Meet the Boneless Mercies – four young women living in the brutal wilderness of Vorseland who aren’t only set apart from the other villagers because of the raven-feathered cloaks they wear, but also because they are hired to do the work nobody else will even dare contemplate. Because the Boneless Mercies are assassins, so quick and silent in their deadly craft that the locals believe they are really ghosts who will dissolve into smoke if you touch their skin. However, the mortal reality is very different.
Frey, Ovie, Juniper and Runa are simply very talented and compassionate killers in a world where only men have the option to pursue a better life. And now Frey has had enough. The heroic sagas told by her people have instilled something powerful inside her, a desire to escape the death trade and find her own greatness.
When Frey hears rumours of a terrifying, unkillable monster that’s currently threatening a nearby town, she realises this is the Boneless Mercies’ chance to secure the glory and riches they deserve. If they can destroy the creature then maybe people will be telling sagas about them one day.
The only problem is, the heroes of sagas rarely die. Frey and her companions may not share that destiny.
We loved The Boneless Mercies. After all, who wouldn’t love a gender-switched version of Beowulf packed with feisty kick-ass female warriors, sea witches and rampaging beasts, all stirred up in a Viking cauldron to make a rich and tasty mythological stew? And author April Genevieve Tucholke doesn’t let us down, even if the story does slow down a tad in the middle section before ramping up to an intense and satisfyingly brutal climax. But what really impressed us was how detailed and diverse the Mercies universe is and how the relationships between the characters are so realistically and sensitively defined, concentrating upon the bonding and friendship between the four women without disintegrating into quasi-romantic schmaltz. Tucholke gives her characters room to breathe, and she knows when to pull back on the physical action (p.s. the action scenes are handled very well) to concentrate on the human drama that’s really the engine of this story. It’s refreshing to read a version of the Hero’s Journey mythos which is – for the most part – so free of cliché, despite the fact that it’s essentially a smart female-centric retelling of one of the world’s oldest and most familiar legends. The Boneless Mercies is very highly recommended and even though the story is wrapped up neatly enough to simply be a standalone, we hope there’ll be more adventures to come in the very near future.
REVIEW: THE BONELESS MERCIES / AUTHOR: APRIL GENEVIEVE TUCHOLKE / PUBLISHER: SIMON & SCHUSTER CHILDREN’S UK / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 4TH
