Enjoyable but for the retconning of the rules of werewolf behaviour. Plus the revisiting of the Bran-Mercy relationship was just ick.

Fun mystery! One of my favorites in this series.

I forget how much I enjoy Patricia Briggs’ writing until I get another one of her books, and Burn Bright is no exception. Charles is left in charge of the pack when Bran leaves to help Mercy (Silence Fallen) and then decides to take a vacation in Africa. Everything is going fairly well until a team tries to abduct a werewolf and her fairy mate. The attempted abduction leaves few clues but plenty of questions, the biggest being the identity of the traitor.

Burn Bright gives us some insight into Bran character and more specifically Bran’s relationship with Mercy. Although I very much enjoyed the second hand stories I was slightly apprehensive about what exactly Briggs was setting up for the future. I loved learning more about the pack and always enjoy scenes with Ansil (of which there are many). It has been a few years since book 4 but luckily Burn Bright is more than worth the wait. I finished the book and immediately wanted to reread the entire series.

This one made me want to go back and reread the whole series.

There is always a sigh of satisfaction when I finish a book by Patricia Briggs.
This one did not stand out particularly, but her prose and her characters are always spot on

This series is really creative with a great mix of classic supernatural elements and new ideas. I love the Navajo lore and hope Briggs writes another!

I tend to give books that are what I wanted/expected 4-stars, particularly in series that I really enjoy and/or by authors that I really enjoy. With that in mind, this is a series that I really enjoy, and an author that I literally own all the writings of (except for maybe some short stories that I didn't get anthologies for), and I give this a three. That won't seem significant to someone who is unfamiliar with my system, but it is. This was one of the less effective books I have read by this author (and I think she was going through the death of her husband during this, so I will forgive her for it), but the really frustrating thing about this book was that the author was trying to ret-con established personalities and relationships in this book... like we didn't read the other 14 in this world (2 series, 1 world) or anything. Super frustrating. I think it was supposed to edge this book into more of a suspense/thriller direction where you are supposed to be kept guessing... but it just came off as things happening because the author said so, and not that there were realistic factors at play. It just veered way off-course, out of nowhere. Literally multiple major characters in this world AND multiple relationships were just suddenly and fundamentally different, to increase either drama or suspense, but it didn't make sense and it didn't work.

All that said, the other things about the book were pretty much the level of quality I would expect, so I have decided that it wasn't bad enough that I can't give the author the benefit of the doubt moving forward. Also, I am sorry for her loss. I hope that she is able to take the time she needs to mourn him properly, and after that, if she chooses to continue writing, I hope for a return to her earlier form.