Fire Touched, the ninth instalment of Patricia Briggs urban fantasy series featuring Mercy Thompson, begins with a naked troll released by the Fae Gray Lords, creating havoc on a Tri-Cities bridge. Leaping to the defence of the city, Mercy, Adam and the pack engage in a fierce battle to end the rampage, and wind up indebted to a boy seeking refuge from the fae.

Providing sanctuary to Aiden, a once human boy who is now something Other after having spent years in Underhill, puts the pack in direct conflict with not only the Gray Lords who want him back, but also the humans who fear a supernatural war, and the most powerful werewolf pack in the country.
In addition Adam and Mercy must finally take a stand against the members of the pack who have been unhappy about the influence Mercy wields as Adam’s mate. It’s imperative the pack is united if they are going to survive.

Action packed and fast paced, Fire Touched is another entertaining and creative story. Though some fans have expressed discontent with the focus on the fae of late, It seems as if the author is bringing this thread to a close. As always, I’m already impatient for the next adventure for Mercy, and her friends.

In the latest Patricia Briggs novel, Mercedes Thompson makes a decision that affects Adam's entire pack, as well as the other supernaturals in the Tri-State area - she claims the area for the pack. When a troll attacks a local bridge, Mercy can't help but get involved, which includes, involving the werewolves. Oddly enough, this action almost seems to finally make the pack respect her, if they don't fight her. And when Todd brings a fugitive teenage human out of Fairy, Mercy can't help but get involved, even when it means going in and fighting Fairy herself.

There are serious tensions brewing between supernatural factions in the Tri-Cities and, as usual, Mercy, Adam and the rest of the pack are right at the centre of things in this, the 9th instalment of the untouchable Mercy Thompson series.

First of all, just look at that cover! This series has the most beautiful artwork by Dan dos Santos (Check out more of his work here http://www.dandossantos.com/gallery.html). Even if I'd never heard of this series before I'd have come to a dead halt in the bookshop aisle at that amazing imagery. Of course, I have heard of the series. Who hasn't? It's literally the goalpost all other werewolf-centric series aim at, but never quite reach.

Onto this book in particular. It centres mostly on the tenuous relations between the fae and werewolves and there's a new character introduced who plays a pivotal role. Mercy is currently in a great place with her mate and husband Adam Hauptman, but in a slightly less great place with certain other members of her new pack, and this is something that gets addressed in this book - finally.

The highlights for me are...just Mercy. Everything she says, does and thinks. It's seems like every time I pick up one of these books I've somehow managed to forget how cool she is in between instalments. She's really wise (rare for a book heroine, I know) and that wisdom extends to admitting when she doesn't know something or that she's the wrong person for a particular job. I just love her. That is all.

The next book, Silence Fallen, is already out and there's at least one more planned after that. Can't wait.

5 Stars ★★★★★ A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

After reading 40% of Fire Touched, I've decided to stop going further. Nothing was keeping me engaged in the story. The main characters were interesting enough, but there were too much dialogue and explanations that just didn't keep me interested. I'm sure many fans will love this instalment of the series but it just didn't work for me.

I have been a huge fan of this series since the first book came out. And I am still a fan. The last few books have been pretty good, but they weren’t as good as this one. This book had more plot and flowed easier.

In this book we meet Aiden, the Fire Touched. He is a human who was trapped in Underhill for an extremely long time, and Underhill wants him back. He was given power over fire by Underhill. The fae are trying to get Aiden back to get on Underhill’s good side.

I think the part that I liked the least was the crane scene. There was so much set up that I got to the point where I thought “I don’t care… I get it. Can we please move on?” And that scene stuck with me the rest of the book and bugged me enough that I dropped it to 4 stars. Well that and the fact that I felt like the story wasn’t wrapped up as well as it could have been. I have a lot of unanswered questions. It could have used another chapter to tidy up a few loose ends.

I enjoy Mercy and Adam but I was ready for a book that didn’t focus on them, or the issues the pack has with Mercy being a coyote. Overall it was a good book. And I can’t wait to read the next one.

I loved being back in this world. It is like visiting family, seeing everybody again is just awesome !
Though I did like this part a little less. I don't know why, but i could not really get into it. The plot seemed chaotic, and I missed the red line through the story so to say.
Apart from that, it was great to have Mercy back and I'm very curious how some events in this book will have an influence on the future.
Rating is more like a 3.5, but I will round it up to 4, because Mercy <3