Review: Mercy Thompson Homecoming by Patricia Briggs

Title: Mercy Thompson Homecoming Author: Patricia Briggs, Francis Tsai (Illustrator), Amelia Woo (Illustrator) Series: Mercy Thompson (prequel) Cover Art: Dan Dos Santos Hardcover: 112 pages Publisher: Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Published: August, 25, 2009 ISBN-10: 0345509889 ISBN-13: 978-0345509888 Source: Bought Reviewed by: Abigail

Book Description

Mercy Thompson is a walker, a magical being with the power to transform into a coyote. She lives on the fine line dividing the everyday world from a darker dimension, observing the supernatural community while standing apart.

This original story, set before the events of Patricia Briggs' best-selling novel series, finds shapeshifter Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson fresh out of college and looking for a job. Somehow she ends up smack in the middle of warring packs of werewolves and face-to-face with angry vampires. Worse yet, she faces the dreaded job interview! And as if fangs and fur weren’t bad enough, Mercy must deal with the scariest creature of all: her mother, who is convinced that Mercy is making a mess of her life and determined to set her daughter on the right course.

The thrilling adventures of Mercy Thompson–Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed–have topped the New York Times bestseller list. Now Mercy makes her comics debut in an exclusive new story created by Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming is sure to please longtime fans and capture new ones with its mix of unforgettable characters and thrilling supernatural intrigue.

 Review

Full disclosure: I am not a comic/graphic novel fan.  I read Archie comics as a kid and made a failed attempt at reading Watchmen at the urging of a friend who swore I become a convert after trying it (I didn’t).  I even bought a bunch on the Buffy season 8 and Angel After the Fall comics (which sat mostly unread on my shelves until I passed them on to more appreciative hands).  What I am a fan of is Mercy Thompson, so I knew eventually I’d be picking up a copy of the Mercy graphic novel prequel HOMECOMING.

Up front I’ll say that HOMECOMING hasn’t changed my opinion on graphic novels as a whole, but knowing that from the outset, I did enjoy HOMECOMING for a number of reasons.  It’s really, really pretty.  There were several artists working collaboratively and some of their different styles are apparent from scene to scene (for example, Mercy has crazy buff thighs in one panel, and then a more balanced physique in the next), I found myself staring at the pages long after I’d ‘read them.’

 

The best part of HOMECOMING was getting to ‘see’ the characters and locations.  Zee and Stefan are two of my particular favorites from the series and they each got quite a lot of face time, although Stefan looks nothing like how I imagined him. 

The thing I missed the most in HOMECOMING was the same shortcoming I find in all graphic novels: the almost non existent dialogue and internal character thoughts.  It’s all about the action scenes, which are very cool to see, but I expect more from a Mercy story than action.

 

There aren’t any real surprises here and the storyline is nothing special, but if you’re a Mercy fan, you’ll want to check out HOMECOMING to see everyone in action and get a little inside scoop on Mercy’s first few days in TriCity (slinging fries at Burger King, buying her trailer, and how she ended up with Medea the cat). 

Sexual Content: Lots of naked Mercy art.

My Rating:

3/5
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

Click HERE to see some of the art from MERCY THOMPSON HOMECOMING

Previous books in the series:

1. N/A

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