Roanne Lau’s *The Serpent Called Mercy* is an extraordinary fantasy novel that weaves intricate world-building, compelling character arcs, and a perfectly paced plot into a story that keeps readers utterly enthralled. From the very first chapter, Lau draws you into a richly imagined world, balancing lush details with a sense of foreboding that leaves you eager to uncover its secrets.

The pacing is masterfully executed—every scene feels purposeful, building tension and intrigue without ever losing momentum. Lau strikes a delicate balance between quieter, introspective moments and high-stakes action, ensuring that the story’s emotional beats hit just as hard as its thrilling twists.

The characters are a standout element of the novel. Lau crafts complex, multi-dimensional protagonists whose growth is as compelling as the plot itself. The central figure’s journey—both internal and external—is deeply resonant, while the supporting cast adds layers of nuance and richness to the narrative. Relationships feel authentic and evolve organically, enhancing the emotional stakes of the story.

The world-building is nothing short of breathtaking. Lau has created a setting teeming with mythology, culture, and history that feels both immersive and believable. Every detail, from the vivid landscapes to the intricate societal structures, enhances the story and makes the reader feel fully transported into this fantastical realm.

*The Serpent Called Mercy* is a masterclass in storytelling, blending heart, suspense, and imagination into a tale that lingers long after the final page. Roanne Lau has crafted a truly unforgettable novel, perfect for fans of deeply layered fantasy. I highly recommend this book for fantasy fans!

I can imagine this book won’t be everyone’s favourite, but for me it was a breath of fresh air.

Forget rushed instalove romances, forget straight forward worlds, simple writing, beautiful and charismatic Mary Janes - The Serpent Called Mercy has gorgeous prose, no romance to be found (hell yeah), a stubborn, socially awkward protagonist, and lore so deep that we barely scratch the surface in this brilliant debut.

Granted, it’s not a perfect book, but it sparked that thrill in me, you know the one when you just instantly and deeply click with a piece of art and you know you’re going to love it? I sincerely hope Roanne Lau plans to write more books in this universe, I need to know so much more about the cosmosphere and the Wardens and other Sun-blest races across the sea.

Many thanks to NetGalley and DAW for the ARC!

Roanne Lau’s debut novel, A Serpent Called Mercy, is a bold and ambitious tale that offers a mix of high-stakes action and heartfelt emotional depth. While not without its imperfections, the book delivers an unforgettable exploration of friendship, survival, and societal disparity.

The world-building is a mixed bag. On one hand, Lau introduces an intriguing society full of political corruption, economic strife, and mythical creatures. On the other, the details of this universe—particularly its magic system and pantheon—feel underdeveloped, leaving readers with more questions than answers. That said, the glimpses we do get are compelling enough to spark the imagination, even if they fall short of being fully immersive.

The heart of the story lies in its characters. Lythlet, our protagonist, is a refreshing departure from traditional fantasy heroines. She’s clever, flawed, and utterly determined to rise above her circumstances. Her friendship with Desil, the gentle “golden retriever” of the story, is the emotional cornerstone of the book. Their bond is tender and raw, navigating the complexities of loyalty, trust, and betrayal with authenticity that’s rarely seen in fantasy.

Lau’s decision to focus on platonic love rather than romance is a standout choice, making the book a refreshing break from the romance-heavy narratives often found in the genre. Lythlet and Desil’s relationship feels real and lived-in, culminating in moments that are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

The plot is a relentless ride, taking readers from gritty underground arenas to moments of quiet introspection. The action sequences, while engaging, sometimes feel rushed, leaving little room to fully savor the stakes. Similarly, the political intrigue and societal commentary—though poignant—are underexplored, leaving the resolution feeling somewhat abrupt.

Still, the novel shines in its themes. Lau weaves a powerful commentary on poverty, the cost of survival, and the societal structures that keep people trapped. Lythlet’s journey is as much about fighting mythical beasts as it is about confronting the human monsters of her world.

For a debut, A Serpent Called Mercy is an impressive start. It’s a book that dares to challenge traditional fantasy tropes, offering a story that’s equal parts action-packed and emotionally resonant. While it may leave readers craving more detail in its world-building, it more than makes up for it with its strong characters and poignant themes. I’ll be eagerly awaiting Lau’s next work, hoping to see her build on the promising foundation she’s laid here.

This would be a good recommendation for someone looking to venture into fantasy. I would love if this had more about the magic system

This book sadly wasn't for me. I had a hard time committing to it, and ended up dnf it. I might pick it up at a later time to see if my mood enjoys it more by then

The Serpent Called Mercy has an interesting premise. Take a fantasy world where the poor are kept even poorer by manipulative money lenders and gamblers and the only way to financial recover to become a thief, participating in brawling or become a challenger in a 12 month contest where duos fight fantastical and mystical beasts.
Unfortunately the execution of this book doesn’t pay off. While the main character, Lythlet, has promise no else in this world is interesting at all. Lythlet is logical and well read, she excels at mental games and maths but you know to counter balance having a brain she has no looks and gets to be called worse than plain right to her face. Her partner in the games, her very best friend and the reason she is fighting for financial freedom, Desil is so one note that there is no real motivation to care about him at all. The most we get to know is that he used to be a brawler and now he is religious. If you don’t catch this point the first time it is made then don’t worry because it will be reiterated several more times.
Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to read and review this book but I cannot recommend this book at all. This is getting at best 2⭐️ DNF at 35%

While this book is definitely not perfect, it had me caught in it's grip. The main character was written so well, I loved how real all the relationships felt and how real the conflicts were.

I love a protagonist who's socially weird and funny looking, but her plot isn't to become pretty or socially adept, she learns to be confident the way she is, and that's so beautiful to me. I wish we would've gotten more on the world building aspect though.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I was so excited for this one when I first heard but overall I feel this one fell flat for me. From tone, to characters and the idea of monsters not being present - this really did not hit quite right. The book takes place over a year span and I feel like a lot of the events were skimmed over and not developed.

It's not a book I hated, but also I book I didn't love. It's a standalone novel in the end so it needed more development for me.

Like most of the population of Southern Setgad, Lythlet is very poor and, with her friend Desil, she has to figure out a way to pay a debt that her meager salary cannot cover. Things only worsen when she has to leave her job as a bookkeeper after her employer turns violent - like many others before him.

Then, Lythlet finds a handbill promising a quick way to gain riches: conquessoring, a bloodsport which involves battling sun-cursed beasts and betting spectators. With Desil's prior experience as a brawler and Lythlet's skills with spears, they are convinced this could be the way to free themselves of the debt and to make their dreams of a better life a reality.

As they successfully win their battles, Lythlet finds herself entangled in the political intrigues of Setgad and Desil finds himself at odds with the religious vows of peace he made after quitting brawling.

This book left me with really mixed feelings.

On one hand, I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and the political awareness woven throughout. A lot of Setgad's social structures mirror that of our real world and it was nice to have the characters being aware of and calling out the injustices and violence brought on by capitalism.

Through Desil, we also have an interesting exploration of his relationship to religion in a context that often has him acting against the principles he believes in.

On the other hand, though I was really interested in these aspects of the book, I felt like they really fell short of my expectations.

The worldbuilding is very dense and yet never really developed. I spent a lot of time trying to really understand it and in the end, it wasn't as relevant as I'd thought it would be. Same thing with the religious system.

The political aspect, though I appreciate its' being explicitly acknowledged by the characters, sometimes felt a little too on the nose. I just feel like it would've been more impactful if some things had been less spelled out and left to the reader to reflect upon.

The plot itself, while it is fairly eventful, drags a lot in the middle which also impacted my interest in the book. There was a bit too much running in circles in between the battles and Dothilos's "lessons" for a while, and the dialogues being long-winded added to the impression of unnecessary slow-ness.

The characters, while interesting, often felt flat, not because they are flat per se but I think they were just "drowned" by the complexity and heaviness of all the other aspects of the book.

In the end, I feel like this book still has its' audience, it is just unfortunately not me (though with a bit more editing I would've liked it more, much more). With that being said, I still feel like it is a debut that shows great ability to build interesting, complex intrigues, worlds and characters. I'll be looking forward to what the author comes up with next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

3.5 ⭐️
Lythlet and Desil are poor af bff's who sign up to fight some crazy beasts to try and get out of the crushing debt that they are drowning in. In doing so, they end up being forced into unethical situations and having their morals tested against their survival. They do happen to make some great friendships along the way though.

The world building in this story was a bit intense at times, but really interesting. I do wish there was a bit more exploration of the magical side of things, but it wasn't lacking to the point of confusion or anything. There are a lot of heavy sociopolitical topics in this, with scummy politicians, discrimination, abuse, the effects of poverty and capitalism, etc. But there are also lightning-bees and dogs! And despite the heavy topics, i didn't find it super depressing, thanks to the adventurous aspects and side characters (Ilden especially brought some light comedic relief)

The middle kind of dragged a bit, I think the pacing could've been a bit better, but it wasn't enough to make me consider DNFing or anything. I also liked that this was two childhood friends, because platonic friendships are not always the focal relationship in books and it's just nice to see.

Overall, a great debut, and I would definitely venture into another world by Lau.

There was much that I enjoyed about this book. The world building felt seamless, easy, and unique, and the characters were interesting and fun. Lythlet in particular was an intriguing main character, and I enjoyed being surprised by her throughout the book.

My main criticism comes to the pacing of the book. I'd have liked to see more of the non-conquesting conflicts earlier on the page. As it was, I didn't feel like they had enough time to breathe, and I didn't find myself as invested in how that would play out.

While I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, after that it just became frankly eh. Just… so eh.

Two poor and desperate slumdogs enter a bloodsport contest in an attempt to improve their fortunes. Lythlet is the main focus of this story. She is a child with a difficult childhood and a desperate adulthood. Her only friend Desil and her struggle to make ends meet together in this vibrantly written world. It has Malaysian flavors in a fantasy realm. The people are vibrant and the villains and heros compelling with much of their own stories of oppression and suffering. This story is fast paced and draws you in and keeps you going. It was hard to put down and lots of fun to read. A very good book all in all. Thanks to the publishers for an early copy to read.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

I think this book tries too many things at once: introduce some fascinating world building (political struggles, beasts, religions, social conflict, organised crime, social ladder), the characters (lies, trauma, hopes) & the story itself (fight beasts to escape debts & poverty). Our main character is not only a gifted fighter, avid reader & thief, magnificent bookkeeper but also has mommy & daddy issues. Sadly, none of the topics are properly explored (DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE BEE STUFF AS A BEEKEEPER) and overall it was quite predictable where the story would go. Kudos for the lack of romance, having some fighting love interests in this would have made it worse!

3 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and DAW for the ARC. I really liked the first third of the book but after that it started to go downhill. The fights became repetitive, the dialogue and themes so on the nose, the themes were literally being spoken too directly without being melded properly with the story.

This book won't be for everyone, likely because of some of the issues I had with it, but I really loved this overall. Lau is a fresh voice in fantasy with some good ideas in this strong debut. I already can't wait to read her sophomore effort. I also immediately preordered this because I fell in love with that cover, so I was thrilled to get access to an early viewing.

I never expected a book about arena fighting with Chinese and Malaysian influences to be cozy, but this book was very cozy and charming, full of platonic love, the triumph of street justice and found family. I loved seeing epic fantasy featuring slumdogs as protagonists instead of royalty, a story that focused its tableau on the lowest of the societal hierarchy and their struggles.

I found it refreshing in this age of Booktok-pushed spicy romantasy to see an endearing story about friendship that had not an ounce of romance, sex or even kissing. I would love to see more friendship stories.

Lythlet is a slumdog who knows her place as someone who's forced to work for abusive bosses and meager wages to earn her keep. But she has always dreamed of better; she just always thought she was alone other than her best friend Desil, and she had to do it all alone. But she yearns to be the protagonist of her story instead of the ugly supporting character, despite the pathetic origin of her given name - it means candle-flame. A very small beacon of hope. She also knows she doesn't have pretty privilege to rely on and turns to her wits to get by, stealing books to supplement her meager education. I loved seeing a plain-looking heroine who was clever and worked as a bookkeeper for lowlifes.

I absolutely loved Lythlet as a character and found her to be strongly developed. I was really rooting for her to succeed, even when she became obsessed with vanity and greed and could have become insufferable.

In this society the thing that most dooms the poor to a life of unregistered servitude is outrageous medical costs, a timely social commentary. Lythlet and Desil are no exception; Desil owes a debt to an unscrupulous userer to cover Lythlet's medical care.

To cover his debts, Desil, a former brawler who gave it up for a life of quiet religious contemplation, and Lythlet team up to fight sun-blest beasts, the supernatural monsters of this world. They become heroes of the arena and fall into a world far seedier and more ethically malicious than they could have imagined. But all they have to hold onto is their sense of mercy, their friendship and the fellowship of their found family of misfits.

But my gripes: I found the worldbuilding to be very sparse; I had a hard time picturing the universe and their place in it at times. I wanted a lot more backstory on the sun-blest monsters and how they came to be. I think the plot in this was so light that it would not have benefited from duology treatment. There was not a lot of story between the fights, which were also rushed through. I did like how Lythlet used her cleverness to win fights and her dexterity with solving puzzles became the strength that rocketed her to bloodsport stardom.

I also found the dialogue very cumbersome to read. They frequently gave long speeches, especially the match-master whom I found myself frequently rolling my eyes at when he started talking. There was just too much info-dumping in dialogue and it slowed down the pace even more for me.

But I loved how it all came together in the end and the platonic love between Lythlet and Desil was the stongest part of this story. I also loved Lythlet's overall transformation as a character.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for this ARC.

There is nothing more disappointing than being handed a book that feels like the outline of a novel and not a complete work. Because that's what The Serpent Called Mercy is: a novel that needs a lot of editing and rework.

Besides the headache the format of the ARC itself gave me, the story was lacking structure and conviction. The plot didn't have a definitive idea of what it wanted to be and spent the entirety of the novel hemming and hawing, before settling on being a mishmash of ideas that just don't flow well together.

All the exposition is done through dialogue dumps which doesn't make the reader feel connected to the characters and honestly makes the whole delivery feel extremely clunky and overly wordy. Places changed names halfway through I swear and Roanne Lau was not consistent on telling the reader the setup of the scenario, leading me confused on where our characters were and who was in the room with them. T

he story needed serious expansion and someone to tell them to tighten up their writing into something intelligible rather than the garbled mess it became. The delivery fumbled it hard, and it's a shame because the foundation showed promise.

3.5

The overall premises was excellent. I loved reading about the monsters and how they were described. However, I wish the author would have touched a bit more on the magic aspect. Also, the world-building could have been a bit more descriptive, I was not able to envision myself in this world most of the time.

I think Roanne is a beautiful writer, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for them in this career!

Lythlet and Desil, are two slumdogs indebted to a local loan shark living day by day, barely scraping by. When an arena seeks combatants to fight sun-cursed beasts in the underworld of their city, these two are immediately drawn in: an opportunity to pay off their debts. Although initially impressed with Desil, the Match-master Dothilos is more intrigued by Lythlet, who is far more than she seems. Now under the wing of the Match-master, Lythlet is thrown into a world of politics, and corruption and soon forced to choose between her honor and friendship or her fame.

Lau had me at Malayasian-Chinese Inspired Epic Fantasy! Unfortunately, there was not as much lore or magic as I wished there would have been but overall, I still enjoyed it. There’s one specific scene that screamed Ghibli and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I do plan on picking up a hard copy as the cover is beautifully done.

The highlight of this novel is the characters. They will have your heart and soul. They’re realistic and relatable, and the complexities of each character are shown. I liked that there were more focuses on the platonic friendship versus expecting our leads to be lovers. I also enjoyed that it was not all sunshine and rainbows and all is easily forgiven with our characters. Lythlet and Desil make some decisions that have you coming up with moral dilemmas and revelations. The many themes that come about are thought-provoking.

I do wish there were more on the world-building. We have a lot of it (religion, history, socioeconomics, etc.) but also not enough of it. I was drawn in by the Malaysian-Chinese Inspiration but I feel like I saw very little of it. I think the novel would have benefitted from it if there were a little more on the lore. We did get some magic as well but there were fewer explanations of it. So maybe explore a little more on that too. However, even with these, I do think this book will be a favorite among people next year based on the characters and their dynamics alone.

If you like redemption arcs, detailed characters, trials, found family, life lessons, and platonic relationships. This is for you.
TW/CW: abuse and animal cruelty.

Solid 4/5

Thank you NetGalley & DAW for the ARC.

I adore lore-based fantasy novels, so the synopsis of this epic fantasy story with Malaysian Chinese influences drew me in right away. Even if there wasn't as much magic or lore as I had hoped for, it was still fun. By the end of the first chapter, I was completely engrossed in this novel. I was immediately captivated by the intense action sequences and high stakes. This was a really good standalone all around, and I'm eager to see what else the author can produce.