Book Review – The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

They called us the Mercies, or sometimes the Boneless Mercies. They said we were shadows, ghosts, and if you touched our skin we dissolved into smoke…

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are Boneless Mercies – death-traders, hired to kill quickly, quietly and mercifully. It is a job for women, and women only. Men will not do this sad, dark work.

Frey has no family, no home, no fortune, and yet her blood sings a song of glory. So when she hears of a monster slaughtering men, women, and children in a northern jarldom, she decides this the Mercies’ one chance to change their fate.

But glory comes at a price…

An epic YA fantasy set in a breathtaking new world, this is perfect for fans of V.E.Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Laini Taylor and Melinda Salisbury

My rating:

Boneless Mercies isn’t what I expected in many ways but I adored every second of reading it. It’s really atmospheric, and the sort of gorgeous slow style that suits that. It’s about four women (and their adopted boy lol) who perform mercy killings. So to start, I love this concept. I think it’s stunning, and I really enjoyed getting to see some of their logic for killings.

The girls are strong, not just because they are a band of killers (which yay, strong characters shouldn’t always mean killers), but because they want to escape it, and they stand together, and they want to protect others. I love the relationships in their group.

Frey can be a little flat as a lead from time to time but you get to see how deeply she cares for her friends, and how being a mercy affects her. Juniper is my favourite, and I’m so glad we got to see the Merrows as part of their journey. I also like that despite their closeness they guard some secrets, and how those are shared through the book.

Trigve was a little confusing, I like his character, but it felt like the author was building up a romance that wasn’t there. Having said that, I really enjoyed that we got that level of male female friendship.

The action is well written, and I like that nothing is quite what it seems when it comes down to it. I also like that it’s sort of not really the point of the book, and it’s two small sections. They’re important to the narrative, and allow for resolution, but to me the point of the book was the relationships and the journey they go on.

Given my history with quest books, it’s perhaps not surprising that I’m giving this 4.5 stars, as I really do love a good quest, but I also love slow and atmospheric so this book was just perfect for those.

Buy The Boneless Mercies from Amazon UK.