Review: The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: The Boneless Mercies

Author: April Genevieve Tucholke

Series: Standalone

Genre: Fantasy/Retelling

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

Publication Date: October 2nd, 2018

Edition: Hardcover, 384 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

  Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies—girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life.

  When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies' one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.

Review:

This book was so atmospheric and enjoyable to read. It took me kind of a while to get through even though it's a rather short book. I got a couple library books that I had to read first because of time limits. 

I thought this book was going to be this action-packed adventure book. And it's not, but that never bothered me. It's more character-driven than plot-driven. And these are some fantastic characters.

Frey is the narrator and the one who seems the most tired of the death trade. Even though she has her companions, she seems to feel lonely and tired of never having roots. I really enjoyed her character. She has deep compassion for others that few warrior-type characters have. Especially female characters. Apparently, the only way a woman can be a warrior is if she is devoid of emotion, the way men apparently are. Jokes aside, she was a great character to take this journey through.

Runa, she's the surly one of the group. But that has more to do with survivors' guilt than anything else. Once I learned her story I understood her better.

Juniper, she is still kind of a mystery to me in many ways. She's of the Sea-witches, still not completely sure what that means, and she has green hair, not sure why it's green. But it's implied that it's naturally green, that she doesn't do anything to it to keep it green. She has some level of magic. Again, that part of the book could have used more explaining for me.

Ovie, she's the quiet one. Even by the end of the book, not much is really learned about her. I would have liked to learn more than I did.

Trigive, he's not one of the Mercies, but he travels with them. Through the whole book, I was expecting some kind of romance to bloom between them... and there wasn't one. They are undeniably close but don't seem to have romantic feelings for each other.

This book seems to have somewhat mixed reviews. Almost a love it or hate it book for people. I can see why people don't like it that much, they went in as I did, expecting an epic adventure when this is far more character-driven than the plot of fighting the beast. And they just didn't find the characters compelling enough to love the book. Which I get, with all the mystery still surrounding some of the characters, I can see why people lost interest.

I heard a companion standalone is coming out next year, and I am pretty excited to get back into this world and hopefully learn more about some of the obscure magic.