Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter – review

Shape-shifting “skinwalker” and vampire killer for hire Jane Yellowrock is back in the third Urban Fantasy novel of the Jane Yellowrock series by the talented Faith Hunter, Mercy Blade. It is set primarily in New Orleans, Lousiana, and is told in the first person, from Jane’s POV, as are the first two novels in the series, Skinwalker and Blood Cross.

Jane is in a strange position:  this killer of vampires has become the employee of one of the most well-known vampire clan leaders in the Big Easy, Leo Pellissier, Blood Master of the City.  She’s also got a steady beau, the undercover police detective Rick LaFleur.  Jane is called to handle the security of a major convention in New Orleans, where werewolves and other beings they don’t always get along with, like witches and werecats–not to mention vampires like Leo–are meeting, and Pellissier wants to ensure everything runs smoothly. Jane’s special talents, skills with weapons and mixed martial arts, and her ability to change into the Beast within her will all be necessary for her to survive, let alone to succeed in keeping the peace between the various factions of long-time enemies.

Jane Yellowrock is not a “were”; she can change form at will. Also, the Beast she can change into remains a being apart from her, though it shares her body. The internal dialogues she has with the Beast and its thoughts when it takes over Jane’s body are, for me, some of the coolest, most interesting parts of each novel in the series. Reading about the Beast going on the prowl and searching its territory for prey was intriguing, as is reading about how the Beast feels about Rick and the other romantic interest of Jane’s in the novel, another employee of Leo’s, who Jane calls Bruiser.  The following excerpt from the novel taken from Chapter 8, “Die Young Then, Sonny,” is an example of both how armed to the teeth Jane is, even while at a party and how the Beast interjects its own opinions:

The dress was designed to hide weapons while making me look like I had a lot more class than I did. The mirror suggested the designer had been successful. Beneath the wide, flowing skirt that belted out as I moved, I had three thin blades and one vamp-killer strapped to my thighs. My hair was braided and twisted into a bun so tight it made my scalp ache, and eight silver-tipped wood stakes acted as hairpins. My only jewelry was the gold nugget necklace and the gemmed collar of my dress. Beast sent a satisfied purr through me at the vision of the weapons and the bare skin of my arms and throat. Trap, she thought at me. Looks like prey but isn’t.

Why is the novel titled Mercy Blade? Jane is set up and attacked by a pack of marauding werewolves and would probably have been killed if a mysterious stranger named Girrard hadn’t dropped down from the rafters where he’d been hiding to help her battle them with his sword.  He explains that he used to be Leo’s “Mercy Blade,” an honored person who is charged with killing vampires who have gone insane because they can’t transition between being a human to becoming a vampire. Jane doesn’t know why this powerful assassin left New Orleans or why he’s now returned, but she’s going to do all she can to figure out the reasons, no matter what her boss’s feelings are about it. Will it become Jane’s fate to his successor as the new Mercy Blade?

I’d say that Mercy Blade is a fantastic addition to the series. Some critics have described Jane as sometimes acting kind of “flighty” in this novel, but she is torn between her duty to Pellisier (and the lure of the big bucks he pays her), her devotion to the Beast, and her two love interests, Rick and Bruiser. I didn’t think of her as being especially flighty, but perhaps conflicted. I, as a guy, like the action and fighting scenes more than the romantic ones, but I see how it’s necessary to include Jane’s thoughts on her romantic love interests to appeal to as wide an audience as possible and to make her a well-rounded, three-dimensional sort of character.

I also like that the author is exploring more of Leo Pellissier’s background in this third offering in the series. He can be suave and debonair, but he can be, and often has been, a bloodthirsty killer, as well. Learning some of the reasons behind Leo’s behavior helps to explain why Leo doesn’t always seem to act rationally, and why he has the attitudes he does towards Girrard and anybody else who might aspire to be the new Mercy Blade. I won’t get into the reason why, because I don’t want to reveal any potential spoilers, but I did like to get the chance to learn more about Leo’s history.

Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter is a novel that will get your pulse pounding and your blood racing, and you’ll savor each word, from the first to the last. Jane Yellowrock is in fine form, and with the Beast around, lurking inside of her, ready to come out whenever Jane is threatened, life is always interesting and action-packed for one of Urban Fantasy’s most well known female vampire hunters. Mercy Blade can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone novel, but the first two novels in the series are great, too, and I’d recommend reading them to give you some background about Jane Yellowrock.