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fionamclary 's review for:
The Mercies
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book does two things very well. It beautifully depicts the bleak, harsh setting of an early modern Arctic island, which was deliciously atmospheric and great to read in winter. It also strongly shows how patriarchy is not just morally wrong, but antithetical to life. Misogyny, mediated through religion, endangers the community in this story, simply is not practical for its survival.
There was a lot that disappointed me, however. I found the pacing to be very uneven, with a slow start and the final ~20% moving very quickly. Uneven pacing is one of the cardinal sins of writing for me. Honestly the book was shaping up to be a 3.5ish for me until this last part when suddenly the plot was packed. And the ending! The final 20 pages were mostly a big mess. As other reviewers have noted, I find it frustrating that the author thought to give us descriptions of marital rape repeatedly throughout the novel and included graphic, nauseating (yet overall powerful) depictions of accused witches being tortured and murdered, yet could only give us a vague, fade-to-black scene ofour two main characters having gay sex. I didn't want it to be super graphic, especially since the romance is (rightly) only a subplot, but it's part of a frustrating trend where authors shy away from writing the reality of intimacy between two women when they are perfectly capable of describing straight sex and/or graphic, misogynist violence . Also, a big part of Ursa's character arc is that she has very little agency and is constantly trying to exercise what little she has as the story goes on. It seems toward the end as though she is finally breaking free, but then in the end, Maren just...decides for her, and we don't ever know if she does any differently . What an anticlimactic, contradictory ending.
There was a lot that disappointed me, however. I found the pacing to be very uneven, with a slow start and the final ~20% moving very quickly. Uneven pacing is one of the cardinal sins of writing for me. Honestly the book was shaping up to be a 3.5ish for me until this last part when suddenly the plot was packed. And the ending! The final 20 pages were mostly a big mess. As other reviewers have noted, I find it frustrating that the author thought to give us descriptions of marital rape repeatedly throughout the novel and included graphic, nauseating (yet overall powerful) depictions of accused witches being tortured and murdered, yet could only give us a vague, fade-to-black scene of
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcohol