Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Jane Yellowrock and Mercy Thompson

One of my favorite characters is Mercy Thompson. If you haven't read the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs, I highly recommend them. Mercy is strong, independent, loyal, and has trouble asking for help.

I read the first two Jane Yellowrock books this week (by Faith Hunter) and I'm quickly adding Jane to my "favorite characters" list. Jane is strong, independent, loyal and has trouble asking for help. Yeah, I see a trend here, too :) (And yes, I recommend these books, too.)

Mercy and Jane are alike in a number of ways. They're both:
Native American (they may both be Cherokee, I just can't remember which type of Native American Mercy is)
Shapeshifters (that they call 'skin walkers' while acknowledging the term is actually Navajo/Hopi and that a skin walker is evil, while they are not.)
Christian
Called upon to use their special abilities in killing evil vampires (as opposed to good vampires)
Trying to decide (early on, this doesn't go on forever) which of two guys they actually want to be with
Protective of children

Given the similarities, these are still very different characters in very different worlds. So, the next time you hear about a book that you think is too much like yours and now you'll never get published, think of Mercy and Jane. Your take on the story will be very different from someone else's. Thank goodness :)

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