Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Come for the pretty cover art, stay for the unexpectedly good deconstruction of privilege. I liked this a whole lot more than I expected, mostly because most of the YA I’ve read recently has been boring and predictable so I just go into them all expecting to be disappointing. This one has really cool worldbuilding and a main character with righteous anger and very cool powers.
Had to flip back a couple times when I missed something small that ended up being important 20 pages later, but also they usually ended up being explained so perhaps I should’ve been more patient. On the other hand I guessed one of the plot twists early and then they kept hinting it and that was annoying.
Had to flip back a couple times when I missed something small that ended up being important 20 pages later, but also they usually ended up being explained so perhaps I should’ve been more patient. On the other hand I guessed one of the plot twists early and then they kept hinting it and that was annoying.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Recommended to me by O!
In a year where I read Very Little new fiction, even less by new authors, and quite a bit of my old faves again, I have such a nice time when I fall into a new, really good book. The Merciful Crow is a fantasy novel with a low-caste, pragmatic heroine, whose job it is to pick up and burn the plague bodies, and the deal she and her troupe forge with a prince and his bodyguard; to smuggle him across the country so he can retake his throne.
This story is lively, well-paced, adventurous, and deals with the education in privilege of a prince in a way that feels satisfying (and not overly didactic.) There's normalized queerness, there's disgusting monsters, there's hard choices and the forging of new paths!
Also, there's MAMMOTH WARRIORS. Nice.
In a year where I read Very Little new fiction, even less by new authors, and quite a bit of my old faves again, I have such a nice time when I fall into a new, really good book. The Merciful Crow is a fantasy novel with a low-caste, pragmatic heroine, whose job it is to pick up and burn the plague bodies, and the deal she and her troupe forge with a prince and his bodyguard; to smuggle him across the country so he can retake his throne.
This story is lively, well-paced, adventurous, and deals with the education in privilege of a prince in a way that feels satisfying (and not overly didactic.) There's normalized queerness, there's disgusting monsters, there's hard choices and the forging of new paths!
Also, there's MAMMOTH WARRIORS. Nice.
***3.5 Stars***
Overall,
This book was a very slow start and had me even thinking about an early dnf. Luckily I stuck with it and by the end I was really enjoying it. I think in the beginning I had so many questions and I was confused about the magic system and all of the history. Once you get about half way through it ended up being really interesting. The romance was a slow burn and perfectly YA. There is a lot of character growth from start to finish. I look forward to reading the next book in this duology.
Overall,
This book was a very slow start and had me even thinking about an early dnf. Luckily I stuck with it and by the end I was really enjoying it. I think in the beginning I had so many questions and I was confused about the magic system and all of the history. Once you get about half way through it ended up being really interesting. The romance was a slow burn and perfectly YA. There is a lot of character growth from start to finish. I look forward to reading the next book in this duology.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i enjoyed it just fine but will not be exploring this world further
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
This is a really difficult book for me to rate. I was intrigued by the synopsis of the book, the cover reveal sucked me in even further. When I sat down and start reading it, I had a hard time connecting with the story and understanding what was going on. The book has a lot of information dump in the world building and descriptions of the magic/caste system. In addition, it is written in an old school western dialect, which I found extremely hard to focus on all the other things going on. It took me probably 50-75 pages to get into the swing of the writing/narrative style, but even after that if I stopped reading even long enough for a bathroom break I would lose my groove and have to start all over again. In order to finish the book I decided to try the audiobook after release. It helped a little but unfortunately not enough to make this story work for me. I'm disappointed that I couldn't get into it. I liked the idea of the magic system (teeth that hold different "powers" based on the caste of the previous owner of said teeth) and thought the characters were diverse.
*Free copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
*Free copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*