Werewolves, Vampires, and Fae
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healing—and decision to be with Adam. Interestingly, as horrible and as vicious
as the rape was, the terrifying experience expands Mercy’s understanding of
love as a unifying concept that embraces uniqueness and union.
In conclusion, Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series treats the dark
urban fantasy genre in an innovative manner—from its northwest urban setting
to its intelligent, wise-cracking, auto-mechanic, changeling protagonist to the
variety and diversity of human and preternatural characters that inhabit a socalled normal, contemporary world. Briggs’s narrative style positions Mercy
Thompson as a larger-than-life super hero, almost in the tradition of an
enlightened Wonder Woman, who can quickly transform herself to correct evil
and fight terror—with a little help from her friends. Within the context of power,
control, and dominance, Briggs develops the framework for love and evil that
becomes integrated, as are many of her preternatural characters, into a new way
of being. Although Mercy’s expressed view of love and evil is directly one
sided, her thoughts and actions lead her to discover new dimensions to both of
those themes.
The University of Akron (Ohio)
Joseph F. Ceccio
Works Cited
Briggs, Patricia. Blood Bound. New York: Ace Books, 2007.
---------. Iron Kissed. New York: Ace Books, 2008.
---------. Moon Called. New York: Ace Books, 2006.
“Patricia Briggs.” Wikipedia 23 Mar. 2009. .
Rice, Anne. The Tale o f the Body Thief. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Back Bay Books, 2005.
Wright, Dudley. “The Book of Vampires.” Vampires: Encounters with the Undead. Ed.
David J. Skal. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2001. 17-22.
Works Consulted
Hamilton, Laurell K. The Lunatic Cafe. 1996. New York: Jove Books, 2002.
Harris, Charlaine. Living Dead in Dallas. New York: Ace Books, 2002.
Punter, David and Glennis Byron. The Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
Skal, David J., ed. Vampires: Encounters with the Undead. New York: Black Dog &
Leventhal Publishers, 2001.