lastblossom reviewed The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton (The Moon Heresies, #1)
Packed with political intrigue, startling plot twists, vibrant world building, and lots of sex. Purposefully dense writing makes it a difficult piece to get into.
This book was hard to read. Looking at other reviews, I see I am not alone. I initially thought it was just my usual friction with third person present tense narratives, but as the story went on, it became clear that the author was purposefully aiming for a difficult read. There's a dreamlike quality to the prose that makes scenes difficult to follow sometimes. Time passing is difficult to pin down; the speaker stops mid-story to drop in entire chapters about the world's lore, or a sliver of character history; even the scores of names, nicknames, and titles can be difficult to keep track of. It has the feel of a traveling storyteller spreading a tale via oral tradition, with various asides here and there. I do wonder if I'd have liked it better in audio book format.
That being said, I was promised court drama and plot twists, so …
This book was hard to read. Looking at other reviews, I see I am not alone. I initially thought it was just my usual friction with third person present tense narratives, but as the story went on, it became clear that the author was purposefully aiming for a difficult read. There's a dreamlike quality to the prose that makes scenes difficult to follow sometimes. Time passing is difficult to pin down; the speaker stops mid-story to drop in entire chapters about the world's lore, or a sliver of character history; even the scores of names, nicknames, and titles can be difficult to keep track of. It has the feel of a traveling storyteller spreading a tale via oral tradition, with various asides here and there. I do wonder if I'd have liked it better in audio book format.
That being said, I was promised court drama and plot twists, so I gamely pushed myself through the first half of the book until BAM! Everything suddenly took off at a dizzying speed. And yes, we get court drama and plot twists aplenty. At that point, I found that the initially confusing prose was also designed to punctuate the panic and uncertainty of the situation. It didn't necessarily push the story to be more immersive, but it did lend to the sense of vertigo that the reader is meant to feel as the main character attempts to navigate a situation far beyond her control.
And as for the main character, she's also difficult to pin down. She's a prodigy. She's very morally gray. She's also very sexual. But her own personality feels about as undefined and shapeless as the rest of the prose. One character refers to her as a "little arguer," an apt nickname. She is happy to point out flaws in the system (and rightfully so), but so far has not dedicated much time to considering solutions or even working towards them. It's something she knows about herself, but it does mean most of her momentum comes from outside forces and the urgency of immediacy. With a cliffhanger ending like that, though, I can only hope we'll see more from her.
Also, there are a LOT of sexual encounters in this book, all described in thorough and intimate detail. You already know if that's a plus or a minus for you. I'm just letting you know.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!