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!

Crueler Mercies is a grimdark, slow-paced tale of abuse, imprisonment, and revenge. We follow Vita in the wake of her mother's unexplained beheading and subsequent journey to an unknown city where she spends years in the same room with only the crows at her window for company.
The story starts off as a compelling, heartbreaking insight into Vita's bewildering incarceration. Her point of view offers little in the way of explanation as her world shrinks and shrinks and shrinks. We are offered gradual glimpses and snippets of the world outside Vita's bedroom until all of a sudden she is caught up in the maelstrom of the city being overthrown by a bloodthirsty general. Vita enters a new kind of prison and tries to find allies in her attepts to break free of the political tangle she has been born into.

This story felt compelling to begin with but fell flat as the pacing hiccupped and meandered towards a decidedly uninteresting and predictable ending where the supposedly shocking moments fell flat and the clever twist felt entirely too convenient despite the heavy-handed attempts to set it up. Vita spent far too much of the story being yanked around like a ragdoll and the interesting parts of her character weren't explored to any kind of satisfying conclusion. The sapphic relationship was well written and tender but could have been better fleshed out in the second half of the novel.

Overall, the second half of the novel negated the the intrigue developed in the first half and made this a disappointing read.

I thought this book would be a HEA, it was not. While I enjoyed the character growth and the story, it definitely has triggers regarding childhood trauma, family trauma and other sad events. This is a more realistic medieval story without the sugar coating. I did enjoy the story overall

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (rounding up for overall star rating)

Maren Chase's debut novel, Crueler Mercies, delivers a political romantasy that’s driven by an alchemy-based magic system and a compelling slow-burn sapphic romance. At it’s core, this is a story of vengeance and self-discovery.

The narrative centers on Vita, the former princess of Carca, whose world shatters when her own father brutally executes her mother. This horrific act sends Vita into over a decade of isolated exile. As she enters adulthood, she's captured by an enemy general intent on using her to legitimize his claim to the Carca throne. Forced to choose between marriage and death, Vita finds an unexpected ally in her lady-in-waiting, Soline. Together, they plot to reclaim Vita's destiny and dismantle the patriarchal world that has consistently wronged them.

Chase absolutely nails the antagonists in this book. Vita's father and her betrothed are truly detestable, committing heinous acts that more than justify Vita's simmering rage and burning desire for revenge. Their villainy provides a potent emotional core for Vita's journey.

The magic system, based on alchemy, also felt underutilized. We're not introduced to it until halfway through the book, and its application largely remains limited to potion creation. For a romantasy, I expected a more robust and integrated magical element (this is not necessarily a problem, just out of alignment with my expectations).

I also struggled a bit with the pacing - while the first and last 10% of the book are incredibly fast-paced and gripping, the middle section slows considerably. This uneven pacing, combined with an underdeveloped world, made some of the political intricacies difficult to fully grasp.

Despite these issues, Crueler Mercies has a lot to offer, especially if you appreciate a strong revenge plot and a well-executed sapphic romance. If you enjoyed the political intrigue of The Bridge Kingdom or are looking for a standalone fantasy that leans into character-driven conflict without being overly complex, this debut is worth checking out.

This is the second book of Zoranne's imprint with Bindery Books that really just knocks it out of the park! Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase is everything it has been marketed to be...that is to say it is a story of female rage, sapphic yearning, and revenge.

Really, those three tropes in individually would have gotten me to pick up this book, But having all three in the same book feels like it was written for me! I would say this is definitely a slow burn book, the romance is a subplot to the main story. But that was fine with me! The times when Vita and Soline did have time together, it really made that part more meaningful.

The story focuses more on Vita and her fight against the men in her life. You will find me reading any book that is all about female rage and revenge. I would recommend this book to any of friends looking for an entertaining read!

Feminine rage, sapphic content, revenge? I feel understood.

The main focus of this book is Vita's growing up, from an entitled child to a scared girl to a conqueror. Also, two girls falling in love over their plot to kill the same man? Good for them.
The amount of violence and the complexity of the politics makes it suitable for an older audience, which is not what I expected but glad it was that way.

The prose is melancholic, delicate and yet it stabs you when needed. I found the description of the siege very realistic, so that's a bonus for sure.

The only thing I wish was explored further is the magic system. We get a glimpse of that and that's it. I want a prequel about it!!!

To sum up, it's the perfect book for unhinged girlies (gender neutral) but look up the tws first

“No conqueror on earth or any god in the heavens could ever grant me the peace that you have given me”

What a luscious story about female rage, revenge, falling in love, and finding yourself. Vita is the epitome of resilience and her story is one of female empowerment despite grueling circumstances. She seeks revenge but does not prioritize that over her own morals and kindness. She learns that mercy can take different forms and that it is not always kind, but often cruel. The tenderness of Vita’s love for her friends, especially Soline, is something to be admired. She is a fiercely loyal person who will go to great lengths to protect the ones she loves.

This book will surprise you from beginning to end. If you’re looking for a story filled with rage, politics, and desperation, I highly recommend! Crueler Mercies will not disappoint!

Thank you to Bindery Books for access to the eARC!

Crueler Mercies is a dark, emotionally charged tale of exile, vengeance, and fragile alliances, with a slow-burn sapphic romance at its heart. Vita’s transformation from silenced royal to a woman fueled by rage and magic is both haunting and empowering, and the bond between her and Soline simmers with quiet intensity. The themes of betrayal, power, and feminist rebellion are compelling, and the alchemical magic adds an eerie, unpredictable edge. While the pacing falters in parts and some secondary characters feel underdeveloped, the novel’s raw emotion and striking prose make it a rewarding, if occasionally uneven, read.

For fans of Casati's Clytemnestra and Reid's Lady Macbeth.

This book took us on a journey through a young girl's tumultuous childhood and right through her even more harrowing coming-of-age & early womanhood. From witnessing unspeakable horror done to her mother by her own father, to being sequestered in a tower far from her home, to being taken as a trophy by a would-be conqueror & king - Vita had been left alone in the world to face evils that would use her for their own gain.

Until Soline. And a few other characters and creatures that help the princess realize she is more than a pawn in some monarchs game: she is a queen ready to take back her throne.

This book had me in shambles. I was shaking with anger, crying over her losses and so invested in the last quarter of the story that I had to sit through and finish it. At 2AM, I finally flipped the last page and felt changed.

Congratulations to Maren Chase on an absolutely INCREDIBLE debut... I will be looking for anything & everything else she might write.

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book early and share my honest review. All reviews will be posted to my socials (Netgalley, Goodreads, Fable, IG).

For me, this book was so very satisfying in that Vita was the one holding the dagger at the end, using everyone’s assumptions about her incompetence against them. That, while she did slip here and there, she kept her anger quiet and buried beneath the picture of the naive exiled princess that they all wanted to see.
This book is not about loud rage. It is about the gradual building of anger, of reacting in the moment even if the timing is all wrong. It is the quiet sort of rage, the careful sort.
It’s the we should have run at the start sort. The I-will-kill-him-and-die-trying-because-he-harmed-those-I-love-the-most sort.
It is the rage that builds out of grief and doesn’t let go and doesn’t move on.
And in the hands of someone like Vita, it is by far the worst sort.
Kindness is a choice, but Vita shows us that kindness is not a weakness. She shows us that kindness is a gift and that, if you don’t want it, then you will receive her rage instead.

Crueler Mercies is a fierce, spellbinding tale of rage, resilience, and queer rebellion wrapped in a lush, alchemy-laced fantasy. Maren Chase delivers a heroine in Vita who is unapologetically furious—and rightfully so. Watching her transform from exiled, forgotten royalty into a force of reckoning is both thrilling and deeply satisfying. The sapphic romance between Vita and Soline crackles with tension and chemistry, adding depth to a story already brimming with political intrigue and rebellion. With poetic prose and sharp worldbuilding, this is a dark fairytale for readers who crave stories about women reclaiming their power—and wielding it mercilessly.

This book has a great revenge plot. Vittoria is so naive in the beginning it was almost hard to read. It did get better as she was discovering herself and the ways of the world. I adore the side characters and how she quickly developed her circle. There was so much growth in Vita. I loved the birds as their own character. There is so much to unpack in this book. Vittoria, shunned by her father after he had her mother killed and sent to live alone locked in a room in a far off place gave some rapunzel vibes. Her rescue was more of another capture and going on that adventure of Vita realizing she went from one cage to another and how she was going to get out of it was great. When it ended I wanted more and wanted to read about how things take shape after the end. Thank you NetGalley, bindery books, and the author for allowing me to read this book.

4.5 stars

A slow-burn, slow-paced story about brutality, war, and revenge, Crueler Mercies enchanted me from the beginning. There were times I had to take a break and switch to something lighter due to the sheer number of blows Vita endures. Even so, I was fascinated by her transformation from captive to cunning. Of course, I loved the Sapphic element and how tender Sol and Vita could be.

The ending of this one will haunt me for months to come.

If you loved The Jasmine Throne, give this one a go.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.