Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs – a Review
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Description::
A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…
Includes the new stories:
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”
…and reader favorites:
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”
Review:
Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs are 10 short stories from the World of Mercy Thompson. For those of you who do not know, Mercy Thompson is Briggs successful werewolf series, which is already on its 8th novel.
Writing a review about a group of short stories is very difficult, so I will not give too much details, which in short stories would be spoilers.
Popular short Stories already published in anthologies:
Fairy Gifts: This take place in a mining town in Montana. Thomas, who was forced to become a vampire as child, comes to the rescue of a young fae girl. He received a precious gift, and years later is drawn back there.
Gray: A female vampire returns to Chicago and buys the home filled with happy and sad memories. She begins remodeling the place, and becomes friends with the human contractor. But she also has to deal with other vampires and protect what is hers.
Alpha and Omega: This is the novella about werewolves, the ultra powerful Charles Cornick and the abused young Omega werewolf, Anna. This led to the Mercy Thompson spin off series, Alpha and Omega. I loved this short story the best. Wonderfully done.
Seeing Eye: This is a story of Tom, a werewolf who needs the help of a powerful witch to save his human brother. Moira is a good witch, who is blind, due to her evil father. She must decide if she is strong enough to help Tom. This was one of the best stories in this book.
The Star of David: This story is about a werewolf who is estranged from his human daughter. Stella needs her father’s help when one of the foster children she helps is accused of attacking his foster family. She knows something isn’t right, and with her father’s help they discover the truth. This is a nice story of an estranged family coming together, letting go of the past.
In Red With Pearls: Warren is a werewolf, who is PI helping Kyle, a human lawyer. The story is about a zombie trying to kill Kyle, and the witch, who had to help save Kyle and find out why and who spelled the zombie.
New short stories, which Briggs created for this novel:
Silver: Patricia says she wrote this depressing story because of her fans demands to know. Ithis covers how Bran and Samuel were first made into werewolves, and how Samuel first fell in love with the Ariana.
Roses in Winter: A young girl who survives a werewolf attack, has not been able to control her wolf. She is moved to Bran’s pack, the ancient werewolf Ansil tries to help, with time of essence. The law is absolute: if a werewolf cannot learn to control the wolf, they must be destroyed for the safety of all. Another very good one.
Redemption: Ben is a werewolf who has a quick temper, and loves to curse. He’s makes a bet that he can stop swearing for a week, and it just might change his life.
Hollow: A wealthy recluse is haunted by a terrible ghost, and Mercy is called in to help. But is it truly a ghost or something far more dangerous. This was another good story.
Outake from Silver Borne: Samuel and Ariana, whom we knew from Silver, have another chance at love, and they’re determined to make it work. Briggs explains at the start of this story that she wanted to explain more about Samuel finally being with Ariana, since she couldn’t fit it in during Silver Borne.
Outtake from Broken – Briggs dreamed this sequence just as she finished Night Broken, and it was too late to add it. So here it is, at the hospital while Mercy close to dying. Adam’s viewpoint
If you are a fan of Patricia Briggs and Mercy Thompson, then this book is a fun and enjoyable read. I enjoyed her brief comments prior to each story, explaining how she came up with the story, and the timing where it would fit in with her books. Shifting Shadows is the perfect book to read on a nice lazy weekend or on the beach.
