to see how the dynamics will change, now that Mercy is officially part of the pack now. If you haven’t picked up this series yet, I highly recommend it. The Mercy Thompson series is one of Urban Fantasy’s staple series.