I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase Series: Standalone
Published by Bindery Books on 2025 June 03
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 397
Format: E-Arc
Source: Netgalley
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“Vita’s rage overflowed until she was prepared to drown in it, and she knew that she would never again dam this anger to please another.”
After nine years as the people’s beloved princess in the sun-soaked Kingdom of Carca, Vita witnesses the execution of her mother by her father’s hand. Forced into exile, Vita fades into obscurity with her only friends—the crows that visit her window.
Eleven years later, Vita is given a marry an enemy general, granting him legitimacy to take the throne, or die as the forgotten princess. With time running out, Vita meets Soline, an intriguing lady-in-waiting who introduces her to the powerful-but-unstable magic of alchemy.
If Vita and Soline can learn to control it—and the undeniable spark between them—they could burn the world of men to the ground.
Wow. That was quite a wild read. For a standalone fantasy, I did not expect that Crueler Mercies would really live up to its title, Crueler Mercies. Get it? After finishing it, I was reeling about the different kind of emotions it provoked. On one hand, I enjoyed it a lot since there was a lot of gore involved, no mercy from our characters, it’s a standalone, and of course, the plight of our heroine, Princess Vittoria. On the downside, however, there were a lot of glaring flaws that hindered me from thoroughly savoring the whole book with gusto.
Before we proceed with our review, let’s have a brief background about what Crueler Mercies is all about. So in this book, we are thrown into the Kingdom of Carca wherein our heroine, Princess Vittoria a.k.a Vita, was born. Starting off as a beloved child of the Kingdom, Vittoria’s privileged and sheltered life was suddenly tossed upside down when her King Father publicly executed her mother and sent the poor child to a neighboring city as an exile. Without understanding what’s really happening, Vittoria grew up in a tower with no education, and no friends except for the family of crow birds who visit her from time to time. Although she still had it better compared to the others, Vita’s life was miserable and lonely. She neither knew why her father executed her mother nor why she was sent to an exile, never to be seen again by her people. And then, just when she was resigned to her miserable fate, a horrendous opportunity came knocking at her door. A warrior general saved her from her tower of grief in exchange for her hand. Bonus points that he also promised her revenge for what has been to her and her mother. And so, the adventure of our Princess began.
As I’ve said earlier, I was kind of floored with Vittoria’s story because there’s just a lot of pain there. And it’s so understandable as to why Vittoria behaves like a teenager even when she’s already a New Adult. It’s obvious that she has a lot of growing up to do given that she grew up alone in a tower with only the crows as company. Nobody had taught her how to do things anymore. It’s like she’s a pet dog whose cuteness has finally faded, and the owners are just forced to feed it when they remember that the pet still exists. While Vita can be relatable and her troubles can wrench open your hearts, you will find later in the book that she’s going to irk you more and more. Sure, I can understand her immaturity, making poor decisions leading to brutal consequences, but what I cannot understand is her sudden brilliance for military strategy. She neither has the experience nor a structured theoretical knowledge to overthrow a seasoned general. It just frustrated me.
There’s also the plot. Sure, it entertained me because it was about war narrated from the perspective of an exiled and innocent princess. And yes, there was a lot of gore which was entertaining. I’m glad that Maren Chase did not hesitate in killing beloved characters as long as it drives the plot forward. Despite its predictability, I did not get bored following the story and I was pretty much excited about who’s going to die next. I was only stymied that the Alchemy thing in this focus got sidetracked when the premise of the book promised that it’s going to be the focal point of the story. It was swept aside to the side…? Look, one of the main reasons I picked up this book because the word Alchemy was mentioned in the story’s summary. Who am I to resist that? What I got in this book was a half baked Alchemy system that could have been totally deleted from the whole story and it certainly won’t affect the main plot. We have two girls playing rocks, paper, and scissors over the kind of herbs and other stuff they are throwing into the fire, pray to the gods that it would yield something useful, and voila, you’ll get an unknown alchemical substance that still needs to be tested whether it will work or not. It just felt so weird reading about the whole alchemy thing in the book. There was just no sufficient explanation about it. It just doesn’t jive with the whole story.
The world building was quite lackluster. I would have enjoyed Vita’s journey as the general’s fiancé if the world was thoroughly developed like at least, tell us why is Carca worth fighting for. Aside from that, I was also not convinced about Soline and Vita’s relationship. The foundation is not just strong enough. There was not enough kindling to the first I must say. If it were me, I could do away with the whole romance thing because it did not help the plot at all. It just made me roll my eyes for the most part.
Overall, this book is enjoyable if you’re looking for a short read that’s unhesitatingly brutal. Go and pick this up because despite of its glaring flaws, I still found myself grinning from all the gory deaths that I have witnessed.