Fie is a teenager set to become the next Chief of her clan, following the footsteps of her mentor and father figure. The Merciful Crow duology entails a world where population groups and occupations are based off of bird species, and her clan’s job as Crows is to deliver mercy to anyone touched by a contagious plague (e.g. slicing their throats and disposing the bodies) to which they are immune. But when the Prince and his body double fake their own deaths to overthrow his stepmother the Queen, Fie and her clan have no choice but to escort them to safety for them to achieve that goal. However, Fie doesn’t agree without securing something of value for her people that will last generations. 

Fans of The Hunger Games will find many similarities in The Merciful Crow – an angsty teenage heroine who finds herself in the middle of a plot to overthrow the current system, various populations where some groups are more privileged than others, and an evil ruler with terrifying groups of powerful people in her corner. While there certainly is a “slow burning” romance, there is no love triangle, and the main character does not end up with the Prince (this is not a spoiler but an early reveal tips readers off to this fact). 

In any case, people have magical abilities or “Birthright” based on their caste (i.e. Phoenixes can control fire), but while Crows were born with no Birthright, Fie is unique in that as a “witch” she can summon powers of any caste as long as she has a tooth from a person belonging to that caste. Now how does she acquire teeth, you may wonder? Remember how she is responsible for delivering mercy to the sick? Well she might just snag a tooth or two while doing the deed. When it comes to dealing with the bodies of royalty, she demands payment in Phoenix teeth – which obviously become immensely useful during her mission, seeing as her caste is constantly hunted and killed by a group that just happens to have permission from the Queen to do so. 

Margaret Owen is talented in her storytelling; she grabs the readers’ attention with betrayal, suspense, and a bit of disturbing imagery, but she doesn’t stray from humor throughout The Merciful Crow. Some readers might find Fie annoying, but personally I thought her ferocity was necessary to achieve her mission and look out for her people. Besides, Prince Jasimir wasn’t completely bearable either – but we do see some significant character development from him as well. Tavin, Jasimir’s body double/guard, acts as a nice buffer between the two, and serves as the main character’s love interest. Plus, extra points for LGBTQ+ representation. 

The stakes are high for Fie to complete her mission of escorting the (assumed dead) Prince to his supporters (i.e. they do not want to see the Queen in power); if she succeeds, her caste will receive protection from here on out. If she fails, she will be forced to fulfill the oath in her next life, and the next, and the next, until she is successful. But even if she does accomplish this task, she knows it is up to Jasimir to hold his end of the bargain – which includes basically dismantling a system in which Crows have been forced nomads, hunted and abused for generations. That being said, it’s either keep the Prince alive, or repeatedly die until she does. 

The second installment in the duology is The Faithless Hawk. Owen delivers more betrayal, suspense, but a bit less humor as Fie’s clan is in more danger than ever. Less-than-ideal situations come to fruition and the Queen becomes almost unstoppable. Fie is forced to go into hiding and then undercover to not only unravel the Queen’s plans, but also fulfill an even older oath of which Fie was not aware – not to mention that her responsibility to do so has its own implications about who she is. 

When it comes to The Merciful Crow duology as a whole, I’m not sure if I can confidently state that The Faithless Hawk is more action-packed or suspenseful than The Merciful Crow. What I can state, however, is that I liked the second book more. We get to see what life is like inside the palace and of those who are considered part of the elite castes. We see Fie expand her powers and use all of the resources she has available in order to navigate the belly of the beast. Owen continues to show off her talent in providing rich details and giving the reader just enough to keep them turning the page. 

Margaret Owen was gracious enough to meet with me for an interview to discuss her experience as a first-time published author and her real-life inspirations for this world. Readers and listeners can find the interview in Episode 96 of The Nerd Cantina podcast.

The Merciful Crow is available now. The Faithless Hawk, which concludes The Merciful Crow duology, releases on August 18.