Havemercy

I was so disappointed with this book. I wanted to love it. I've very much enjoyed the authors' previous work, and the concept of Havemercy was so interesting.

But not one female character. Not one. There's a woman who is either raped or wasn't, and is slut shamed and harassed either way - all offstage; it's just a plot point. There's a shrew mother-in-law who faints a lot. There's a little girl for a couple of paragraphs, who cries a lot. There's someone's ex girlfriend, who shows a little promise by having a name, being on the page, and speaking a few lines, but she dies in the next scene. There's the Mysterious Mindreader, who Mysteriously speaks a few lines in one scene and is never heard from again, either. There's the misnamed show more woman at a palace party who is there to be the 'sluts totally ask to get raped by the rapist character' stand-in, and that scene is all about the two men in it anyway. That's all.

Oh, and the three kindly prostitutes who raised one of the main characters. They don't have names, either.

The metal dragons are called 'girls'. But beast-machines, while cool, do not count as representations of women, and besides which none of them speak more than a few lines either. And then they all sacrifice themselves for their country.

All other references to women are derogatory. Sluts, whores, and shews, and when a male character wants to insult another it's by comparing him to a woman.

This from two women writers who I've liked in the past was incredibly disappointing. One of the protagonists that we're supposed to like is almost definitely a rapist, and is without question an out and out misogynist. That could have been forgivable if there was a foil to him. There wasn't. By having no female characters, and only the one ineffectual other character who's supposed to teach him to 'respect women' - why would he do that, in this imagined world where apparently there aren't any? - his attitudes stand unchallenged.

I really couldn't get past this. I would have liked to see more of the dragons, as well. And rather less of what looked like racial stereotyping of the enemy state.

Two stars because the characters were interesting, when they weren't awful. show less

HAVEMERCY focuses on four protagonists: Royston, a magician exiled for having a rather too public affair with the crown prince of an allied kingdom; Rook, a hotshot dragon pilot who's caused a scandal of his own with a diplomat's wife; Hal, a Poor Relation living on the kindness of his distant cousin and her husband; and Thom, a 'Versity student who's been hired to subject the Dragon Corps to sensitivity training in the wake of Rook's scandal. Their stories intersect and diverge to varying degrees as their country's hundred years war comes to a head.

I love character based books, and this certainly is that. The big, world-shaking stuff impacts the characters, but it's really just another ingredient in their arcs. It's well done but, to show more be honest, it's the weakest part of the whole thing.

But really, you shouldn't be reading this for the plot. Nope. You should pick this up because of the characterization.

Jones and Bennett drew me straight in and let me ride around inside their characters' heads. I found it such an easy book to get lost in. Every time I picked it up, I was there. I read on my breaks at work, and I could never quite believe that I'd only been away for half an hour. I'd been puzzling through some problem with Royston and Hal, riding the skies with Rook, fretting over the airmen with Thom. These people feel real. They're nicely fleshed out, and their interactions have the ring of truth. They're a pleasure to get lost with.

(Well, mostly. I can't say as I liked Rook, but he was certainly interesting. And the authors apparently plan to do more with him, so my opinion could change. Some of my very favourite literary characters are people I initially loathed).

The world building is also quite good. The authors introduce a fairly complex society with a steampunky mix of magic and technology. The three-tiered city was just wonderful; I wanted to know more about each and every one of the levels. I found it a fascinating place to explore. It does sometimes read as just another backdrop for the characters, but what a nice backdrop it is!

This really was a great read. Fun, character-based stuff with a good setting. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I really miss these characters, (yes, even Rook), and I'll certainly be reading anything else Jones and Bennett come out with!

(This review originally appeared in a slightly different form on my blog, Stella Matutina). show less

The story was pretty fun but very slow. Nothing really important happens until like 200 pages in. For the most part, it read like fanfiction. Royston kept going on and on about his feelings and doubts and nothing was really pushing the story forward. You know, it's a good story but not exactly the best novel.

I do have to ask. Why were there no major female characters? There weren't even kind of important side female characters. :/ It just feels really misogynistic, even if that was unintentional.

I still enjoyed it though and I look forward to reading the next books to see if things improve. There's a lot of potential here.

There are two things truly vital to any story, and perhaps in the fantasy 'genre' they are even more vital than most. The first is the plot itself. Now, this novel spent a lot more time on other things that I'll get to in a moment, so the plot was slowly woven in but not really dealt with until about the last hundred pages or so. It could have been a bit more impactful but was overall nice. But it's not what made this novel so much fun for me. That can be found in the other essential. The second thing necessary are well-developed, intriguing characters. With four protagonists it is often hard, as a reader, to feel empathy with all of them. Normally one or two just don't click or don't get fleshed out enough. But in Havemercy, Thom, Hal, show more Rook, and Royston are the stars nothing else was needed. Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett make these characters so relatable, so real, that everything else in the novel (the plot, the setting, the metal dragons) is simply an added bonus. It's been a long time since I've had so much fun reading something. show less

Went back and gave this four stars instead of five. Still enjoyed it.

I picked up Havemercy because one of its coauthors also cowrote The Shoebox Project, a hilarious, poignant coming-of-age novel that happens to be Harry Potter fan fiction. She is scandalously talented, and her first published novel did not disappoint!

This was a beautiful, compelling pageturner of a novel, largely because of the fantastic characters. They were complex, charming, and deeply flawed, and watching their collisions and connections was simply a treat. It helps that the authors write love stories in what I shall call the George Eliot Tradition of Tormented Romance, where each scene is bursting with tension and nothing is ever resolved and if there weren't show more interludes about other characters, they would probably have to wheel you away to the emergency room, or possibly the psych ward.

The worldbuilding was also very good, and it was beautifully written (although occasionally a bit overwritten for my tastes.) The plot itself was possibly the weak point; it was rather simple and I didn't buy a couple things, although it was all nicely executed. Also, the fact that the first half of the novel is pretty much only driven by character interactions, while the second half had plot all of a sudden, made it feel slightly disjointed. I did think the ending clarified the themes nicely, though - it was a story about exile and belonging, but it was also a meditation on the wartime experience, a theme you don't often read about in fantasy novels even though most are about war. We really got a sense of what had been lost, and what it meant to survive.

Generally I liked it so much that these issues didn't bother me so much. Overall, a fantastic debut by two very talented authors! show less

Posted to my Livejournal in August 2008:

Havemercy is one of the best books I've read in a while. I recommend it for people who like Lynn Flewelling's Nighrunner books, because of its attention to character and because of the very sweet, well-done romance that develops between two male characters. It's set in a more contemporary-feeling fantasy world, where mechanical dragons fueled by magic provide the city's defenses, and it follows four characters who lives come together in an attempt to save their city from the neighboring country. Two characters fall in love, two fall in serious hate, and both are done very well. All of the characters narrate different chapters in first person, and the authors did a great job making each one show more distinct. This is definitely a character-driven book -- all of the characters are so alive you can't help but get sucked in to their lives. And the fantasy world is a unique one, too -- I'm definitely going to read whatever else these two do next. show less

If I were to be allowed only one sentence (and one redundant word) for this book I would have to say, "Very, very, very good and exactly what I've been looking for." Luckily, for me anyway, I don't have to keep things confined to one sentence!

Havemercy struck me first when the cover came up in my Amazon recommendations. I've always had a thing for dragons. If you're looking for a story "specifically" about dragons, this might not be it. That is not to say there aren't any dragons, because there are, and for the small amount of page space she gets, Havemercy (said dragon) totally makes her vibrant personality known. The only thing is we unfortunately don't get to see much of her, although she is never far from our thoughts through the show more thoughts of the characters. However, on the total upside of all this, the rest of the human cast of characters are each very intriguing and I loved reading about each of their trials and tribulations. First we have Margrave Royston, a royal wizard with an amazing talent, both magically and for getting into trouble. His most recent transgression; an all too public affair with the crown prince of his country's newest ally. Hal is a simple country boy with a yearning for both a little affection and a lot of intellectual stimulation, neither of which is available at the home of his cousin, until the appearance of an exiled wizard changes everything for him. Rook is an arrogant dragon rider who cares for nothing other than flying his precious Havemercy and Thom is the unfortunate 'versity student assigned the impossible task of teaching the elite Dragon Corps the ways of manners and refinement.

This story, told in alternating parts, really focuses most on the innermost challenges facing each of them. We get to see how they think, feel, act and react to each other and when they are all brought together, the results are quite gratifying. There is both action (the story taking place during an ongoing war between neighboring countries) and romance (heads up for the said romance being of the gay variety for those that care) mixed along with more personal discoveries for each of the characters which made this an above average read for me and something I'm very happy to have found. It was exactly the kind of engrossing fantasy I've been looking for since finishing Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Highly recommended! show less