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As I have noted elsewhere, the three pillars of magical society in Patricia Briggs's 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 pillar, 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 polities 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. 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.

"Storm Cursed" is the 11th book in the Mercy Thompson series (not counting the "Alpha and Omega" series which is also connected, and consists of one novella and five full-length novels that even further flesh-out the world; there is also "Shifting Shadows," a collection of short stories in the same universe). So by this point, Patricia Briggs has a lot of existing plot threads and established worldbuilding to work with when crafting a new entry in her series. While episodic for the most part, this series has always had this interesting aspect where each story builds and develops on some substantial chunk of what went on before, and "Storm Cursed" leans heavier than most of the previous entries on this strength.Without going into spoilers, I'll say that I was very grateful that I had the urge to read all ten of the previous books while waiting for this one's release: a lot of what goes on in "Storm Cursed" provides texture and payoff to details both large and small from Mercy's previous adventures, and prominent roles for a few characters who were only small-time support players before this or else built up with no prior payoff.So, read the rest of the series before "Storm Cursed" or you'll miss out on a lot of that. Even setting that aside, this book is a fun time and a masterclass in the Mercy series' method of going from snarky lighthearted fun to grim darkness at the drop of a pin, opening on the uneasy alliance with Larry the goblin king and the mysterious, sudden appearance of "miniature zombie goats" (the "miniature" part is important, because "zombie goats" just sound Satanic) before deep-diving into the macabre world of the blackest black magic and the worst of witchcraft--making this the first book in the main Mercy Thompson series to turn its attention fully toward witch antagonists (a thing that has hitherto been more prominent in Alpha and Omega). In typical Mercy fashion, however, this crisis brings the werewolves, fae, vampires, and humans together in interesting ways, and the story never quite unfolds in the exact direction either the reader or the characters themselves are expecting. I didn't quite expect it to be as emotional a story for Adam and Mercy as it ended up being, either... once more proving that Patricia Briggs is far better at writing an already-committed romantic relationship than she is the admittedly kind of hackneyed love triangle nonsense that was being played up in the first couple Mercy Thompson books. You'd think knowing that Mercy and Adam--or Anna and Charles--are basically an unbreakable item would dampen the passion of reading about them, but nope. Still going strong. (Resist the nudge.)In terms of print quality for the hardcover edition, it's as solid a book as you could expect, although in my case I did encounter one page with semi-faded-looking ink, so print errors are a distinct possibility here. A small annoyance in an otherwise fantastic reading marathon, and not nearly as important as the story itself. Excellent work, Briggs.A side-note about some reviews decrying "leftist" propaganda in the Mercy Thompson books:Of all the "feminist" girl-power heroine stories I've read, Patricia Briggs writes what are probably the most politically balanced. Racists are present and acknowledged, but usually offset by rational people working in the same space; sexism is alive and well in these stories but dealt with in balanced ways that neither minimize nor villainize the men who are masculine in heroic and admirable ways; and if you see anyone telling you that the story is all pro-Democrat or anti-NRA or any of that rot, you are being point-blank lied to. Mercy herself is a gun owner; references to Democrats and Republicans throughout the series seem highly critical of both (there's even a mention in an earlier book of Democrats wanting to hand out scholarships to fae in order to--I may be slightly mis-quoting, but only slightly--"show how enlightened they are") and one of the major characters in this novel in particular is a Republican senator who is not exactly in love with the supernatural community but is also not halfway stupid enough to support any political direction likely to result in conflict between humans and supernaturals, resulting in a genuinely interesting beginning to an alliance between him and the Columbia Basin Pack in this story. And I don't really remember anything substantial about the NRA, but... Mercy is a gun-owner who keeps guns at home, at work, and often in a concealed carry holster on her person, so... yeah.And if you're worried about Mercy being an overly perfect power fantasy for the feminist left, rest assured: she's just about the realest female protag I've ever read in any story ever, with all the strengths and character defects that implies. It makes her relationship with both the male and female cast very interesting, especially when she gets past her often-wrong first impressions of people and her relationships get turned on their heads--characters she initially dislikes or who initially dislike her turn out to be her closest friends and supporters as the story moves forward, and characters she initially liked end up in fairly adversarial relationships with her when their true colors come out. It's that kind of story. Mercy's perception of people and things is never perfect and Briggs is a master at using that to provide substance to her supporting cast.If you're the type to believe kneejerk reviews decrying a book for daring to try "brainwashing" its likely very adult audience with politics the reviewer doesn't agree with, this is one where you want to read it yourself and make your own decisions.