My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I struggled getting into it at first. Fie is a prickly and understandably jaded character. Her caste, crows, dole out mercy to plague victims. If they don't, cities are decimated. Despite their necessary role in this fantasy realm, they are despised, trodden upon, beaten,and cheated out of viatik (the exchange from a village in return for taking the plague victims).
When Fie and her band of crows get the opportunity to change their lot and stop the pointless killing of their people, they take it. In the form of a cranky run away prince an his loyal bodyguard.
The magic system: TEETH. Power comes from teeth which witches from each cast can use and come with specific powers. Royals are phoenix clan, and their teeth have the magic to make fire. Crows have witches have the power of mimicry and can use any tooth from any caste.
Fie is a hard character to warm up to. She has been hated all her life for what she is. It's turned her into a fairly angry person. It has also taught her to love her own fiercely. When loyalty to her clan is put to the test, she learns what being crow witch and crow chief truly mean.
Jasimir, the prince starts out...and really is, pretty much, all the way through a spoiled brat who sits on his high horse. His guard Tavin, who is the real swoon of the story, is relentless in his faith that Jas will be a better king than his terrible father. Jas whines about conditions, complains about being treated like a crow, and believes that there is no true prejudice toward the crows. He doesn't believe his hawk-guards abuse and beat, and murder them when they aren't "supposed to." He learns the hard way that life isnt as rosy below as it seemed from his cushy spot high up in the Palace.
Tavin is the stray ray of light in an otherwise grim book. He laughs and jokes around, and mitigates arguments. He is fiercely loyal to Jas, but starts to realize he wants more in life than being a bodyguard. He wants his own life.
a fantastic debut I couldn't put down. Merciful Crow brings to light the dark and ugly past, present, and future of human history.
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