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A review by edgybutfemme
Mercy by Ian Haramaki
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
I put this book down halfway through and kept trying to pick it up for two months (which is not something I typically do, I usually eat a book in 1-2 days, or at most spread out over a week). Then, my spouse read the whole thing, rated it 1.5 stars, and gave me a rundown of the rest of the book, so now I'm DNFing it.
The thing is??? I enjoyed part 1 (night) perfectly well. I think I probably would have given this somewhere in the mid 3 star range if the book had ended at the end of part one with the addition of Ilya and Danya choosing to leave the horrible town together. However, I hit a wall with the interlude and nothing about how I've been informed the back half of the book plays out gives me any desire to read it. I think this could have been an good novella with a small tweak to tie things up and an ending before the interlude. As an alternative, it could have been a truly excellent novel with some fairly major overhauls, both in the cohesion of the worldbuild and with more emphasis on setting up/integrating the back half's plot into the first half. Also, more showing things happening on screen rather than telling me something happens a lot.
I think this had incredible potential, and sometimes those are the hardest books both to read or to choose to put down. That said, I really hope this author's success leads to more opportunity for their writing to grow from here! I can't imagine a debut novel blowing up the way this has. It puts an insane amount of scrutiny on an indie book that otherwise wouldn't be there.
The thing is??? I enjoyed part 1 (night) perfectly well. I think I probably would have given this somewhere in the mid 3 star range if the book had ended at the end of part one with the addition of Ilya and Danya choosing to leave the horrible town together. However, I hit a wall with the interlude and nothing about how I've been informed the back half of the book plays out gives me any desire to read it. I think this could have been an good novella with a small tweak to tie things up and an ending before the interlude. As an alternative, it could have been a truly excellent novel with some fairly major overhauls, both in the cohesion of the worldbuild and with more emphasis on setting up/integrating the back half's plot into the first half. Also, more showing things happening on screen rather than telling me something happens a lot.
I think this had incredible potential, and sometimes those are the hardest books both to read or to choose to put down. That said, I really hope this author's success leads to more opportunity for their writing to grow from here! I can't imagine a debut novel blowing up the way this has. It puts an insane amount of scrutiny on an indie book that otherwise wouldn't be there.