A review by atlastheninth
Mercy by Ian Haramaki

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read this book because I loved the authors short story in "Devout" and I was not disappointed! 
This was the perfect book for me: A queer angel, pining, a bit of hurt/comfort and great character development. There even was a bit of plot, good plot! The ending was very satisfying, but still set up the story for the next book in this series and I will definitly read that too. 
 
While this is a romance book, the world-building (mostly religion-building I suppose) was nicely weaved into it. 
 
Now most of the book is told from Ilyas POV, but there are a few chapters told from Danyas. And I love both of them so much. Danya who just wants to protect Ilya, take car of him and show him how much he loves him. And Ilya who is hated by the whole village, who's never felt unconditional love, who thinks that he will die alone and unloved and who that he's not even worthy of love, let alone of Danyas. 
The pacing was great too. The slow change of Ilya from this to allowing himself to be loved was *chefs kiss*. 
Also splitting the books into two parts (a "before" and "after") and calling the first one "Night" and the second one "Day"? Genius, I love it. 
 
I have no notes. 
 
"They were both impossible men who had been hurt by so many things, trying to heal the other and find comfort in them. [...] They would come out of this together, stronger together, happier together." 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings