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Book: “The Mercy Makers” by Tessa Gratton
Publishing Info: Orbit, June 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She’ll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
Review: I think this book will be very hit and miss for many readers, and mostly this comes down to the style of writing. I enjoy lyrical sometimes even flowery writing, so there were elements of the complex, rather circular descriptions that worked for me. At the same time, however, I think some of this style severely detracted from my actual reading experience. There were times I had to re-read entire paragraphs to even fully understand what was happening on the page. This was also definitely a slower read and the pacing was strongly affected by the ponderous nature of the writing style. I often found myself looking down at my Kindle progress and being surprised by how little progress I had made. Never a great sign!
That said, once I got further into the book and had more fully understood the magic system and world-building, there was a lot to like. The book spends a lot of time exploring the ins and outs of rebellion, the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is best exemplified in our main characters, none of whom are cookie-cutter “good people.” In this way, the entire story was humanized in a way that we don’t often see (usually rebellion groups go the way of “Star Wars,” where everyone’s a hero, the rebellion can do no wrong, and the bad guys are blatantly evil, twirling their mustaches in a corner). The book also explored religion in a way that I wasn’t expecting.
There was also a romance involved that I mostly liked. I was a bit surprised by how spicy this book was at times, as you don’t often see the mix-and-match of this sort of explicit romance with super complex writing/world-building. I was fine with it, but it may come as a surprise to general fantasy fans who check this one out.
The story also had some good twists and turns as the plot progressed. Nothing was truly shocking, necessarily, but these twists helped to pull the pacing through some of the more slog-like portions of the complex writing.
In the end, I feel like this read was a bit of a mixed bag. It doesn’t fit comfortable in any subcategory really and I think there are pieces that will appeal to very different readers, while other sections leave those same readers disconnected. I’d have a hard time knowing exactly who to recommend this to. The writing, however, is the most striking aspect, so I do think that it will hit best with readers who enjoy complex, rather long-winded prose.
Rating 7: With long-winded and rather purple prose making up the majority of the story, this one could feel like a slot at times. But if you stick with it, there are some great themes to explore!
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Mercy Makers” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Flowering Writing.
The Library Ladies 