A thrilling and emotional conclusion to this duology!

From the very first line I was riveted. It brought all of the Merciful Crow feelings back. If you haven't read it, I suggest you stop right now and go rectify that. The Faithless Hawk takes place pretty much right after Crow ends. This was another buddy read with Sassy, since she enjoyed TMC so much. So I got her input for part of the review also. If you don't remember everything, I suggest you go back and reread a few chapters at least. Sassy struggled a bit in the beginning cus she didn't remember everything like I did, since I reread TMC right beforehand. But after a few chapters, she was flying through.

I loved the fact, and I even said this in my last review, that this isn’t your typical “I am a strong and powerful girl and I can do no wrong and everyone must follow me,” YA book. She makes mistakes. HUGE ones. But she also works well with others and knows it’s not about her, it’s about everyone. I love how her crows help her even when she tries to take as much on her shoulders. She even has a few Hawks to help her along the way! She doesn't give up, even when she can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We love Tavin. There were so many OMG parts with him, and not necessarily in a good way, but just hold on for a while. You can’t see the whole board when you’re a piece in the game. Just wait and step back and see the plays. I was going back and forth with him. But I am so happy I held on. I knew there was a reason for everything.

"I'll never doubt that boy loves you. But loving someone doesn't make us choose right, for us or for them."

This book seemed more focused on the relationships surrounding Fie. The banter between the characters made us giggle and smile, a lot. Prince Jasimir was more open with his feelings and it was nice to see that. He was rather standoff-ish in the first book. It was good to see him loosen up a bit. There were a few scenes with him that made us teary. In fact, her and I just sat here for 10 minutes reminiscing about all the hilarious and emotional group scenes and it kinda makes me want to reread it.

This series will definitely be added to my YA rec list! I hope you guys love it as much as we did!

Netgalley granted my wish(Thank you!) so I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC to read and review!

Now... I... don’t know how to put into words just how fantastic this was. It... wow. I would hate to spoil things, so I’ll just say that I believe this to be quite a work of storytelling genius. My heart was twisted and ripped to pieces and also put back together again SOMEHOW. I love this duology. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking for a well done fantasy. The world building, the characters... the PLOT TWISTS. Every bit of it was amazing!

The second installment in the duology is The Faithless Hawk. Owen delivers more betrayal, suspense, but a bit less humor as Fie’s clan are in more danger than ever. Less-than-ideal situations come to fruition and the Queen becomes almost unstoppable. Fie is forced to go into hiding and then undercover to not only unravel the Queen’s plans, but also fulfill an even older oath of which Fie was not aware - not to mention that her responsibility to do so has its own implications about who she is.

I’m not sure if I can confidently state that The Faithless Hawk is more action-packed or suspenseful than The Merciful Crow. What I can state, however, is that I liked the second book more. We get to see what life is like inside the palace and of those who are considered part of the elite castes. We see Fie expand her powers and use all of the resources she has available in order to navigate the belly of the beast. Owen continues to show off her talent in providing rich details and giving the reader just enough to keep them turning the page.

I was excited to read the follow-up to The Merciful Crow especially because of how the first book ended. I was definitely not disappointed!!! I absolutely loved this, just as much political intrigue and magic as the first one. Higher stakes, amazing

I absolutely love this series and was so excited to read this book! I read this book in one sitting because I could not put it down. I will be reading this book over and over again because it was that amazing! I will be recommending this book to everyone.

The Faithless Hawk picks up shortly after the events of The Merciful Crow which was one of my favorite books last year. I am very happy to say that the sequel has lived up to the first one. Fie and her band now have the protection of the Hawks, Jasimir is on his way back to the capital with his aunt’s protection and everything is going as it should. Until the queen announces that the king has died of the sinner’s plague and she successfully handled it without the help of the Crows. Now villages are turning away Crows instead of calling them for aid, plague is spreading and Fie is told her oath is yet unfulfilled. She will have to go back to the palace and help Jasimir without being found out by Rhusana.

I loved this book. Fie is one of my favorite heroines and both her inner strength and bone magic powers grow in this book. My favorite book cat, Barf, gets to play a bigger role in this story as well. We also get to meet some new characters as well as get to see more of some minor characters from the first book. The world building really expands and I loved finding out more about the history of Sobor. Without spoiling anything, I also loved looking back at the way different details added up at the end of the story. I highly recommend this duology!

I received a copy thought NetGalley for review.

Okay so I have to be honest, I was worried when I heard it was going to be a duology and I wasn't sure how they were going to wrap this up and solve the problems in time.

But WOW.
This was incredibly well done!
We find out why Fie is different, if she can live up to her oath-before it haunts her into the next life.
If she can save her Crows, from being snuffed out.
Everything is not as it seems. Old gods reborn are kind of scary.
An evil queen with a tiger- check. Seriously, she's evil on a new level.
Romance- check.
Betrayal-check.
The Covenant always speaks. Balance must be brought back.

I really enjoyed the direction it went. I don't want to say much more, because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

I am going to keep this review vague as so many twists and turns I never saw coming happen in this book. After reading Merciful Crow I thought well the next book is not going to be that long and it is just going to be a book of redemption for the Crows and Fie finding her way back to Tavin. I was so wrong and way off. This story blew me away and was so good. If you think you know what will happen I can tell you, you don't!

I thoroughly enjoyed this duology. The world created by Margaret Owen is unique and fleshed out. I loved learning more about the history of the magic and caste system. However, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first. The events escalated very quickly and made the story feel rushed. The highlight of the this duology was the characters. I loved the friendship between Fie, Tavin, and Jas. Their relationship drives each character's motivation and is the strongest part of the story. I'm sad this duology is ending. I would love to see more stories in this world.

The Faithless Hawk is a thrilling sequel to Fie's story of mercy, revenge, and justice. Not only is it written gorgeously, The Faithless Hawk asks readers questions about what, and who we, are willing to sacrifice for our goals. There are the same amazing character with new layers. Fie and her passionate spirit, the way she has to balance her new responsibilities, and her need to accept help and guidance. Then there's Jasimir and Tarvin who are just precious cinnamon rolls! There were some scenes with Tarvin which ripped my heart out okay!?

I loved how Owen evolved and developed our concepts of the world from The Merciful Crow. Without feeling forced or dumped on us, the stories we used to know took on new meanings. Especially as The Faithless Hawk takes a closer look at rulers. What they are willing to compromise to achieve their goals. Who they are willing to sacrifice. How we sometimes have to betray the ones we love to protect them. All's never fair in love or war. I loved how clever The Faithless Hawk felt. We get an expanded world, which is one of my favorite in YA fantasy, and then an even twisty-er plot!

The Merciful Crow was one of my favorite debuts—favorite books, period—of 2019, and I’m overjoyed to find that the conclusion of Fie’s saga, The Faithless Hawk, is as original, emotional, dramatic, and insightful as her introduction.

Fie has, against all odds, gotten Prince Jasimir and his bodyguard Tavin to safety. They are protected by an entire army and fierce magics, and are on their way to claim Jasimir’s throne from his conniving stepmother. This will, they hope, usher in a new era of peace. Although Fie misses her friend Jasimir and her lover Tavin, she’s satisfied with her accomplishments. After all, hasn’t she fulfilled her oath? Hasn’t the world become a safer place for her band and the entire Crow caste?

Of course not. Ingrained systematic oppression doesn’t end with a single good ruler, and also, Fie’s life has never been easy, so why would it start to be now? The Faithless Hawk does the bold and admirable job of burning through plotlines that might take other books, well, entire books to get through. Not so here. By a third of the way through, every plot line I thought I might see at the conclusion had already happened. Not since The Good Place ended have I seen a writer so committed to making her characters deal with all of their illusions and dependencies in such relentless succession. Fie’s advantages disappear one by one, until she’s alone again in a strange place, with only a few dubious allies between her and a whole horde of people who want her dead and gone.

Who want her entire people and way of life dead and gone.

The book pulls no punches when it comes to revealing the cruelty and violence people commit when they think there are no consequences, and also the weight that mercy and self-defense impose on the people trying to do the right thing. There is a lot of death, and a lot of blood. It’s shocking but not salacious. Owen doesn't want gore for gore's sake; she's investing the world with the weight of all that blood, not just its colorful spurt.

The Faithless Hawk is timely in more ways than one. Not only is there political unrest and abuse of the vulnerable, there’s also a plague. A plague that officials try to hide and downplay rather than face, which leads to thousands of unnecessary deaths. It’s an eerily prescient book. (Also: is Margaret Owen psychic?)

In particular, I love the scene in which Rhusana complains to Fie about how hard her life has been, all while draped in a white gown studded with diamonds, attended by a deadly white tiger, and actively threatening Fie. It’s a perfect encapsulation of toxic whiteness. The absolute obliviousness and gall of her complaint would be laughable if it weren’t so tragically true to life.

But like all good villains, she does have a point. The caste system is unfair, and the relegation of yet another group of people—the Swans—to providing entertainment and pleasure (aka sexual slavery for at least some) is abhorrent. Rhusana’s life has been hard. But she chooses to make others’ lives even harder, and punches down when she should be punching up. Her failure to understand the real source of her own suffering, and to trade personal safety for the lives and livelihoods of thousands of others…yeah, did I say this book was prescient?

My only criticism is that I’m not wholly convinced by the central…let’s call it interpersonal conflict to avoid spoilers if we can. I also don’t love how readily others accept the…interpersonal conflict. Partly that’s because Owen’s character work is very good, and certain decisions don’t seem entirely in keeping with established personalities. But it’s also slightly forced, and I’m not wholly convinced all the extent or duration of the subterfuge was entirely necessary.

However, it does make for a lovely exchange about the price of heroism. Fie insists that self-sacrifice need not be self-abnegation; that success built on even one person’s denial of who they are is not a true success. It’s part of a larger conversation Owen is having about the price of power, and who ends up paying it, and I like that she takes time to insist that those who fight for justice may indeed be costly, but that they should never concede that the cost must necessarily be so total. The whole point, after all, is not for the downtrodden to suffer more, but for justice to be levied on those who benefit from that suffering. Fie’s tenacity in righting the wrongs of the past—even when some of those are her own wrongs—make this a strong meditation on how we can think through—and beyond—our birthrights.

This is a fitting end to Fie’s story, but I hope it’s not the last we see of this world. I know it won’t be the last I read of Margaret Owen. I already can’t wait for whatever she does next

First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers at Henry Holt and Co. for granting my Wish for one of my most anticipated books of the year. I was given this e-Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review. The Faithless Hawk will be released on July 28th and is available for pre-order now.
I cannot explain to you how excited I was to get this ARC. The first book was one of my favorite books last year and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel since. I’m pretty sure my neighbor heard my squeal of excitement when I got the e-mail saying I got an ARC. I had to rearrange my reading plans so I could get to this immediately. And it paid off. This book kicks off almost immediately after the events of the previous book. There’s so much action and political intrigue, but this time we get to see Fie out of her element.

There was also a mystery element to this book that I wasn’t anticipating. I thought that really added a driving factor to my reading pace. I think if you’re a big Fantasy reader then you might have some idea as to what the answer could be, but it’s done well and, at least for me, you never quite guess correctly. And there’s an added angst element that I was dying for by the end of the book. I love me some angst and this served it to me on a gorgeous platter. I didn’t know I needed it, but I really did. I think it was also done in a really unique way that made it even more painful. (Wow, that makes me sound real twisted.)

During this one, I got a lot of late Throne of Glass series vibes because Fie is such a strong woman who wants so much more for her family and her caste. She also feels like the weight is really on her shoulders and the only things she can work with to make it happen is her powers and her pet. In a way, it’s like seeing Aelin come into her own because Fie discovers some truths about herself and uses those truths to her political advantage.

As always, I love the characters in this duology. I think the author does a great job of keeping the audience engaged with the characters we’ve come to love already. We also get some new characters, both four legged and otherwise, that I came to really like. I would say the one point of contention for me with this novel is that I want it to be longer. No one is surprised by that complaint from me. But I feel like it could have added just a little more depth to what’s a really great story. I needed to be able to bond to some side characters a little more before all the action started.

Otherwise, it’s a really good finale. I can’t believe it’s the last I get to see of Fie and Tavin, and Wretch, and Barf. I think this duology is a solid read for the times we’re currently in, but also for people who like darker YA Fantasy.

The Faithless Hawk tied up this duology perfectly and cemented it as a favourite. The characters are incredible and I especially loved the friendship between Fie and Jasmir. Tavin broke my heart at times though. The action was fast-paced and the plot engaging. I'd definitely recommend preordering this one!

Before getting into this one, I highly recommend (re)reading The Merciful Crow. In hindsight, I should have done this as well. Now, I had such a hard time getting into this book, as it builds right on the foundation of the first one, and I have quite forgotten what happened in that book. I absolutely loved the world-building in the first book, and it was harder for me to enjoy it in this one, because I forgot so much. However, I still firmly believe this series has one of the most amazing worlds I have ever encountered.
The characters made great growth, but sadly, the story fell a little flat for me, which was a huge bummer. It might have had to do with the fact that I hadn't done a reread. I cannot be sure of that, however, so I have rated the book three stars.