★★★★★ Witches and pain magic

Storm Cursed

Patricia Briggs

As I have noted elsewhere, the three pillars of magical society in Patricia Briggs's Mercyverse, also Mercyverse, are werewolves, vampires, and fae. However, she also feels free to import any folkloric creatures that anyone has ever told stories about. Thus Mercy herself is descended from First Nation not-quite-a-god Coyote. Aside from the big three, most of these other magical beings are one-offs. And since Briggs is all about the politics and palace intrigue, they don't have the standing to become pillars of Mercyverse magical society. In fact, the first three books, Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed, served as introductions to werewolves, vampires, and fae, respectively.

If there is a fourth, it is witches. Witches are important in the Mercy Thompson series and even more in the companion Mercyverse series Alpha and Omega. Columbia basin witch Elizaveta Arkadyevna has appeared before, most recently in Silence Fallen. However, there has not, until Storm Cursed, been a book-length introduction to the witches.

Witches, like fae, are hereditary magical creatures. (That is, you get to be a witch or fae by having parents who are witches or fae, in contrast to werewolfism and vampirism, which are transmissible conditions contracted by bite.) Unlike werewolves, vampires, and fae, witches are too fractious to form communities larger than a family, hence their relative freedom from political maneuvering.

Witch magic is powered by pain. (Pain-powered magic appears often enough in fantasy that I suspect it has roots in folklore.) Mercyverse witches come in three colors: white, gray, and black. White witches, the least powerful, derive their power from self-inflicted pain. Gray witches derive their power from pain inflicted on others with the consent of the tormented party. Black witches, the most powerful, torment others without consent. Black witches are not nice at all, at all.

Storm Cursed begins when black witches show up in Mercy's territory. Are they there to give everyone flowers and hugs and goodwill? I'll let you guess.

Parts of Storm Cursed were emotionally difficult to read. As you might expect in a story about witches who power their magic by inflicting pain, very bad stuff happens. Briggs is not a safe author. If you have read the previous Mercy Thompson books, you will remember the very painful scene in Iron Kissed when Tim caught Mercy in her garage. It's a rape, it hurts to read, and has consequences that echo throughout the rest of the series. The second half of Storm Cursed is almost that painful.

In a way, I think that the way Briggs makes it hurt is what justifies these scenes. They are far from gratuitous -- essential to the plot, in fact. If you're going to tell a story like that, it *should* hurt. It mustn't be lightly brushed off -- readers should feel it.

Well, it worked for me. Storm Cursed is dark. When you get through it, you feel that important things have happened, and that it was worth it.

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