Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: July 30, 2019
Publisher: Henry Holt (BYR)
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Dark Fantasy
A young chieftain from a lowly caste of mercy-killers must rely on her wits and bone magic to smuggle the crown prince to safety.
With clever magic, a star-crossed romance, and lethal stakes, The Merciful Crow is a YA fantasy debut perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Leigh Bardugo, and Kendare Blake.
As a future chieftain of the Crow caste, sixteen-year-old Fie abides by one rule: look after your own. Her clan of undertakers and mercy-killers takes more abuse than coin, but when her family is called to collect royal dead, she’s hoping they’ll find the payout of a lifetime. Instead, they find a still-living crown prince, his cunning bodyguard, and a common foe: a ruthless usurper queen who wants them all dead.
Fie agrees to smuggle the prince across the nation in exchange for her people's safety. But with the queen’s brutal hunters on their tail, she's forced to make the sacrifices that define a true leader.
The Merciful Crow is the first installment in author Margaret Owen's The Merciful Crow series. In this world, there are (5) different castes that represent different parts of the population. Each caste possesses their own birthright, a power they can wield at will; each caste that is, except the Crows. Crows are the lowest on the ladder and the most disrespected. Crows are called upon in every city where the plague has infected a
city. Without the Crows help, the plague would spread and
kill all the people in the village, so even though the Crows are loathed to the core, people really need the Crows to
survive.
16-year old Chief-in-Training & born witch Fie is a Merciful Crow whose duty is to answer every summons when someone is infected with the Sinner's Plague. The Crow caste members band together for survival. They are untouched by the plague that ravages Sabor. The Oleander gentry (cloaked in white) are the Crows worst nightmare. The Crows live in fear of being caught and killed by the Oleander's. They live by one main rule: Take care of your own. When Fie and her band of crows take two plague-infected bodies from the
royal palace for the first time in five hundred years, she doesn’t
expect how her life will change from now on.
Fie's father makes a deal with the Crown Prince of Sabor, Jasimi and his body double, Tavin to pretend they are dead of the plague in exchange for the Crows taking the Prince and his bodyguard across
the nation. The Prince swears that once he is King he will have the Crows protected from threats. Queen Rhusana has been trying hard to kill off all members of the Royal family so that she can take full control over Sabor. She desperately wants to prevent Jasimi, Tavin and Fie from succeeding in their mission that is fraught in peril, betrayal, and death.
With help from both Oleander and Skinwitches tracking their every movement, there's no room for mistakes. After a devastating betrayal which puts her entire family in harms way, Fie becomes the Crows leader by relying on her cunning and strength to smuggle the prince away
from a murderous court, while trying her best to ignore the emotion she
refuses to feel for the prince's guard. It's heartbreaking at times to read this book knowing how
awful Fie and her Crows are treated. If they didn't do their jobs, the
entire country could fall to the Sinner's Plague. The caste system
created for this story is based on birds with the Phoenix at the top and
the Crows at the bottom. Fie's uses of bones to help her people survive
is also unique and amazing.
There have been comparisons to both Six of Crows as well as Children of Blood and Bone. The last book I haven't read so I can't agree nor disagree with others.
i read children of blood and bone and loved it, so this would probably be a good one for me
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental