Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

A Slightly Spoilery Reread Review

Silver Borne is another solid entry in the Mercy Thompson catalogue. It mostly deals with the ties between Mercy and the wolves she’s surrounded with. Also there are fae involved again. Most of what follows are my notes from my reread. I vaguely remembered the Phin plot, but only vaguely. Everything else was written as I read this time.

I HATE the bowling scene. I HATE characters not talking to each other. HATE IT. The conflict WILL NOT resolve unless you talk about it. Being silent on the matter helps nothing. Which is why I love Adam and Mercy so much. They might make mistakes in the moment, but they take the time to talk things out. It makes them a more solid unit and a more believable couple. I seem to remember that this is the last of the big drama between them, but I also only read the next two books in the series, so I’m not entirely sure. I hope so. I’d much rather see a healthy relationship than a constantly battling one.

I find it interesting that the werewolves in the Mercy Thompson universe basically get Dissociative Identity Disorder with a big ol’ side helping of shapeshifting… apparently. It’s also interesting that the wolf can wholesale take over, even if the werewolf is in human form. Clearly that doesn’t happen super often, as Samuel/Sam’s case is extreme, but… yeah. Super interesting. This is further expounded upon once Adam knows about Samuel’s condition.

We get some more fae lore here, which is great. I will forever enjoy getting more fae lore. They’re a weirdly big part of the Mercy universe. I say weirdly because most werewolf books I’ve read largely revolve around the wolves and vampires. Not much else.

I liked Mercy’s mind-scape where she met with Bran at the end of the book. It’s always interesting to see how a main character’s mind works and how the author chooses to visualize it. Garland and rocks is definitely original.

Favorite Lines

     "I raised my eyebrows, and said in dulcet tones, 'Are you telling me you can't fix it? I'm sorry. I distinctly remember you saying that there is nothing you can't fix. I must have been mistaken, and it was someone else wearing your mouth.'

     He gave a growl that would have done Sam credit and pushed himself back under again, muttering, 'Deine Mutter war ein Cola-Automat!'

     'Her mama might have been a pop machine,' I said, responding to one of the remarks I understood even at full Zee-speed. 'Your mama...' sounds the same in a number of languages. 'But she was a beauty in her day.' I grinned at Gabriel. 'We women have to stick together.'

     'Why is it that all cars are women?' he asked.

     'Because they're fussy and demanding,' answered Zee.

     'Because if they were men, they'd sit around and complain instead of getting the job done,' I told him." - Mercy Thompson, Zee Adelbertsmiter, and Gabriel Sandoval

"Endings are relative," I said, and Samuel jerked his head up. "I mean, as long as no one is dead, they get the chance to rewrite their endings, don't you think? Take it from me, Samuel, a little time can heal some awfully big wounds."

In Other News

I finished another OviPets project today. Goatmon, the Rangifer version (there will be an Ovis version down the line), took me 9 months to complete. Goatmon is part of my Armor Digimon Project. I did the little bit of tattooing around the ankles. Supposed to be Goatmon's shackles. *shrug*