In order to download free, you do need to subscribe your email address.  They don't flood you with other marketing emails.  You do have to act lightning fast when you get the email because these stay available free almost no time.  This one is short at 128 pages.

There's a bookclub on booklikes for these at http://booklikes.com/book-clubs/88/tor-monthly-free-ebook-science-fiction-and-fantasy   (TOR publishes mainly science fiction and fantasy genre books).  Publisher page for book.

So this is a round-up I did for B&N SciFi, which is a little listicle-y because it's number 10 in a series and nobody much cares about, like, an actual review at that point. Either you'll read it because you're on the hook, or you won't.

But coming up with the list kinda reminded me how kinda terrible the Mercy Thompson series is about relationships between female characters. I think there's a big step forward in Silence Broken -- Mercy has real conversations with Honey, that Russian witch lady, and Marselia -- but that doesn't precisely make up for the previous 9 novels. It ends up being one of those bummers where I pretty much like everything about a series but a huge fucking gaping hole where normal human interaction should exist between people of the same gender, but alas, it doesn't. Or it does a little not, but. 

Oh, but as per the actual plot: I thought this one unstuck some stuff that had been, um, stuck, in the few previous. Mercy ends up kidnapped into Europe, so we get a whole new political and literal landscape to deal with. I though it shook up some things that needed shaking up in the Mercyverse. 

This volume is kind of a coming home for Silk. I don't want to give anything away, but I feel like the issues cover a lot of ground in a really short period. They really expand her world.

I love Silk but she was totally eclipsed for part of this volume by the amazing cast of people that surround her. For this issue, I don't consider this a bad thing. In the last volume, we were mostly caught up with Silk and the Black Cat and being undercover for SHIELD but this time Silk's world is opening up a little. We already know her two friends from work, who I just adore, but a few more characters are introduced that I hope are here to stay.

The volume answers a lot of questions, but then poses new questions as well, as any good continuation should. I hope to see her really get on her own two feet in the future.

Some fun little things that I loved:

• the friends totally geeking out when they had stumbled upon the opportunity
• the introduction of Spectro
• the whole Negative Zone everything
• SHIELD holding up it's end of a bargain
• JJJ. I know, he's such a jerk to Peter and Spider-Man but he adores Silk and Cindy Moon.
• JJJ's nickname for her.

It's definitely a volume that has some crucial information for anyone keeping up with her storyline, not filler at all. I look forward to continuing the series! 

I LOVE Spider-Woman! First she's an Avenger, then she quits to do street-level crime, then she's pregnant and subsequently a new mom, and she's a MENTOR! Where has she been all my life?

Oh yeah, covered by the mountain of overly marketed male heroes. Okay, to be honest, I hated her old costume and the way they drew her until Febuary '16, so I wouldn't have picked it up until the awesome new costume after the drama about the pose. If you aren't familiar, here's an article covering that whole issue. It's from the Mary Sue, who I just adore also. Let's get back to the review, though.

Yeah, Silk is here too!! Okay, I'll deal with Spider-Gwen's presence. I even get her a little better now, but let me not get ahead of myself. When I picked this up during the same B&N dinner that I read and fell in love with Spider-Woman, I had literally no idea what was going on. I took it off the shelf because I love Silk and I had just grabbed Spider-Woman anyway. I did also get Spider-Gwen and I've read her first issue but it's not my thing. She seems to be the most beloved of the Spider-Women, given that I see her hoodie all over the place on women at cons and stuff, but I don't like her comic. I like the idea of her comic but learning new Earth's in new dimensions isn't fun for me, despite my affinity for science fiction and occasional delve into fantasy. I just can't, not for a comic like this.

Still, the inter-dimensional  thing totally works in this volume. I think it's because we have a bit more of a gateway as things are explained but not really info-dumped or left to be figured out. It is a little interesting to think that there could be an alternate you somewhere out there with a slightly different back story and making completely different choices. Like, completely, apparently and I don't want to spoil a big reveal but choices aren't the only things that may be different.

As in the description for the issue, the women get together for a mentoring session. I absolutely love that. In all the social media circles I have frequented for this blog and  the one I previously had that focused much more on feminism than books, I read a lot about the importance of women having mentors and of women being mentors to other women. This should not be underestimated and it looks like Marvel is paying attention. While mentoring shouldn't be inherently gender-based (and she has men she mentors too!), there is an element to our lives that are soaked in our gendered experience and what society throws at us on account of this aspect of our lives. The male superheroes have been seen mentoring each other for a long time now and it's great to see the women get it too. (I can't really speak to the prevalence because I'm relatively new to comic reading, but I'm just happy to see it's presence here) The mentoring session gets hijacked by some villainy and all three women have opportunities for growth.

It's an interesting arch and tact to take with these three women at such transitional times in their lives. Spider-Gwen and Silk are new heroes and figuring out their individual ways in the landscape of their own Earths and Spider-Woman is getting used to this superhero/mom thing. I adore that she brings a breast pump and that she has to stop and pump. The comic manages to make it look like it's manageable to work and give your kid breastmilk while not even insinuating that not doing so is somehow shameful. As a working mother, it's fairly empowering in that regard.

Our younger heroes are going through entirely different problems and Spider-Gwen doesn't hide her distaste for the not-so-easy way that Silk is coping and handling the hero thing. Like I said before, I'm not a Spider-Gwen fan, but I felt like I understood her issue with Silk and I appreciated her eventual ability to have a teensy bit of empathy for Silk's plight. Also, I get the problem with Silk and her flighty habits on account of her extreme isolation for so long. It can be hard to assimilate to a  team when you're used to not even having someone to talk to, but still. She treats Silk the way the Mary Jane's treat her and she should know that it's rough from the onset. She should get that it means there's more going on in her head but that's more a mark of experience than compassion and it's fitting that Spider-Woman is the one who gets it.

As far as the art goes, this one was not the best. It's not that it didn't have great art but it combined three different comics with three different sets of creators for a few issues and so the look of it is inconsistent. This aspect alone wouldn't keep me from buying it but it's was a little annoying anyway and I'd rather let you all know ahead of time. I get what they were doing, I just wish the art had been consistent throughout the issues, but then it would have been strange for the art within each series to change and there I would go in circles again. That's not the point. It was a necessary evil but that doesn't mean I had to enjoy it.

I loved the whole concept of this volume and the execution was great (the art thing is really all that keeps it from being perfect). Spider-woman is definitely my new favorite superhero but that doesn't lessen my love of the others that I have been following. I have got to work harder on catching up on all the titles I enjoy following (Silk included) and add this to the list.