Sign in with Facebook
Frank's Reviews > Iron Kissed
Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)
by
by
These books are trashy. Normally, I enjoy them anyway, they are a guilty pleasure. This third book in the Mercedes series has the weakest plot of them all. Not much really happens in it. I can forgive that, since I find the books to be near-romance novel quality. The biggest problem I have with it, other than the main character's whining about the decisions of her love life, is the author's inability to write. Oh, Briggs can compose a sentence and her grammar is fine, but the treatment she gives certain situations and topics in the book is . . . I don't want to say ham-fisted, because she crafted it well. She just didn't craft it right. The male behavior (even the behavior explained away as 'werwolf' behavior), the culminating event of the book, all should have been treated with more depth and respect and understanding. I guess I will have to give away a bit of the end of the book to better explain this. There is a rape in the book. Yes, the rape has certain supernatural characteristics in it, but it is still a rape, and still presented very much like a non-magical criminal rape. Now, maybe Briggs did do research on the subject, and maybe she did speak to rape victims before writing the book. Maybe she even (and I certainly hope not) was the victim of violence, sexual or otherwise, herself. If she was or had done any of that, I would be totally surprised. The way the main character deals with her rape in this novel, you would think Briggs didn't do any of that. It reads as if she never spoke to a rape victim before, or even watched a moderately serious movie on the subject.
This is probably my last Briggs novel. The author's inability to realistically portray the seriousness of certain events (or explain them away, such as 'he was sexually abused as a child and that's why he's a real jerk now') totally killed it for me. I enjoy the universe and mythology she has set up in these books. I would love to see some other author write a story in the same setting.
This is probably my last Briggs novel. The author's inability to realistically portray the seriousness of certain events (or explain them away, such as 'he was sexually abused as a child and that's why he's a real jerk now') totally killed it for me. I enjoy the universe and mythology she has set up in these books. I would love to see some other author write a story in the same setting.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Iron Kissed.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
August 9, 2008
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)
date
newest »
newest »
I disagree with your rape comments. When people are faced with either rape or childhood sexual abuse they will become one of two types of people a victim or a survivor. Staying true to Mercy's character she became a survivor. Survivors channel the pain, guilt, and shame into something usually more aggressive, wether that is making sure they are never victimized again (in Mercy's case her martial arts and in Ben's case outward aggression to the rest of the world). In a "victim's" case the trauma becomes who and what they are, and usually takes part of their character with it. Briggs stayed true to Mercy's character in this situation that's all you can ask of an author.
You think this is trashy? You have obviously never read an Anita Blake novel. Now THAT is trashy.
I'm with you here, Frank. The rape scene and the aftermath struck a really false note for me.And to other commenters or other people curious about rape in general, I don't think anyone should be forced to OUT themselves as someone who has experienced abuse or assault in order to have an opinion about rape or how a scene struck them. I think that the victim or survivor thing is an overly-simplistic false dichotomy that doesn't really deal with the slew of often-contradictory feelings that accompany being physically and emotionally violated by another person. Everyone I know carries elements of both. And being told that you either "buck up" or let it crush you seems to deny a person the right to feel hurt by hurt caused them, as if it's an unjustifiable weakness, which is just really crass.
Grrr.
Yep totally agree Jordan I thought it was really well handeled
Samrat thank you. When did 'victim' become a dirty word in our society? And why are you expected to pick one, victim or survivor? The aftermath was not handled well and would have liked to see Mercy go through the healing process instead of getting into bed with Adam a week later.
Please, please read the next book. There is much more about Mercy's healing process. She actually does not just jump into bed with Adam a week later. She tries to, because that is what many victims do. They try to pretend everything goes right back to normal. It's not wrong. It's how many of us cope with our abuse. Mercy and Adam both agree not to rush it and it takes 200 pages into the next novel, many panic attacks, and much healing for her to actually get back in the saddle. I appreciated the way Briggs handled the scenes following the rape. Not every victim reacts the same. I appreciated a hero who reacted similar to myself. Who pushed away some of the pain and self blame by returning to normal as soon as possible and just continued to truck on cause she knew if she stopped, she would collapse. This is a realistic view. This is what some of us did to cope. It makes me irritated to see people putting down this reaction like it isn't realistic when it was so close to my own... I can't help but think "How dare you?" Anyway... If you haven't read the 4th book, you don't really have the full story. Give it a shot if you care to.
Truthfully when I signed on to read about Mercy Tompson's world, I didn't sign up for ... This. I feel like the quickest way to get a knee jerk reaction from an audience, is to put subjects into a book that people really can't complain about. This is why I avoid romance novels. Why does this main character have to go through this at all? There are much better ways to build a character. *shakes head* this isn't for me, I don't like rape being used as a scape goat, for character, world, or story building.
Kockara, I don't like it used in that way, either, but I didn't feel that it was here. This is shit that happens in real life and happened to a strong person, giving her panic attacks and fear. It didn't change who she was but affected how she looked at the world and reacted -which is what happens in PTSD. I get that, though - how you said you "didn't sign up for" this, rape: I think most of us read paranormal/fantasy fiction to escape real life and uncomfortable things like sexual violence, and we don't expect to find it here.
"These books are trashy. I enjoy them anyway" , then why give two stars you nit whit? That is NOT how you rate something! Get it right next time! You TRASH!
I debated whether to read the next book after this, and now I am. I can tell you that Mercy doesn't jump into bed with Adam for 3/4 of the book. She has panic attacks. While I have had zero contact with any of these matters in my own life, I think that through the next book they're handled better. Just my opinion though, so I'm really sorry if I offended anyone with a better understanding than I have of these matters.
I can't agree that these books are trashy but I do agree with Beth that the Anita Blake books are trashy. I have spoken to a victim of rape and Mercy's feelings seem fairly realistic. I'm about to start reading the next book and am pleased to read other reviewers write that Ms Briggs has Mercy deal with the after effects and doesn't get over it and jump straight into bed with Adam. Nothing trashy about that.
How so? What specifically about the way Briggs handled the rape made it seem unrealistic to you? And I suppose the next logical question is have you talked to a lot of rape victims or been the victim of a sexual crime yourself?
I'm genuinely curious. I'm reading the book right now and haven't gotten to that part yet, so I can't say whether I agree with you or not. I may get there and feel the same way.
But I already knew this was going to happen before I started the book, and I'm a chronic "flipper-aheader", so I have read bits and pieces of it and seems to me that the way she handles Mercy's guilt about the incident was pretty realistic. (And no, I personally have never spoken to a rape victim or been the victim of a violent crime.)
But I feel like your review makes an accusation but never backs it up or explains why you felt that way, and I'm curious to know.