by Chance Dillon
Summary:
Relics of the past scattered. A hero broken. A world on the brink.
A paragon left for dead, Alevist Lightseeker sought peace—but peace had other plans.
Thirty four years past, the blade he buried must rise again. As he hunts the ones who shattered his world, another exile awakens—Erevayn. A man drunk on grief and bound by blood. A minstrel must bring the two together in a war against a rising ill fate.
Viyala, a lost love, unexpectedly returns and sparks a fire in Erevayn—but will it be enough to quell his thirst for vengeance? And will the world unfolding around her offer the chance for the future she has long desired?
Salasmir, Blade of the Reckoning, must answer the call of duty once again.
Hayde and Neera, twins of the Stained, hunt for sacred artifacts for their false king. Steyvin and Ilatu must travel across the Sundered Sea in order to do the same, but for their once wise father—who holds damning secrets of his own.
The Tears awaken—and call to the broken.
Two men, one path, and no Gods left to help them.
Some martyrs stay dead. Others—become legend.
Review:
Well, well, well!
Every once in a while, when I read a series that is so sprawling, epic, and full of absolute mayhem I’m jealous I wasn’t there from day 1 to experience the ride. That stops TODAY.
Chance Dillon’s debut is an absolute monster. AND full of them; whether they’re the main characters, side characters, or special guests like gigantic queen crocodiles. But more on that later.
This story, without getting too spoiler-filled, was an absolute journey. It brought me back to when I read the first Malazan book, which Dillon has credited as an inspiration, but also other works like The Darkness That Comes Before, amongst other books that don’t take you by the hand and gently ease you into the world; you’re thrown in, and expected to take heed of what’s going on and piece things together on your own, which is a reward on its own when it works out and I’m glad to say it does here.
I think the only downside, if you could EVEN call it a downside when it was the intent, was that it does take a bit to get a grip on things; I think it was around the 25-30% mark where the characters and plotlines finally clicked in my brain; it wasn’t necessarily confusing before that, but there was just so much going on that it took a while for me to grasp it all. But I don’t consider that a bad thing on my own necessarily and with the ways Dillon interwove the stories, it made it all the more fun once those threads did sync up.
Overall I tend to shy away from plot in my reviews but I do want to point out how incredibly strong the character work and world building were especially in this book. Especially for a debut, holy crap. Taking this as a sign of things to come, I can say I can’t wait to keep reading more of his work in the future.
Another highlight for me was the emotional damage I encountered along the way. Yes, that sentence is a wild one to write. But it’s true! The characters go through so much, that it really grabbed me in right off the bat and never let up. I think there were even a few times where I had to shoot off a message, and it always ended up being a “man….wtf was that?!” To me, there’s no higher honor that hitting a reader so hard they need to reach out to the author and demand justice for the characters we’re reading about.
Like I said, I’m really glad I jumped on the opportunity to read this book, and I’ll anxiously be awaiting the second. Truly great job sir!
Find out more about Mercy: Tears of the Fallen!
Pete Barnable
Pete loves all things sci-fi and fantasy; whether it’s epic, dystopian, or grimdark, he’ll devour them all. Especially grimdark; pretty sure after a lifetime of being a die-hard New York Jets fan, he’s pretty well conditioned for anything a story may throw his way. At least those aren’t real and can’t hurt him.
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