The Merciful Crow follows the winding and entangled tale of a future chieftain, a fugitive prince, and a too-cunning bodyguard as they navigate their heavy responsibilities, the suffocating caste system of their world, and types of magic and demons they never thought possible. Told through the eyes of Fie, someone who has been cursed and burned by the world she swears to protect from the deadly plague, The Merciful Crow weaves a tale of fighting against the system sworn to keep you down while still staying true to your values, of changing the game while still participating.

This was another one of the ARCs I was blessed with at BEA (admittedly one of the toughest to get thanks to how randomly they were being given out?? But that’s a rant for another time), and I was hyped to read this! Ever since this was put on my radar I was dying for an ARC (and had hoped that the July ARC in the Fairyloot box back in November would be this), and I couldn’t believe I actually had it in my hands! While I can’t say it was at the top of my reading list once I left BEA (I mean, Gideon the Ninth, Ninth House, and Starless Sea had to take precedence), it was super high up on my list!

However, shortly before reading this the author tweeted about getting rating bombed, and it seemed like it could have either been actual ratings or an actual ‘rating attack’, so I did go into this read a lot more critically than I always do. I actively tried to look for issues with character creation, plot holes, or a faulty magic system, and this impacted me in the sense that it took me longer to get into the book and I never fully fell into the world and the story (also didn’t help that I was crazy busy while reading). However, even with all that going against this reading of the book, I couldn’t actually find anything I disliked about it. Everything about this story is super unique and seems pretty solid, from the characters and their relationships and motivations to the world itself, from the castes to the magic system.

I also absolutely loved the way the story was told, in the sense that not every single character talked the same. It’s not something that ever bugged me before, but seeing an author run with the idea of different dialects and accents combined with different manners and styles/formality of speaking may change that. It just added to the depth of each character and caste, as Fie, the main character, spoke in way different cadences from a royally trained prince and his bodyguard. It’s one of those details that is often overlooked in writing, and I loved seeing the idea played with here.

I also just absolutely loved the magic system. It definitely seems like a lot of thought was put into it, from the origin of power from dead gods to then chosen ones with set powers in each caste, to the use of teeth by the Crow caste to emulate the powers of the other castes. It’s just a very versatile style of magic, and I loved seeing how Fie played with different combinations of teeth and powers as well as her battling the ‘souls’ and stories that remained in the teeth of the dead.

I was also super into the dynamic of the characters. I won’t go too much in depth because of spoilers, but I just loved how different Fie was around every single character in the story, from her clan of Crows to the prince-bodyguard duo she is forced to travel the country with. A lot of thought seemed to go into every single one of her reactions and actions, and I loved it.

There were still a few moments where I wished for a bit more of an explanation, as some details of the world I still don’t feel I have a full grasp on (like the plague itself), or some things that took me too long to figure out on my own.

Overall, I feel like this is an extremely strong debut, and I’m super excited to see where the rest of the series, and the author’s career, will go! Definitely go out and give this one a try if the synopsis at all intrigues you.