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A review by rubeusbeaky
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen
5.0
A fantastical, sinister, Gothic-adjacent adventure! There was a lot to like:
- The specialized, magical caste system reminded me a lot of The Grishaverse, especially the soldier-class Hawks, who can both inflict and heal wounds (Corporalki, much?).
- The Crows' witchcraft depending upon the collection of teeth, or the Vultures requiring something that belongs to another person in order to magically track them, or the shambling skin-ghasts, had a great, voodoo-esque, creepy and visceral vibe.
- Even though this was a fantasy escort mission, it was also a tale about systemic racism. (Even the use of the word "Crows" to name the most downtrodden caste, /smart/!) I looooove a fantasy story that highlights a real situation, and opens a dialogue for the readers. This book did an amazing job of showing how overthrowing one villain, or passing one edict, won't change an entire system of thought, ESPECIALLY when the people in power refuse to even acknowledge that there IS a systemic problem in the first place. But small, compassionate acts are infectious, and changing one heart at a time can lead to whole cascades of change.
- This book also took amazing strides to normalize LGBTQA representation!!! High. Praise! Too often, a book includes LGBTQA characters' identity and orientation as a source of conflict, or as sidekick representation. A friend is gay, or a prince who is betrothed is secretly gay, or a knight is revealed to be trans - something to that effect. If the queer representation is positive, it's usually a secondary character. Otherwise, the protagonist is undergoing some kind of self-discovery, is in turmoil, is hiding a piece of themselves, or society has made their very being taboo... But THIS book, GLORIOUSLY, just... has people being people. The prince is gay, awesome, the nobles send their sons to court him. A general has both husbands and wives, yey polyamory! We have he's, and her's, and they's in the Crows' caravan, and nobody bats an eye. Part of the fabric of this world! Nobody is ashamed of their gender identity or sexual orientation, it's not stigmatized in this world. A++++ writing!!!!
- This book also gets a round of applause for sex-positivity, and modeling healthy habits, in a YA novel! Yey! Use protection, ask for consent, and girlies can be frank with the dudes in their lives about their needs for That Time of the Month! Be smart, be safe, be sympathetic. Win, win, win! And when all is said and done, no matter how much you love each other, or desire each other, don't pin your entire identity and life's trajectory on your relationship; be your own person, first. Winninnnnng!
But for all that there was to love about this book... I feel like I wasn't IN love with it. I need to knock off half a star. There was something technical holding me back from getting lost in the book. Maybe it was the tropes. I mean: Enemies to lovers; Secret Half-Blood Prince; The first "safe" place our heroes count on holing up betrays them; Dead Moms; Wicked step-mother; Our heroes bond over teaching someone how to duel/read; The mentor figure gets compromised/dies so our hero needs to flounder around in the wilderness; Cat sidekick for our bishoujo...
Maybe it was Prince Jasimir's tonal and motivational whiplash. His growth over the course of the book isn't linear, and he is very difficult to grasp at times, as he waffles between sympathy and selfishness. That's not unrealistic, it's just... difficult to follow. His path goes like this:
- I am devout, I believe in my gods, my king, my countrymen, and my best friend/body double. Because I believe in the system, the system must be morally Right. Nobody would ever break the law. Well, except my wicked step-mother who's trying to assassinate me. And filthy Crows, ew gross. And us, I guess, for faking our own deaths, but we didn't /want/ to break the law! I'm Good, you're Bad!
- If the kingdom doesn't like Crows, why don't Crows leave the kingdom? Why call someplace that doesn't want you here your "home".... I ask while on the run from the queen and her soldiers who don't want me here...
- There must be a reason Crows suffer, or the gods wouldn't allow it. The Crows must deserve their cursed life. They must be inherently worse than me... I say while riding in a Crow wagon, eating Crows' food, begging for Crows to protect me with their witchcraft, rescuing a Crow's pet cat, and teaching a Crow how to read.
- My friend got hurt protecting a Crow! I'm jealous this Crow gets all the attention! I forsake my oaths to kingdom, gods, and countrymen. I break all the laws! I don't care, I just want my friend to be safe, and to value me more than you! Ew Crows!
- Just kidding, he was never my best friend. I abused my power and made him jump through hoops for me purely because I'm attention-starved. You see, my father loves him more than me. My best friend is actually my half-brother, and I remind him of his bastardy every single day by lording power over him! I knew the king was a macho monster the whole time. I have zero faith in anybody, and no desire to be prince, and yet I follow my father's abusive footsteps every chance I get.
- Just kidding, my integrity means everything. Crowy is my new best friend. Let's go save my brother and my dad! I will do whatever you say, Crow!
... You see? He starts out, seemingly, a pampered prince with no concept of life outside the palace, who gradually struggles to reconcile with reality, and sympathize with a marginalized race of people - his subjects, people he is sworn to protect!... But then all this melodrama comes out about how he wasn't as naive as he pretends to be, and is instead a needy coward who wants praise and no problems... Then, immediately after his confession, he turns his life around completely, and chooses to be the total opposite of who he's been. It's just...sudden. More of a Pokemon evolution than a character arc.
But I honestly don't think tropes or transitions were the whole of the problem. What I think got to me more was how dense and confusing the book was at times. A story beat would be played out like an epiphany for the characters, but I would have no clue what they had just figured out. More than once, I had to go back and reread. Or, a piece of the world-building would, it seemed to me, have inconsistencies, so I would be pulled out of the moment, trying to piece together how the magic worked. Too many times I was forced to stop and /analyze/ what I just read, instead of enjoying the flow of the book.
BUT ALL IN ALL, a solid, worthy read. I am SO excited to get to the sequel!
- The specialized, magical caste system reminded me a lot of The Grishaverse, especially the soldier-class Hawks, who can both inflict and heal wounds (Corporalki, much?).
- The Crows' witchcraft depending upon the collection of teeth, or the Vultures requiring something that belongs to another person in order to magically track them, or the shambling skin-ghasts, had a great, voodoo-esque, creepy and visceral vibe.
- Even though this was a fantasy escort mission, it was also a tale about systemic racism. (Even the use of the word "Crows" to name the most downtrodden caste, /smart/!) I looooove a fantasy story that highlights a real situation, and opens a dialogue for the readers. This book did an amazing job of showing how overthrowing one villain, or passing one edict, won't change an entire system of thought, ESPECIALLY when the people in power refuse to even acknowledge that there IS a systemic problem in the first place. But small, compassionate acts are infectious, and changing one heart at a time can lead to whole cascades of change.
- This book also took amazing strides to normalize LGBTQA representation!!! High. Praise! Too often, a book includes LGBTQA characters' identity and orientation as a source of conflict, or as sidekick representation. A friend is gay, or a prince who is betrothed is secretly gay, or a knight is revealed to be trans - something to that effect. If the queer representation is positive, it's usually a secondary character. Otherwise, the protagonist is undergoing some kind of self-discovery, is in turmoil, is hiding a piece of themselves, or society has made their very being taboo... But THIS book, GLORIOUSLY, just... has people being people. The prince is gay, awesome, the nobles send their sons to court him. A general has both husbands and wives, yey polyamory! We have he's, and her's, and they's in the Crows' caravan, and nobody bats an eye. Part of the fabric of this world! Nobody is ashamed of their gender identity or sexual orientation, it's not stigmatized in this world. A++++ writing!!!!
- This book also gets a round of applause for sex-positivity, and modeling healthy habits, in a YA novel! Yey! Use protection, ask for consent, and girlies can be frank with the dudes in their lives about their needs for That Time of the Month! Be smart, be safe, be sympathetic. Win, win, win! And when all is said and done, no matter how much you love each other, or desire each other, don't pin your entire identity and life's trajectory on your relationship; be your own person, first. Winninnnnng!
But for all that there was to love about this book... I feel like I wasn't IN love with it. I need to knock off half a star. There was something technical holding me back from getting lost in the book. Maybe it was the tropes. I mean: Enemies to lovers; Secret Half-Blood Prince; The first "safe" place our heroes count on holing up betrays them; Dead Moms; Wicked step-mother; Our heroes bond over teaching someone how to duel/read; The mentor figure gets compromised/dies so our hero needs to flounder around in the wilderness; Cat sidekick for our bishoujo...
Maybe it was Prince Jasimir's tonal and motivational whiplash. His growth over the course of the book isn't linear, and he is very difficult to grasp at times, as he waffles between sympathy and selfishness. That's not unrealistic, it's just... difficult to follow. His path goes like this:
- I am devout, I believe in my gods, my king, my countrymen, and my best friend/body double. Because I believe in the system, the system must be morally Right. Nobody would ever break the law. Well, except my wicked step-mother who's trying to assassinate me. And filthy Crows, ew gross. And us, I guess, for faking our own deaths, but we didn't /want/ to break the law! I'm Good, you're Bad!
- If the kingdom doesn't like Crows, why don't Crows leave the kingdom? Why call someplace that doesn't want you here your "home".... I ask while on the run from the queen and her soldiers who don't want me here...
- There must be a reason Crows suffer, or the gods wouldn't allow it. The Crows must deserve their cursed life. They must be inherently worse than me... I say while riding in a Crow wagon, eating Crows' food, begging for Crows to protect me with their witchcraft, rescuing a Crow's pet cat, and teaching a Crow how to read.
- My friend got hurt protecting a Crow! I'm jealous this Crow gets all the attention! I forsake my oaths to kingdom, gods, and countrymen. I break all the laws! I don't care, I just want my friend to be safe, and to value me more than you! Ew Crows!
- Just kidding, he was never my best friend. I abused my power and made him jump through hoops for me purely because I'm attention-starved. You see, my father loves him more than me. My best friend is actually my half-brother, and I remind him of his bastardy every single day by lording power over him! I knew the king was a macho monster the whole time. I have zero faith in anybody, and no desire to be prince, and yet I follow my father's abusive footsteps every chance I get.
- Just kidding, my integrity means everything. Crowy is my new best friend. Let's go save my brother and my dad! I will do whatever you say, Crow!
... You see? He starts out, seemingly, a pampered prince with no concept of life outside the palace, who gradually struggles to reconcile with reality, and sympathize with a marginalized race of people - his subjects, people he is sworn to protect!... But then all this melodrama comes out about how he wasn't as naive as he pretends to be, and is instead a needy coward who wants praise and no problems... Then, immediately after his confession, he turns his life around completely, and chooses to be the total opposite of who he's been. It's just...sudden. More of a Pokemon evolution than a character arc.
But I honestly don't think tropes or transitions were the whole of the problem. What I think got to me more was how dense and confusing the book was at times. A story beat would be played out like an epiphany for the characters, but I would have no clue what they had just figured out. More than once, I had to go back and reread. Or, a piece of the world-building would, it seemed to me, have inconsistencies, so I would be pulled out of the moment, trying to piece together how the magic worked. Too many times I was forced to stop and /analyze/ what I just read, instead of enjoying the flow of the book.
BUT ALL IN ALL, a solid, worthy read. I am SO excited to get to the sequel!