A review by erinreadsbooks
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

An exciting quest-based story in a cool fantasy world. I liked how developed the world’s history felt in terms of the Crow and Phoenix castes, but I felt like the other castes weren’t mentioned much and when they were I was a bit confused—are we seeing all Peacocks as a monolith of “vain, false performers” for a reason? Maybe the others will get more developed in later books. I liked the progression of the relationships between Fie and the two “lordlings”; that was very satisfying. I am not a huge fan of the dialogue style—I found myself unable to hear in my head the way certain lines were being said, and sometimes I had a hard time following the conversations’ subtext although I was paying attention! It didn’t inhibit me from having a good time reading this, though. 

Read if you like fast-paced quest stories and stories of sheltered rich people seeing the “real world”.
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