Faith Hunter – Mercy Blade

The third book in the Jane Yellowrock series, published January 4, 2011.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: strong, I like it



Jane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker – and a vampire killer for hire. But lately she’s found herself taking blood money from the very vampires she used to hunt…

Things are heating up in the Big Easy. Weres have announced their existence to the world, and revived the bitter tensions that run between them and their old enemies: vampires. As a trusted employee of Leo Pellissier, Blood Master of the City, Jane finds herself caught in the cross fire.
When Jane is attacked by a pack of marauding werewolves, she is thankful for the help of a mysterious stranger named Girrard. He explains that he used to be Leo’s Mercy Blade, a sacred position charged with killing vampires who have gone insane. What Jane doesn’t know is why this powerful assassin left New Orleans – or, more troubling, why he’s now returned. It’s definitely not to make Jane’s life easier….


This series is just so good. Each book is original even though you think, o more vampire urban fantasy. It is not ordinary; Faith Hunter has given her own unique spin to the known lore. Yes, the vampires are powerful, drink blood, sleep during the day, but the rest of the world is just awesome. This book kept me glued to the pages until the last one, never dull or boring or repetitive.

The book starts out with Jane and her new boyfriend Rick packing up her old apartment in the Appalachian Mountains. Jane has accepted a long term job offer from the Vampire Council in New Orleans, and she is moving her things up there. That morning though, the t.v. channels are full about the discovery of shapeshifters in the world, big cats from Africa. Jane and Beast are interested, although they are not like them, skinwalkers. How will the world react to this news, when there is still a debate going on in the Senate about giving rights to Vampires? They are now treated as aliens, with ambassador like status.
But there is no rest for them, Jane is needed by Leo to meet with some old enemy and tell him to leave town, while Rick is needed by the PD for a new undercover job. And so they have to hurry back to New Orleans on their bikes.

Meeting a stranger in a biker bar should not be a problem for Jane, she is armed to the teeth and knows how to fight. She has Beast’s strength and reflexes to draw upon, but when faced with a whole werewolf pack, she is severely outnumbered. Lucky for her, help from an unexpected source saves her hide. Her rescuer is Leo’s old enemy, and he wants her to know that Leo needs him in his life and that of his Family. But he doesn’t really tell Jane anything she needs to know; only that he used to be Leo’s Mercy Blade, and that she has kind of taken on the responsibilities of the job now.

The vampires are trying to make a treaty with the big cats, and they both hate and loath the werewolves, but the werewolves are accusing Leo of murder. So, it is all a big political mess, and Jane has to find a way through it all. But when her boyfriend disappears, she does whatever is necessary to get him back alive.


Lots of surprises again in this book. Jane keeps learning more about the origin of vampires, and about her own past. I love her interaction with Beast, and how they work together to find out what they need to know. I really like Faith Hunter’s take on skinwalkers and vampires and weres. It is almost non-stop action, but I have to say, I am suspicious of Molly’s sister, who is staying with Jane. Especially when Bruiser also comes to live with them when Leo kicks him out temporarily.

The only constant so far in these books, is that Jane almost dies a lot. And the ending, o the ending. I want book 4 now!

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian