Book Review
Title: The Merciful Crow (The Merciful Crow #1)
Author: Margaret Owen
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: I didn’t know much about The Merciful Crow, but it sounded interesting, we are introduced to Fie, who is the next chieftain of the Crow Caste which consists of undertakers and mercy-killers. This book definitely opened with a bang as the Crows including Fie and her father are taking the dead body of the Crown Prince and his body double to be burned after they have contracted the Sinner’s Plague. We learn a lot about the Crows in the opening chapters, they work as undertakers but also provide mercy killings to those that have the plague and depending on the caste they are working for determines their price, so when the Queen Rhusana tries to pay them with a stray cat, the Crows are enraged. Rhusana is still known as the Swan Queen, a courtesan caste, even though she has married a Phoenix, the royal caste. Fie demands the price of the teeth of the Phoenix caste which hold power witches like Fie can use but they know they might be ambushed on their way out of the city. When they reach a location to burn the bodies, it turns out both are still alive and have faked their deaths, the boys are Crown Prince Jasimir and his Hawk guard Tavin. Despite their deal being done, the Prince wants more help from the Crows, and he explains that Rhusana wants to use the Hawks and the Oleander guard to get rid of the Crows once and for all. While the Crows have to take a lot of abuse the Oleander left scars on most of them, they are responsible for Fie’s father having to mercy-kill her mother and left bigger scars on other Crows. Fie agrees to help Jasimir as long as he swear a Covenant Oath, a magically binding agreement, to protect the Crows when he is King as Jasimir agrees, meaning the Crows have to see Jasimir and Tavin to their destination and help them in preventing Rhusana taking the throne from Jasimir’s father. It seems that since Rhusana gave birth to a son of her own, she has been trying to get rid of Jasimir and Tavin and they fled but they seem to have a plan. I liked both Jasimir and Tavin upon first meeting them and Fie is wildly entertaining.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the Crows along with Jas and Tavin begin their journey to meet their contact and retake the throne from Rhusana but this road is going to be full of danger and while the Crows and Tavin are used to this, Jas certainly isn’t. Most of their time is filled with travelling and responding to plague beacons when they are lit which allows us to learn more about the Crows and they way they work but the most interesting part is learning about the witches. Witches are few and this group has three, Fie, her Pa and Tavin which means they have the power to use the teeth and bones of the dead. In people from higher caste it means they can use the abilities of that particular caste and if they are witch teeth, that power is majorly amplified. We also get to see how hated the Crows are despite being so vital as they are the only caste that is immune to the plague that threatens everyone else. I didn’t like the fact that Jas doesn’t think before he speaks as almost everything that comes out of his mouth is an insult to the Crows, but this is the effort of his upbringing in the Phoenix cast. However, things start to get deadly when the Oleanders track them down and they have to hide in tree using Sparrow teeth to hide them from sight. This isn’t uncommon for the Crows but Barf the cat is stuck in the cart the Oleanders have set ablaze and Jas goes to rescue her making Fie begin to see him in a new light. However, this is cancelled out as his dagger almost gave them away because he didn’t follow Pa’s instructions and wrap the jewelled hilt. The more time Fie spends with Jas and Tavin the more she sees them in a new light but Hangdog, another Crow and former lover of Fie’s isn’t happy about how Tavin has taken to Fie.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the have reached the Fan region and are almost at their destination of Cheparok but there will be skin witches at the gates meaning that they can’t get Tavin in without Fie being able to wield the power of two teeth at the same time, something she has only recently starting practising and not had any luck with yet but there is no more time, it is now or never. It needs to be done because the Oleander have sided with the Swan Queen, Rhusana and made it their mission to eradicate every Crow they find, meaning if they fail nowhere will be safe for them. However, we can see Tavin and Fie getting closer, his humour resonates with Fie and while she wants to hate him, when he asks what she wants from life, not what has been demanded of her, I can practically smell the relationship there. It is seems that Tavin is bisexual and sexuality seems to be quite fluid in this world as just as many men are mentioned as having husband as wives and the same goes for women too. When they reach Cheparok, they have some trouble getting inside the city, but they make it and both Tavin and Jas are beginning to realise how dangerous and cruel the world is for the Crows helping them. However, when it is time for them to meet with the Governor Tavin realises something is wrong when Hangdog betrays them as he agreed to hand over Tavin and Jas to the Oleander, but he is killed for his trouble. Pa uses teeth to hold them off long enough to hand over all the teeth and his broken sword to Fie, making her chief now as he is marked meaning the skin witches can track him so we know he is going to die there and he orders Tavin to get Fie and Jas out of there and being a Hawk he agrees.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we enter the second part of the book where Jas, Fie and Tavin are now running for their lives and we don’t know how many of the Crows are actually going to make it out alive. The trio manage to get to safety temporarily but they are still within the city, Fie knows Hangdog is dead but her father is still alive and she wants to go back for him but he asks her to keep the oath meaning she has to help Jas and Tavin even if it means temporarily leaving her own behind. However, it isn’t long until they are tracked down by a skin witch and they get information from her before Fie shows her ruthlessness by destroying the witch’s hand with a Hawk tooth so she can no longer track them but she gives the witch a warning tell her to give that tooth to her father and he might be able to heal her but they now know 10 skin witches are after them along with Tatterhelm and something called ghasts raised by the Swan Queen. They decide to head to Marovar to Jas’ aunt Draga, the Master-General as they know she won’t be able to refuse a royal demand and will help them but in these moments Jas comes to trust Fie in a way he hasn’t before, even cutting his hair when he refused before and Fie can even see some emotion from Tavin although she doesn’t know what it is right now. The trio restock as they are now posing as a Crow band and the shrine keeper tells them that the Hawks are looking for a girl chief and two false Crows and there is a price of their heads which is another problem that they don’t need right now. While Fie turns her back on Tavin’s affections and her own feelings for him because her Crows have to come first, she has realised that Tavin wants to be free of Jas too as he has lived his whole life as a ghost, however, she does accept Jas’ offer to teach her to read. As they continue on their journey they have to dodge Tatterhelm and the skin witches once more but they are found by something in the night that I believe are the ghasts although we don’t see them but worse a plague beacon is lit meaning Fie has to answer the call even though it is most likely a trap and without her father there to slit the man’s throat that fall to her but this man has been treated horribly as he was thrown into the sewer while he was still alive and Fie is furious.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Fie has to perform the chief’s duty on the sinner but it really takes its toll on her as she can’t allow Tavin or Jas to get close as they can catch the plague. Afterwards, Tatterhelm and the skin witches descend on the village and Fie knows Tavin was right about it being a trap and they barely escape with their lives but Tavin in injured in the process. For the next several days they travel north staying off the roads meaning Fie can’t see the plague beacons or do her duty, but it needs to be done as the oath and Jas’ protection are the most important things right now. Fie spends days burning through teeth in order to keep them hidden from the skin witches but one does find them ahead of the other, only to be killed by the ghasts but Fie learns they have something belonging to them which is how they are tracking them. Fie for four days straight doesn’t let go of the teeth until she eventually collapses from the strain it is taking on her. They decide to shelter in a natural hot spring, but the Vultures are less than a day behind and they still have far to travel before they reach the Marovar and help. However, Fie and Tavin talk about their feelings her and while both have a duty to fulfil they decide to take what they want for themselves and deal with the consequences later even if it is going to be hard for them to be together as a Hawk and a Crow. I was also pleased to see a character that wasn’t shy about sex, as most girls in YA are either overly promiscuous or doe-eyed virgins which makes Fie refreshing to read from as she is neither, she has had a sexual relationship with Hangdog before but that was about trading services rather than love but she isn’t shy about taking that step with Tavin as she knows he is what she wants and is wanted in return.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the skin witches have caught up meaning they have to make a break for it and hope they can gain some ground, but luck isn’t on their side. After a rock slide gives away their position, Fie has to let go of the teeth or collapse again but Tavin can’t let Jas give himself up and so wearing the Peacock glamour, he cuts the ropes on the bridge, leaving him trapped with the skin witches and Fie and Jas free to head to the Marovar and get help. I know Fie is heartbroken as she loves Tavin even if she won’t admit it to herself, but I don’t know how this is going to turn out as Jas and Fie haven’t had the best of relationship throughout this book and the only person who held them together is now gone. Fie has to fight to keep Jas from doing something stupid as the skin witches drag Tavin off believing he is Jas and for the next week they work out a fragile peace between them as they head for the Marovar. However, as they get close a plague beacon is lit and both believe it is another trap but move towards it as it is close to their destination but Fie sees that the skin witches have stopped and headed north once more. Fie knows that Tavin is still alive but his glamour would have worn off by now meaning they are being hunted once more but they are too far away or so they believe. It turns out that they are a hell of a lot closer than they are first though and that they were watching Tavin not the skin witches and now they are cornered so close to where they need to be. Fie calls phoenix teeth in order to get Jas into the city but he refuses to leave and just when everything seems lost the Master-General Draga comes to their aid and it seems like Tavin had sent the message to her to expect their arrival, injured and worn out, Fie collapses.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I was unsure how the book was going to end been as it does have a sequel, but I couldn’t wait to see what became of Jas, Fie and my beloved Tavin. Fie realises that even in the Marovar and under the protection of Draga, she isn’t going to win this game as the Hawks won’t protect the Crows and even is the Oleanders are banished, they will still ride at night. When a message comes from Tatterhelm, a warning that he will send pieces of the captives including her father and Tavin until Jasimir is handed over, she knows what she has to do, protect her own even if it means sacrificing Jas. I don’t want to talk too much about the ending of The Merciful Crow but by god, it was a rollercoaster and I honestly can’t wait to read the Faithless Hawk and see where our beloved characters end up. The Merciful Crow does work well as a standalone novel, but there are some questions and sub-plots that haven’t been resolved yet that I need to see finished. Overall, the Merciful Crow was a book I predicted as a 5 star read and it definitely was and I can’t wait to read more about Tavin, Jas, Fie and all the other Crows and I hope the oath gets fulfilled in earnest.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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