The Boneless Mercies is the kind of atmospheric book that you just want to soak in.
I love the contrast of it being about these four girls who do literal “mercy” killings for sick people — but yet it’s so beautiful written with ethereal settings at time. It’s like: HEY THIS IS PRETTY and also HEY THERE IS DEATH! Like way to go for this combo.
This is only my second read by this author, and I loved her book Wink Poppy Midnight. Although that’s magical realism so I confess I thought The Boneless Mercies was going to be too. And then it’s like BAM. No this is epic fantasy. Apparently a Beowulf retelling?? But I have 0% clue what that is (ALL THE ENGLISH MAJORS JUST SCREAMED AT ME) so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Let me live in my ignorance.
It’s also a standalone which is cool! I don’t think we get enough standalone fantasies.
SOME THINGS YOU CAN EXPECT
★ the four girls are killers bUT they are also soft™
★ it has a viking/Norse setting!!
★ there are witches, so so many witches, and they are the sweetest OR will stab you
★ get you a witch that can do both
★ there are also monsters and curses
★ even though the girls do “mercy” killings, they will occasionally off an abusive man or two, which…ya know…have at it
★ there is a lot of snow
★ there is also a very soft™ boy who just wants to learn to heal things while the girls stab things
★ friends who slay together stay together
Let’s talk about our band of Mercy killer girls, shall we?!
It’s told in 1st person by Freya but there is quite a big cast. Plus they’re travelling so hello lots of strangers on the road. I actually am not a huge fan of huge casts because I get very very confused very very easily. You should see me try to name my 7 nieces and nephews (spoiler: I cannot). Anyway it was intense meeting a group of 5 right in page one. And while I really grew to love the group, I never felt like I got to know anyone. Possibly because it’s a small book —> but big world.
- FREY: She’s the most selfless Gryffindor of ever. KILL THE BAD THINGS! SAVE THE GOOD PEOPLE! I admired her but I confess I didn’t really connect/care about her.
- RUNA: She is the feisty one. She has bitten you, she will bite you again. Contrary and epic, so I loved her.
- OVIE: She is so quiet, like that steady rock in a steady stream. IDK that’s it though.
- JUNIPER: Okay here is my acTUAL GORGEOUS SOFT SWEET TREASURE. She is a sea witch and so kind! So sweet! She is the youngest of the group and basically everyone is like “THERE IS DANGER STAB IT” and Juniper is like “or we could befriend it and pray” so bless Juniper.
- TRIGVE: He’s the sole boy of the group (not allowed to be a mercy killer) nad the absolutely literally picked him up off the side of the road like their mopey puppy. He is so soft and everytime they tell him to go get a life he is like: “but I love you all I have to stay.” And then gives them puppy dog eyes. (Ok the last bit I just made up BUT I FEEL LIKE HE WOULD.)
I also really appreciated the Norse setting! The world was huge and harsh and beautiful! The book was like a peek through a window into a world you just get to see the edge of. It’s a style I don’t encounter much, so I was intrigued. It’s so vast and it throws people of different religions and nationalities at you, and then adds in dozens of countries and groups too. I loved the Quicks, who felt like Robin Hood type guys! They go through many towns. There’s magic! There’s poverty. There’s the hint of war. There’s oppression because of your sex or birthright. It was all very very interesting, but at times overwhelming because it just touched the surface???
My only real disappointments were: (1) it could have had epic sapphic rep and it absolutely felt like it was leading up to it !!! only to…dissolve. And (2) what romance was there completely baffled me.
This is the story of witches and bones and honeyed bread and curses and whippings and axes and marshes and gold and justice.
It is literally a delicious feast for the eyes with the writing! It’s so beautiful! I wanted to get to know the characters deeper but apart from that?!? A fantasy that is both pretty and harsh. AND THAT COVER THO AHHH.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review-copy. The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke was published October 2018.
They called us the Mercies, or sometimes the Boneless Mercies. They said we were shadows, ghosts, and if you touched our skin we dissolved into smoke …
Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are Boneless Mercies – death-traders, hired to kill quickly, quietly and mercifully. It is a job for women, and women only. Men will not do this sad, dark work.
Frey has no family, no home, no fortune, and yet her blood sings a song of glory. So when she hears of a monster slaughtering men, women, and children in a northern jarldom, she decides this the Mercies’ one chance to change their fate.
But glory comes at a price …
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I loved this book but agree about the baffling romance!
I am SO confused. It’s hard to talk about without spoilers but I felt totally disappointed by it and kind of weirded out.
I agree! I had to go back and reread some of it as I thought I must have missed something major.
I felt very “meh” about Beowulf, but I kind of want to read this one. We need more standalone fantasy. Also, YES to the Viking setting. Great review!
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I am honestly so clueless about Beowulf. Maybe I should go like google?! That would be wise, Cait…😂
For some reason I thought that Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton was just a desert story with some cool myths and stuff thrown in (like historical fiction). But there is magic. Real magic and stuff. I was surprised and excited, it was great. (this is what tends to happen when I don’t read synopsis’….. I miss all the important facts).
I LOVE STANDALONE FANTASY!!!! WE! NEED! MORE!!! I loved An Enchantment of Ravens, which I consider fantasy??
10/10 will read this new stabby and soft book. 10/10 for soft stabby characters too!
I really liked Rebel of the Sands too!! I actually thought it would be epic fantasy adn then it was like — HEY WE HAVE GUNS AND IT FEELS LIKE A WILD WEST BUT ARABIA! 😂So that threw me. But I still liked it. Pfft who needs synopses.
omg I definitely consider An Enchantment of Ravens a marvellous example. Also Daughter Of The Burning City!
I’m excited for this one, I think it will be a perfect read for the colder month 🙂 I don’t know anything about Beowulf except of what I’ve watched in the movie, so I’m kinda afraid it will affects my enjoyment of the story :/ Also, the fact that I’ve read one of the author’s older book (Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea) and didn’t enjoyed it also didn’t help much. But! I’m still super interested in reading this!
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It honestly didn’t bother me that I didn’t know anything about Beowulf…like I know literally NOTHING. Is it about a wolf? 😂😂 I am so ashamed haha.
ooooh this one’s been on my tbr foreverrrr (i think i actually have an arc of it…oops shh) but now i’m super excited to get to it!!! excellent post yay
I hope you end up liking it!! IT’S SO PRETTY TOO 💖
I have the Mixed Feelings™ about this one. So I loved most of the things you loved. And actually didn’t love the things you didn’t love so wow okay we are on the same page here. But also, I felt like it very much could have a second book? So I was a little bummed about that actually, because while I appreciate a standalone, I also would certainly read more books set in this world. Like, many of them tbh.
(If it makes you feel any better, I was supposed to read Beowulf for school and I STILL have no recollection as to what it’s about. Shrugs.)
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LOOK AT US MAJORLY TWINNING HERE *hi fives* And yeah I did feel it cast too huge of a world to be a standalone?! 😂I would very very happily read a spin-off about the witches or…about Trigve tbh.
Aaah, this sounds so good! I Am so looking forward to reading it! And it sounds even better after reading your review, because the blurb doesn’t really give much away. I, too, have no idea what Beowulf is about, except there’s a monster, so I don’t know what to expect, but I’m excited! Also, I can’t decide which cover I prefer, the US or the UK/AUS. They’re both so gorgeous!
In regards to stand alone fantasies, I am all for them as long as they’re longer than your average book. I just don’t really see how you can develop world building, and characters and conflict well enough in your average 300 page book. And so that part of your review has me a little wary. I want everything, not just the surface stuff, you know? But I’ll still read it!
So at the moment, I’m reading The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman, and with the title and the cover, I thought this was going to be a weird witchy book, so maybe a creepy fantasy? I didn’t think horror, but a little creepy. It turns out it’s actually… a mystery, but one in the vein of The Da Vinci Code (which I haven’t read, but I’ve seen the movie). It is amazing and absolutely gripping! But I wanted to read books in October that kind of worked for Halloween, and this doesn’t, ha. It’s SO good, though! Latin translations, a book people are obsessed with but can’t figure out, murder and centuries of secrets! MATE, it’s just so complex and so clever, and I am completely wowed! There are two things I guessed in regards to people, but plot-wise, I am just completely in the dark, guessing the whole time, and I love it!!
Great review, Cait, thank you!
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Ohhh is there a monster in Beowulf?! THAT MAKES SENSE.😂They’re off to fight a monster here haha. (The things one finds out…ah.)
And yeah I do get that. I think it can be hard to really develop a full and complex world just in ONE book, but then I definitely have read books that do it well! Daughter of the Burning City comes to mind instantly! And The Scorpio Races! But for this one I did think it introduced way way bigger of a world that it even scraped the edges of exploring.
Duuude, I need to look up this The Book Of Blood then! Complex and clever is what I need!!
This sounds like such a deliciously mythological book with a vivid setting! I haven’t read many books with the Norse setting so it sounds amazing. Lovely review as always Cait!
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I went into Talon by Julie Kagawa thinking it was totally high fantasy, but literally in the first scene they are riding in a car and my brain was just like ??????? but????? it’s contemporary?????? but there’s dragons????? (this was last year when I was just starting blogging and I was just starting to understand all of the different sub-genres of things. XD But still. I think it kinda killed it for me a little. Cuz with the contemporary came all of the cliche tropey romance that ALMOST overpowered the plot. And the action picked up and it got much better towards the end and I said I’d still read the rest of the series out of curiosity, but now enough time has passed that I’m like ehhhhh maybe not. :/
And you make this book sound really good! Usually it’s not the kinda book I’d go for, but I might actually read it now…someday. XD
And To Kill a Kingdom was such a great fantasy standalone! The world building was amazing! I don’t think I’d ever read a fantasy standalone like that. I really hope the author write more standalones set in that world. It would be so cool! 😀
Ohhhh myyyy gooooosh this looks SO GOOD. I have been looking for some good Norse books, so maybe this one??? The cover is so pretty and I AM HERE FOR SOFT CINNAMON ROLL PUPPY BOYS. Haha, yeah. That made sense. Lol. (I also still need to read Wink Poppy Midnight?? I am so behind the times…)
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This was on my tbr list already, but I”m looking forward to it more now! thanks.