shanth 's review for:

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

3.0

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I really wanted to like this book, and will definitely stick with the series but it's not quite up there among my favourites. I'm not sure why, the pacing is tight, the world-building exquisite and original and the political allegories are incisive and on point. My only quibble, which is perhaps a matter of personal taste, is the lack of humour. The book and characters take themselves just a tad too seriously, and that makes reading it feel a little more like thinly veiled socio-political commentary and not escape into a fantasy world. (I suspect part of this is just emotional fatigue from 2020, and not a failing of the book at all).

A pandemic with essential workers who handle the deceased being shunned and ostracised hits a bit too close to home in 2020!