So what I'm learning is to always trust the secret Black Swan organizations and that cats make everything better.

The Faithless Hawk is the exhilarating sequel to The Merciful Crow, and I'm so glad I finally got a chance to read it. Because the first book kind of wrapped up neatly, I wasn't sure what exactly to expect from the sequel besides hopefully overthrowing Rhusana.
Fie has kept her Pa's oath to Jasimir, but the danger has yet to pass as evil queen Rhusana intends to snatch the throne and unite the castes against the Crows. With everything set up at the beginning of the book, I expected a lot more tension than what I felt was delivered. The middle dragged at some points, though I did appreciate the deeper worldbuilding and the importance of lore regarding reincarnation. I have a few mixed feelings about the ending and some of the plot twists, but overall, I really enjoyed the story and read it in less than a day.
I think my favorite part of this book was watching the characters interact with each other. Tavin isn't present for a large chunk of the book, and he kinda started to annoy me until a specific chapter near the end of the book, which made me like him again. Fie is probably one of my favorite main characters of all time (she reminds me a lot of Rin from The Poppy War), and I loved watching her discover her identity. I also really liked Khoda from his very first appearance. He's just so intriguing to me, and I would love to see more of him, but I know there are no more books. Jas was my favorite, though. Give me an angsty-ish prince who doesn't want to crown and loves cats - I just love him so much.
The Faithless Hawk expands on the world and lore from The Merciful Crow while bringing the plot to a satisfying close and weaving platonic and romantic relationships together to create amusing character dynamics.

4/5