In the kingdom of Carca, Princess Vita has led a life filled with opulence, lessons and etiquette. However, this changes when she is taken to see her mother, the Queen, in the depths of a cell urging her to look away from what comes next. In a flurry of events, the Queen is executed and Princess Vita is exiled away, confined to a tower where her only companions are birds and the servants who come to her in varying days. But when a general overtakes the city with the intention of making Vita his queen and bride, slowly but surely a new physical prison arises. She wishes to not marry but she knows she wants vengeance, and soon enough she realizes the General is no better than her tyrannical father. In the midst of it all, she finds herself falling for Soline, her lady-in-waiting who wants her own reparations. But just how can a woman make due in a man's realm?

Beautifully written prose in this fantasy, I truly appreciated the worldbuilding as well as the unflinching view and costs of how war can trickle down. Vita is a powerful FMC, despite her jaded upbringing and naiviety, I loved the simmering of feminine rage that lives in this book. I will be thinking of it for days to come.

Well-written with unique characters and relationships, especially between Vita and the birds and Marius. I felt each of their deaths and mourned them right along with her. The story did slow for me about the 80% mark and I was ready to get to the end. Lost a star in the rating due to the lag in the pacing.

This story follows Vita, an exiled princess, as she struggles to find her position in a life ruled by men who sees her as nothing more than a pawn in their games of power. She is expected to do as she’s told without asking questions, while living under constant threat. We experience her growing rage and thirst for revenge against her tormentors, as well as get to watch love blossom in the unlikeliest of places.

The story had me hooked from the first chapter, with immediate action to ensure you kept reading for answers. Its beautiful prose and fantastic characters, and specifically the character development of Vita, made the story hard to put down.

It is a fantastic debut by Maren Chase, and I can’t wait to read more of her works in the future.

Thank you to BinderyBooks and NetGalley for the eARC in return for my honest review.

Absolutely amazing. Vita has my whole heart. The budding sapphic romance was so well executed and I really got into the story!

The book kicked off really well and ended on a strong note, but the middle was a bit all over the place, with in different themes and plotlines.

The ending, though, was intense and pretty dark, and honestly, it wrapped everything up in a way that felt really satisfying.

Vita is the beloved princess of Carcea
but at the age of 9 her mother is executed by her father the king and vita is forced into exile
living in a tower for 11 years, befriending only the crows that visited her tower
vita is given the choice of marrying an enemy general or dieing in the tower
confused and lost she agrees to marry General Ardaric who has dark plans of his own
when vita and her lady in waiting start growing alittle to close and the rise of her fathers army against her husbands, vita is forced into a position of protecting her people, her family or the person she loves the most
a story of love, magic, war and death, you feel the feminine rage

Thank you to Bindery for the complementary ebook in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This book started strong and ended strong, but everything in between felt a bit herky jerky.

I was absolutely hooked for the first hundred pages or so: the action was gripping, the setup was interesting, and I really enjoyed how the author introduced different themes and plot lines.

The ending was intense and dark and, frankly, very satisfying. I loved the plotting and seeing all of Vita’s hard work come to fruition (trying to be vague enough to avoid spoilers while also specific in my feedback).

My issue lies with everything in between. Plot lines felt like they kept getting dropped and picked up and random points. The passage of time felt clunky and confusing. Regarding inter-character relationships, I found the chemistry lacking in the main romance and too much telling (rather than showing) between everyone else, which took the impact out of some of the more emotional moments. Additionally, the magic system felt ill-thought out and could have been incorporated in a way that felt more organic to the story rather than a footnote.

All in all, I do think was a decent debut novel and hope to see more from this author in the future. I enjoyed her prose and the ideas she brought to the story and look forward to seeing her growth as an author in years to come!

I adored this, it gripped me from page one and didn't let go!

Crueler Mercies is filled with female rage, tension and rebellion. Whilst its dangers aren't always loud or in your face you'll be on the edge of your seat the entire time.. Expect female characters who are raw and real, who are traumatised and on not merely a journey of revenge but of healing. This tales characters are what really stood out to me, they all had their own motivations, they had depth and you couldn't help but root for them.

Our MC starts her journey betrayed by a man she should have been able to trust the most, abandoned and hidden in a room without any real experience of the world. She's lost, her anger has softened over her years in isolation and she's naive but when found and put into play by another man, her rage grows, she finds friendship and heals whilst planning her revenge.

Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase tells the story of Vita, a young princess who's lived the last ten years of her life in exile, living locked up in a single room with only some crows to keep her company. However, as the lawful heir of the kingdom of Carca, Vita is still considered by some a valuable game piece. But as she's pulled into a game of thrones between the father who abandoned her and the general she'll be forced to marry, Vita proves herself to be much more than just a pawn in their game.

I would describe Crueler Mercies as Game of Thrones but with less old men and more lesbians, which, let's face it, is an AMAZING premise. Whereas the book is not without its flaws, I think this is a very strong debut novel and I enjoyed reading it. The story started off pretty strong, felt a bit boring in the middle, but HOLY HELL the last 10% were AMAZING. At one point my jaw actually dropped. Just wow.

One of the things I liked most about this book is that it doesn't romanticize the war it's depicting. There's a lot of (sometimes shocking) death, of both humans and animals, and a lot of cruelty. That makes the story ring true and also server to raise the stakes of the story. I also loved the relationships Vita formed along the way (especially the one with Solene), but my absolute favorite thing was the VENGEANCE! (have I mentioned that before somewhere?) The just rage that fuels Vita is just delicious to read, and I love that the story gets a proper ending instead of a cliffhanger one.
Much like Game of Thrones, Crueler Mercies has a lot of war politics, training and strategy talk, which is honestly not my jam. At times during the middle of the book I'd get bored, but then suddenly something shocking would happen and I'd be all in it again. Resembling Game of Thrones in this aspect too, I didn't really connect with the characters. I loved Vita and Solene's quest for vengeance, but I wasn't that invested in the characters themselves. (Except Vita's crows. I love those crows, bro.)

All together though, Crueler Mercies was great and I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you like high fantasy with more war and vengeance and less magic. (Not NO magic, just less magic.)

Is the female rage in the room with us? I couldn't find it. I liked the beginning of this book and the ending was great but I was a little bored in the middle.
I liked Vita but I didn't feel the rage that she claims to have until the very end of the book. The enemy general basically steals the princess away and then ignores her for the most part which I guess is fine because it gives her time to build her relationship with her true love interest? The magic/alchemy was interesting but with more explanation I think it could have been even better. On the whole, this book definitely has its merits but I finished feeling a little underwhelmed.

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books | Fantasy & Frens for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this… sapphic romance, action and adventure. For me the characters and world building wasn’t deep enough. Lots of people loving the book. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Bindery Books | Fantasy & Frens for the free e-arc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. Holy moly this is a debut book, I'm shook. It was so dang good. I love a revenge, strong af women mcs and just the level of details. It felt a bit like Hansel and gretel / beauty and the beast / and Romeo and juliet.

No notes loved it.

Highly recommend.

5/5☆

This book is a beautiful story about a girl losing her power and regaining that power as a woman. It reflects the realities women faced centuries ago while maintaining a fictional story. A spin on the damsel in distress trope. This was a great read.

I liked this book, and I wanted to love it SO badly, but it didn’t lean into any of its central themes hard enough. Female rage? A bit. Sapphic romance? Yeah there was one. Sorcery? Truly so very little. I think if it had more intensely committed to these three then it would have been incredible. But instead, it’s good, and that’s okay!

TY for the ARC!

Thank you to Bindery and NetGalley for this advanced copy. I was enamored with this debut. The feminine rage was palpable and kept me hooked until the end. Highly recommend.

As posted on Goodreads:

Crueler Mercies is a story of a damsel in distress who finds friendship, romance and revenge.

We are introduced to Vita as a small child who watches her mother publicly executed by her father, the king. Confused and distraught she is then whisked away from the life she knew and locked in a tower - as frequently happens to inconvenient and unwanted princesses.

For well over a decade she is completely alone, aside from the maid who bathes her and the birds who come to her window. Until an army rises against her father, and sees how she could be of use…

This book starts out strong (albeit incredibly depressing), and ends on a strong and memorable note. At times in the middle I felt it kind of lulled a bit and I was just waiting for something to happen, but the writing and character development was strong throughout.

My one dislike with this book was that it felt like I waited a long time for the big, dramatic ending, and it was just over so quickly. After so many chapters of Vita being neglected and abused I wanted to see her enjoy her power and vengeance more.

That being said, I think this was a great debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author.

(Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.)

The synopsis was better than what I read. I think the idea was phenomenal but when it came to execution, this is where the book suffered the most.

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book.

Crueler Mercies is an interested exploration of loss, grief, love, and revenge. While many aspects of the story worked for me, there were some issues that held this book back from being great.

The main complaint I have with this book is the overall pacing. The story can be derivative of other stories at times, but overall the storyline feels well put together and connected. The pacing slows this story down at times and made it tough for me to immediately be hooked by the premise. That being said, as certain elements began to fall into place, the pacing speeds up exponentially. The rush to the ending was a bit too quick with how much setup there was, but this did not take away too much from the overall narrative.

The characterization of the characters was the strength of this novel for me. While I did not fully love all characters involved (and occasionally found the main character uninteresting), there were moments that highlighted the importance of all characters involved. The ability to make the reader hate characters so deeply and love other characters so deeply is a sign of well done characterization.

Overall, I found this book to be a good debut for an author that I hope continues to write more. While this story was not always the most gripping, the conclusion felt satisfying. Though it should be noted that this felt like a safe read. While there were stakes and emotion involved, at no point was I left guessing or worried. The author clearly has a deep appreciation for the genre and for the history that inspired this tale, but at times it was a little too safe for my liking.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bindery Books, and Fantasy & Frens for granting me a copy of this E-Arc. All opinions are my own.

Overall, this was a great book and i was hooked from the beginning. We start off with Vita in almost a fairytale horror tale of circumstances who is then basically locked in a tower. Throughout the book we see her gain agency and build a support/family system around her. Ultimately going from an ingenue with no agency to a woman who understands to be cruel is a mercy in itself when necessary.

I enjoyed the premise and seeing her growth throughout the story. I will admit the pacing halfway through the book did throw me off and slow me down, but it was worth going through to get to the climax and end. Which not to give spoilers but was very satisfying in culminating in all the rage I felt through the story. I felt for the characters and appreciated some of the gray morality in which character growth was explored.

4.5/5.0 Stars!

A dark, sapphic political fairytale!

Initial thoughts: The story hooked me and reminded me of T. Kingfisher's writing, where there are dark and depressing events that are made lighter and manageable to read through the characters and writing style. I loved how Vita was not a typical kick-butt heroine and instead found strength and power in her own personal qualities (that weren't purely physical). Also I loved the crows!

Plot: I was hooked by the first chapter and it feels like a classic fairytale with a girl locked in a tower, after that it takes some dark turns and I was enthralled by the political and social maneuverings. I thought the author did a great job of keeping a steady pace and the slow march toward disaster built great tension. The romance had room to breathe and develop naturally and the ending was satisfying.

Setting: The setting is minimal as we are limited as we follow the movement of Vita. However it was easy to understand the world and various countries in relation to one another.

Characters: This novel really shines in its depth of characters. I felt they were multi-dimensional (even the villains/antagonists) and there was a plausible motivation for each.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed this book and think it has a unique and fresh take. I wish there was more to the magic system, which was very light and ambiguous, but I think it highlighted the power of passion, determination and sacrifice. I was hooked by the characters (including the crows) and stayed for the political intrigue and sapphic romance. I think this is an excellent debut.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy small scale political fantasy, dark fairytales, sapphic romances, themes of revenge and resilience.