Novel: The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke | Goodreads
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher

A dark standalone YA fantasy about a band of mercenary girls in search of female glory.

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies—girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life.

When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies’ one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.

Boneless Mercies was a great read although I’ll admit that I took about a month-long break from it. Part of that could be due to the fact that it’s a winter-oriented book, with imagery that I’m sure would be remarkable for a snowy day. It has a lot of Norse heart in it. Talks of glory and nights asleep by the fire wrapped in furs. Drinking ales in heavy mugs. It’s perfect for now that it’s December and my reading taste errs towards heavy fantasy and lush storyworlds.

Part of the success of the read is because of the pairing of myth and writer. April Genevieve Tucholke’s skill always shines through her sensory descriptions, like in settings and with food. It makes it an enormously evocative experience.

She also takes a solid amount of pages to set up concepts, because she tends to be a slow writer. Bits of groups like the Sea Witches and the Cut Queen and the Pigs. Although it’s technically a standalone, it doesn’t feel like one — it feels like an immersion into a world that could sustain another book, and had just enough loose ends to make me crave one! It’s nearly impossible to tell whether threads are dropped for some other purpose or just for brevity of her writing style.

First up is the Mercies. A ragtag group of killers — not like assassins, but like euthanization. They hear of the old and the sick, and track them down. Some villages and people are wary of them, with their thick  black cloaks and thorough knowledge of poisons. But they rarely carry out vengeance kills — and remember each one they perform. The ritual of their killing was well-developed, and fit with the atmosphere: a society with lots of rules and lores.

Frey, our protagonist, hungers for more than their quiet and thankless existence. She loves that they have purpose, but begins to long for being a warrior and dining in Holhalla. Having glory. I love ambitious characters, especially when they make no secret of what they want. Her brazenness was excellent; Frey had no nobler intentions than to be memorable. At the same time, she didn’t particularly feel like a very fleshed out character because all she cared about was glory, for no real purpose. There didn’t feel like a lot there (although I did like her.)

The rest of her squad was an assortment of girls and desires. Some of them blended together. April Genevieve Tucholke had a tendency to dump out their backstories in one fell swoop, so characters didn’t feel as fully formed as they could have been. But it served their purpose. There was also an odd romance thread that didn’t really go anywhere, but this is a book about “female glory” and not any mention of romance, so that’s alright.

The beginning of Boneless Mercies is all set up — the girls wandering through various territories seeking work. Their individual existence was well-developed. The afterlife they believed in, their avoidance of bliss houses, the snow sickness. Again, world-building is SUCH a strength of this writer.

The middle was slow for me and so I put it down for a while. Part of that was because I was reading it in the sweltering summertime heat, and I needed a bit of a faster pace for laying out in the sun. I tend to read winter books when I’m at the lake because nights on the island are dark and cozy. But we had a stretch of good weather for a while, so The Boneless Mercies didn’t fit.

When I got home, though, I picked it back up. Towards the end, it started really picking up. Once the Mercies started encountering their witches and monsters, it became more exciting and the vagueness of chasing glory started to sharpen more. This book feels like it’s made up of short little vignettes, as is typical with April Genevieve Tucholke’s quest-like style. It works because she is capable of being neat with it, and she follows the ballad.

As a whole, I did enjoy The Boneless Mercies although I definitely felt the need to be in the right mood to read it. I love April Genevieve Tucholke’s knack for atmosphere, and it carries over so well for high fantasy. This one, in particular, is a short glimpse at a completely distinctive storyworld, full of references that the reader doesn’t understand and lots of potential for more mythic exploration. Because of this quality, it feels a little unfinished or flat because it stays focused on the immediate story. But the style of the prose is sparse and moody, which works. I enjoyed the main characters, and they were almost exclusively focused on glory.

Although the plot is great, the slowness and myth really just amplifies the atmosphere, which is phenomenal for winter. Lots of furs and roaring fires and hot food (described so well) while the snow pours down outside. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to super conventional readers because it does take effort to keep your attention focused on it, but if you love Beowulf or settings or powerful feminist narratives then go for it.

Novel: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab | Goodreads
Release Date: February 24, 2015
Publisher: Tor Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

So this is a title that’s been floating around for a while, especially since Victoria Schwab got a hugely publicized and massive book deal a little while back. Although it has praise comparing it to The Night Circus, one of my favorite books and one I can never find any competitors for, I avoided it for awhile because in full disclosure, Victoria Schwab is a hit-or-miss author for me.

I thought The Archived was pretty boring. On the flip side, I loved the atmosphere of The Near Witch. But enough people have gushed about this series and I’ve gotten a lot better this year about going with the hype.

The first scene immediately captured my attention, with the whimsical details that make or break a high fantasy for me. The turning of different colored coats to accurately depict the cultural distinctions between different Londons, for the one privileged enough to travel between them. Loved.

Kell is spirited but quiet, lurking on the outskirts of royalty with his own agenda. Although technically a member of the royal family in Red London, his adoptive status and magical ability mark him as separate, as property, although they insist that’s not the case. While his duty is that of a courier shuttling letters between parallel Londons, he gets his thrills from the smuggling action he does on the side — trinkets and dirt — although his brother Rhy repeatedly warns him that transference is forbidden.

Each London has its own quirks, just as each ruler does.

In Gray London, King George relishes the scent of magic. The Reds have luxury. White London has bloodthirsty royals who clawed their way to the top with brute magical force.

It admittedly took awhile for the main conflict of the Londons to become apparent and smooth. It felt like a book I could slow down and savor, but never got too boring.

Although he sees multiple Londons, Kell never actually sees the world beyond them — and neither do we. It feels distinctly historical and so there’s no version that closely mimics our reality.

The world-building is elaborate and leisurely. The dialogue is snappy, with each character filling beloved — and truthfully familiar — roles. V.E. Schwab knows when to play it safe versus when to go in for the kill (sometimes literally.) This book is perhaps the most action-packed of any that I’ve read although her style is, as usual, slower than her normal adventure.

Lila Bard’s phenomenal to read. She’s scrappy and fierce, stealing and killing when necessary, but with a secret hard of gold. Got very Aladdin vibes from her. Her ambition, paired with Kell’s scruffiness, made for a winning combination as they were constantly trying to outwit each other. She has this secret desire to be a pirate, this weird little fantasy of hers of owning a ship and sailing from port to port, and I loved the ways that poked through on her escapades. She was kind of a pain, but one who meant well. Also the tension between her and Kell was awesome, although it wasn’t really romantic in nature — which was a pleasant surprise.

It has a vignette-ish feel. Hopping from adventure to adventure and scene to scene, with not that much cohesion between them. It worked for me, but definitely chopped up the narrative into different pieces that compelled me or didn’t quite — depended on the chapter.

I’ll definitely read the sequel. The ending was action-packed and full of twists, with enough heart-pounding moments of suspense. I respect cleverness more than anything in regards to reads, and V.E. Schwab delivers on that front most definitely. I adore her imagination when it’s displayed this successfully.

I wanted more from the conflict — from the antagonists, especially. I wanted more of a personal stake. It felt like that was missing, and I didn’t totally understand why the rock was so important. I craved the larger-than-life-ness that A Darker Shade of Magic didn’t quite hit. Some lines were cheesy and felt familiar. I’m thinking part of the reason I didn’t feel totally sucked in was likely because I wasn’t yet invested enough in the characters. I liked them a lot without feeling for them. Still, I’m hoping I get more of that from the sequel and I still had a great time.

Several of the reviews I read mentioned the same — that it was a well-done book that seemed like it was missing the wow factor, but was great enough to continue with and feel really good about.

I really enjoyed it. It didn’t blow my mind, but it was a solid read I would steadily recommend. Tropes and characters feel borrowed, but the action is good and the details are inventive enough to make up for it. I’d also reread it, and read the sequel — which makes it a winner in my book. Sometimes you just need a good world to jump into. I’m a fan.