Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan publishing for the eARC for THE MERCIFUL CROW.

Overall, I really enjoyed the world building in THE MERCIFUL CROW, with its unique caste system, powers, and abilities and how they are used throughout but the Crows themselves.

The three main characters were awesome, and one of my favorite things about this world was that there was no homophobia. I wish there were more fantasy books where it doesn't exist at all, and with a Prince who is gay (and not forced to marry for love! That's refreshing) and another who expresses their interest in both sexes, I really enjoyed this dynamic. I also really liked that there was no love triangle. Overall, I dislike love triangles and they are rather rampant in YA, so I was glad it wasn't the Prince pining after his body guard and there be unrequited love.

I liked the sense of urgency and consequences of actions throughout, where mistakes were made and things couldn't be swept under a rug because of it. The main characters had to face their fears whether they liked it or not.

I felt like the amount of traveling was excessive, though understandable with the journey. Personally, I find travel in books (and DnD) boring, so at least there were some raids to break it up. Hopefully in the next one it won't be full of traveling!

I was really excited going into The Merciful Crows as the plot sounds super intriguing and I actually loved that aspect of this book. However, I struggled with connecting to the characters which in turn hindered my enjoyment. I do feel like this book will be widely loved though.

I couldn't put this down once I started. I loved the theme of casts, and how reliant the upper casts are on the lower casts. Such an important dialog, I believe.

The Crows are making the best of their situation and high-key remind me of plague doctors. Fie won my heart before the story really began when she claimed a cat as her own. This book will be a winner. It did take time for Jasimir to grow on me and that's really what is keeping this from a full five star rating.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

I freakin' LOVED this book. It's been a while since I have fallen this head-first in love with a fantasy book like this. The world-building was epic and intriguing (AND original!). The characters were flawed and striving and wonderfully complex. The plot was fast-paced and action-packed. There were betrayals, and twists, and a satisfying conclusion that still leaves you hungry for the next book. Margaret Owen has written one heck of a novel and I can not wait to see what happens in the rest of the series. Side note: Is it 2020 yet, because book 2's title alone has me in knots.

Fie is a Crow, one of the few Castes that have no birthright of their own, no ability to make or withstand fire, no means to twists the fates of fortune and luck, unable to heal themselves, or to create illusions like the other Castes are all able to do. What they do have is the ability to walk where the Sinner's Plague has hit and not be affected. Thus, they are merciful, dealing the ultimate mercy to those who have the plague and serving as a means of saving the rest of the village. Time and again they must answer the call of the fire beacons burning on the horizon, harkening the nearest band of Crows to march in and take care of the victims. But, it is not without peril. For Crows are hunted by Oleanders, a group who feels the need to keep them in their place. And the Oleanders have recently acquired a new ally-the Queen. So when Fie's band is called to palace to pick up two dead plague victims, she doesn't know what to expect. Certainly not that heir to the throne Jasamir, and his double and guard Tavin have faked their deaths. And they want an escort to an ally far away. But Fie is a Crow and a Crow Chief-in-Training. So she deals with them and exacts an oath from them: her band will get them to their ally's, but Jas must promise ALL Crows protection from the Oleanders. She wants others to see the Crows and to accept them.

Obviously, not everything goes according to plan. There are multiple betrayals, hostages, close encounters, and more magic than you will know what to do with. Highly recommend. There is only one curse word (the F-word) and there are two sexual encounters that are alluded to. Suitable for grades 8 and up.

Fie is a Crow, a caste scorned by all others in the kingdom but permitted to live because of their immunity to a plague that makes them valuable in helping quarantine or eradicate those affected by it. When her tribe unexpectedly become entangled with the royal family, Fie must decide how far she is willing to go to try and carve out a better future for her people. Really enjoyed this fantasy novel - great world building and character development. I hope the author will write another soon.

"One way or another, we always feed the crows.

A future chieftain.

Fie abides by one rule: look after your own. Her Crow caste of undertakers and mercy-killers takes more abuse than coin, but when they’re called to collect royal dead, she’s hoping they’ll find the payout of a lifetime.

A fugitive prince.

When Crown Prince Jasimir turns out to have faked his death, Fie’s ready to cut her losses - and perhaps his throat. But he offers a wager that she can’t refuse: protect him from a ruthless queen, and he’ll protect the Crows when he reigns.

A too-cunning bodyguard.

Hawk warrior Tavin has always put Jas’s life before his, magically assuming the prince’s appearance and shadowing his every step. But what happens when Tavin begins to want something to call his own?"

Crows are really in this YA season and I'm all for it.

I went into this one without any expectations, and it really blew me away.

Fie, Jasimir, and Tavin make a trio of truly unlikely allies as they go on a journey to protect Jas and save Fie's people. Along the way, they encounter some truly terrifying enemies and even more terrifying ~personal revelations~.

In terms of characterization, I found all three of them fleshed out and doing their own thing.

Fie has spent her whole life in survival mode, but has an endless well of loyalty for her own. She comes into her bravery over the course of the book and leans into her moments of failure without flinching. She's young, and it shows. She loves her family, works through what she truly wants from her life, and doesn't apologize for wanting something different.

I! would! die! for! Tavin! If y'all are looking for a charming, occasionally gruff, endlessly protective Good Boy, Tav is for you. Like Fie, he's spent his whole life living for an outside purpose, and he's sacrificed a lot for it. There's plenty of banter between Tav and Fie, as well as among all three of them, while they're on the road. Reader, the moments of humor SENT ME. He's just a character to root for, and I really did the whole way through.

Jasimir is not the crowd fave. He's selfish, he's spoiled, he's rude. Therefore, I looked at him and knew he was for me. On the surface, he's obviously lived a charmed life ensconced in a palace and blissfully ignorant of the horrors that other castes (i.e. Crows) face. As the book goes on, the shiny surface is scratched away, revealing Jas' personal demons. I'm so, so interested to see what the next book does for Jas because it certainly ends on a high note for him.

The magic system captured me from the beginning, I love a good bone-based magic, and it's solid throughout the story. The side characters and settings really did some work to build a vivid world. I was so impressed by the caste dynamics and how prejudice and violence weaved through the narrative. (There is some heavy KKK imagery via a group of people killing Crows in white hoods/clothing. A couple gory moments of violence, mainly against Crows.) It's a little intense, so I definitely recommend to older YA readers.

Overall, a solid fantasy that hit all the sweet spots. Lots of cool imagery, high octane adventure, those Found Family Feelings. You need this book.

OK folks, buckle yourselves in, because if you pick up this book you're in for a wild ride.

(As an aside, I can't remember the last time I saw a fantasy book that was being hyped like this one that was actually this good. And I also can't remember the last time I saw a book like this with so many four- and five-star reviews that are actually genuine. So I think the hype was well warranted with this one. Although I'd market it more as adult fantasy than YA as another reviewer commented.)

There is a lot to love here - a badass female lead who is strong AF while still being able to admit to uncertainty and fear. Fie is the heroine we all need in this world of wispy girl leads who pine romantically for the prettiest boy they ever did see and everyone else be damned.

One of the best things about this book is the magic system. Every caste (I'm still a bit confused about them but don't totally care) has their own "birthright," which was given to them by their own dead gods. The Crows have no birthright, and must take from others. They are called "bone thieves" as a slur by every other caste because they get their magic from other castes' teeth. Now, I am not a huge fan of this kind of thing, it's a little gross to think of someone holding onto a bunch of teeth, pulling them out of dead bodies, and carrying them around in a bag (or on a string around their neck). I admit to being squeamish. But this was so unique that I couldn't put it as a negative. It's seriously amazing to think that the person holding a tooth can see the entirety of the former owner's life and then harness that former owner's magic. Fie gets really good at using the Phoenix teeth (for fire) and the Sparrow teeth (to hide).

The Crows are called "merciful" because they are the ones who answer the plague beacons. As the only caste who can't get sick from the plague, they are charged with finishing off the sick (mercifully slitting their throats) and then burning them away from the village so the plague doesn't infect everyone else there. If the crows don't answer a beacon they are supposedly punished by the Covenant, which I gathered is the magical "rules" which were settled when the gods died.

The rest of the castes really hate the Crows and go out of their way to make them miserable, even though the Crows help them with the plague. The Oleanders even hunt them down and kill them in terrible ways (Fie's mother was murdered when Fie was a little girl, and she found her body by following a trail of her fingers). No one ever does anything to help them against the Oleanders, and that is something that Fie wants to change.

So when the two lordlings that are supposedly dead from the plague sit up in her cart, Fie sees her chance to change the Crows' fates. And after she forges that covenant vow with Jasimir, she is forced to live with everything that happens because of it.

There is a lot going on in this book between the Oleanders, the skinwitches trailing the band, the love story (which was pretty well done, actually), everyone out to kill them. A few times I thought I had pegged how the next bit was going to go and was wrong. And while I figured out the "big reveal" that comes at the end a long time before, admittedly it was still a bit of a surprise to be proven right.

I so love Fie's character development, and I even liked Tavin (although it was pretty obvious that the two of them were going to get together). Jasimir... I could take him or leave him. He's whiny and has a stick up his ass, but by the end he does have a new side to his personality that I warmed to.

The only thing that made this four stars for me was that sometimes the magic really didn't make sense, it felt like it was just being used to get them out of a scrape that they never would have escaped from otherwise, and wasn't well-thought-out. There was also at least one nick-of-time rescue that wasn't believable. Otherwise, this is fantastic, I loved it, and I highly recommend it.

You know what, screw it, I'm giving it five stars anyway.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC.
Oddly enough, I had read something a little similar to this recently, at least with groups of people who did mercy killings, which I had never read of before, but this was a different take with its own fantasy elements that I enjoyed.
The castes of bird people with bloodline powers, the crows not having any, yet being able to use the teeth of other castes’ to temporarily gain their powers. It’s interesting. Engaging. It was a fairly quick and enjoyable read for me. I liked the main character and the conflict, and their magic and class system. I liked that we got to see a diverse landscape and diverse groups of people as the characters traveled throughout the country. I didn’t really look into it, but I thought it was going to be a standalone novel, but with the way it ended, there’s still a lot more story to tell!
All in all, I’d recommend this for a quick read and a unique fantasy world.

This book is very different from what I generally read, but it sounded interesting, so I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. I found parts of the story quite good, but others were very repetitious, which made things drag too much for my taste. Many of the characters were one dimensional, with the exception of Tavin. There were some interesting parts pertaining to the treatment of the lower caste Crows by others, as well as the references to the plague masks. But, those weren't enough to warrant a higher rating.

This book was really different and I absolutely loved it! I will definitely be recommending it whenever possible! I can't wait to read more!

If you only read one book this summer, let it be Margaret Owen’s The Merciful Crow. Actually, if you only read one book this year, let it be The Merciful Crow, too. I’m serious. I’ve read a lot of good books this year, but none have this absolutely magical combination of first-class worldbuilding, stellar characterization, and timely messaging.

It starts with a band of Crows, the lowest caste in the highly striated society of Sabor. They’ve been called to deal with plague victims, the duty of their caste, since they alone are immune to the disease. But these victims are no ordinary citizens. The crown prince and his body double are enacting a ruse to escape the palace, and they want the Crows’ to take them to their political allies.

Fie, the chief-in-training for her band, doesn’t like a couple of Phoenix-caste prettyboys coming in and telling them what to do. Everyone may spit on them and try to cheat them, but the Crows still know their worth. She bargains not for payment in coin or luxuries, but for a single oath: the Crows will be recognized for their contributions to society, given fair treatment, and have protection from the increasingly popular Oleander Gentry—a loosely affiliated group of vigilantes who want to wipe out the Crow caste entirely.

The Oleander Gentry ride out at night in white garments that conceal their identities, cowards who are clearly meant to invoke comparisons with the KKK. And from there it’s not hard to see lots of parallels to lots of situations with a privileged class and a class that bears the brunt of that privilege. One of the strongest facets of The Merciful Crow is its thorough examination of privilege and oppression. Owen has clearly thought long and hard about systems of power and about the individuals who are trapped in those systems, for better or worse. It’s viciously, unflinchingly incisive, and it leads to dramatic moments that I know will stay with me for a long time.

It's good to get a story from the perspective of a lower caste character and feel her fury as the upper-caste characters stumble over their excuses and their ignorance. SFF has been criticized recently for having far too many stories of white characters discovering that aliens (read: PoC) are worthy of respect. Owen doesn’t let any of that feel-good nonsense into her story. Fie is rightly furious that the other castes abuse, cheat, and look down on the Crows, and she won’t let anyone mitigate that anger. From the first to the last, Fie might change and grow, but she never compromises what she knows to be true.

And let’s talk about that “first.” The first chapter has clearly been worked and re-worked until it’s perfect. The dead bodies, the rising tension between the castes, and the “money dance?” (I won’t spoil what that is.) It would make such an incredible first episode of a TV show. The entire book would, actually. All the drama is highly cinematic, so vivid and striking that I can already see the awards for design and sound stacking up. Someone get those movie rights! Netflix? Hulu? Anyone?

I say cinematic, but let me be more specific. There are some authors who have seen too much TV and treat writing like a tedious transcription exercise, the medium an impediment rather than an aide to their imaginations. Owen is not one of them. Fie’s voice is clear and distinct throughout, never subordinate to the action. This is her story, her triumph over classism and caste-ism despite every hardship and cost. She’s a brilliant main character, completely able to carry even the toughest scenes with wit and vigor. She’s also utterly relatable, full of love and anger and want and duty all set to simmer, but ready to bubble over at the slightest flare.

The secondary characters are also perfectly drawn. The villains are heart-stoppingly cruel, making every interaction fraught with believable life-or-death tension. Fie’s allies are sympathetic but flawed, wholly human in their foibles and the way they get cranky when they’re tired, but also in their surprising capacity to learn and develop bonds.

There’s also ubiquitous and unremarkable queerness among the characters, which made me so happy. (This is not in contrast to books that do make queerness central, which I also love. This is in contrast to books that make all the characters automatically straight, even the background ones.) The prince is gay! The (female!) leader of the Hawks has husbands (plural!) and wives (plural!). Random people on the road are queer! And the best part is, we only learn these things because of offhand comments. It's so normal and commonly accepted that it's not even worth a discussion. Brava, Margaret Owen!

Brava also for the fascinating and well-developed magic system. It’s well balanced in that it grants different castes different abilities, and witches within those castes even more elaborate and diverse talents, but none are absurdly overpowered. Luck, desire, refuge, and additional domains belong different castes, and witches are able to manipulate those domain-powers to a much higher degree. Fie and other Crow-caste witches are bone witches, able to draw out the powers and occasional memories from other castes’ bones. Vultures and Hawks are skin- and blood-witches, respectively. This makes Vultures trackers, able to mark a person or take something they own and follow them across whole continents, and Hawks able to heal or harm by manipulating a person’s blood. The combination of such visceral, embodied powers contrasts nicely with the abstract caste powers, and makes a compelling and well-balanced magic system. (Take note, Brandon Sanderson fans.)

It’s clear that I can keep finding good things to say about this book, so I’ll stop now before I give everything away. This is a book you won’t want spoiled—its twists and turns are thrilling, and the pacing is perfect, too. You won’t want to put it down, so start getting ready, clear your calendar, set up your beach chair (or A/C), and get ready to enjoy The Merciful Crow.

OK, first sentence: "Pa was taking too long to cut the boys' throats."

The Merciful Crows are the mercy killers of those dying of an excruciating plague. When a village seeks their help, they send for the Crows to end the suffering of the infected and to dispose of the bodies before the plague spreads.

In a world of castes, the Crows--despite their uses--are pariahs and preyed upon by other castes. The book opens with the Merciful Crows called upon to end the suffering of a royal and dispose of the body by ritual burning, but there are two victims instead of one. And neither one has the plague.

Since the Crows are immune to the plague, they play an important role in the safety of the kingdom, but are still despised. Fie, sixteen-year-old daughter of the Crow chief is full of personality and grit and sees a desperate chance to improve the lot of her fellow Crows.

There is a wicked queen who wants the Crown Prince and his body double dead; a group of night marauders from the Oleander Gentry; a troupe of misfit Crows, and lots of suspenseful moments.

It took me a couple of chapters to get a fix on the magic system, but once I had that, I was engrossed with the characters and their adventures. Like the best of YA fiction, the only thing that separates it from other books in the fantasy genre is the age of the important characters.

Read in June.

NetGalley/Henry Holt
YA/Fantasy. July 30, 2019. Print length: 384 pages.

Thank you very much to the publisher for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book ended up surprising me— in a good way. If I could, I would give this novel 3.5 stars. It was somewhere in between “enjoyable” and “amazing”, the latter of the two descriptions between for my four star ratings and the former assigned to my third star ratings. However, it leaned more towards simply enjoyable, so I chose a rating of 3 stars.

Margaret Owen’s writing style is pleasant to read, and it flows nicely with little clutter and smooth description. She writes action very well, and I found myself hooked in the very first chapter from the intensity of the moment. The only real problem I found with her writing style was that she used certain words too often enough to notice, but I did not find this too bothersome.

Moving on to the worldbuilding, I really like the setup of the castes and the magical birthrights each one gets (excepting the Crows, of course, who do not have a birthright). Margaret Owen fleshes everything out with details.

Personally, I found Fie’s character to be a little typical and cliché. She’s the tough, stubborn female protagonist who, although is not too pretty, makes up for it in her grit, bravery, and wit. She wasn’t unlikable; I just found her to be a little too similar to many other protagonists I read about. It was good how Margaret Owen did make sure things weren’t too easy for her. Fie has her fair share of struggles in using magic and tiring herself out from the strain. While Fie is gifted, she has to work to improve.

Tavin flips between joking and seriousness. His light humor make tense situations better, and because of that, I ended up liking him more than Fie.

Jas's character development is really quite something to read about, and at the end, it is quite satisfactory to see how he’s changed. Character dynamics between Fie and Jas are especially interesting to read about, especially when they’re alone. Everything is very tentative between the two of them because of the differences of backgrounds and the circumstances they’ve been forced into.

While characters are likable, I didn’t find myself getting attached to any of them.They felt too flat and not alive enough to feel more like a person and less of a character. This was a huge disappointment to me. This was the factor that ultimately led to the dip from four stars to three stars, despite the wonderful world building.

I did like the pacing of the plot. Everything felt comfortable, and it didn’t really feel too rushed. I did get the semblance of an info dump at the beginning, but it wasn’t much. The story itself is extremely thought-out, and you can really feel the hard work Margaret Owen poured in. The Merciful Crow is a solid, well-written novel that I have enjoyed.

An odd little story. The world dynamics were a bit confusing at the beginning. Things level out and become easier to understand as the story goes on.

I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t the faintest idea about a potential time period or inspiration for the world. The way the story is told is unique. Not in a typical way, but the dialect of the Crows. It seriously felt like they were 1800s settlers or something. Fie’s manner of speaking was especially hard to get used to.

I thought the idea of the magic was cool...at least the small bit we got to see. I get that all the castes have some (except Crows), But isn’t the way they use the powers in teeth magical? So I enjoyed that, but would’ve liked to explore the rest of the castes and see where their powers are drawn from.

The story itself isn’t really anything unique. I felt a lot of cliches in the story. It was also repetitive at times, which made it a bit hard to stay engaged. I’d catch a sentence that felt similar—nearly identical—to one I’d read and find myself searching back in the story to see where. And sometimes, it was just the previous page. This was also why I didn’t enjoy Fie’s character as much. For a strong heroine, she continually came back to the same few thoughts. It was exhausting.

There’s some romance, which I did enjoy. I found it to be perfect. Not overkill in the story, which would’ve taken away from the overall importance of the journey. Instead, just enough to add another layer of worry to overcome. And one more person for Fie to protect.

Jasimir was a boring, one-dimensional character. There wasn’t ever a time when I cared if he lived or died. Tavin, however...the precious Hawk. I knew he was hiding something. I was hoping it was a bigger piece of his identity (like being the true heir). I think he and Barf were my favorites.

So, overall, it’s a decent read. I liked some of the plotting. I didn’t see any remarkable twists, but it’s solid enough to keep you reading. I will definitely read the next installment, because I am invested enough to know how this is all going to end! And I want more Draga!

3.75 stars

The Merciful Crow follows Fie, a young woman of the lowly Crow caste, as she is thrust into a dangerous mission aiding a thought-to-be-dead prince and his body double in the hopes of saving their kingdom and earning respect and protection for Crows everywhere.

Throughout this journey, we see the world from Fie’s perspective and learn through flashbacks more about her brutal upbringing belonging to the lowest of the castes, one is that only still around to basically take care of the bodies of plague victims whenever a plague smoke signal is deployed, ensuring that the plague doesn’t spread and decimate entire swaths of villages and towns. We are introduced to a few members of other castes, all gifted with a birthright that imbues caste members with certain powers. We also learn more about what each caste is able to do through Fie, a Crow witch (known as a bone thief, albeit a more offensive term for her powers) who as such is able to project caste powers through the teeth of deceased members of each caste. The tooth power is definitely one of the more interesting aspects of the book and it gives a really great glimpse at caste powers without having to introduce us to a member of each caste to show us what they’re capable of.

Along with the interesting witchy powers, I found Fie’s story equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking. Fie is a great main character; headstrong, stubborn, with a very soft spot for her own people (her crow band of about ten people, including her Pa, is her main motivation for just about everything that she does). Fie has a short fuse and fearlessly rushes into situations, and is sometimes even a little too impulsive. I think Fie is the absolute best part of this story.

The other main part of this story involves a royal prince and his bodyguard/body double. Political scheming is the name of the game and the royals fake their own deaths in order to escape the palace and garner support from neighboring provinces to finally strike down unfriendly forces on the inside. The royal prince and his body double are intriguing, albeit much more one noted characters than Fie. I had hoped for a little bit more from each of them, character development wise.

Some other aspects that were a tad disappointing: the magic system is a bit unclear, several of the supporting characters felt pretty flat, and I definitely have questions about this world (especially the plague aspect), but I must say that this book is a great series opener and will be recommended for those looking for a story that’s packed with gore and violence, magic, politics (both clan, royal, and caste), and a dash of romance to top it all off.

This was a solid debut novel that I really enjoyed, other than a few pacing issues. Honestly, more a 4.5 than a 4, but I'm not upgrading it to a 5 because the pacing was enough to make me take many days to finish it.

First, the world building is spectacularly detailed. There is a LOT to keep track of and the author does a great job of repeating information in multiple ways so you remember why or how a thing is, without her sounding repetitive. I'm pretty sure I only learned about a small portion of Sabor and that there is so much more to discover in this world in book 2.

The characters were brilliant. Strong female heroine? Check. Annoying, whiny, pathetic princeling? Check. Hunky hunky off limits boy toy? Check. Too basic? Ah, but then all are more than what they seem. Each has a lot of growing to do on their journey, and watching the characters learn, make mistakes, grow as people, and become more than what they were is what a lot of stories lack, and this was executed beautifully in this book.

I enjoyed it and I'm eagerly awaiting book 2!

The innovative magic structure of this story has set a precedent for world building this season.

Fie is a strong competent female lead who knows what is right and wrong but struggles with the choices she must make in order to better her society, especially for the future of her people. Jasimir is a clueless and self entitled prince who doesn't understand the people of his kingdom as a whole. His character arc is slow in this first novel, but develops in such an organic mind opening way that it is hard to feel negatively toward him for long. Tavin is the happy medium between the two. Bound by duty but stuck with love. Tavin must figure out a way he can be both what Jasimir counts on him to be and what Fie needs him to be. Their interactions are hilarious and understated in a way that attaches you to each of their individual plights. By the end of The Merciful Crow you will be so hooked into the characters and their futures you will be begging for the next in the series.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fantasy adventure. It will suck you in and give you no hope of spitting you out any time soon.

When reading the synopsis, I wasn't sure what to expect with "The Merciful Crow." In many ways, it doesn't share too much about the world and the magic but sets up the back stories of the three major characters: protagonist Fie (the titular Merciful Crow), Prince Jasimir, and his body double Tavin. All of the castes in Sabor have bird "spirit animals" - Phoenix, Owl, Swan, Hawk, etc. - with the Crows at the bottom as they do not have a birthright. What they do have an immunity to the plague and thus they travel around the kingdom, providing mercy-killings to victims in hopes for fair compensation. Fie is a chief-in-training as a Crow witch and has special abilities that make her formidable and strong. When the Swan-born queen wants to clear the line to the throne for her own son, the Crows make a bargain with the Phoenix Prince Jasimir. A quest ensues filled with violence, ethical dilemmas, and personal growth for our main characters.
Over the course of the ~400 pages, Owen has crafted a gritty yet rich world filled with a tightly constructed caste system, complete with the birthrights/magic each group possesses. "The Merciful Crow" is a gripping political drama that examines rulership, the ways in which the elite neglect and harm the oppressed, and how one's actions can change the future for the better.
The world of "The Merciful Crow" draws elements from different historic cultures and civilizations but feels very organic and never appropriative. Of the many books in YA fantasy, Owen has nailed the class dynamics and tensions that are not completely realized in other stories that feature hierarchical systems. In addition to class, the characters are very diverse in terms of race and sexuality. There is a slow-burn romance that not only explores the characters' feelings for each other, but also forces them to confront how Sabor and its castes gives its people few options for choice.
I could not more highly recommend this book and I anxiously await the sequel! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.