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Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Fourth book in the urban fantasy with the werecoyote car mechanic.

Why did I read this? The third book did such a terrible job with the aftermath of rape (OMG I have been raped and am therefore unworthy of my boyfriend's love!), and I thought I was done. This book walks back the very worst of the last book, then wanders along through your standard issue urban fantasy plot, with extra werewolf mating. It would be unexceptionable, if only Briggs didn't keep trying to have, you know, issues. Mercy's PTSD appears to consist entirely of panic attacks neatly timed to further the plot or so her boyfriend can comfort her. No cycling mood, change in sleep patterns, fixation on details of the assault, or you know any other actual realistic symptoms. Briggs could have done better by spending three minutes with the DSM-IV. I am done patting authors on the back for remembering to include the effects of trauma at all -- now try doing it better.

Oh, and did I mention there's a deaf boy in this book? He's very brave, you know, and also apparently an Olympic champion lip reader, because the kid is better at it than any deaf person that I've ever met (which is a lot, by the way).

The real problem with this series is that on the surface it's fine. There's nothing egregiously wrong with this book like there was the last one, and in fact a few aspects of the kid's disability are handled very nicely in that there's no actual fuss about it. But the shallowness with which she approaches things I care about a great deal is actually more infuriating than complete wrongheadedness can be.

Dude. Stop playing issue bingo and go back to writing a fun and pleasant little urban fantasy series.

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