SPOILERS – Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review

When Mercy is investigating the anti-Fae group she is magically drugged by the leader. He is able to control her and he tells her that she loves him and wants him and then rapes her.

She is able to partially fight off the effects of the drug and is able to kill him. Adam and the werewolf pack arrive after she kills him and he tears apart the body. This is captured on security cameras and is later leaked by people who want to prove that werewolves are dangerous.

The aftermath of the rape (which is not portrayed graphically) is the part that was emotionally riveting for me. Mercy is being treated at Adam’s house while the effects of the drugs she was given wear off. As she starts to regain control, she is confused. Because she was magically convinced that she loved her attacker, she didn’t resist. Does that make her culpable? Was it actually rape? Her attacker knew this and told her that because she was going along that Adam would know that she was unfaithful to him and that he wouldn’t love her anymore. She is wracked with guilt.

When Adam approaches her, she cowers from him. His instinct is to avoid her because she is scared of him. That sets up a confrontation between Ben, the bad boy of the pack, and the alpha Adam where Ben tries to make Adam understand how it feels to be the victim of an attack that makes you feel powerless.

It is deep stuff for an urban fantasy novel.

The ending of the book is troubling for some people. It implies that Mercy intends to have sex with Adam for the first time a week after the attack. However, the next book in the series starts with Adam turning down her advances because she is clearly not emotionally ready for that. Throughout the book she has panic attacks whenever she is touched and working through that is one of the major points of Bone Crossed.