NetGalley provided me with an ARC. I don't know if I am grateful or distressed, because I need a print copy of this book and book two NOW! I have no clue how I will have to wait for others to read this book and create the fandom that this world and the Crows inspire.

The Merciful Crow takes place from the perspective of Fie, a girl from the Crow caste, which are the mercy-killers and undertakers of the world of a plague that affects sinners. They are frowned upon despite having such an important role in society. When her flock is called to collect dead bodies from the royal household, she hopes that she will receive the payout of a lifetime. Instead, she discovers that the Crown Prince and his body double have faked their deaths and the Prince and Fie make an agreement: if her flock protects him from the Queen, he’ll give the Crows the protection they deserve.
I love the magic system in this book. In the Crows only a witch is allowed to use other witches’ abilities by using their teeth. So for example, if Fie had a tooth from a person from the Peacock caste (they usually are clothing designers or work with people’s appearances) she could change her appearance or someone else’s for a short amount of time.
I loved the caste system and how unique it was. Each caste is represented by a different bird, with royalty being Phoenixes. The characters are compelling and well-developed. I love Fie and all of the other secondary characters aren’t just there to move along Fie’s story. They are also developed enough to be main characters. My favorite character is a cat named Barf. There’s a reason behind the name, and this cat is amazing.
I need the next book immediately!!!!
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

One of the better fantasies I've read in the past year. The two main male characters did have personalities that seemed inconsistent at times and outright unreasonable at others...but overall I really enjoyed it.

I really wrestled with whether to give this three or four stars. I really enjoyed it, but some pacing issues combined with repetitive writing and a convoluted conclusion tugged me in the 3-star direction.

The good: there are several characters of color as well as LGBT+ characters. One uses they/them pronouns and it's not even really discussed or mentioned, which is really refreshing. The rep is solid. The world is also artfully crafted and clearly well-developed.

The bad: I almost threw the book across the room the tenth time I read the phrase "she could burn Sabor from mountain to coast." It was fine the first time or two but then it got super redundant and aggravating. The author does a decent job reminding you of which caste has which powers (Phoenixes control fire, Sparrows are good at hiding, etc etc) but it's still a lot to keep track of when there are twelve castes. The mechanics of the magic wasn't super clear (why can she use some teeth only once but other she uses repeatedly? etc). And the end was so predictable that I was honestly confused by the twist, because I thought it was info we knew already knew.

I do recommend this book for fantasy fans, but it didn't blow my socks off.

This book was AMAZING.

I feel like I’ve said that about quite a few books lately, and I want to assure you all that I am a harsh critic! But I loved the characters in this novel, and – surprisingly for a fantasy novel – I thought the world was pretty great, too.

Sixteen-year-old Fie is a Crow, the lowest caste in Sabor. While all the other castes – things like Sparrow, Hawk, and Peacock – have special gifts known as Birthrights handed down to them by the thousand dead gods who made them, the Crow gods didn’t see fit to leave anything to their creations. Now Crows roam the land, belittled and scorned by everyone. By night they fear the Oleander Guild, a group of hooded white-cloaked riders who hunt down and kill Crows, as they did to Fie’s ma.

(Yes, I did get KKK vibes off this).

But Crows do have one thing going for them: of all the castes, they are the only one completely immune to catching the sinner’s plague, a terrible disease that keeps hitting villages. This is why Sabor tolerates them. Whenever a mercy killing needs to be handed down to a plague victim, or the bodies of sufferers need to be taken away and burned, the Crows in their beaked masks are called.

(Clear influence of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe here – look at what plague doctors wore!)

Some Crows, such as Fie, her Pa and her friend Hangdog, have another gift too. They’re witches, or bone thieves, who can burn the teeth of other castes to temporarily give themselves the Birthrights of other castes. That’s the reason Fie is being trained to take over as chieftain after Pa. But other Crows have no power at all, while every single member of another caste has the ability to use their Birthright. For instance, Swans can manipulate desire, Phoenixes can control fire, and Peacocks can control illusions.

One day Fie’s band of Crows are called to the royal palace to deal with a couple of dead plague victims – the crown prince, Jasimir, and his guard and body double, Tavin. Only… they aren’t dead. They faked it so they could escape from Jasimir’s stepmother Queen Rhusana, who’s trying to assassinate him and establish control for herself. A binding deal is struck between Fie and Jasimir: she’s going to help him get the throne. In return, once he’s there, he’ll ensure Crows have the protection they need.

Here’s a selection of the multiple things I loved about The Merciful Crow.

✴️ The world is a bit more complex than your average fantasy and it took time for me to work out what was going on, but I loved the fact that there was no infodump. The reader is left to their own devices, and it made everything way more fulfilling. I loved the whole caste system too, and Birthrights, and taking power through teeth – it was explained brilliantly. I also liked that there wasn’t one obvious country Owen was drawing her inspiration from, which sadly is the case for many YA fantasy worlds – they’re too often just thinly disguised versions of real-world places.

✴️ TAVIN IS A BLOODY AMAZING HERO . He really is OH MY GOD I’M ACTUALLY IN LOVE WITH HIM. FIE IS THE LUCKIEST!!! He’s charming, and hilarious, and loyal, and sweet, and just everything. Their enemies-to-lovers romance was absolutely wonderful to watch. It was fairly slow-burn, and I loved both the build-up to it and the consummation.

✴️ Fie was a pretty great heroine herself . I loved her spite and stubbornness.

✴️ Jasimir was probably the most complex character in the novel. He’s spoiled and unworldly, but he does learn eventually, and I found that I sympathised with him a lot more than I was expecting to. Tavin is the only person he’s ever had to himself, so of course he was going to hate being a third wheel to Fie. It also had to hurt knowing his parents loved Tavin more.

✴️ Funnily enough, people are willing to kill Crows just based on their caste, but there is no gender discrimination in Sabor. Nor is there any issue over LGBT rights: Tavin is bisexual, Jasimir is gay, and there’s a (small) nonbinary character too.

✴️ The side characters, in the form of the other Crows in Fie’s band, were awesome. I really got a sense of how they’d banded together as a family and protected each other against the world.

Unfortunately, I felt like there was also a plot hole or two.

✴️ So, the Phoenix caste is the one royalty comes from, and their teeth are the most powerful. Yet Rhusana inexplicably gives Fie every single Phoenix tooth in the country, which she obviously then uses to evade the trackers Rhusana sends after them. Huh???????? Why the hell would she give them to her in the first place???? Or give her every single one? It didn’t make sense.

✴️ It wasn’t fully explained how cross-caste births worked. Jasinder, the son of a Hawk and a Phoenix, is a Phoenix. But what happens to, for instance, the son of a Hawk and a Sparrow? Or a Pigeon and a Gull? I needed a bit more information here.

Overall

An excellent debut, with likeable characters, a gripping world, and emotionally satisfying romance.