by Mary Anne Barker

Details on how to enter to win a copy of Shifting Shadows at the end of this review along with a link to purchase the book where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs is a group of short stories set in the Mercy Thompson world. Some of them have been published before and others are brand new, but it’s nice to have all of the short stories together in one collection. I’ve been waiting eagerly for this book.

Most of the older stories are not about Mercy. The stories are mostly about peripheral characters who have showed up and then wanted more time and attention, according to Patricia Briggs. I am very fond of the “Alpha & Omega”, which is its own series. And some of them—even though I knew they were paranormal, like vampires—I never connected them to Mercy’s world, like “Grey” and “Fairy Gifts.”

“Silver” is nice because it fills in a lot of the holes I felt were left in the narrative in Silver Bourne. It was mentioned that it was a sad story, but you can see the underpinning then, that lead to where Samuel and Ariana are now, because their relationship kind of came out of left field for me in Silver Bourne, and I was left at the end of the book going huh? It was nice, but without the basis of “Silver” it felt kind of sudden.

The other thing that was very helpful was the timeline, an explanation of when a short story was supposed to happen.

It is nice to have both “Seeing Eye” and Alpha and Omega together, since the two storylines connect in a later book, Hunting Ground.

The “Star of David” is a very nice Christmas story. “In Red with Pearls” was about Warren and Kyle’s on-going, growing relationship, and what they are willing to do to keep it going. And it was nice to see that Kyle is accepting of Warren’s protective nature.

I think that my favorites are “Roses in Winter” and “Redemption.” I keep going back to read them again. I remember reading about the child that was sent to the Marouk and wondering what happened to her. Also, that the story is about Asil caring about her was nice (maybe he is not as far gone as he thinks he is). Plus, getting to see where Ben came from and why he was as he was…It was fun watching Ben struggle with developing a conscience and responsibility for others.

There is a new Mercy short story, “Hollow,” Mercy struggling with dealing with a bodyguard and also what do with the wreckage of her shop from Night Broken.

The two outtakes were nice, too, to see just a little more of what happened. One takes place during Silver Bourne, and the other would fit at the end of Night Broken.

This is a wonderful addition to the Mercy Thompson worlds.

To enter to win a copy of Shifting Shadows, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Shifting,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 18, 2014. U.S. residents only.

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Use this link to purchase Shifting Shadows & a portion will go to KRL:

Mary Anne Barker works at the Reedley Library. She loves books, TV and movies.