Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase
Genre: Epic Fantasy I Political Machinations
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Rating: 4⭐️

Thank you to @coloredpagesbt @bindery_books and @chasethemaren for the arc of your debut novel!

In this debut novel from Maren Chase we have gritty, authentic storytelling, combined with elements of fantasy, historical fiction with complex characters. I say in pretty much all of my reviews that I need to be hooked within the first chapter and this novel is no different. The reveal that happens in the first chapter sets the setting for all that our FMC, Vittoria. Princess Vittoria bears witness to a horrific event at merely 11 years old. Her father, the king, exiles her until she is found many years later by Ardaric. He gives her the option to marry him and seek out revenge on her father or die at his hands.

The first 25% starts out rather slow but the pay off was so great! We get to see Vita come into her own as the story progresses. Vita has a forbidden romance with her lady in waiting, akin to Priory of the Orange Tree. I am still blown away that this was a debut and truly exceeded all expectations I had. I enjoyed the set up being a slower pace because it made me really care for Vita.

This novel releases in May on @zorannes imprint through Bindery, fantasy & friens. I still think it’s so amazing that influencers get to bring these stories to life.

I got sucked into this story much further than I was originally expecting - there's something about Vita's story and Chase's writing that grips you and keeps you there waiting to see how everything resolves.

Mainly this is a story about female rage - it wants to be about empowerment, but aside from Vita getting to take some of her destiny into her own hands, most of it is an outpouring of female rage at being controlled and kept down. Which I personally could have used a little more worldbuilding as to why we got queens ruling in their own right and multiple women in various armies and warrior queens, but the society is still so patriarchal and belittling towards women. Especially with various countries and practices at play. Nevertheless, it was cathartic to see Vita get to take some agency back from the men who have written her story for so long and get to take her own steps forward. I would have loved to have seen more of it coming into action for her own benefit and less as a reaction and a better build up until her speech at the camp, but for a debut, it's a tricky path to walk.

One thing I loved that I didn't quite expect going in is how well and balanced the war and siege descriptions are. The discussion of politics , while we don't get a lot of time to delve into anything or enough worldbuilding to get a sense of how it all really fits together, is as nuanced as it can be. Instead of going the glorious-battle-storming-the-city route, we instead dig into the side that affects the common people much more than the armies or the monarchs that control them.

I do wish there were more of the alchemy promised in the summary, however. It's not much of a fantasy aside from being set in a fictional world, and while it could be said that the real alchemy is to Vita's soul, the summary does kind of promise more than the story delivers.

I didn’t connect with this book as much as I expected to. Every element that could have made the story better felt a bit underused, which left the overall experience feeling somewhat flat for me.

The book has a juvenile tone - not necessarily a bad thin - but considering it's marketed as an adult novel, I was surprised by how YA it felt. I found the characters intriguing in concept, but they never quite came to life for me. I couldn’t connect with them emotionally and their development felt very surface-level.

The plot builds slowly, which can work in the right context, but here, with not much else holding my attention, it dragged. Vita and Soline’s relationship felt sudden and lacked chemistry - I wasn’t invested in them as a couple, though I was curious enough to see how the rest of the story would unfold.

Overall, this isn’t a bad book but it just wasn’t for me. I don’t think I was the intended audience for it.

This book was a strong debut novel that explores the complexities of female rage with a well-developed sapphic romance. With dark fairytale elements that are somewhat reminiscent of T. Kingfisher, the worldbuilding in this book was engaging and felt realistically developed. From the beginning, it's easy to want to cheer Vita on in her journey, and the scenes exploring her relationships with the other characters made her feel like an authentic character.

While the writing was generally tight and engaging, some of the pacing fell flat throughout the middle of the book. Some scenes felt drawn-out, and some of the underlying sense of urgency regarding the rebellion got lost mostly as a result of some scenes and plot points being told instead of shown. Despite this, the book maintained momentum as I was invested in the characters and overarching plot.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Princess Vittoria has been sent away by her father, the king. He wants to make his mistress and bastard son the new royal family. With her mother dead and no one to help little Vita, she succumbs to exile in a dirty tower with no hygiene and minimal food. General Ardaric storms the family that is holding Vita hostage, kills everyone, and saves Vita, but only for his personal gain.

This is where Vita finally comes to life, wakes up and realizes that the kingdom that Ardaric wants, her father's, belongs to her and that she must learn to take the reins of her life and her future. And unforseen love sparks between her and a lovely lady-in-waiting, and this gives her the drive to continue to fight on.

Crueler Mercies was a beautiful story of strength, friendships, sacrifice and that in the end, all types of love do conquer all. 💫💫💫💫💫

Thank you Netgalley and Bindery Books for this ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

At nine years old, Vita revels in carefree days running through the castle gardens until her world shatters. Her father publicly executes her mother and banishes Vita to exile. For 11 years, she’s confined alone in a tower until an enemy general seizes the city and offers a stark ultimatum: die now or marry him to reclaim her throne. Maren Chase launches the story with gripping intensity, introducing an FMC you desperately want to see triumph.
Unfortunately, the momentum falters early. By the 20% mark, the narrative loses its drive and never fully recovers. The primary issue is Vita’s stagnant character arc. Instead of learning and adapting to her circumstances, she falls into a repetitive cycle of taking the lead in scenes only to regress to a meek, passive state. This one-step-forward, one-step-back pattern prevents the growth or agency expected from a story marketed as “feminine rage.” The side characters and romantic interest mirror this stagnation, showing little development or depth. By the novel’s end, the resolution feels unearned and disconnected from Vita’s journey, undermining the story’s impact. Despite this, Chase’s foundation is promising, and her raw talent suggests she could become an exceptional writer. I look forward to seeing her future work.

Thank you Netgalley, Maren Chase and BinderyBooks for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 ⭐️ I think. It’s still very fresh seeing as I finished it about 2 minutes ago.

Crueler Mercies is a sapphic rapunzel inspired story about war, brutality and rage. We follow Vitta, who at 9 years old is sent and locked away in a foreign place, completely isolated aside from her birds that she befriends.


Overall this was a pretty good story that I feel could’ve been flushed out a bit more. We as readers typically had no idea what plan the characters were conjuring up, and I feel like sometimes that works in order to surprise the reader of the outcome, but the many many failed attempts throughout the first 60% of the book could’ve been elaborated on. Also, the only reason I knew this was likely a romance before they something actually happened between the two is because of the LGBTQ tag on the book description. Before the relationship began to progress it read as close friends or almost a sisterly bond, and I say this as someone who reads into subtext every chance I get.

Also, this is labeled as fantasy, and while there was some alchemy, I don’t know if it was really enough to qualify as true fantasy. I kept waiting for more and there never really was more.

ALSO. SPOILERS.

Marquis. My boy. What a lad. I shed a tear.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: 4.5/5

Capitivating me from start to finish, Crueler Mercies is one of the best debuts I've read this year. The story has a great dark fairytale feel to it, with beautiful prose, and wonderfully written character development and depth for all the characters. Vita's character development from meek to vengeful was particularly fascinating to read. I can't wait to see what else this author writes in the future.

This was such a fun read. Not only do we cool Crow bird friends but a Sapphic revenge story. We start out slow with a stansfing pay off. The stru starts off with her mom betrayal and MC father makes her watch her mother's execution. Not long after sending her off where she lives in a tower along cut off from society with only birds to make friends. The story blooms from there.
I definitely recommend this to people who lobe Sapphic Fantasy.

Thank you netgalley and Bindery Books for providing this eARC for review.
2.75🌟
Mixed opinions on this one. It had a lot of potential and I found myself quite enjoying the scenes during the seige and the earlier scenes of Vita's childhood in the tower. Her friendship with the birds and how that eventually plays out at the end was very well done.
However, my main issue is the lack of worldbuilding and general substance to the book. I get the impression that the author just wanted to write a book about angry women getting revenge and didn't really want to develop much actual plot which is a shame.
At the end of a 400 page book I can't say I know anything more about the world and the magic system than I did at the beginning beyond a few place names. Vita was an interesting protagonist but the rest of the characters just felt so flat.
Considering the world kept being described to us as being oh so bad for women and all the men are terrible and the only happiness a woman can have is apart from men, this isn't what we actually see in the book. Ardaric is evil, her father isn't much better, and Sorrel kind of sucked, but apart from that they all seemed pretty decent! There is an odd bit at the beginning of the seige where Vita talks about how men have been given all the jobs to do and they do all the fighting and women are just expected to sit there looking pretty and then in the actual battle we see Soline going off to fight, a husband-wife fighting duo, and at least one female captain so that's just simply not true! If you want to write a compelling tale about female rage and revenge in a misogynistic society you have to actually make the society misogynistic, not tell the reader one thing and then go and write the complete opposite.
A lot of the end of the book felt so odd and as if scenes were just being glossed over quickly to move the story on. For example, the way Vita just kills her father with very little hesitation despite never having killed anyone before. And then the cannibalism scene which was so unnecessary and felt like it was just there for shock value really and to cement the idea that Ardaric had to die because seriously what was that?? You expect us to believe she can be told she is literally eating her father, shrug it off because she doesn't want him to see her upset, gorge herself on more, and then just never mentioned it again 😭 what??
I really do think it had potential, I just think it needed a lot more planning and a lot more world and character building.

The princess in this book is loosely drawn from the early life of Elizabeth I of England: her mother is beheaded, she's imprisoned far from Court, and her father sets out to get himself a legitimate son to rule after him. We are likely meant to feel for Vita's trauma in having watched her mother be killed (this is not a spoiler; it's announced in the first line & fleshed out in the first chapter) but she's got no personality, no grit, no goal and no drive. She just drifts along randomly musing on her past and present - very randomly - for far too long, considering this novel was blurbed as being a driven tale of revenge.

Unlike Elizabeth I's captivity, there are crows devoted to our captive princess. Fun fantasy possibilities there. Also unlike Elizabeth's young life, Vita (or Vittoria, for formal occasions) gets few books, no tutors, no music or geography or any of the other lessons generally granted to even the most firmly cast-aside of royal offspring. This is a missed opportunity for world-building, for informing the reader about the land and its people, its social classes and its political challenges, the very factors that would have shaped this princess from the moment of her birth. The missing details are thrown in later, seemingly as the author realized they were needed, rather than built into the story to underpin it from the start.

The writing is competent in terms of grammar and spelling, with only a few mis-used words to jar on the reader's eye. But in those all-important early chapters, showing and telling happen with no discernible organizing principle, robbing the princess and the readers of deeper character development and world-building. Any tension that arises, either romantically or through political/military/fighting/intrigue, very quickly drains away through lack of attention to scene structure or character development. The story-tellling does eventually hit its stride but this is definitely a case where the author, having written The End, should have gone back and rewritten the beginning to bring it up to par.

There's a lively high fantasy story buried in here, filled with politics and intrigue and secrets and spying, and a princess who is worthy of the loyalty of her servants and the love of her cherished friend. But many readers won't slog through those disorderly opening chapters - nearly a quarter of the novel - to find it. Or her.

This debut novel is a slow-paced slow-burn sapphic romance about the brutality of war and the fires of revenge. This story was haunting, heartbreaking, and full or female rage.

Crueler Mercies is an emotionally charged story that explores themes of rage, loss, and rebellion through the eyes of Vita, a princess cast into exile after a brutal family betrayal. I appreciated how the novel dives deep into female fury and the complexities of vengeance, all wrapped in a sapphic romance that unfolds slowly but meaningfully.
The alchemy element added an intriguing magical layer that tied well into the worldbuilding, giving the story an edge beyond its Rapunzel-inspired roots. Vita’s relationship with Soline was one of the highlights, with their chemistry sparking a slow-burning connection that felt authentic and compelling.
That said, the pacing is definitely on the slower side, which might test readers looking for more immediate action or plot momentum. Some parts felt a bit drawn out, and the rebellion element took a backseat at times, making the overall narrative feel more internal and character-driven than plot-heavy.
Overall, Crueler Mercies is a strong read for those who enjoy layered character work, sapphic romance, and a brooding, simmering atmosphere. It’s not without its flaws, but the raw emotion and vivid worldbuilding make it worthwhile.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book, the character development was built up throughout and the story never felt stagnant. Would deffo recommend!

RATING: 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

Thank you so much to the author, the Fantasy & Frens imprint for Bindery Books, and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With the popularity of the fantasy genre in the book community, female protagonists are becoming more commonplace in fantasy books. What remains a niche is sapphic fantasies, and Crueler Mercies is an upcoming debut standalone novel that offers something new to the subgenre, perfect for readers who seek LGBT-centric romances in their fantasy reads.

The story follows Vita, a young princess who was exiled from her home kingdom following the execution of her mother. Left to remain hidden in a distant territory, she is left to fade in obscurity, until a siege from an enemy general shatters her sheltered life. Left with a choice between preserving her life and reclaiming her kingdom from her father versus dying with no one to remember her name, she decided to marry the enemy general. However, through a new companionship with her lady-in-waiting, she secretly plots to escape her engagement and become a part of nobility again on her terms.

I loved how this book pursued a narrative of gradual character development over a standard adventure. Vita retains her kindness and femininity throughout the story, yet embodies the style of feminine rage prevalent in many fantasy books. Her romance with Soline and tenuous relationship with Ardaric were aspects that remained strong from beginning to end, allowing me to root for Vita's eventual happiness.

I did wish the worldbuilding and alchemy component of the narrative was fleshed out a little more. As a result, the two aspects felt more like backdrops and could have strengthened the narrative with a few more dedicated chapters. Nonetheless, I still thoroughly enjoyed Crueler Mercies and I'm looking forward to checking out future books from this author.

This book over promised and under delivered. While it's a far cry from the worst book I've ever read (hence the 2.5 star rating), I expected a better... everything.

I'll begin with the negatives.
Let's start with the plot: there isn't much of it, other than a murky idea of war and suffering, and a bit more war and suffering that never feels like it's going somewhere. There are several nations involved in this war, and I have no clue who we were supposed to root for as readers (neither does the main character, so do not fret). The timeline is also very messy—I couldn't tell how much time had passed between scenes and whenever we were told that "months" or "weeks" had gone by it made it all the more confusing, since it was illogical for nothing to happen for so long, considering the dire circumstances Vita and her friends are meant to be in.

The villain, while he was absolutely horrid as a human being, did not really inspire anything in me other than yelling "just kill him already and be done with it" at our main character. Ah, Vita. I've read in some other reviews that she barely takes action, and that the novel is basically men dictating her life—this is a good summary. I understand she's deeply traumatised by her life events, but she's got the drive of a stone. At least, until the 80% mark, where she finds her will to live, a plan, and a litany of other skills (like a speech to her troops) which are utterly unbelievable considering she has spent the last decade locked away in a tower with the barest social interaction since the age of nine. If this were anyone else, they'd be deeply socially crippled by being in isolation from ages 9 to 20-something.

In terms of worldbuilding, I would have loved to see more about the religious beliefs of these nations: we only get a few glimpses, but getting divinities, festivities, and more customs involved might have been the saving grace for the monotonous plotline.

The romance was quite minimal and started on the latter half of the book. I was expecting it to take a more central place in the story, but it's definitely more of a passing thought rather than an epic forbidden romance between a princess and her handmaiden. However, it wasn't the worst part of the book, so I'll forgive it.

On a more positive note: the writing was lovely. I doubt I would have got nearly to the end of this book if not for the well thought-out, flowing sentences. Also, the crows; the best characters.

I skimmed the last 50 pages or so, as I had a good idea of what was going to happen and could not be bothered to drag myself through these last chapters.

All in all, I believe this author is a talented writer. I don't think the plot, as well as many other elements of the story, worked out for her, but perhaps in the future we'll see something more interesting.

Trigger warnings: death, gore, animal death, war, famine, illness, emotional abuse, etc.

Thank you for the eARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books | Fantasy & Frens for this ARC Copy!

I have been so excited to read this book since I first laid eyes on the gorgeous cover. I didn't really know what to expect from a damsel in a tower story, but even though so much of the book is practically spend in one single room, it was still so immersive, and I was completely hooked from the very beginning. The character started out so naive and timid but watching her grow as a person as well as in her anger was truly refreshing in its own way. I myself am a supporter of women's rights and wrongs, and this book is a wonderful example of that. The author does not pull any punches, and there was a lot that I did not see coming, but I appreciate the author trusting us with this story as raw and horribly as it could be at times, but also beautiful and hopeful.

The book is so good and engrossing. Vita has witnessed her mother’s death. She had an unsettling childhood. Her governess was also not good to her. The trauma she carried has shaped her today. But that’s not enough, after eleven years, she must marry an enemy general or die as a forgotten princess. Vita’s character was so strong. Despite the traumas and everything that she has witnessed, she does what she has decided to do. She meets Soline and the lady introduces her to alchemy. Loved that Vita took control of her destiny and didn’t let cruel people rule.

Thanks to the Publisher

Thank you NetGalley, Fantasy & Frens, and Bindery for the eARC! In exchange, please find my honest review:

The narrative of Crueler Mercies unfolds in a fantasy island kingdom where peace, comfort, and hope are hard won and easily lost. Vita, a princess locked away in exile since being forced to witness the execution of her mother as a child, enters back into her world in a flurry of fire, feathers, rage, and a deep-seated caring that cuts like a knife. Vita’s story is one of loss - again, and again, things are taken from her, and neither the narrative nor Chase’s prose makes a move to gentle the blows or soften the edges. This is not a novel for when you need a gentle, uplifting hopefulness - this is a novel for when you are holding on to the tatters of hope with chipped fingernails, screaming through a mouthful of blood up at the sky.

Chase does a thing that I love in fantasy novels - borrowing pieces of real-world history and reshaping them to the world of the novel. In the pages of Crueler Mercies, the reader should expect to see a brutality that echoes the brutality of our collective history - including nods to the Siege of Alesia, to Olga of Kyiv’s winged vengeance, and likely to all manner of historical episodes I didn’t quite catch. It didn’t surprise me at all to learn that Chase has a history in…well, history, as she includes these events in a way that feels natural, skillful, and true to the world she builds in these pages.

What I do wish there could have been more of in the novel were smaller, human, relationship-building moments between Vita and her inner-circle. I’m such a lover of found family situations, and I think that slowing down during the middle part of the story (after Vita’s ‘liberation’ from the tower and before we enter the final act) and really fleshing out some of these relationship may have made for an overall weighty-er story with emotional hits that landed harder and lasted longer. For example: we get a couple of scenes of Vita bonding with Marius - a young soldier assigned to protect her, who becomes a fraternal figure for her - but not enough to where I really felt the sibling bond between the two, or the emotional pay-off that the conclusion of Marius’ arc deserves. Similar with Isotta, a guardian and aunt/mother figure that Vita so badly deserves - I was desperate for more scenes of these characters bonding, rather than simply being told they have done so.

The case where I felt this lack most keenly was in the relationship between Vita and Soline. To be honest, it may just be that I’m a sucker for slowburn, but I wanted more scenes in which the two get to know each other, learn to trust each other, and build a bond that I can truly believe in. I wanted scenes with the two of them working together night after night to understand alchemy - not just broad-brush descriptions of all the times it didn’t work. I wanted more conversations where they learn each other, strengthen each other, and sharpen each other’s edges. There is all of this, to be sure, but the novel left me hungry for more of it. I feel that fewer broad strokes and more detail may have led to a more emotionally powerful narrative, though, again, this is based on my personal preferences.

Other than that, the narrative was tight, if brutal. The writing is very competent - though with the inclusion of a few words or phrases that seemed jarring to me when placed against the backdrop of the grim fantasy world in which they are said (“kids”, “sure” (as an affirmative), “the kind of guy” are the ones that stick out in my memory). The characters feel real, though I wish we got to spend more time with them in quiet, relationship-building moments. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, in the way that one enjoys dark, brutal novels about coming into one’s own rage and power, even though my personal preference would be for more narrative focus to be paid to the interpersonal dynamics.

A compelling story of survival in a medieval fantasy context.

Reading this story one of those experiences where everything just clicks for you. I resonated with the writing, the characters, the plot. I loved Vita's journey to find her own strength and the ways the love of others can save her future.
I also appreciated the use of suspense - what the reader needs to know and how by the end all falls into place.
It was an amazing read that will stick with me for a long time.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Maren for allowing me to read this ARC!