Well. I need a minute. Or several. Wow. Much good, much plot. #11 in a series and it definitely proves that there is more to explore - and completely wreck - in this world. This was intense.

Character Development: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★★
Surprise Factor: ★★★★★
Will to continue with the series: ★★★★★

By the time you get get to the 11th book in a series, it sometimes falls into the trap of recycling plot and stagnating character development. Storm Cursed is a shining exemption from that tired rule—it glitters with nuanced character growth, an even-paced plot, and the continued exploration of a unique plot direction.

A little background on the world:
Mercy Thompson is a walker, one of the descendants of the spirit Coyote, most easily explained as the North American/Native god of change and mischief. Due to this parentage, Mercy can shape shift into a coyote, she has an interesting resistance and awareness to magic, and she tends to bring trouble wherever she goes. It's not her fault, it's change.

These books exist in the cross-section of urban fantasy that take the concept of vampires, werewolves, fae, and other fantastical creatures and plunks them in to our current world of technology and politics. Mercy's pack, the Columbia Basin Area pack in the Northwest United States, is one of the most visible werewolf communities in the country—you could say they're the poster children for the werewolf community. Due to this, many of Mercy's books tend to deal with the trials and everyday/not-so-everyday issues that plague a supernatural community that deals with a human population that has no idea how to react to them. Obviously, these tensions and political/social issues that arise often are juxtaposed against a supernatural bad guy who is trying to mess up the balance.

Let's talk about Storm Cursed:
I'm trying my hardest not to spoil anything for readers who are interested in starting the series from scratch, so I will not recap or allude to plot points from the previous books—I'll just note that this story involves details from some of them. Specifically, Mercy is dealing with the lingering results of the bad guy from Frost Burned, the promise she made to the supernatural community in Fire Touched, and....well, the interesting aspects of Mercy's powers that came up in Silence Fallen.

Storm Cursed also delves deeply into an aspect of the supernatural community that Mercy has pretty much left alone until this point: the witches.

Yes, here there be witches. Plural.

Also, to get my undead lovers interested, there is a zombie element. I don't know why I'm surprised to say this, but that element was extremely well done.

Storm Cursed was an extremely well-paced exploration into Mercy's world and the lengths to which the Columbia Basin pack will go to maintain the peace in their territory. While it was less lighthearted than some of the books in the series, it was swiveling between Mercy's newfound abilities, the pack's relationship with the American government, treaties with the Gray Lords (scary leaders of the fae), and some downright dark and twisted black witches.

There's a lot about death in this one and I'll admit, there were some deaths close to home.

One plot point in particular completely shook my foundations, and I had to read that page three times. I'm still shook. Just when you think Patricia Briggs can't surprise you....

Overall, a more than solid entry into the canon and a wonderful read for all who enjoy urban to high fantasy.

Another INCREDIBLE Mercy adventure. Patricia Briggs has yet to disappoint me. It was action pack and a multilayered complex plot that had me hooked from the beginning. The series just gets better and better!

Another exciting chapter in the life of Mercy Thompson, who finds herself in the company of her werewolf pack, vampires, fey, and human politicians as she takes on a dangerous coven of witches moving into her territory. This book felt slightly too short, and I felt cheated out of the summit that was discussed but came off-screen during the book. I feel that the Alpha & Omega series also published by Patricia Briggs might provide more insight into these events, but it left me feeling like I didn't get the full story. Still, another fun adventure in the world of Mercy Thompson.

I'll start by saying I think the Mercy Thompson series is the best shifter series ever!!! That being said this was not my favorite. The first half of the book kind of dragged for me. There is a lot of dialogue setting up the story and not a lot of action. The second half of the book was more of what I expect a Mercy Thompson novel to be. Black witches, zombies, vampires and a dragon too...because that is the type of world that Mercy lives in.

If you find that the first half of the book drags like I did, hang in there! The second half is worth it!

Now the hardest part.....waiting for another book to come out.

Zombies, Werewolves and Witches, OH MY!

I have been with Mercy Thompson now Hauptmann since the first book and because the books don’t come as fast as I’d like, I want all the stories all the time, I love finding myself back into this world of werewolves, Fae, Goblins,Witches and Vampires again. This is the 11th book in the series and unlike other series where you can read them as standalone, this series is very much not like that. You will most def have to know what happened in the previous books or you would be lost. Heck with two years since the last one having been read, I was lost!

Mercy is once again In the thick of everything unwillingly. After she proclaimed the CB pack would basically protect the city from all the supernatural beings, she and her merry bunch of wolves find themselves battling a goblin. Then things go crazy from there all within a day.
Murder, Miniature zombie goats, zombie werewolves and voicemail messages to her suddenly absent mate Adam is all classic Mercy.

When a new Evil scares even the baddest of the bad and is threatening to take over the Tri-Cities; Mercy, the wolves, and human and fae alike are shook! And Mercy mixes up her old team with some new elements to try and defeat it.

Witches have always been an element in the MT books, just not front and center like this one and while I liked the storyline, I felt the book was too short and things were paced well, but i was not expecting to turn the page and then BOOM, here is the ending. The writing, as always was great and even the new characters were fleshed out, but for me, not enough was on the main storyline.

Mercy Thompson is back in the thick of things with this awesome addition to the series! There's no time to rest in a territory where her pack now protects and offers safety to those who live there. Called from one incident to another, Mercy and the pack must also navigate being neutral territory for the negotiations the U.S. government and the Fae leaders.

It's little surprise when the takes the pack a while to catch onto the fact that there is a new set of troublemakers in town trying to make a power-play and disrupt any further negotiations. Some VERY powerful black witches have moved in and are trying to force their agenda onto the region. Since there's only two of them at the moment, it's surprising how much damage they are able to accomplish in such a short period of time. Adding to the fun for readers are the zombie mini-goats, a few zombie fae creatures, a new pack member that I 'think' is from the Charles and Anna Omega spin-off series, and a lot of pack members and community members that we haven't seen make an appearance in a while, including Mercy's newly renovated mechanic's shop. But best of all (to me) is the DRAGON! Yes, I said it, DRAGON. Yeah!! Such a good book!

Goblins, fae, witches, black magic, and politicians. And zombies, so many zombies. Mercy Thompson has her hands full when she is asked to arrange a summit between some politicians and the fae community. I love this series, and Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors, but there was just too much about zombies for me; I found myself wishing the last fight scene would end. This one is much gorier than previous books as well.

Thanks to #NetGalley for letting me read Storm Cursed.
I've always enjoyed the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. And just like the last book, this one left me wanting the next book.
In this book, Mercy and the wolf pack are taking on some dark witches and dealing with the government. It's great seeing the story twist and turn.
I wasn't able to put the book down. Just like with the last book. The book was fast pace.
#StormCursed

It is fair to say that this may be my favorite book in the series so far, which is no small feat considering that the series is now 11 books long.

A few quick bullet points of why I liked it:
- The action starts with inexplicable zombie miniature goats, before shifting into a complex story of intrigue, human corruptibility, and betrayal.
- There were times that the tone just felt creepy. (Yes, I'm counting that as a good thing.)
- Mercy, who is a coyote shapeshifter with other bizarre magical powers, reacts the way any rational person would when faced with similar situations, and despite being a magical being, is quite relatable.

Briggs’ latest Mercy Thompson (Hauptman) entry kept me up late and left me dreaming of really creepy zombies. Like the last Alpha and Omega title, Storm-Cursed offered a some really interesting glimpses into the lives of a side characters I’ve wanted to know more about—all while maintaining the fun and creepy momentum brought by new problems in the Tri-Cities. The government and the Fae community are hoping to begin negotiations of a truce with the Pack stuck solidly in the middle, but others in the community are more interested in continued chaos.

Mercy is cleaning up some magical things around the Tri Cities area due to the public statement of putting the area under their protection. The first few incidents don’t seem to have anything in common but in the end the root cause is witchcraft. The pack is mostly tied up with a government contract to help with talks between the US government and the Gray Lords. Lots of people from previous books make an appearance in this one even if they don’t have a large part to play. A good catchup book for the ever growing cast of secondary characters in the book and showing just what the pack can do with allies.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

The latest addition of the Mercy Thompson series is a fun, romp through a world of werewolves, shapeshifters witches, vampires and fae...plus you really can't beat the #zombiebabygoats. The story has Mercy and friends battling a team of witches looking to take-over the Columbia basin Territory from Elizaveta Arkadyevna Vyshnevetskaya the head of the local coven.

All this takes place just as the US Government looks to start talks with the Gray Lords.

I found Storm Cursed to be a more relaxed and fun story line then the past few titles in this series and it was a nice change. The story line still continued to move the broader plot lines forward while giving readers a deeper look into some groups (witches) then we have had in previous books. The emerging backstory for Sherwood Post is quickly becoming one of my favorite of the entire series; each book since he first appeared reveals just a little bit more about his history. Plus, you really can't beat the odd couple pairings for the final battle.

I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this novel and can't wait until my next adventure in Mercy's world.

Ms. Briggs has done it again. I loved seeing Mercy and Adam being themselves and, at the same time, who they are as a couple. Zee is back and it's great having him be part of the mix again -- I've been missing him. Their world is changing rapidly (some of it is Mercy's fault - Not that I can really blame her) and some of it was surprising and not in a good way.

If you're a Briggs fan, you're going to love this book and look forward to the next. If you haven't read this series before, though, you really ought to start from the beginning. Some of the punches and changes won't be as powerful without background knowledge.

The 11th book in the Mercy Thompson series didn't disappoint. All of my favorite characters were still around and new ones were introduced. It does help to have read the previous books recently as there were some characters I wasn't familiar with but had apparently read about before. A fast-paced book with a lot of great action and it was fun to find out more about Mercy's abilities.

I love this book and the series. I read it in one day since I couldn't put it down, even though that means I won't have another to read for a whole year! The consequences of Mercy claiming the Tri-Cities as under pack protection are coming home at the same time that a tie-in from the past comes visiting.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review. - Really a series you can't go wrong with.

I'm not sure how Briggs manages to keep this series fresh and enthralling, but she does and I love it. The story continues, without losing momentum and leaves me waiting (impatiently) for more.

As usual, Patricia Briggs DELIVERS! I want to say this was less .... dark ... than her last few in the series, but I realize that's simply not true. Just as dark, but with more 'hope'. This is Patricia at her best!

I love the Mercy Thompson series.. Patricia Briggs is one of the best authors of urban fiction. I always buy her for our collection as well as a personal copy for my own bookshelf.

It took a little while for me to get sucked into the story because it took some time to connect the dots to figure out what was going on. The synopsis barely hints at what this book is about because it’s one of those stories where telling a small thing reveals even bigger things. Nothing drastic happened that would majorly alter the future of the series. However, rather fascinating things were revealed about a few characters.

The enemy was cruel and powerful. With the power they had, it was surprising more people didn’t die. As powerful as Mercy and her allies are, I wasn’t sure they would win or at the very least win without significant losses. Some of the things the enemy did were sick and demented. It was someone that definitely needed to be taken out for good.

The best part of the book was the characters. Zee, who I absolutely adore, was in this quite a bit. Stefan was in it but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Sherwood was extremely helpful. He has hidden potential. I’m dying to know more about him. Wulfe was entertaining to say the least. Every minute with Coyote was great!

Storm Cursed is the newest book in the Mercy Thompson series. Briggs did not disappoint. I had a hard time putting this book down. The book was fast paced and was not always predictable. There were laughs and there was heartbreak. I cannot say enough good things about this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an ARC.