Female rage and revenge? Say no more!

Crueler Mercies definitely delivered on these points, and I loved the gentle touch of sapphic romance too. The characterization was so well-done, and the plot was so well-organized. It's been a while since I've read something so expertly plotted and outlined! I'll definitely keep an eye out for whatever Maren Chase writes next.

This was so good, the characters were so real that I really got invested. Even the villains were portrayed in such a way that showed they at least felt justified in their actions … most of the time. It starts with a hell of a first chapter too and I loved that the author was not afraid to kill characters, this led to a lot of gasping and growing tension whenever anyone was in danger. I did wonder when we were going to get the rage I was promised because that was a slow burn but actually by the end I wasn’t mad about that, it fit the character better the way it unfolded. I loved that the author used real history to shape her story and I adored the inclusion of the birds and vitas relationship with them, which leads to my only gripe with the book and what brought it down by half a star. There’s a scene with birds later in the book which I won’t describe because it’s spoilery but it’s unclear to me what happened there exactly, if it went the way i think it did then that goes against vitas character and doesn’t sit right with me, and if it went the other way then I think that should have been made clearer. It’s one small point though in an otherwise thrilling and engaging book. I will be looking out for more books by this author

I found that to me this book read a lot like YA, I knew that the characters were technically adults but something about the prose and the characters actions made them out to be younger than they were. The overall plot was fine, but I definitely think that the book needed more world building, because there were times, especially close to the end of the book that I wasn't entirely sure what what going on or how different mechanics were working. It was A fine book overall but there were just some parts of it that felt flat, like filler or like the author wasn't quite sure exactly what was supposed to be happening. I understand the appeal of a sapphic Cinderella esque retelling, but I really do think for a book whose plot hinges around the politics of the kingdom they're in it really could have used some more world building so the audience can fully immerse themselves and care about what's going on.

Firstly, thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC of this story.

Crueler Mercies follows Vita, a princess locked for most of her life in a dungeon away from home. Until one day, the city is sieged and the general of the army offers her freedom from her tower in exchange for her hand in marriage. Being the daughter of the current king, this seems like a way to get closer to her father for the vengeance she dreams of.

I went in having in mind this was marketed as being adult fiction so I was excited to get to this ARC.

The story started strongly but very quickly lost all excitement as everything felt very juvenile. A lot of dialogues, little description, making for a poor worldbuilding and a YA vibe through and through. The protagonist sometimes feels like a passive element to the story, it's hard to explain but it's like she's secondary to the plot and the other characters' doings feel more important.

If you enjoy YA, you can enjoy this story I'm sure. The writing is nice, the characters are interesting, the plot is promising but as a person that hardly ever enjoys YA, this was a bit of a disappointment. I wanted way more world building and a bigger introspection into the main character's mind, to really be able to feel the rage and the need for reparation after all those years in a forced confinement.

For an adult fiction book, it is lacking in many aspects. Therefore, I do believe the target audience should definitely be YA readers. And if it had been the case, my rating would definitely be higher.

It took me a while to finish this one for reasons outside of my control, but I ultimately ended up loving it! The first chapter gripped me immediately and although the pacing was a little slower from that point on, I loved the journey Vita took as her relationship with Soline grew as well as their desires for revenge. The character we see at the beginning is definitely not the person we see in the end. I loved the character development, the brutality, and political intrigue, but also the moments of beauty. I’m so glad I said yes to this book when it showed up in my inbox.

As someone who had both a strong Tudor phase and Grimm Fairytale phase growing up this book was PERFECT for me. I absolutely loved the parallels to Anne Boleyn and all the fairytale references.

Crueler Mercies is both a sapphic love story and a BRUTAL fairytale revenge fantasy. Definitely one to check out if you enjoyed the darker elements of the Grimm Fairytales or are in need of some good feminine rage storytelling!

Vita, as our main character, goes through an incredible transformation through this story. She starts her journey as a young princess..loved and adored. Through political machinations, she finds herself without her mother and locked away far from her home. Her only company a servant and some crows she feeds, she remains for 11 long years cut off from the world.
When a saviour appears, can he be what he says he is? He promises to return her to her home as his queen and to punish her father for the atrocity he committed against her mother. Vita receives a new companion in Soline, who opens a new world of alchemy and more...even while her husband to be reveals himself to be heartless and cruel. As Vita comes into her feminine rage...she vows revenge on anyone who hurt her.

I really enjoyed this story! It's a little dark and that's ok. It's not fast moving but the progression keeps you wanting more.

Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC to read and review. My thoughts are my own.

In a story filled with feminine rage, damsel in distress and found family themes, I was hoping for more across the board.

Now don’t get me wrong, this book delivered on everything it said was contained, and I did enjoy the story, however I simply wanted more. I am a lover of big books as I think there is actually enough time to develop all of the characters and plot and then have a good resolution without feeling like something is missing. I felt as if I was missing a lot here.

As a reader, I felt very disconnected to Vita, our main character, as much of her thinking and reasoning during pivotal points of the book are left out. You can figure out what she thought based on the next actions, however we lose out on her own thinking in the moment. The chapters were very short, I know some people enjoy that, for me it just seemed like everything resolved or were moved on from too quickly.

Overall, I enjoyed this story and do recommend it for others to read, especially if you’re not one looking for lengthy depictions and world building and character growth, but if you are looking for more in depth depictions and reasonings, this maybe isn’t the one for you. Regardless, the story here about Vita and how she fights to regain control of her life, is very moving and well worth the journey.

I very much enjoyed reading this book and after anticipating it for months, I’m so happy I could get an ARC of it!

This is a light fantasy book where the story revolves around the main character’s rather violent coming of age in her particular position as an exiled princess of a foreign kingdom, with a sapphic romance subplot.

The writing pulled me in immediately and the first chapters were truly an impressive reading experience. In them, we’re introduced to our main character Vita and to the scene promised in the synopsis: the execution of her mother by her father; and then to her exile and start of her years kept away in another kingdom.
I immediately felt for our main character, and loved how she was written. Vittoria - or Vita - and her relationships with both animals and people, but also how engaging her story was, made for a beautiful read.
I didn’t know going in about the kept-away-in-a-tower aspect of this story; and was pleasantly surprised as someone who deeply loves Rapunzel’s story and the character herself. This is by no means a retelling and wasn’t marketed as one, but I still appreciated how these elements fit Vita’s story. The sapphic romance was delightful to me, and while it wasn’t that contributive to the plot and could have been more fleshed out, I still found it an essential aspect of Vita’s character arc.

My only qualms are that there are a few points in the plot or in Vita’s thoughts that were clunky or even contradictory. I think that if those had been corrected the pace might have felt more even, and these were only noticeable because of the slower pace of the major middle part of the book. It didn’t stop my enjoyment; but I do think it would appeal to most readers if the entire book’s pacing was more balanced. The overall pacing being uneven isn’t a fault in itself, and that’s why it didn’t deter my enjoyment.

As for representation, I’m not sure if it was intentional, but as an autistic person I truly related to Vita as she struggles with overstimulation and sociability, and as she has a few coping mechanisms and traits similar to mine.

Ultimately a very good read, with a great beginning and a satisfying ending, characters I cared about, and lovely writing that makes me want to read what the author comes out with next ! 🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery (Fantasy & Frens) for the ARC of one of my most anticipated releases of the year!
(I don't like to rate books, but for the purpose of reviewing an ARC : this is a 3.75 stars rounded up.)

Crueler Mercies is an amazing book that takes on an enormous topic in a strikingly personal way. Vita, the daughter of a king, is sent away to spend years of her life isolated from the outer world and consigns herself to the tiniest shreds of human contact. When an invading force opens her eyes to the possibilities of her station and her rage, we begin to learn who Vita is and can become.

Tackling female rage and revenge, this book allows us to imagine a different history where women carve out a life for themselves.

I am here for this sapphic vengeful fantasy. Anyone who enjoys a good revenge story should be eyeing or buying this book immediately! I was crying over crows, cheering on Vita and Soline, and getting progressively angrier at a king and general (shockingly since I started out pretty darn mad at them!) if you are able to read this book without getting emotionally attached, I worry for you.

I read this as an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

A wonderful first novel and a 3.5 rounded up to 4! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This novel had a lot of strengths. I really liked Vita as a protagonist, and her arc through the novel was compelling. In some ways, it's a pretty common arc for characters in Fantasy Books About Women's Empowerment (i.e. quiet girl to Girl Boss TM), but I found the rendition engaging. So many books these days claim to have the arc, but I felt it with Vita. There was a reason for her to be that sheltered and trusting, and it was something that she had to grapple with as she experienced the intrigue around her. I loved that she read as neurodivergent, a little treat for me, who would probably also be deeply confused by the intricate rituals of how exactly to be nice to your servants without having your weirdo fiance get too overprotective. She also had female friends! Yay! Isotta for the win! Soline maybe doesn't count as a friend (they were roommates), but still! Speaking of Soline, I liked her, and I thought the intimacy between her and Vita was really lovely and sweet. Happy Pride everyone.

I also really like Ardaric as an antagonist! He wasn't just some cardboard cut-out whose only personality trait was hating women; he was some guy obsessed with control and conquest, including of women. His tender moments with Vita were almost scarier than when he was outright being cruel, because you were waiting for the switch to flip. He feels like a real type of guy that exists, and that makes him a lot scarier. I also loved the De Bello Gallico reference (Chase, I got what you were putting down when you talked about the three walls well before the acknowledgements, and I was dreading the other really famous thing about that siege long before it appeared).

However, there were a lot of weaknesses alongside those strengths. The middle of it was a bit boring, I think because Vita didn't really have a concrete goal that she was working towards. I tend to need something pretty concrete for where we're going in a narrative, and Vita's was "survive", which wasn't solid enough for me in this type of story, where her basic needs are being met and the odds of that situation changing are low. Her motivations do pick back up, saving the book for me to be quite honest, but the gap isn't great. For how much alchemy is talked about in the blurb, I was expecting it to feature much more heavily. I don't hate that it didn't, but it basically disappears for like half of the book after being introduced. I think the concept needed either to be woven in a little better throughout the novel or cut entirely. However, these weaknesses mostly feel like first novel sort of problems.

Overall, it's a solid read, and I am excited to see what Chase comes up with next!

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

This was okay. I liked the writing style and prose. The beginning was fantastic, it drew me in immediately, and the ending packed a punch. I enjoyed the alchemical magic system. But, while I loved the beginning and ending, the middle was a slog and somewhat boring. I wanted more from the romance that felt very lackluster and underdeveloped. All the characters except Vita felt very flat. The world-building was decent but could have been better, and while I liked the alchemical magic system, I wished we would have had a more in-depth exploration.

For a debut novel, I thought this was okay but definitely had room for improvement.

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery (Fantasy & Frens) for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I was really excited for this one so I'm sad to say this one didn't work for me. Ultimately I think some of my disappointment came from mismatched expectations. I think if this was marketed as a YA fantasy with sapphic romance instead of an adult fantasy with sapphic female rage I would have had a better experience. This is something that I would have enjoyed as a young teenager, but unfortunately did not have enough for me to connect to as an adult.

I found the characters to be fairly flat, and the magic to be essentially nonexistent. I think I am learning that I am a thematic reader, and this is a very straightforward good vs. evil with little exploration of anything deeper than a basic revenge story. While the ending was immensely satisfying, I do not think 10 pages at the end of a 300-400 page book qualifies as a "female rage story". Having Vita as a softer FMC could have made for a fascinating look at female rage, but unfortunately this was not my experience.

Unfortunately I needed more from this book in every aspect, but I could see how this would work for a younger audience or a reader going in with different/managed expectations.

Tentative 3.75 / 5 stars I think?

I’m kinda struggling to write a review of this book. I liked reading it, I thought it was quite well-paced, I liked the characters, I liked the premise and how it was executed. But something feels slightly off? But I can’t really identify what.

As I just said, I liked the premise; The princess is sent away to live in isolation after her father, the king, has her mother executed because she allegedly commited adultery. All while he has a bastard son, who is younger than the princess, running around the palace. The princess grows up with hardly any human contact, until a foreign warlord takes over the city she’s kept in. He captures her and offers that she can have revenge on her father by marrying him and ‘helping’ take over her country. Also it’s sapphic.

I love this premise. I also quite enjoyed the execution of the premise. I loved reading this book. There were parts where I genuinely bawled my eyes out, and parts where I was incredibly on edge because I was afraid something would go wrong. But at no point during reading was I truly and fully immersed in this world. At first I thought that this perceived distance was a stylistic choice by the author, representing the main character’s own perspective of her world - a world that she’d only experienced at a distance, high up in a tower, watching through her window, for the last 10 years. And maybe that was indeed the author’s intent, but even so, it just ends up feeling weird.

What contributed to this feeling were the many time-jumps scattered throughout the story. There are so many instances where something happens, followed by ‘and 3 weeks later…’. This is, I find, most egregious whenever Vita acquires a new skill. When her and Soline are messing around with alchemy, it describes their first try, and then continues with something along the lines of ‘and they continued messing around with alchemy for the next 2 weeks, and were never successful’, which just took me out of the story. This is a commonly used technique, obviously, cause the reader doesn’t need to see one scene repeated over and over again, with only small differences everytime. But something about the way these kinds of scenes are handled in this book just made them stick out in a way that they usually don’t in other books.

I do also have positive things to say about this book though. The world-building isn’t particularly extensive, for example, there’s no complex magic system that needs explaining, but world-building does happen is very good. I hate it when I’m reading a fantasy book and I come across a sentence that is just a blatantly obvious lore drop that catapults you out of the story to lecture you about the fantasy world’s fantasy elements. This book does not do that. The world’s history and rules are conveyed in a subtle way that means you don’t even notice when it happens because it just organically fits into the rest of the text.
The characters are another thing that I really liked about this. There is only a pretty small cast of important characters. The warlord manages to be unequivocally an asshole without ever veering off into being comically evil. The pace at which the romance develops is also great, it goes slow enough to feel organic, but fast enough to never get annoying. The focus isn’t just on the romantic relationship - the ties Vita forms with others in her orbit are well done too, and manage to do a lot of character-building with very few words.

“I don’t want to be a damsel either. We all survive how we can.”

After her mother is executed, Princess Vittoria is sent away to a far off tower by her father. While some servants come and go, the main constant in her small world for 11 years are her birds who visit her open window and bring her trinkets. When the town she’s held in falls to a foreign army and Vita’s betrothed to the commanding General, she’s faced with new troubles, new threats, and new options she never fathomed.

This was an interesting read. The book opens on a gripping scene and quickly proceeds to examines the effects of isolation on a young adult before evolving into a war/politics sphere. While the romance was a soft addition to an otherwise brutal life Vita was living, I certainly would say it’s a subplot. I will say that the book as a whole reads a bit more YA than I was expecting, but has some very dark scenes that had my stomach turning.

I think my biggest mismatch with the book was that in some ways the main characters actions seemed a bit disjointed with her motivations. Rather than feeling like Vita as a character evolved, it felt like different draft versions of who the protagonist was inserted at different points of the book. Truly the Vita we opened the first 25% of the book with could’ve seemed wholly divorced from the Vita we closed the last 25% with. And the same could be said of Soline as well.

Also I’m not sure the alchemy subplot was necessary?

Overall, I’d say this one is for fans of Ava Reid and Allison Saft but those who are okay with a little Game of Thrones-esc war violence and cruelty added in.

Coming of age grows into coming of rage as an exiled and imprisoned princess is let out of her tower after nearly a decade only to exchange the prison she knew for the unknown and unwanted prison that is a forced engagement to a warlord.

If you took the song “Look What You Made Me Do” and gave it a tavern song arrangement, then I think that would be the end credits song on a movie made from this book. Part of what makes this book a great read is how Vita’s (our protagonist) personality grows and character develops throughout the book, from the truly naive and sheltered girl who’d been isolated and hated for so long to a cunning and considerate woman who knows when to stand tall and when to bend in order to turn tides and get what she needs. By the time the climatic scenes toward the end of the book hit, she’s a glorious creature of rage and power.

Likewise, this book has a fantastic supporting cast that really keeps this book character-focused, which I enjoyed. This book isn’t heavy on world building and while the plot does involve alchemy it doesn’t go too heavily into it, either. The emphasis is truly on the characters and it’s nice to get that in a fantasy novel and have the characters be so nuanced. There’s a lot of gray morality in the supporting characters and that helps take the shine off of Vita so we don’t always see her as some sort of savior in an ivory tower.

This was an engaging read with a lot of great action scenes and I really enjoyed it. 4⭐️



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Adult Fantasy/Coming of Age/Fantasy/Forbidden Romance/LGBTQ Fantasy/Political Fantasy/Sapphic Romance/Standalone

Vita has only ever known the cruelty of men in power. Her father forced her to watch her mother be beheaded when she was nine years old, and then sent her to live in a tower. Vita’s only companions — other than the infrequent and indifferent maids of the family who ruled the city — were the crows she befriended. For over ten years, Vita lived in a single room until General Ardaric came for her.

Ardaric of Carca has long heard tales of the lost Princess of Messilio, and he came with an army to kill her father and take her crown. Now, Vita is held captive by the mercurial Ardaric, a man of endless cruelty and caprice who will smile one moment and treat her like a pet, and beat a man to death the next. He is volatile and dangerous, and Vita will be forced to marry him if she wants to stay alive.

The two lonely stars in this endless night are Eda, the raven Vita befriended, and Soline, the Carca noblewoman assigned as her maid. Soline is gentle and kind, observant and understanding. Ardaric has already killed one of her brothers and she refuses to let him live long enough to kill another. Together, the women keep each other safe; together, they will endure Ardaric until they are strong enough to kill him.

This is a wonderful book, albeit a dark one. There are trigger warnings for animal death, murder, imprisonment, cannibalism, and wartime atrocities. There are battles and mentions of death, and mentions of sickness and cruelty, but it’s all off page. Unfortunately for Vita, living in this book, she feels these events very strongly. She has been made helpless all her life. A pampered and spoiled child was sent to a tower, where all freedom was taken from her. She mentions food and baths being inconstant and random, but it’s hard to tell if that’s fact, or simply time slipping away from her in the monotony of her captivity. While she is occasionally given a book to read, she has no stimulation, no friends, no choice in anything done to her. When Ardaric “rescues” her, Vita has even less choice. It’s live or die, obey or die, be quiet or die.

However, now she has friends. Isotta, a widow who comes to care for Vita, seeing her innocence and helplessness and understanding the life that she will be forced to live as a captive Queen and eventual mother. Marius, a young man set to be her personal guard who desperately wants to protect her from the dangers around her, but who — like everyone else — must bend the knee before Ardaric. And, of course, Soline.

Soline’s family are noble, and were swept up in Ardaric’s desire for military conquest. Of her three brothers, he beat one to death, badly beat a second, and her third was lucky to avoid much attention. She can’t simply stand by and let him continue to hurt her family, so Soline has been trying to learn the secrets of alchemy, to do … something, anything to stop him. And when she slowly begins to fall in love with Vita, her gentleness, her curiosity, her kindness, Soline ends up telling her all about her grandfather and his alchemical gift. Through chance or luck, it turns out Vita might have an innate ability when it comes to magic, something she will make full use of to save the people she loves.

Ardaric, for all that he’s a psychopath, is not a poor leader. He rules through fear and punishment, but he’s an excellent general and, surprisingly, a good teacher. His conversations with Vita about governance, ruling, about the choices a ruler must make — to save the starving orphans and widows or to prioritize the army in times of siege, to punish disobedience or offer compassion — shape Vita in a very interesting way. Vita may have been helpless, but she’s neither stupid nor afraid. She makes the hard choices because she is the only one who can make them.

And it’s interesting that Vita bucks the idea of being a perfect victim, of being good and kind and hoping for someone else to save her. Vita goes from being uncertain to being a wonderfully gray character, someone able to make those hard choices, and to make them not for the power they bring her, but the safety of her people. For Vita, the ends do not justify the means, they define them. She’s a marvelous character and I adore her. Soline, surprisingly more gentle and kind, is a perfect companion for her, offering reason when Vita falls into emotion, support when Vita is uncertain, and love, when Vita has so little of it before.

You’ll see this book again in December on my annual favorites list, I promise you that. And if you’re in the mood for a book filled with exquisite tension, effortless writing, a perfect pace, and an amazing heroine, I hope you give this one a try. It’s a bit dark, yes, but it’s beautiful for all of that.

Crueler Mercies is a dark, slow-burning thriller with themes of trauma, revenge, and power. The writing is atmospheric, and the plot seems to build gradually. It may appeal to readers who enjoy emotional, character-driven mysteries with a psychological edge.