The Serpent Called Mercy

There are shifts in the Fantasy genre that perhaps only the ardent fan will notice. The epics of Tolkien and the 80s are still being written, but now there are more intimate stories that follow one or two characters as they graft in their small way among the wider Fantasy world. These are often cosy, set in a coffee shop or bookstore, but what if you combine this Cosy Fantasy with the Low Fantasy of the 00s/10s? You get something like The Serpent Called Mercy by Roanne Lau, a tale about two impoverished best friends who realise their only way out of debt is to enter the arena and slaughter countless mythical beasts. 

Lythlet and Desil have been beholden to one another since childhood. Desil stood up for the silent Lythlet as she was bullied at school and in adulthood Lythlet works hard to help pay off Desil’s debts. Between them they have little other than Desil’s strength and Lythlet’s intelligence, that combination may be perfect for the arena that is looking for duos to take on twelve deadly rounds of fighting against sun-cursed beasts. That is tricky enough, but becoming involved in the fights also brings them into the world of city politics. 

Mercy is a story of friendship, love, ambition, but also carving one head off a three headed beast as your friend is being slowly digested in stomach acid. It is a closed story, set in a wider world. Lythlet and Desil’s reality is just a few streets and the arena. The encroaching world does impose itself on them, but this is an intimate story at heart. 

This focus allows great character development, especially for Lythlet, the main protagonist. Her ambitions shift in the book, and it takes on a classic three-part structure as she falls and rises. It does in places take on that cosy feel, but this is platonic love and there is always a fight coming around the corner. The format dictates that there are up to twelve deadly fights in the book. Therefore, there is an ebb and flow between action and character development. 

As Lythlet’s star rises, her relationship with Desil is tested. She starts to hear the words of the Arena master; she is pulled between her ambition and her past. Some of the sections between Lythlet and the arena master are a little long and are pages of conversation, this helps to develop Lythlet’s character, but the pace of the book drops and what is a pacy fantasy novel, drops into that stodgy over encumbered pace that plagues the genre. 

The balance between the personal and the action is well done. I preferred the action sequences, but there are many readers who enjoy character development and relationships in a novel. I was a little perturbed by what I saw as a moral blind spot that Lythlet and Desil had. They live by a certain code but are happy to slaughter what could be considered innocent beasts. It is touched upon in the book, but not explored, probably because if you think about it too much it undermines a lot of the good that is in the characters. 

Mercy is a Fantasy novel with a series of contractions; it is violent Low Fantasy, but also a relationship story that feels cosy. It is a book about heroes who care about the little person but will slaughter animals for cash. In total, it is an entertaining fantasy novel, one that I would recommend to those fans that like a relationship heavy novel with edge, rather than Low Fantasy purists.