I really enjoyed reading this sequel to Seven Devils and I so happy that I preordered this one from Watersones. I can't wait to add it to my collection!
So in this book I really liked that we get to learn more about our amazing crew, We learn about their past and what led them to where they ended up today.

Seven Mercies ties up all the loose ends left over from the last book, and is action packed from beginning to end. We follow our Devils as they are seperating to complete their own missions that hopefully will help them figure out how to help the Garule.. Those people that the One has turned into mindless workers that will follow any and all commands they are given..

While I loved all of the characters that we follow I think my favorites would have to be Eris and Ariadne.. Eris is is still grappling with what happened to her at the end of the last book. Trying to come up with a plan that will take down her brother and the One.. Ariadne while super smart, is still a child at heart, and she really brings a new fresh perspective to whats going on around her.

The whole book was pretty fast paced, with loads of action and fighting. Even during the down time when our crew is planning things out, are still full of tension with the full scope of what they are trying to accomplish.

Also while it didn't exactly end they way I thought it would (you'll see what I mean when you read it) I really liked out it ended and how the story wrapped up.. Everything wasn't just done and fixed, this is just the beginning of a new world, and our favorite crew is up to the challenge.

I received this book for free through Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Thank you!

I will start by saying I did thoroughly enjoy this book. It took me a bit to get back into it, but after a while I just could. Not. Stop. Reading. I had to know what happened next. There were also a lot of "wtf" revelations and semi cliffhangers that really made the pacing of this book work for me.

Overall it was very satisfying, and without spoiling, I can say that I was quite happy with the ending. Moving, emotional, but satisfying. I also liked that the book took the time to get to its conclusion, with a few wrap up chapters. A rushed wrap-up often leaves me with a bittersweet taste so I was glad this wasn't the case here, after such a saga!

I'm also happy with its exploration of genders and sexualities, going further than the previous books. Some depth was also added to some characters in the process and I really appreciated that.

I did feel like a bit more time could've been spent on some of the characters and their decisions. I still don't understand why Ariadne did... at all, at any point in the book. There's some half reasons given but I did not see the logic in them (yes even for a traumatised, probably neurodivergent kid), I missed that sense that, well, what the character did made sense to her at least. I also felt like some of the plotting was a bit rushed, or not as tight as it could've been. Some of the moves felt... too easy. Clearly the authors knew where they wanted to take this story, and so they did. But it didn't have the same feeling of consequences or unavoidability of some of the first book's twists, it felt more deliberately author-led than actions coming from the characters or because they had to.

I also enjoyed focusing more on Cato, Nyx and Rhea, but I did feel like we lost a bit of the in-depth understanding of Eris. She was very much central to the first book, and here her own chapters are focused a lot on the other characters. Obviously her main plot point around her identity has been dealt with so it makes sense.

I'm also ambivalent about Cato's storyline because it does add so much more depth to him and answers some big questions, but I don't think it was taken to its logical conclusion and so it's left a bit in suspension at the end, or like that thread was just conveniently forgotten.

If it sounds like I've a lot of criticisms, it's mainly because I'm really invested in the story and its characters. Overall though, it's still a very strong conclusion to the duology, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It just didn't hit quite as much for me as the first one did, perhaps because I had a few months to think about what to expect.

Seven Mercies is the sequel to Seven Devils, and continues the story of the rebellion led by the former heir to the Tholosian Empire. In the Empire, the Archon controls the populace by means of the Oracle, a powerful AI.

The Devils are on the run. Most of their forces have abandoned them, and they have no allies. One of them will be dead soon without a cure for the ichor. The One wants her programmer back, and is willing to enslave all of humanity to make it happen. The odds couldn't be more stacked against them, until a bit of intel from the most unlikely of potential allies gives them one last shot for the freedom of the galaxy. The stakes are high, and Eris, former heir to the throne, knows that she will have to pay her god in more deaths before they are done.

The relationships between the characters grow stronger, but there are still times when they don't act as a cohesive unit, and members pursue their own agendas. We learn the backstories for several of them, and those stories serve to further illustrate how despotic the Empire is.

The book clocks in at 464 pages, and at times, it feels like it. Each of the characters, with the exception of Kyla, has a fully fleshed-out story arc/tangent, and there's a lot of exposition. It's good exposition, but this is not a quick or easy read.

Lam and May have done a great job of tying up all the loose ends and have given a satisfactory, if somewhat formulaic, ending to the duology.

4/5 stars

I received an advance copy from DAW and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This, and other reviews, may be found on Goodreads and my blog, https://redhatcatreviews.com/.

This was good both as a book and a sequel/conclusion. I don't think I liked it quite as much as Seven Devils, but it was still pretty great.

Rolling with the punches dealt in the nail-biting denouement of Seven Devils, we rejoin our space-faring stabby/shooty disaster squad in Seven Mercies as they're sent their separate ways on desperate missions - and then thrust back together to take a definitive stand against the tyrannical rogue AI that is this sequel's primary antagonist (though Damocles proves to still be an authentic piece of work and thorn in everyone's side, moments of dubious sympathy aside). Driven by their dogged refusal to surrender to the soul-strangling rule of the Oracle that has displaced the Archon dynasty, the rebels remain determined to sacrifice what they must for the prospect of astronomical peace and safety as they race against slim odds and damning obstacles, and I think it's safe to say that Seven Mercies wraps up its many plotlines and somewhat staggering plethora of perspectives with diplomatic polish and a solid sense of storytelling direction.

There are many aspects of a world of its scale (and the stakes of its plot) that the Seven Devils duology does really well: the diversity of its star players (I'm personally grateful for the specific diversity of pronouns), the spiderweb of relationships that tethers our medley of protagonists together (between sibling rivalries, mimicked parenthood, platonic bonds and romantic duos), the rough road to recovery from different degrees of physical and psychological trauma, and the many-sided die of dehumanization policies (the moral dangers of treating people like mere statistics, deplorably programming their thoughts and actions down to a T and then robbing them more directly of any semblance of free will...and then some), for starters. As far as the main dramatis personae go, Kyla and Cato deserve a special mention because - besides Ariadne and Eris and Nyx, who stole the show in the previous book for me - their POVs and backstories were the ones that won me over the most this time around.

All that said and done, the way things turned out in the story's resolution - rocket-paced, action-packed and poignant as it was - was the perfect mix of satisfyingly righteous and mournfully tender to me, and as a reader that's all I'd dare ask for.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for kindly passing on this ARC! 💫

I really enjoyed Seven Devils and the end was a semi cliffhanger so I'm eager to see what follows next.This is very feminist Star Wars vibe and had great plot development, rep, and relationship throughout.