A review by marimoose
Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs
5.0
Provided to me by Goodreads First Reads
Full ARC Review found at Story and Somnomancy.
Mercy Thompson fans will want this book for two main reasons:
1) Damn, that is one mighty fine cover.
and
2) Short stories in Mercyverse including stories that haven't been put in anthologies yet whaaaaat??!@!!omg111!!!!
This has only been my second exposure to the Mercy Thompson universe, and previous to this, the only actual novel of this universe that I’d read was Moon Called. But while I am still just starting my journey on the Patricia Briggs bandwagon, I will say now that I thought the anthology was superb.
I read all 400 pages of Shifting Shadows and enjoyed each story. Wait, what’s that, you say? “But there are over 460 pages’ worth of stories in Shifting Shadows!” Yes, I am aware of that. While I was open to some spoilery things in later books, I drew the line somewhere. It’s a really thin line, but I intend to go back to these stories once I’ve read more of the actual series, so there’s that.
---------
“Silver” is meant to be a romantic tragedy and an origin story of Samuel and Bran, though mostly of Samuel, as well as Samuel and Ariana. I swear there were onions hidden in the pages, because I might have teared a bit reading the short. If I didn’t already adore Bran and Sam when I read of them in Moon Called, this story would have clinched their characters for me. Also, Bran is frelling badass.
“Fairy Gifts” is a Montana-based story about a vampire returning to his hometown after receiving a plea from a fae. It was short and sweet, though it was a little more difficult to empathize with the character, since I’m not particularly keen on Mercyverse vampires as of yet.
“Gray” is another vampire story, this time taking place in Chicago, where Elyna returns to her husband’s home. This one I liked better than “Fairy Gifts,” but I think that’s a mixture of the fact that there’s a female vampire who kicks ass and the presence of a ghost watching her back. Kind of romantic, I think.
“Seeing Eye” is fantastic. After the introduction of Elizaveta Arkadyevna in Moon Called, I’ve been curious as to the inner workings of the witches in Mercyverse. Getting to read about a blind white witch was cool, but putting a werewolf in there as well was even better. Talk about a blind woman with her guide dog–or, in this case, wolf.
“Alpha and Omega” is certainly the start of what I think will be a beautiful series–and in conjunction, a beautiful series relationship. This was a story where I sat back and thought: “Dammit, this is another Briggs series I have to pick up, isn’t it?” I can see why it could easily be a favorite short story among fans, because it was one of mine in this collection. Also, apparently Briggs describes the Anna/Charles relationship as “sweet”, not “steamy.” Um. I’m not sure I agree. This short story was plenty steamy to me.
“The Star of David” is a cute Christmas short story about reuniting with loved ones. David Christiansen was talked of and eventually became kind of important in Moon Called, so a short story with him during the events after with his estranged daughter was nice.
“Roses in Winter” is not particularly endearing for me, because I’ve yet to read about any of the characters in the short besides Bran and Charles. Asil’s role as an old wolf waiting to die is interesting, though, and I’m thinking Kara’s got one hell of a sad, sad backstory.
“In Red, With Pearls” features my favorite gay werewolf! Okay, probably the only gay werewolf in the series, but I don’t care. Warren’s awesome, and so’s his main squeeze. This short plays out as a mini-detective story, and includes zombies and witches. Yeah.
“Redemption” features Ben, who plays a slight role in Moon Called. I admit I haven’t warmed up to Ben just yet, though this particular short story did leave me quite amused.
“Hollow” is Mercy-related, and the two outtakes happen to be Sam and Adam’s points of view (which, IMO, is AWESOME), respectively. Again, I will have to read them at a later time, because they occur way too far into the series and I do have some sort of spoiler-line that I don’t want to cross.
Full ARC Review found at Story and Somnomancy.
Mercy Thompson fans will want this book for two main reasons:
1) Damn, that is one mighty fine cover.
and
2) Short stories in Mercyverse including stories that haven't been put in anthologies yet whaaaaat??!@!!omg111!!!!
This has only been my second exposure to the Mercy Thompson universe, and previous to this, the only actual novel of this universe that I’d read was Moon Called. But while I am still just starting my journey on the Patricia Briggs bandwagon, I will say now that I thought the anthology was superb.
I read all 400 pages of Shifting Shadows and enjoyed each story. Wait, what’s that, you say? “But there are over 460 pages’ worth of stories in Shifting Shadows!” Yes, I am aware of that. While I was open to some spoilery things in later books, I drew the line somewhere. It’s a really thin line, but I intend to go back to these stories once I’ve read more of the actual series, so there’s that.
---------
“Silver” is meant to be a romantic tragedy and an origin story of Samuel and Bran, though mostly of Samuel, as well as Samuel and Ariana. I swear there were onions hidden in the pages, because I might have teared a bit reading the short. If I didn’t already adore Bran and Sam when I read of them in Moon Called, this story would have clinched their characters for me. Also, Bran is frelling badass.
“Fairy Gifts” is a Montana-based story about a vampire returning to his hometown after receiving a plea from a fae. It was short and sweet, though it was a little more difficult to empathize with the character, since I’m not particularly keen on Mercyverse vampires as of yet.
“Gray” is another vampire story, this time taking place in Chicago, where Elyna returns to her husband’s home. This one I liked better than “Fairy Gifts,” but I think that’s a mixture of the fact that there’s a female vampire who kicks ass and the presence of a ghost watching her back. Kind of romantic, I think.
“Seeing Eye” is fantastic. After the introduction of Elizaveta Arkadyevna in Moon Called, I’ve been curious as to the inner workings of the witches in Mercyverse. Getting to read about a blind white witch was cool, but putting a werewolf in there as well was even better. Talk about a blind woman with her guide dog–or, in this case, wolf.
“Alpha and Omega” is certainly the start of what I think will be a beautiful series–and in conjunction, a beautiful series relationship. This was a story where I sat back and thought: “Dammit, this is another Briggs series I have to pick up, isn’t it?” I can see why it could easily be a favorite short story among fans, because it was one of mine in this collection. Also, apparently Briggs describes the Anna/Charles relationship as “sweet”, not “steamy.” Um. I’m not sure I agree. This short story was plenty steamy to me.
“The Star of David” is a cute Christmas short story about reuniting with loved ones. David Christiansen was talked of and eventually became kind of important in Moon Called, so a short story with him during the events after with his estranged daughter was nice.
“Roses in Winter” is not particularly endearing for me, because I’ve yet to read about any of the characters in the short besides Bran and Charles. Asil’s role as an old wolf waiting to die is interesting, though, and I’m thinking Kara’s got one hell of a sad, sad backstory.
“In Red, With Pearls” features my favorite gay werewolf! Okay, probably the only gay werewolf in the series, but I don’t care. Warren’s awesome, and so’s his main squeeze. This short plays out as a mini-detective story, and includes zombies and witches. Yeah.
“Redemption” features Ben, who plays a slight role in Moon Called. I admit I haven’t warmed up to Ben just yet, though this particular short story did leave me quite amused.
“Hollow” is Mercy-related, and the two outtakes happen to be Sam and Adam’s points of view (which, IMO, is AWESOME), respectively. Again, I will have to read them at a later time, because they occur way too far into the series and I do have some sort of spoiler-line that I don’t want to cross.