The Boneless Mercies

The Bonesless Mercies: young girls brought together by circumstance and kept together by solidarity and purpose. Their job? To help those who no longer wish to live, or are dying, by aiding their departure into the next world. Exhausted by their grim existence and without a home ever to call their own, the Mercies decide to travel to Blue Vee to seek out and kill the monster terrorising the land, and claim their glory. From the beginning, The Boneless Mercies is an unusual tale with sisterhood and women at its core, something unusual and most welcome for the modern day. It took me a while to warm to the main characters and their trade but I couldn't help but be mesmerised by the closeness, selflessness and fierce loyalty that the group shares. Throughout the book and at almost every encounter, it is women and girls who are the key, strong, characters. The book truly embraces role reversal but without being overt. Males are few and are either pretty additions, overcome or led by women - something that has been happening in reverse in books and films for years! Interestingly though, from all the groups in the book, it was the 'Quicks' that sounded the most enticing. With the dangers and harsh life elsewhere, who wouldn't want to run free, living off the land with a merry band of archers, in the Endless Forests? Unfortunately for the Mercies, the Quicks are almost all male and rarely take in women or girls who may be susceptible to love and children. Perhaps the author felt this addition was needed to balance the story but my feeling is they could have been women as well! Thick with fantasy, the author manages to immerse the reader in the warm treetops of the Sea Witches, the damp, dark, sinister and hypnotising atmosphere of the marsh Cut-Queen and the mists of the Blue Vee where the Beast and Jarl Roth await. Filled with issues such as displacement, war, grief, depression and genocide, this book takes the reader through many emotions and creates empathy even for the most gigantic and ruthless of beasts. There is certainly enough gruesome detail for boys but I wonder how they would feel about the almost totally female cast? It would be an interesting experiment to have this on a mixed schools reading group list; I'm sure it would encourage much discussion. Fantasy readers will love this and it is left open for a sequel but nicely finishes this story first. Recommended. 352 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Lorraine Ansell, school librarian.

Suggested Reading Age 11+