Thursday, May 19, 2011

Review: Mercy by Rebecca Lim

From Goodreads: There's something very wrong with me. I can't remember who I am or how old I am, or even how I got here. All I know is that when I wake up, I could be any one. It is always this way. There's nothing I can keep with me that will stay. It's made me adaptable. I must always re-establish ties. I must tread carefully or give myself away. I must survive. 
Mercy doesn't realize it yet, but as she journeys into the darkest places of the human soul, she discovers that she is one of the celestial host exiled with fallen angel, Lucifer. Now she must atone for taking his side. To find her own way back to heaven, Mercy must help a series of humans in crisis and keep the unwary from getting caught up in the games that angels play. Ultimately she must choose between her immortal companion, Lucifer, and a human boy who risks everything for her love.

My Rating: 3 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: I know I normally write formal reviews but writing a review for Rebecca Lim's Mercy was proving to be a challenge because my thoughts about it were just so scattered. So, I figured I'd just jot down what I thought were the pros and cons of the novel.

Pros:
  • The writing was engaging.
  • I love reading about angels and Mercy offers something new: an angel inhabiting people’s bodies.
  • When Mercy inhabits the body of Carmen, the people she is boarding with are still trying to deal with the kidnapping of their daughter from her bedroom two years ago. Everyone, including Mr. and Mrs. Daley, believe Lauren is dead. Her brother, Ryan, however believes she is still alive and is determined to find where Lauren has been hidden. The mystery of the kidnapping was interesting and I really had no idea who the kidnapper was.
Cons:
  • The synopsis tells too much, and everything important that I’ve gleaned comes from it. For example, it mentions that Mercy is an angel but this was never explicitly stated in the novel.
  • I didn’t connect emotionally to the character of Mercy.
  • Although the synopsis hints at a love triangle, there was hardly any romance in the book.
  • The most frustrating aspect about Mercy was that there were still so many questions left unanswered by the end of the book. For example:
    • Who is Luc (I’m assuming it’s short for Lucifer) and why does he only appear to Mercy in her dreams?
    • Who are the Eight that are trying to kill Mercy?
    • Why does Mercy have to inhabit people’s bodies and is she the only angel doing so?

Mercy was released by Hyperion Book CH on May 17, 2011.
 
Comments about the Cover: The girl is way too pretty to be Carmen but I like how the angel wings are see-through since it's one way to signify that Carmen is just a host body for Mercy.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Disney Hyperion) for free via NetGalley. 

4 comments:

  1. I love the pros and cons list. I have Mercy in my TBR pile. I might stay there a little longer now. Nice review :)

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  2. It always bothers me when the synopsis seems to be so different from the actual book. I just read one like that where the blurb was actually wrong about one of the events that happened in the book. Weird. I think I'll like the angel mythology in this one, but I have to be able to emotionally connect to characters or the story doesn't work for me. Thanks Zahida!

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  3. Grrrrr.... This book frustrates me already! I need my answers, man.

    I like this pros/cons style for review. It tells me everything I need to know.

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  4. This has been on my wishlist. I was actually going to request it on NetGalley but by the time I went back, it was no longer available. I don't like it when they exaggerate the summary. It's just wrong and they make the readers anticipate for things that are not going to happen in the book. Thanks for the honest review!

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