I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Mercy Burns
by
Keri Arthur
paranormal romance in Paperback edition that was published by Dell Books on April 19, 2011 and has 352 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Darkness Unbound, Darkness Rising, Darkness Devours, Darkness Hunts, Dancing with the Devil, Darkness Unmasked, Fireborn, Hearts in Darkness, Wicked Embers, Flameout, Blood Kissed, Demon's Dance, Hell's Bell, Hunter Hunted, Wicked Wings, Deadly Vows, City of Light, Ashes Reborn, Magic Misled, Broken Bonds, Sorrow's Song
Second in the Myth & Magick paranormal romance series with this story set in San Francisco and revolving around Mercy Reynolds.
My Take
Okay, I enjoyed this. I wish it had the same depth as her Riley Jenson, Guardian series and maybe more will develop as the series continues.
I guess it just seemed too easy and Mercy just a little too strident as she so desperately desires Damon in spite of his draman prejudices. Or maybe I just wanted Arthur to more fully explain the differences between the Jamieson clan and the other dragon clans. There were so many teasers that Arthur threw at us that it’s making me a bit nuts.
I think the anthropologically-inclined side of me wants to hear more about the culture and lifestyle of the dragons/dramans and it’s affecting my perspective.
The basic conflict is between dragons and dramans.
The Story
The dragons see the dramans as lesser, good enough to use for services of any kind, good enough to beat and abuse, not good enough to live. And that just pisses Mercy off, dammit.
When Rainey’s sister dies in a draman town, one that has disappeared, nothing left, Rainey and Mercy investigate and discover several towns have been obliterated and no one cares.
They’re just dramans. Good to clear them out.
But no one felt the passing of those draman which meant they had been buried. Their souls trapped, for dramans and dragons must have their souls sung to aid their passing.
Targeted for asking too many questions, Rainey is dead, and Mercy only has five days left to find her killers and sing her soul on. A slim timespan when death has a bead on Mercy, for she will not stop hunting, searching for both Rainey’s sake and the sake of those destroyed towns, for Rainey’s sister who was caught in one of them, for the dramans who have no one else to care.
Worse, Mercy has encountered a council assassin seeking the same answers. The same council that would see all draman dead…and Mercy is draman.
The Characters
Mercy Reynolds is a draman, half-dragon shifter and half-human. She can’t shift, but she can unleash fiery energy. She’s also a reporter in the San Francisco Bay area.
Rainey is her friend with a murdered sister.
Muerte is the assassin for a council who would see all draman dead.
Dramans are half-human and half-dragon offspring.
The Cover
Beautiful cover. I love the nude back of the gorgeous woman with the dreamy effect of the tattoos, but the way Arthur describes the stain as twining around a dragon/draman’s spine is not as it’s pictured here.
