I've loved Tessa Grafton's other works, and I was really excited to see what she could do with her own original fantasy setting. We get some incredibly intricate worldbuilding and magic and the best kind of political and religious maneuvering. While there's a bit of a hint at the scale of Iriset's powers, it kind of gets downplayed for a good chunk of the narrative because she has to hide her powers to survive at court. The prose is dense but worth your time, and I liked the frequent sex scenes. Interested to see where the next book goes!

DNF at 10%

Maybe I just need to come back to this when life isn't so much, but I found this too difficult to get through. Something about the prose combined with the really complicated world and magic system that isn't explained left me feeling like I wasn't understanding any of what I was reading. I was reading paragraphs over and over again trying to parse them, and it felt too much like working for me to enjoy it.

Also, I have nothing against neopronouns but using an/ans when that is a very common word did not work for me. I couldn't read quickly because every time I saw that pronoun I would misread it as the actual word an, which ground me to a halt. I don't think I ever would've gotten used to it given its use as a real, common word.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton is a third person-POV epic fantasy. Isiret’s father runs a criminal organization and his time is running out and so is Isiret's. She agrees to take on the identity and visage of someone she once loved and marries Lyric, the Vertex Sealer. But lines start to blur as she finds herself more and more attracted to her husband.

I struggle with calling this a romantic fantasy because I felt it took a while for the actual romance to really start. There are a lot of other plot details going on and I felt that the romance didn't really get going until maybe the 60% mark, which, for me, is too late for something to be sold on the romantic elements. 20% is kind of my cut-off point. The reason I am struggling is because once we hit the wedding, the romantic moments are very much present and I can understand why some readers might view this as a romantic fantasy. I’m just very torn.

Of all the elements that go into a fantasy book (prose, plot, romance in this case, characters, voice, and worldbuilding), I would say that this is worldbuilding-forward. There is a lot of worldbuilding and a lot of details that flesh everything out and create something that is quite rich in terms of the environment the characters live in. There’s mentions of laws and regulations as well as food and fashion, so it’s not only one aspect that is used to give a time and place.

I would recommend this to fans of fantasies with a lot of worldbuilding and readers who prefer fantasies that take their time to build up to the romance aspects

DNF at 3%. Writing is so dense, it’s a chore to try to decipher. Couldn’t get into it, and had to reread sentences constantly for clarity.

Thank you Netgalley, Orbit, and Tessa Gratton for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I cannot stand to dnf books, but I had to dnf this one at about 15%. The writing was not clear in the slightest, and it seemed like the author’s main goal was to confuse the reader into oblivion. I could not understand a thing that was happening and, as someone who reads 95% fantasy, the world building was absolutely not there. I understand that world building needs to be confusing at the beginning of a fantasy book, but this is a confusion I’ve never encountered, and I’ve read some DENSE fantasy.

This is a no from me unfortunately.

Thanks for my gifted copy.

I’ve honestly been sitting on this review for over a week. There were aspects that I liked but I just didn’t enjoy most of this book. I felt like I had to keep going back and trying to figure out what was going on. I couldn’t really connect to any characters. The plot was interesting enough but just didn’t grab my attention.

3 stars.

DNF 59%

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy of The Mercy Makers.

I really struggled with this. The narrative is so circular and flowery that I wasn't actually sure what was going on half the time. I am a very plot driven person and while there was plot there, it was so hard to understand what I was reading that I had to keep going back and re-reading and then I still couldn't quite understand. This was no the book for me.

The Mercy Makers, the first book in The Moon Heresies, follows Iriset, the daughter of a crime boss who crafts magical-and illegal-disguises. When her father is imprisoned and sentenced to death, Iriset infiltrates the ruling family to try and save him. But the emperor's new bride threatens to expose Iriset's plans, and her heart.

This was an okay fantasy read that started slowly but improved as the story progressed. It started with good writing; I liked how lyrical the prose was. However, the pacing of the story and character progression at times took me out of the story. There is so much potential, though I liked the fantasy elements, the rivals/opposing groups that the fmc and mmc are in. The fmc is the daughter of a criminal and works on illegal inventions and stuff. The mmc is basically opposite, and they are thrown together when the fmcs father is sentenced to death. The worldbuilding was done well, and the romance was okay; there are a couple of steamy scenes, but I was only really invested in the story towards the latter half of the book when things started picking up. Thanks to Orbit for this arc for an honest review.

Objectively, The Mercy Makers struggled quite a bit with pacing. It took me a while to wade through it, and about half the length was due to all the (arguably unnecessary) descriptive prose. However, the worldbuilding, characterization, and prose more than make up for the fact that this book is a slog.

Though it definitely took a lot of effort to read this book and figure out what was going on, it was a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I found the general plot about rebellion and religion to be quite interesting, and Iriset, Amaranth, and Lyric all felt very realistic and likeable to me. The prose was beautifully done and had pleasantly Tanith-Lee-ish vibes at certain points.

And while we technically didn't need 5,000 details about the mosaic tiles used in each room, the patterns on each character's robes and masks, and the geometry of the world's magic system, as an artist, I really appreciated the focus on design and color. It made me want to paint countless illustrations and created some really gorgeous mental imagery. Another highlight of the book for me was all the sex scenes, which, unlike sex scenes in many books, actually helped to reveal essential details about characters and move the plot along while also being realistic and non-cringeworthy.

Sure it took me almost a month to get through this book, but it's not even out yet and I'm already eagerly awaiting the sequel.

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!

Link will go live on The Library Ladies on June 14

The Mercy Makers is a very ambitious book with a lot of potential that I felt it didn't quite meet. The writing style is technically very good - lyrical without being flowery - but it was too descriptive for me, with soo many architecture descriptions (so many domes). The book is very dense and hard to get into, and while the magic system was really cool and unlike anything I've read before, I still felt I hadn't fully grasped it by the end. The worldbuilding was very well done - Moonshadow feels like a real place, and the author clearly put a lot of effort into developing the culture and history of the empire without simply copying some real world country. (I wish the arc had included the map, I may have to buy a copy just to see it)

I liked Iriset and the more major characters, but the minor characters remained a blur until the very end, which is a bit of a problem when there are so many of them. The plot was exciting when it actually started, but that only properly happens halfway through the book. The pace also picks up at that point but remained fairly slow until the last few chapters, which were insane.

The plot and characters are so interesting, and I do want to see what happens next. However, this book was in some ways such a chore for me to get through, and I can't ignore how relieved I felt when I finished it. It's a case of wanting to like it more than actually liking it.

I recommend this if you like dense, challenging fantasy reads with incredibly creative worldbuilding, and don't mind a slow start.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

really fun book! the prose is quite interlooping, which i find kinda works well for it at most points, and the plotting is nice. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

I read Tessa Gratton for the first time years ago when I read The Queens of Innis Lear, and I enjoyed that book immensely! Gratton's writing does take some getting used to as she is very wordy with her prose. And her books tend to err on the slower side of the scale. But if you can handle that, please know that this story is incredible. The world building and the character work from Tessa Gratton is immaculate. You would be hard pressed to find an author that puts as much thought into each word she crafts. This book was great and I would ready anything this author puts out!

Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit, for allowing me to read an ARC of this book!

Unfortunately, I did DNF at 24%. My main reasons were that I struggled to feel anything for any of the characters and found the magic system too confusing. Though I normally enjoy complicated magic systems, I found this hard to follow.

I originally requested this book because it is exactly the type of story I love to read. However, the execution fell flat for me. I may pick this up again in the future to give it another chance. The setting was enjoyable and well written, I just felt that the plot was going nowhere and the FMC was not doing much for it being a quarter of the way through the book. I hope to give Tessa's future books a chance, as her story concept was incredibly interesting.

DNF @ ~10%


Unfortunately, I think I realized very quickly that this book isn’t for me. I was really intrigued by the premise but struggled reading the story and getting into it.

What didn’t work for me:
The writing is very stylized and intricate - I couldn’t get into the storytelling whatsoever and had to reread sections multiple times to begin to piece together the plot. The words were also old-English-y or academic to some extent. Again, stylized in a way that seemed very cool on the surface but was less enjoyable while trying to understand the story.
The explanations of the magic system weren’t very clear to me. It all seemed very interesting but it wasn’t something I could make heads or tails of based on where I stopped reading (which was relatively early on, so potentially this is solved later in the story).

This story has some excellent reviews so take mine with a grain of salt; you may enjoy this story if you like Kushiel’s Dart (similar story elements), anti-heroes (main character is very gray), and very complex worldbuilding.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books | Orbit for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ok I finally finished the ARC! And here is what I think… Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for the arc
3/6
I’m actually glad this book took me as long to read as it did, glad that I put it down a few times and let a day or two pass before I continued. Because let me tell you, without those breaks, I would have DNF’d or rated this much, MUCH lower.

The plot was good, solid, I even enjoyed the weird magic and religious philosophies. It was different from what I’ve read before, and the plot itself is what kept me coming back. However, what would have made me DNF (I totally would have if this wasn’t an arc) and rate it like a 1 star were the sex scenes and how horny Iriset was for every friggen person she meets! LIke the sex added NOTHING to the story. I think I would have honestly preferred fade to black, or just less of them over all. Iriset sleeping with multiple characters meant nothing to her character growth. It only served to showcase that she wasn’t picky with the anatomy of her lovers. You don’t have to sleep with someone to love and care for them.

Another thing that would’ve had me rating this low was the weird gender stuff, please don’t come for me, it's hard to see ‘an’ and ‘ans’ and it not be jarring because it was used ‘wrong’. I didn’t care that the character was differently gendered, it was just the word choice that was used for that gender. I did some research and I don’t see ‘an’ being used as a gender in real life. The character that used an was set up to be a major-ish character, ‘an’ even had a whole chapter POV dedicated to them at the beginning of the book! I think I would have gotten used to it more, but after that chapter the character is just relegated to the background and doesn’t have another POV chapter/section until much later in the book/almost the end, so it was jarring again.

So I read all the way until the end, and taking out those two minuses, I enjoyed it. The ending was not what I would have thought/was hoping for. I kinda was hoping for a more drawn-out revenge and political maneuvering, and not a bombastic explosion, but it is what it is. I’m slightly interested in the sequel, as the end was clearly set up with one in mind, but I will not be buying this book in print format.

(Unrelated sadness about this arc. It wasn’t finalized I guess so I didn’t get cool section breaks and I didn’t get the map at the beginning T.T I would’ve LOVED to be able to trace my way around the holy empire, or even just MoonShadow City/The palace! )

"The Mercy Makers"
by Tessa Gratton
3/5

Spoiler free review:
Whew. Guys, this is one hell of a book. I don't necessarily mean that in a good way or a bad way. It is simply a LOT. I did end up making it all the way through, but ultimately I think I would have been better off with a DNF. I have seen enough positive reviews to know some people will absolutely love this story. There are some captivating characters and interesting plot points. The magic system and world-building are incredibly intricate and complex. That will be a positive attribute to some and a negative one to others, and I just happen to fall into the latter.
It felt over-done. I normally love a good complex story, but a lot of the complexities felt thrown in there just to make things hard, not necessarily better or more interesting.

Thank you so much to Orbit and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! Due to my overall feelings about this story and the writing style, I will not be posting another review to my socials, other than Goodreads.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I want to love this book so badly! The magic is so unique and I love the story. However, the writing style wasn’t for me. I found myself a bit confused, but that might just be me!

Iriset is the daughter of a powerful criminal, but also a magical prodigy. She dreams of using her magic to help heal people and even change their appearance. However, with great power also comes the ethical dilemma of playing god.

Iriset’s father is arrested and to help him she must infiltrate the palace and get close with those who rule. She knew she would need to play the part, but wasn’t planning on catching feelings while playing those parts.

Like I said the magic is super fascinating to me, just the way the book was written had me struggling a bit. If you can get past that then I think you will enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the very first chapter of The Mercy Makers, it's clear that this is not a light read—you’re going to have to work for it. The worldbuilding is immense and deeply layered, encompassing everything from the intricate religious system to the lore. Tessa leaves out no detail, and while I typically enjoy comprehensive worldbuilding, this time it felt overwhelming. The level of detail occasionally bogged down the narrative, making it harder to stay immersed.

The prose and narrative voice itself was sometimes clever, sometimes cumbersome, and then sometimes a little juvenile. There are moments of wit, but they’re often lost in dense exposition and meandering tangents—especially when it comes to the magic system. Ironically, the deeper the explanations went, the more confusing the magic system became, pulling me out of the story. Still can’t visualize it and wrap my head around how it worked, it’s not the type of confusion where I care to learn more.

That said, the book’s potential kept me reading. The protagonist, Iriset, is a compelling and flawed character. As she navigates court politics and juggles multiple alter egos, she makes a lot of interesting choices. However, I sometimes struggled to connect with her emotionally. Her flippant tone in high-stakes moments made it hard to fully invest in her and to believe in certain moments. Emotional beats that could have landed with real weight often fell flat due to a lack of depth. Without strong characters, I couldn’t ignore that the plot was just stagnant for so many chapters.
There’s nothing wrong with having steamy scenes and tension because it makes sense in this setting, sex and power definitely converge here, however, a lot of the romances were underdeveloped and I wished I had felt more for them. Again lots of potential.

Still, The Mercy Makers is ambitious in all the right ways. It offers a blend of political intrigue, a complex magic system that intertwines religion and science, and thoughtful social commentary. It’s a political romantasy centered with BIPOC characters, which is refreshing and much-needed in the genre, so I’m glad I got a chance to read this.

While it didn’t fully deliver for me, there’s no denying that The Mercy Makers is trying to do something big—and that alone makes it worth paying attention to. This is definitely a story that would work for some people!