I can definitely see the influences from various books and games that inspired Chance Dillon—there are clear glimpses of great potential throughout. However, the book’s flow feels quite chaotic at this stage. I had difficulty getting a solid grasp of the world and story, especially in the beginning.

The introduction of new characters in the first few chapters felt turbulent. As a reader, I often didn’t have enough context—why a character was present in a scene, who they were exactly, or what their motives might be. Additionally, the frequent drops of world-specific terminology without proper explanation made it hard to follow. The glossary at the end wasn’t particularly helpful, and I truly hope it gets expanded or updated by the time of release. For a high fantasy novel of this scale, a more informative reference is essential.

While I did notice some solid foreshadowing, the first 30–40% of the book lacked the clarity needed to stay fully engaged. At times, reading felt more like work than enjoyment.

I don’t usually read other reviews before posting my own, but this time I wanted to check if others had similar experiences—mainly to reassure myself, because I really *do* see the potential here. I hesitated to lean too heavily on the negatives, as it’s obvious a lot of thought, research, and world-building went into this story.

That said, the book has strong design and structure, and I loved the epigraphs—those have seem to become my guilty pleasure. They’re a clever, unobtrusive way to share lore, and they added a lot to the atmosphere.

I genuinely believe in the potential of Mercy: Tears of the Fallen and would consider rereading it in the future. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Chance Dillon’s work going forward.

Thank you, NetGalley, BookSirens, and Light Seeker Publishing, for the ARC!

2.5 stars rounded up. I find this book incredibly hard to review. I received this book as a free arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and I am a bit on the fence about it.

Did I like the book? Not really. does that mean it is a bad book and no one should read this? No.

Overall I thought this book was so confusing, there was so much happening, and so many fantasy terms I needed the glossary for.Also a lot of pov's through the book which got me out of tje rythm when I was just getting into it.

In the beginning it's no problem for me to be confused and looking at the glossary, but at about 50% it really dampened my reading experience. This resulted in kind of surface reading the last half of the book, purely reading to finish it instead of actually enjoying this story.

If yoh like complex long fantasy books you can certainly give this a try. But I am glad I have finally struggled my way through this.

Primero de todo, como siempre, gracias a NetGalley y a la editorial por darme la oportunidad de leer este libro antes de su publicación.
Y ahora, entrando en la reseña…
Desde las primeras páginas, se percibe claramente la visión del autor, y debo decir que su enfoque hacia la alta fantasía me ha gustado mucho, ya que es uno de los géneros que más disfruto. El estilo narrativo, la construcción del universo y la intención de desarrollar a los personajes recuerdan a autores como Brandon Sanderson o a la nueva saga de Jay Kristoff, lo cual captó de inmediato mi atención ya que ambos autores son de mis favoritos.
Sin embargo el libro presenta una necesidad urgente de una ronda adicional de edición. La falta de explicaciones básicas hace que la lectura sea lo que viene a ser una mala experiencia. Al alcanzar el 20% del libro casi ni recordaba cuatro nombres de personajes de entre más de veinte que ya habían aparecido... y el worldbuilding seguía siendo un misterio. En ningún momento se introduce de forma clara y estructurada el funcionamiento del mundo, su jerarquía mágica o los elementos clave de la ambientación. Y ya no hablemos de como funcionan las piedras, etc, que sigo sin tener ni idea.
Me encontré intentando adivinar quién era quién, qué posición ocupaba cada personaje dentro del sistema mágico y cuál era su relevancia en la historia, pero es que imposible seguir el hilo. Esto me frustra especialmente porque soy una gran amante de la alta fantasía y disfruto profundamente este tipo de tramas, pero en este caso, la ejecución, especialmente en los primeros capítulos, hace que directamente me cueste leer y no quiera hacerlo.
Dicho esto, reconozco que la trama en sí es muy interesante. Desde el inicio despierta curiosidad, y se percibe el esfuerzo que hay detrás de su construcción. Lamentablemente, esa riqueza no puede apreciarse del todo porque el lector no está lo suficientemente ubicado dentro del universo narrativo.
Otro aspecto a mejorar son las descripciones, en algunos casos resultan excesivas o poco equilibradas. Por ejemplo, mientras que no se explica en ningún momento cómo funciona el sistema de magia, las runestones o el propio worldbuilding, se dedica una extensión considerable, más de diez páginas, a describir un asalto a una boda. Entiendo la importancia narrativa del momento, pero el enfoque resulta desproporcionado y sin importancia si no sabes realmente lo que supone que la boda esté siendo asaltada. (y por quién, porque no tenía ni idea)

Además, los constantes cambios de narrador sin ningún tipo de aviso o indicación hacen que la lectura siga siendo todavía más dificil de ubicarse. Es un recurso que he visto utilizar antes, pero nunca llega a gustarme. En este caso, solo contribuye a la confusión, obligando a que me pare constantemente para pensar de qué personaje está hablando y en qué situación se encontraba.

En conclusión, considero que la novela tiene una buena premisa y de hecho puede que con una ronda de edición sea un libro muy bueno, pero su ejecución no está a la altura. La falta de contextualización es el mayor problema, que impide conectar tanto con los personajes como con su historia, lo cual es especialmente grave en un libro de alta fantasía.
Cabe mencionar que leí ambos apéndices incluidos (el de personajes y el general al final del libro), y aunque aportan algo de claridad, no explican ni de lejos lo necesario para saber realmente lo que está sucediendo en el libro.

Holy shit… this was phenomenal. This is what I want from all fantasy from now on. Absolute masterpiece.

Chance Dillon’s debut novel, Mercy: Tears of the Fallen, throws you headfirst into a land soaked in dark magicks, filled with human and non-human creatures, as he weaves a tale of ambition, redemption, and betrayal, in threads of misery and blood.

This is grimdark.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is set in the world of Maetlynd, on the other side of the apocalyptic wars, where the skies rained red-tinged blight, driving people mad, ravaging the land. In this new era, peace sits at a blade’s edge, and the newly established Unity hangs by the thinnest thread of goodwill between the various factions. This forms the central premise between the politicking of this tale, one facet of this multipronged epic.

Another major component concerns the titular “tears of the fallen”, precious gemstones of immense power from the warring age between the gods and godlike creatures. Everyone’s after these “tears”, to pursue their own noble or nefarious ends. The magic in this novel is a complex interconnected system of runes, innate magical blood, imbued gemstones, and different sources of power (Dawn, Dusk, Blood, etc.) via the worship of different gods. The systems harken to an elaborate RPG like Elden Ring or Lords of the Fallen, and novels like Malazan. The ever-present threat of the red brambles of the blight that causes a 28 Days Later-esque berserker zombie effect on its victims is also a looming threat throughout this tale. The blight is weaponized by the antagonists from the fabled land of Mercy, a weird heaven-analog realm, but with a darker spin.

To carry these various plotlines and themes forward, we have an entire cast of characters, each with their arc, intertwining through each others’ journeys to create the larger narrative. The two major protagonists are the nigh-immortal paragon turned vengeance-driven jaded warrior elf, Alevist, and the disgraced-but-looking-for-redemption, down-on-his-luck, Eravayn, drawn into a plot larger than the scope of his own life. There are numerous side characters with their plotlines at various locations that converge and diverge as Dillon moves us through this novel. Whether it is assassin twins with their own agenda, a scheming advisor to the High King, with his own thirst for power, and even conniving demigods, Mercy: Tears of the Fallen has it all!

To compliment Dillon, this is probably among the most ambitious debut novels in terms of scope, I have read in modern dark fantasy. Praise must be given to the sheer chutzpah to open up such an expansive world with so many diverse systems of magic, races, plots, settings, characters, etc. His prose is also razor-sharp and belies his first-time status, with the heft of a much more seasoned writer. His character work is also quite pristine, and most characters feel believable with their prowess and flaws, ambitions and weaknesses,

To criticize Dillon, he may have bitten off more than he can chew with this expansive approach. While his world is expansive, the way he sets up his systems, with the names of places, characters, magical items and systems, etc. make the entire package feel extremely unwieldy. It was quite challenging, even for a veteran of the genre, to form firm anchors of understanding with any of these aspects of his worldbuilding. This caused me to glaze over the finer details at around the two-thirds mark to focus on the mainline plot. Perhaps, pruning systems or characters, or structuring them better, would have helped this novel enter the upper echelons of the genre.

Dillon’s approach mirrors Elden Ring and Malazan in yet another way: he spends zero time holding the reader’s hand. He throws us into the deep end of his world with nearly no handholds, bombarding us with tonnes of information about his various plots, places, people, and systems. This approach is a high-risk-high-reward one — impressive for those with whom these systems click and become coherent, yet will be increasingly frustrating for the (expected) many who need to be eased into a new world that gradually increases in scope as the novel, and its sequels move along. I lie somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, and felt both feelings of being impressed and frustrated in equal measure. In addition, a central spine of a plot was never really established and hammered in, especially in the earlier chapters, with the novel feeling like various side quests being stitched together without a strong core plot plodding onward.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen, is a compelling story that show the brilliance and drawbacks of an ambitious fresh young voice in the genre. The tale shows incredible promise and the pieces are all there, to be an underrrated series in a confined genre. Hopefully, the author learns important lessons from this debut and sharpens future entries in the series to yield a truly great grimdark experience!

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen by Chance Dillon is a haunting, beautifully written journey that had me hooked from the very first page. The comparison to The Malazan Book of the Fallen and the works of Joe Abercrombie is not only apt—it’s earned. This book blends raw emotion with a gripping storyline, diving deep into trauma, healing, and redemption in a way that feels both intensely personal and universally resonant. It’s the kind of fantasy novel I’d even recommend to friends who usually stick to literary fiction.

Dillon’s prose is lyrical yet grounded, pulling you into the protagonist’s inner world with heartbreaking clarity. The emotional depth and level of world-building are staggering—this isn't just a story you read; it's one you feel, one you can truly live in. The characters are vividly real, and their pain, struggles, and resilience lingered with me long after I turned the last page.

What makes Tears of the Fallen truly stand out is how it doesn’t shy away from the darkness—yet it never loses sight of hope. Dillon strikes a delicate balance, and does so masterfully, especially for a debut. This is a novel about survival, about the cost of silence, and about the healing power of truth and compassion.

A powerful debut that grips both heart and mind. Mercy: Ill of the Fate cannot come soon enough! Huge thanks to Chance Dillon, Light Seeker Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC—I’ll be requesting the sequel the moment it’s available!

I absolutely loved this read! In the beginning you are thrown into a lot. Into the world of Maetyland to be exact. This land has been through the it all between war, cataclysmic storms that poisoned the waters, so the people of the land went mad. I mean can you blame them?

So you can guess it there is a fallen hero that helps this land unify and yes it’s in his hands. This book contains characters of various types and emotions attached. These go from broken spirited, trauma, trauma bonds, morally grey, diverse racial and cultural, genuine happy, depression, grief, addiction, ptsd, good vs evil, and clashing motives.

If you like high fantasy or a demanding fantasy reads then this is for you. If you don’t have a high attention span then this might be a hit or miss for you. But if you can get through the first 20-40% you will be golden!

Dillon has built something worth following! Mercy: Tears of the Fallen shouldn't catch anyone off guard with its title, but Dillon does just that with this debut novel. This story highlights his natural skills to create raw and intense characters who struggle with the sins of their past, their quest for justice, and how every choice they make comes with consequences.

Chance does a great job building a grim world that expands throughout the story. A world full of myth, mystery, and complexity, that we have only begun to see in this 1st book. The setting is complex as it continues to be shaped by conflict and every decision the character's make. I cannot wait to read about its haunting history and surprises Dillon has in store for us.

Dillon has built something special, and I am excited to follow it to the end.

I’ve been following Chance Dillon on social media for a while and I was intrigued from the first time I heard about this book. His recent interview with iSamwise eventually persuaded me to request an ARC, which was kindly gifted to me. In that conversation, he pitched the book with two questions that will spark interest in many fantasy readers:

What if Aragorn lost everything after the war for the One Ring? And what if Sam had to kill Frodo to save Middle-earth?

I jumped straight in after hearing that, and that’s exactly what Chance has planned for you as a reader. Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is an ambitious novel, in the likes of books like Malazan, but also reminiscent of The Failures by Benjamin Liar (another great debut). (Apparently, it also draws on games like Elden Ring, but my lack of button-smashing skills makes it hard for me to say.)
It’s a bold move to publish such a complex and dense book, but he nails it in my opinion.

The story takes place in Maetlynd, a world carefully crafted and layered with history and culture. We follow different characters, but the main focus is on Alevist and Erevayn, a fallen hero and a drunken exile who form a surprising alliance as the hard-won Unity of the world comes under threat. Not every character's motivation is entirely clear, but I was still invested in several of them (especially my boy Hayde).

The many plotlines and POVs alternate at a steady pace, though the middle section slows down quite a bit. I wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the choices Dillon made here, but they did serve the story and moved things forward. The prose is smooth, and Dillon truly shines in the thrilling and emotionally charged action scenes. I hope he grows as a writer to also evoke these kind of emotions in the dialogues between characters. The romantic subplots in particular didn’t work for me, since they never felt believable or well developed.

Dillon doesn’t hold your hand and he wants you to trust him and the process. That’s a bold ask from a debut author, but for readers in doubt it’s nice to know that he took on D.J. Butler (who also works with Christopher Ruocchio) as a developmental editor to help shape the final story.

The last act is a wild ride, with a payoff for the build up earlier in the book. Dillon has definitely earned my trust, and I’m already looking forward to book 2 (and 3 and 4)!

To say that this is a debut novel is unbelievable. This book was fantastic! This dark epic fantasy certainly lives up to the title.

We are thrown headfirst straight into the world building of Maetlynd our fantasy world that has been overwhelmed by war and then the Crimson storms making the water undrinkable and causes people to go infectiously mad.

We then move forward to years later, where we see such characters such as Alevist, a warrior who was looking forward to his retirement but instead found nothing but bloodshed. And Erevayn who spends his days drinking to forget and wanting to prove himself to reverse his exile mark.

There are a lot of other characters in this book, each with their own background and story (the character building is u real) but I feel me trying to describe them would do Dillon’s writing an injustice and would take the pleasure away from you when reading this. Now I will hold my hands up and say that I should have made full use of the character sheet that Dillon painstakingly gave us, however I was on nights when I started this book and didn’t think much of it, and as such it took me a while to get my head wrapped around the characters.

The only better way I can think of describing this book is if you are a fan of The Witcher, or authors such as George RR Martin or Brandon Sanderson, then this is a most certainly a book for you. This is a beast of a book and it doesn’t just drag you into the story, it grips you by the hair and throws you headfirst into this new world!

Tears of the Fallen is a compelling story, but I found that some of the sentences lacked the fluidity I was hoping for.

There's so much human-ity in this book - human failings, human touch, human overreach and human politics. All the unhuman characters, with their unhuman looks and their unhuman powers, are ultimately human in nature: greed, ambition, love, pain, manipulation, abuse, power, generosity, disregard, faith, calculation, care, ability, talent, genius, motivation are all driving the plot in a very complex world, scarred by war and everything bad and tragic its destruction can bring.
I had a difficult start, it felt as if I was trying to read in a foreign language, but as things started to happen and I got a grasp on the main characters it became very interesting and I got invested. The writing is evocative, the characters come alive on the page with all their weaknesses and strengths, and the understanding of their actions is subtly guided by the Archivist's history references. You know a book is good when, besides hooking you on the story, you also become painfully aware of your real-life circumstances, all the things that we take for granted and which could be lost - most of all freedom and free will. The modern world has made us soft, the technology making our lives so much easier, and here I don't only think of the washing machine and plumbing, but also the internet, which has opened such wonderful ease into knowledge. With it, comes the manipulation, it is so easy to read about and judge people and actions we don't really know, which makes it easy to one day wake up to a different reality - the sleep of reason gives birth to monsters, and this superficiality might make us enable such monsters. Question is, do heroes still exist to save us? I know they do, and the most precious thing driving us and the narrative in this book is Hope.
Mercy - interesting choice for a book about a world torn by war - I will definitely read the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is a very elaborate high/epic fantasy.
It was not always easy to follow what was going on, as the story was very busy with lots of characters involved. Lots of different points of view to explore.
There are also multiple political and religious factions and multiple races to try and distinguish making it a highly complex story.
That being said there are some very well written characters and scenes that I quite enjoyed.

I think this is a decent book but it must be for the right reader. I must admit when I first started this book I was completely lost in what is basically the prologue (under the section “The Before”) but when it got to book one (Our Wars Within) it got easier and was able to follow it better.

There are many comparisons out there for this book to Malazan and that's true to an extent: large cast, shifting character viewpoints, and a vast world you will have to figure out as you go along. I will say I don't think it had the humor of that series and the overall tone reminded me of the Kharkanus books. It can feel a bit like work sometimes reading the book and trying to figure out everything but for the right audience it will be rewarding.

Complex and very dark fantasy that challenges the reader through its massive but compelling world building. The world feels real and the magic system is something special, even experienced readers of the genre have not encountered before. The characters are extremely diverse and morally grey which is a welcome bonus for Grimedark fans.

I enjoyed this book! The world building was pretty good, sometimes I found myself a little confused and having to reread to better understand but after I figured that out I felt like it was easy to engage with the reading. The middle section kind of dragged; I almost wished it was a little shorter? The end was fantastic and I can see how this book is going to do well during it's release. I would def recommend this.

this is definitely the most challenged I have ever been reading a book and I HIGHLY recommend that once things start clicking you go back to the beginning and immediately start over.

I was lost for at least 150-200 pages. and it is pretty dense in that time. But suddenly i read one paragraph and the lightbulb above my head lit up so bright. i had a complete AHA moment but still was like wait am i insane? is this delirium or did i just understand? so i went back to the beginning and reread to confirm which helped IMMENSELY.

I genuinely was attracted to the book based on the plot and the books people said it was reminiscent of. I have never read brandon sanderson or joe abercrombie or john gwynne or anything like that BUT i have wanted to so I thought heck might as well!

There are quite a bit of POVs but its definitely needed the further you get into the book. its kind of like the last few books of TOG where ppl wanna skip tower of dawn bc they still hate chaol (rightfully so) but skipping it would be a disservice to the book and you need those perspectives.

Theres so many people on so many different you cant skip anything. You really need to grab a drink, some snacks, and hunker down. prepare to be frustrated and confused.... its NORMAL and WORTH IT.

Avelist and Erevayn are deeply complex characters and i genuinely feel like we have only scratched the surface.

The author purposefully withholds information until you are ready to have it. that being said, i have a million questions about where the story is going and how the characters are going to reach the end of their journey. I want so many things for these characters. I feel like I cant rest until they do.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen by Chance Dillon is a dark, emotionally intense thriller that delivers a powerful punch. The story is raw and gritty, with themes of justice, vengeance, and the human capacity for both cruelty and compassion. The author does a great job of building tension and keeping the reader on edge throughout.

The characters are deeply flawed but compelling, and the plot unfolds with just the right mix of suspense and heart. While some moments were heavy and hard to read, they were handled with purpose and added depth to the overall narrative.

I’m giving this one 4 stars because, while it was gripping and well-written, certain plot points felt slightly predictable. Still, it's a strong, thought-provoking read that lingers long after the last page.

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

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen by Chance Dillon is a debut fantasy novel. The beginning of the book is quite complex and confusing with a lot of worldbuilding. The book starts off in Maetlynd where the people are still dealing with wars, and poisoned waters. This book may be hard to understand for newer fantasy readers. Throughout this book there is great character development.

This book has so much going for it. It has multiple plot lines to follow. Politics, world building, magic. Its a bit brutal and a mix of old and new. Lots of characters and personalities to love and hate. If you are a type of person that loves heavy complicated in depth dark epic high fantasy books that make you have to slow down and really enjoy reading, this is going to be the book/series for you.