*A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year* *A Barnes & Noble Best YA Book of the Year* 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 … 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.
Full of fierce girls, bloodlust, tenuous alliances, and unapologetic quests for glory, this elegantly spun tale challenges the power of storytelling–and who gets to be the storyteller. Perfect for fans of Maggie Stiefvater, V.E. Schwab, and Heidi Heilig.
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Fierce and glorious, this story of outcast girls defying fate utterly bewitched me. Tucholke is a gorgeous writer.
The Boneless Mercies maintains the mystical, haunting flavor of an ancient ballad across the length of a novel. Its every page hints at a deeper magic at work; it contains a whole world and all its myths and histories within its skin.
I haven’t come across enough books which draw on Viking culture and I liked that this one did so in a light way. Yes their land is Vorseland, some worship Obin, there are trolls and ice giants (think Viking and Odin) – but you don’t have to know about any of that to enjoy this tale of four young girls (and their male friend, a healer) who are travelling death bringers to the sick and unhappy.
When they decide to seek glory instead by becoming warriors and killing a beast ravaging a jarldom far away, the stage is set for an epic fantasy journey quest, plus side stories with sea witches and a scary cult leader in the marshes.
Each girl has her unique and compelling story of how she became a mercy killer but we follow the story of their leader, Frey.
Well created world, decent story. One quibble – not clear on the cover that this is book one in a series (yes some of the endings are left open for more books). I prefer to know if a book is standalone or a series before I get into it. I flicked to the back when I began to get a series vibe to see if next book was listed (it’s not) and accidentally read the last page which summarised the outcome of the quest and other key events, so if you’re somebody who enjoys reading the last page first (yes, I know you exist) – don’t this time – lots of spoilers.
This was a fabulous and whimsical read with a Beowulf vibe to it! I loved the band of girls … and boy. Their connection was so incredibly beautiful!
The mercy killings were sad yet incredibly right in the way they were done. I seriously loved Frey and reading from her perspective! I actually would have loved for this one to have been multiple POV. But that’s okay!
I’ll just say, wonderful writing, world building, story, and characters! I can’t wait to read more by this author!
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.- Goodreads
Like all of April Genevieve Tucholke books, I get sucked in. Something about her writing style just gets me every time.
But like all of her books, by the halfway point and ending, I wonder why I do I keep doing this to myself. *sigh*
The idea of a all girl mercenary group wanting to create a name for themselves and wanting to live life on their terms is fantastic. What I was expecting was these bad ass girls, kicking ass in the most epic way possible because they are Mercies. They know how to kill and kill clean (if needed). But what I got was a lot of talking, a lot of internal thoughts and generally mixed emotions.
Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa do not want to be Mercies anymore and after the death of their original leader, they make the decision to go for a big kill, get the reward and then go live their life as they please. My issue begins after they make this decision. Almost nothing happens. When they get to the grand mission, the author keeps you invested by dealing a predictable blow that actually didn’t change how I felt about Frey or the entire journey to get to the book.
The author decided to give some of everything as opposed to focusing on their main goal. To be free. Yes, it was mentioned every other paragraph but were they actually doing things to be free? No, they fighting for others for no money. Yes, this could be looked at as bumps on the road to get to the final goal but these bumps didn’t provide a bunch of substance when it boiled down to it. At the end of the book, did things change? Yes, a lot. But did it really matter? No. It did not matter at all and that was the frustrating part.
Throughout the novel there are things added to push it through. Every time, I wanted to put the book down, something comes along that stops Frey and her time and then I get sucked in. Yup. Because the author can build a world. She honestly should do a master class on it.
Overall, it wasn’t a terrible read. It was good but I genuinely have such an up and down relationship with this author that I can’t give this book more than 3. This book, although way better than Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, did not reach the expectation of crazy fights and girls taking what they want.
2.8 Pickles
The Boneless Mercies is a fantasy YA novel with four strong female characters. They traveled around Norseland to perform mercy killings. Having to kill children was the hardest part of their job and it drained them to do so. After their last kill, they decided to use their skills to defeat the Blue Vee, a beast that preyed on innocents and killed the many men that tried to destroy it. The Boneless Mercies voted to try to kill what no man thus far has succeeded in doing. They had skills and stealth on their side, but the task proved to be arduous and deadly.
This was a great read with many complex characters. The story itself was very creatively executed. I also liked the way the Boneless Mercies were always supportive and compassionate despite their way of living. It made the characters even more likable.
Highly recommended!