Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - The Mercies

This story is capitivating, almost as if by magic.

That tasteless joke aside, its a beautiful piece showing how minor quibbles can lead to such devestating consequences.

The relationships and social connections throughout are stitched together with a raw, real intensity. Its beautiful.

A warning though, it can be intense so just a heads up!

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serian's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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breadwitchery's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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mcdermott_af's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

I’m very glad that I finally picked this book up out of my to read pile. Prior to reading this, I had never heard of any witch trials in Norway. Despite knowing quite a lot about other, more well known, witch trials I was still shocked at how quickly the town changed. The book itself was beautifully written and each of the characters had flaws and a decent amount of depth. Like with many books though, I felt like the ending was lacking.

I wanted things to be wrapped up neatly. I wanted to know what happened to the main characters after the trials. I wanted to know if they lived or died. If they found happiness despite the hell they had witnessed. Alas, the story was left open ended which is the only reason it does not get 5 stars.

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leona's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

OH MY.

The Mercies is my third experience with Kiran Milwood Hargrave after I read 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' and 'The Island at the End of Everything' about 4 or 5 years ago. I liked The Girl of Ink and Stars but hated the ending (although I barely remember this book and can't remember why) and I remember the latter book being absolutely beautifully written and charming, and I loved that one, despite it being maybe a bit 'young' for me. But one thing was true for both of these, Hargrave is a master at gorgeous and captivating prose, brilliant characters and enchanting story.

And she did not disappoint with The Mercies. This book wasn't even on my radar until I saw it in TESCO and thought it sounded interesting. The feminist in me has always wanted to know more about witch trials and I love Norse cultures and would love to visit a Scandinavian country. It seemed perfect to me and I decided I loved it before I even read the first page (not to mention that beautiful cover * chef's kiss *). This book follows an area of history that I had not heard about before, and I think is rarely written about. Whilst reading I started to forget that this book was historical fiction and not a fantasy story because Hargrave's writing style and settings just seem so magical to me. It was fascinating to read historical fiction that wasn't about WW2, which I do enjoy reading about and I definitely think it is important, but I don't see much of this genre recommended that isn't WW2 based.

The Mercies was everything I think I wanted from The Handmaid's Tale but never got - I'm not really sure what I mean by this but I think it just felt slightly more hopeful despite all the abhorrent shit the characters suffer through. This is a story of two women, united by their suffering, finding hope, companionship and love when everything seems stacked against them. However this is a story mainly of humanity being completely shitty. Every character in this book is morally grey in some way, and it was so bleak. I assumed an island full of women would be all nice and dandy, but Hargrave does a thorough job of showing how ingrained racism and sexism is even in women, as they have been conditioned to think this way all of their lives. They stab each other in the back (metaphorically) because that is genuinely what they believe is right, and the genuinely believe that these women have been corrupted into witchcraft. I loved seeing this aspect to this book, and it was masterfully done in my opinion. This is also one of the most impactful and quotable books I think I have read, and the feminist (sort of) commentary was excellent.

I think Hargrave also has a very unique writing style, which is sort of hard to get used to, and is almost a bit cold and distant from the characters in a strange way, but I also really loved it. And that is coming from someone who doesn't like flowery and annoyingly convoluted prose. Not for everyone I guess, but I still thought it was great and excellently crafted.

My only major complaint of this book is the kind of lack of plot. The plot really doesn't kick in until around page 280 (and gosh does it get tense and emotional). I didn't mind this for the first half of the book because I was already pretty invested in the concept, but I did start to lose interest a bit at around the 150 mark. This was something that would prevent me calling this an absolute favourite, and I think if you are mainly sold on the witch trials aspect, you should know that this is mainly a quite minor part of the book, other than characters warning their relatives to be careful. We don't really see the effects of the trials until the very end where it gets dramatic! I mean wow that ending was a massive great big cliff-hanger but also not and I also liked the open ending but also I want to know what happens next and AAAHHHH!!!!!!

Welp, I think that's all I have to say about this book.
In conclusion I rate this 4.5 stars due to me getting a bit lost with the slow plot, but if you're used to slower paced books or historical / literary fiction I think this could be perfect for you. Yep. Everyone should read this book.

Content Warnings

maud_b's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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