I have been meaning to read the expanse series but haven’t gotten around to doing so yet. Therefore, when I saw this title for request, I immediately requested it out of curiosity about this author duo and their work.

I am not disappointed in the least. This is some hardcore sci-fi and I really enjoyed how the world was set up. It’s full of surprises and twists, it’s dangerous and ruthless and there’s not a moment when you aren’t afraid for the characters. The grittiness of the plot makes it’s a page turner which I really appreciate in my sci-fi books.

That isn’t to say there’s no character moments or development. I think the main character has a really strong underdog vibe going for him which made it quite easy to root for him. There’s a bit of a group situation in this book and I loved reading about the various character dynamics especially as they navigate a very tricky and life threatening situation. And the biggest plus point of this book was the very authentic representation of mental health.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely be reading the next one.

This was a fun read, however I found myself wanting more. I think it’s a case of it’s me, not the book.

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/08/27/the-mercy-of-gods-the-captives-war-1-by-james-sa-corey/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : This Wasn’t Really For Me

I was really looking forward to The Mercy of Gods, it’s my first experience with this author collaboration and I know how much some of my bookish friends enjoyed the Expanse series. To be totally fair I think this is very much a case of ‘it’s me not you’ because I’m not a massive reader of sci-fi and it can very much be hit or miss for me, particularly depending on the amount of what I think of as hard sci fi and how much my brain can cope with. However, before I get carried away with myself, here’s a little more about the book.

This is a futuristic story, humans have long since left planet Earth and are living on planet Anjiin, this transition took place so long ago that there is no longer any recollection of the why’s or how’s. As we start the story we make the acquaintance of a number of academics who have been working, and succeeding on a high level project, only to find out that their findings, highly coveted that they are, is about to suffer a coup, their work taken over by others and the group split up as a result. This is accompanied by much anger and the discovery of elements of backstabbing, a murder investigation even ensues, however, all this drama becomes irrelevant when alien spaceships enter the atmosphere and it becomes apparent that their intentions are hostile. Long story short, many people lose their lives and the aliens, the Carryx, round up the cream of the crop to transfer to another planet. There, the survivors, are set to task on solving a strange puzzle, whilst being attacked by what can only be described as their competition. Apparently this isn’t only about working on a solution, it’s about staying alive and the race to the top will quite literally involve death along the way.

Now, there is much more to the story than my very over simplified summing up. I loved the writing style and I really liked some of the ideas but I struggled with this one a little and my feelings were all over the place.

I think to begin with, following a group of scientists was maybe a step too far for me. I already mentioned that I’m a bit selective about my sci fi reads and this is very much because I sometimes find all the descriptions and explanations simply too much. So, following this ride with a bunch of ‘more intelligent than your average human’ types, with their constant excited babble about experimentation and what they’ve just discovered, but bluntly, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not only did I not really understand all their back and forth chat but I glazed over a little, sorry about that but I really couldn’t get excited about it. And, I struggled as well to connect to any of them, the only character that I enjoyed reading was Jessyn, although The Swarm was very interesting too to be fair.

I also couldn’t really understand some of the choices, such as placing humans on planet Anjiin, set in the far future, only to have it feel incredibly similar to planet Earth.

Now, to counter that I did enjoy the way the characters were slowly discovering that this wasn’t simply about winning the race but more about their journey getting there and how they adapted along the way. I also enjoyed the way that one of the central characters was clearly more keen to learn more about their captors. And, this is all playing out whilst you, the reader, are fully aware that there’s a third party in the mix. A spy in the camp, and an enemy to the Carryx, hidden in plain sight and both cunning and deadly.

At just over 400 pages this isn’t an over long novel, but, at the same time, the first third of the book immediately became redundant as soon as the Carryx entered the scene, the middle of the book was a slow go for me with all the new information, new lab, new enemies, so many different alien types and coming to terms with the new world and, having concluded this first instalment it feels almost like a set up for what comes next.

In conclusion, there are some really good ideas here and some really beautiful writing but I’m not sure it’s quite the right fit for me. I would however recommend this to other sci-fi lovers.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

The Mercy of Gods is the start of a new series and it kicks it off in a very interesting fashion.

I have to admit, it took me a little while to get into this story. It’s a slow start but once the aliens turn up, the story kicks into gear and it gets a lot more interesting.

The comparisons to The Expanse series are inevitable but, thankfully, the story is very different. I will admit, I didn’t warm to the characters as quickly as I did with Leviathan Wakes. Holden and the rest of the Rocinante were very quickly loveable and it did take me a while to warm to the new characters in this book but I was fully invested in them by the end.

The idea of the ‘hive’ is a very common one in sci-fi and fantasy and it never fails to unnerve me but it also intrigues me and I want to know what happens next. The Mercy of Gods managed to keep me on the edge and I never really knew where it was going to go. I wasn’t disappointed with what happened. Yes, it was a little slow to start off with and it took me a while to warm to the characters but I enjoyed it on the whole and it looks to be a promising start to a new series.

If a bunch of powerful aliens showed up, killed an eighth of the population, told you you're part of their Empire now and demanded you come with them, what would you do? That is the dilemma that the characters of The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey are facing. The author duo that also wrote The Expanse series wrote another absolute banger that I could not put down. It was genuinely one of the best sci-fi books I have read all year and if you like space opera with found family, aliens that do feel alien, some deep looks at the human psyche and some intrigue, this will be right up your alley.

The book is set in the far future where humanity has fully colonized another planet. Our main characters are part of a science team that just discovered a way to combine the two strands of biology on their home planet. They just 'made it' within their field and are having their celebration when the Carryx, half Empire, half hive-mind descend upon humanity. They kill a chunk of the population and take the best of the best in their field, including our scientists, to another planet to determine whether humanity is 'useful'. It becomes clear that the Carryx have enslaved a multitude of other races and made them part of their Empire. Our characters soon figure out that they are now in competition with other races for the Carryx' favour. Whoever is deemed more useful to the Empire gets to live.

The big question this book poses is "What if there is an enemy we can't defeat?". Us humans are very used to being the highest link in the food chain, so what happens if our enemy is infinitely bigger and stronger than us? It also explores how humans act under extreme pressure and extreme trauma. I appreciated how the authors portrayed trauma but didn't use grotesque violence or sexual assault like some authors might have. Instead, it deals with the mental pressure and trauma these characters have to live with and how they react.

While the Expanse is very flashy in comparison with planet-wide conspiracies and space battles, this looks inward more and deals more so with the characters. It chronicles the experiences of the science team, their lives, their loves, their losses with sympathy and kindness. We had Jessyn, who deals with severe depression but survives despite her mind working against her. We have Campar who constantly cracks jokes so he doesn't break. And then there's Dafyd, who starts scheming. The characters were really the heart of the book and the connections between them were what sold me on this. They were messy, they were flawed and felt utterly real. If you have read the Expanse series, you know S. A. Corey are great at character work and it showed here as well. Despite this book being really dark at times, there was an undercurrent of hope while the characters had to live through unimaginable circumstances.

The aliens, especially the Carryx, were terrifying. The authors really succeeded at imagining an alien race whose motivations and way of thinking we cannot grasp. There were also some meta conversations about anthropomorphising aliens. Some of the plot twists were so good I had to pace around the room a few times and the setup for the next books in the series is amazing.

I wanted to read this book based on the reputation of The Expanse series, despite not having yet read it, the beginning of a new series felt like a less daunting place to start with the James S. A. Corey bibliography.

The Mercy of Gods is a feat of world-building with the story being split into two halves: the first rich in the minutiae, and the characterisation of varying alien races, only for the second half to step in to instantly ramp up the pace and raise the stakes immeasurably high. Though not fully satisfying on its own, it’s a wonderful start to a series that has left me invested and eagerly awaiting book two.

The Mercy of God's by James S.A. Corey (review)

4.5 out of 5

Finally finished this and it's a hard one to review as there's a lot to talk about. James. S.A. Corey have shown their ability to write incredible stories.

Expanse 2.0? - this is a very different beast to The Expanse. "The Captive Wars" promises to be a more alien focused story with humanity literally the underdogs and underlings of a fierce alien race, the Carryx. The conclusion of this book has me excited for part 2. Also, what separates this book from Expanse is the lack of POV changes from chapter to chapter. What we are given is a story that focuses most of its time on Dafyd, a human scientist with some minor POV shifts.

Story- the story is dense and difficult to fully comprehend due to the unusual world and the descriptions of the dozen or so alien races. These descriptions are rich, but their uniqueness can make the first read difficult to imagine fully. The world being built, strangely, felt like a gritty "Hitchhiker's Guide".
The general premise is humanity are put into a competition by the Carryx and must compete for their survival against other alien races in a scientific experiment (of course there is much more to the story than that).
The first part of the book is slightly slow and felt more like “Foundation” in its world building and politics, but the second section opens the ferocity of the battles and offers a disturbingly frightening battle that further cements any investment in the war that is to come.


Characters- the human characters, unlike The Expanse, are small but their strength in richness make the story appealing. While the characters are good there is more character development needed but I'm confident that will happen in the subsequent offerings.
The Carryx utilitarian approach suggests a cruelty that is likely to come in the next couple of books. (I can’t wait for the sequel.)

I expected this book to be full marks but sadly it falls short on the first read. However, this is a story I'm looking forward to reading again and I think my love for the story will grow on subsequent reads rather than diminish it.

If you are a fan of large sci-fi stories and in particular love alien stories, then do read this one.

I think that the best part is the world-building. Corey creates a big universe, populated by so many different alien species. And they really are aliens! It is so nice to see so much difference between these pages! The world is lush and rich and vivid, and it is so vast! It is a masterpiece!
And it reminded me a bit of the game No Man’s Sky. The vibes are totally different, I am only at the beginning of the game, so maybe things will become darker later on, I can’t really say, but from where I stand with the game, things are pretty chill and upbeat, while the atmosphere in The Mercy of Gods is angsty and full of anger and fear, because we have the Carryx, an alien race, who is conquering the whole universe, and they are sort of enslaving all the other races so… yeah, not chill and upbeat at all. But still, they are similar because of the bounty offered to us as spectators. And I appreciated this so much!

But sadly the world-building is not enough to make me love a book. To enjoy it? Sure! And I really appreciate when we have a solid world, or universe, built between the pages. And let me repeat myself, the one you find here is top-notch. That said, I need to be invested in the characters, I need to care for them, to empathize with them. To feel them. And here this did not happen.
Sure, we have some really interesting characters because all of them are complex, they don’t feel plain or bi-dimensional, and everyone has their distinct personality and their own voice, you always know who is who, and all of them bring something to the table. Dafyd is the one easy to ignore and dismiss, but you’ll do it at your own peril because he is quite manipulative in his own sedate way. I think that thinking about the book after reading it, he became the scariest among them too (and this fact alone made me curious about what will happen next, because I am pretty intrigued by him, but being intrigued here is not the point). Jessyn is the one who is constantly fighting, at first with herself because she has some big problems, and later with the rest of the world, because she takes the fight on the outside, and won’t be stopped. Campar is always ready to deflect with humor, and he is the solid one who tries to help everyone and to keep things light, as much as is possible in their situation (and I think he is my favorite). Tonner is the leading scientist, the one obsessed with his work, who is not going to excuse distraction or weakness, in himself and in his team. He is uncompromising and, yes, definitely obsessed with his work. And so on, and so on…
The problem here is not that the characters are poorly done or developed, not at all. The problem is that I didn’t like them. At all!
And maybe it’s because we meet them when they already are a consolidated team, and they are in the middle of a crisis (or two), and so we don’t get to see their best parts much, and I understand that but still… understand is one thing, loving is a completely different one. And my problem with them is that I did not care about them. I can objectively say that they all are well-developed characters, and that they all are complex and unique and they feel real but… I didn’t care for them, I didn’t empathize with them, and I didn’t really care about them so much.

Last but not least, we have the plot. This book is the first in the series and it feels like a sort of introduction to what is coming next, a long one, mind me, but I got the feeling that this was more a prequel to a story, than the first chapter of it. Am I making sense here?
Anyway, I am not saying this because I think the plot was poorly done, it’s just like the vibes/feeling I got from it. And the plot per se is not bad. We have quite a lot happening, and we see how the characters are there for the long game (and this is part of the reason I think about this book as a prequel more than a first chapter). We see them trying to understand what is happening to them, we see them try to adapt and fight, and we follow them while they are thrown into a universe that is more vast and dangerous than they thought.

It is a slow book, we don’t have a lot of action, the author took his time with it, but that’s okay, because we need to absorb so much info here, and the characters are with us, because they don’t know what’s happening or who is who, and what is what, so all it’s developed slowly, to get us, and them, the time to absorb things. I think that the pace is the perfect one for the story, and even if I had some problems because I wasn’t really invested and I didn’t really care, I was still intrigued by the book, and I wasn’t bored. Indifferent, yes. Bored, nope.

So, all in all, it is a book that I enjoyed on a rational level, because I can see a lot of good things in there, but I didn’t care enough, and emotionally I wasn’t into this at all. But still, it is a solid book, and there are a ton of things to appreciate here, so if you are curious about this one, I strongly recommend it to you!

This was my first James S.A. Corey book (did not read The Expanse, but I did see the TV show) and unfortunately it did not work very well for me. The book has a fascinating concept behind it and the way the aliens are portrayed is absolutely fantastic without a doubt, but that's really where the enjoyment ends. The characters are incredibly flat and I found myself incapable of connecting in any way with any of them, but even that would've been ok if the book managed to have an incredibly engaging plot, but for me at least, the plot was kind of boring. The book feels like one big science project you're watching other people work at and the prose reflects that perfectly, as it is pretty dry and detached. I wouldn't say I hated this book, but it was quite middle of the pack because of its myriad problems.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the book ahead of release (too bad I couldn't finish it before it's official release, oh well)

2,5 stars

When I saw that a new book was coming out from the author of The Expanse I was very excited to see what more we would be getting from his imagination. Unfortunately this book didn't work for me.

The Mercy of Gods is a good 400 pages. The first 80-100 or so we spend it on the research of Dafyd's team. Honestly I was bored before the actual story even started. The characters at no point were engaging, Dafyd least of all. I'm sure the start was meant for us to get to know the characters but it did nothing of that. The focus was so much on the research and very little on their personality. Flat and not memorable.

When the story did actually start it was hard to care about anything that happened to our characters. There was also a very annoying love triangle in the middle of it. It felt very young for the ages of some of these characters.

When we do get to the actual plot there are some interesting things there. A spy amongst them is the most interesting one I feel, since we aren't quite sure who they are. Slowly they share more about themselves. Being on a planet with the Caryx it was interesting to see other species. But once it comes down to it, we got too little of the other species. They got the room to explore but they rarely did. Only Dafyd seemed to want to step out of their comfort zone. Too bad he is such a wet blanket.

The only things that I truly appreciated about how it dealt with some of its mental health. There was a panic attack of one of the characters. And another character who has depression and was not doing so well when she ran out of her meds. I think that was pretty decently dealt with and one of the most realistic things about this book.

All in all this book had dissapointed me. I am not sure if I will pick up book 2.

Where do I begin with this book? This is such an amazing opening to a new series by these authors. I’m so excited for the future releases and will be recommending this book to absolutely everyone who will listen to me!

Thank you for the review copy!

I have never read this author, but I did devour The Expanse on TV, so I sort of knew what to expect with all the detailed descriptions and scientific terms, but it still took a little longer to read than usual. I found it a little hard to follow, hence the 4 stars for me, but I really enjoyed their plight and the storyline in general once I got into it.
All the different points of view, the aliens, the drama, and fear, are all captivating, and I felt immersed in their world and completely invested in the rest of the story. I would really like more ASAP!
A vast array of characters that each had their perspectives of what's happening to them and how they are dealing with their trauma. Very interesting.
All in all, I would recommend if you enjoy sci-fi!

Review - The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey

Thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for the earc.

How humanity came to Anjiin is a mystery lost to time however, with the arrival of the Carryx, an Alien Empire, things may be about to change. Dafyd Alkhor is a young assistant to a celebrated team of scientists. The Carryx after decimating his planet take the team along with Dafyd and drop them into a conflict they know nothing about and have no idea of the rules of engagement and need to figure it out before it is too late

I was excited to see a new series from the writers of the Expanse under James S.A. Corey and I was not disappointed. This was a wonderful book that drew me in and kept me engaged the entire way through. The plot was well done as we follow the path of Dafyd and the team of scientists as they try to manoeuvre their way through the complicated set of circumstances they find themselves in brought to a strange place by an unknowable and overwhelmingly advanced alien race as they just try to survive before they can begin to thrive.

The characters were interesting and while Dafyd is the focus of much of the book he shares the limelight with some of the others with PoVs from many of the team he is a part of. One of the most interesting of the characters was Jessyn and to see her dealing with her mental health while in alien captivity. Tonner the lead researcher was also interesting and even more so was his number 2 Else and what she goes through throughout the book.

The worldbuilding was so well done and it was fascinating to see a planet with humans who did not know how they got there and have developed. The Carryx were a fascinating race to see in the book and get hints of their own development and culture.

I would recommend this book for any fans of sci-fi and especially if they have read and enjoyed the Expanse.

Fantastic book that deserves all the hype! Really well written characters and great plot development. Was hooked from the start and that stayed all the way.

A new series from the creators of the Expanse universe. The new story begins in the distant future, with a planet hosting a thriving human colony (no details of how it got there are provided, for now). The humans are surprised by a violent alien invasion, and discover not only that they are not alone in the universe, but that the Carryx, an imperialistic conquering species, have subjugated a countless number of other species. Our protagonists are a group of human scientists that are taken from their home world, deposited by the Carryx in a mysterious location with other subjugated aliens, and are expected to do something that no one really understands.

As expected from the authors, the writing is exceptional and electrifying. The book is nigh impossible to put down, and, almost like a drug, you just end up yearning for more, and more, and more. The worldbuilding, equally, is astonishing - the richness of the human society being described, the different alien species, and especially the incredibly intricate differences in psychology between them. The characters, again - as usual, are complex and multi layered, and, most importantly, flawed. They learn, develop, evolve, fail, and make us appreciate them for their weaknesses, rather than for their heroism. There are no heroes here (yet), and that makes the story all the more engaging.

While all the above was to be expected, what surprised me the most of the philosophical debate around the purpose and methods of survival and resistance. It's clear that the authors drew heavily from WW2 stories, and their horrifying brethren in recent and distant past. The Carryx might not be cruel as the Nazis, but share some of the same imperialistic attitudes. The captured humans oscillate between resisting (and dying) and acquiescing, in the hope for a future salvation, meagre as it might be. Perhaps not super nuanced - but quite interesting nonetheless.

Highly recommend it to any fans of space operas, and particularly fans of the authors and Peter F. Hamilton.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Mercy of Gods is the start of a new sci-fi series from James S.A. Corey, the pen name of the writing duo responsible for The Expanse. As a big fan of their previous work, I was very excited to pick up this new work and see what they were up to. There was a danger that they wouldn't live up to the hype, and I can say that fear was unfounded. This is thoughtful, compelling, high-concept science-fiction, with characters that make us feel and understand a bit more about what it means to be human - and non-human characters whose perspectives will challenge, appall and excite the reader in equal measure.
The protagonist is Dafyd Alkhor, whom we first meet at a faculty party. He's a research assistant for a group of scholars that's busy making history. Dafyd is a smart, thoughtful viewpoint, with an instinct for people and interpersonal politics. He's not powerful, but incisive and a little manipulative. Those he's surrounded by are all brilliant in their own ways, and flawed in others - from Tonner, the research lead with a towering intellect and an equally towering sense of self-importance, to Else, who gave up her own position as a research lead to be inside Tonner's group, and is also incidentally his girlfriend, to Jessyn, who matches a searing intelligence with struggles to keep an even keel. While the story takes a while to get going, it uses its time wisely, building out these people, their lives, their hopes and dreams and darker desires, their pride, their flaws, their hubris, their leaps of intellect and occasional misadventures. We come to them with nothing, and Corey uses the start of the story to turn them into living, breathing people. Recognisably from a different cultural context, but still people we could recognise if we saw them in the street - from the venal to the brilliant and back again in the space of a breath.

And the world they inhabit is there as well, one where humanity has entered an interstellar age - and then forgotten. Where people live on another world with a dual biosphere - and don't know why. With politics and institutions that are rich and filled with veins of lore and the crackle of hidden history told in a newsreel. A world that has texture, and a past. Dafyd and his friends live somewhere we can recognise, even if its about forty-five degrees off what we'd normally see looking out the window.

And then, right about the time you're trying to work out what the point is, it's all washed away. An outside-context-even shatters Dafyd's personal universe, and his world. An alien fleet descends and seizes everything and everyone it deems useful, and whisks them away to, well, elsewhere. And that's where the groundwork becomes essential, as the book becomes less a space opera, and more of a survival story. A story of trauma and how we respond to it. A story of what it takes to make it through another day, and the compromises and decisions someone will make to ensure not just their own survival but the survival of their friends, or their species. And it doesn't shy away from exploring these questions either, of calling out when those compromises might be self-delusional grasps for a shred of comfort, or when the necessary thing is also a terrible thing. Where horrors force someone to behave like a captor they despise to survive, and what that does to someone, or to a group. It's by tunrs brutal and transcendent. I described it to a friend as "deeply harrowing". It's a story that drinks deeply from the well of human misery, from abrupt, seemingly arbitrary executions, to uncaring captors leaving their prisoners to become useful - or die. From people cowering in their nightgowns, to exploring the moral compromises and definitions of resistance. It's a book that delves into what it means to be human, what it means to survive, what it means to live.

It's a complicated story, which survives, first on the in-depth characterisation, as we see people we've come to know slowly change in the crucible of being alien POW's, and second on a world which is only revealed to us one strand at a time, but promises to be a flavourful gumbo of deeply weird alien cultures, all with their own histories, their own perspectives, their own agenda. Our protagonist and his friends and colleagues are blindsided, confused, and desperate to learn what's going on to ensure their own survival - and so are we, right along with them. And Corey does something wonderful here, giving us the Carryx, an antagonist so strange we're not even entirely sure what it is they want, why they're doing what they're doing, what their goals are and how their society functions. Some of this comes out over the course of the text, and uncovering it alongside Dafyd's group (and occasionally, shortly before) makes for a powerful and at times revelatory narrative experience.

In any case. Before I go on too much. Not to overstate it, this isn't The Expanse. This is something new. But it has a lot of the same hallmarks. Complex moral questions. A humanity on the brink of paradigm-shattering change. Characters whom you can live with love with, cry with, hate and love and empathise with, often over the course of a few pages. Sprawling, detailed societies filled with those little details that make them real. A commitment to asking big, hard questions and letting the reader push themselves toward answers, where there are any. And a fierce, for want of another word, faith in humanity, or at least in people. This isn't The Expanse. It's something new. But it's also really bloody good, if you want to explore trauma, survival, deeply alien environments, prison complexes that are also alien civilisations, and, again, those big questions around who wand what we are, what it means to be people, what it means to be a person. It's slow start is more than paid off by the catharsis of its conclusion, and if it took me a while to really let it get going, once it did, I couldn't take my eyes off the page. Top notch stuff, that lives up to the hype.

4.5/5

After having read the first Expanse book earlier in the year, it became an instant favourite of mine. So I was excited for the latest work from James S.A Corey, and it did not disappoint.

The story throws a lot of characters, concepts and information at you straight away and it felt a bit overwhelming initially, causing the start to feel slow. However once I came to grasps with it all, I struggled to put it down.

There is a lot to love here. Diverse and well fleshed out characters with believable motivations and actions, aliens that feel truly alien never knowing what to expect from them and constant unravelling of mystery and science.

The ending sets up heavily for the next instalment and I can’t wait too see how the story pans out.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

The first book after the Expanse series, and a solid start humans live on another planet and are invaded a group of scientists are captured. A lot of world building and characters to get to know, a bit slow to start but builds up to a crescendo. I am looking forward to book two. Thanks to Little Brown Books and Netgalley for this review copy

4⭐️

The Expanse is a massive hit and while it‘s been on my TBR, I have neither read the books, nor watched the series. So, because I‘m not familiar with the writing duo‘s work, I‘m diving into the universe of The Mercy of Gods pretty unbiased.

This book‘s plot development is so well done and it just builds and builds and now I‘m so keen for book 2.

Humans have been living on a planet called Anjiin for thousands of years (Earth? who dat?). When aliens called Carrxy attack them, many people get killed and a selected few (the most brilliant minds) get kidnapped so that they can in a terrible working environment, on tasks given to them by their captors. It‘s a stressful place with other alien races being their competitors and things getting super murdery. Humans get referred to as „animals“ pretty regularly. Demanding to speak with the manager will likely get you killed.

The book focuses on a group of scientists, with the main character (kind of) being Dafyd. But we get to see everything from various POVs, which at first is utterly overwhelming. At the beginning there‘s a lot of telling and skipping over events and because of that I found it really difficult to connect with the characters. It‘s very much a plot driven book and the characters are messyyyy, but I just needed a bit more. It did get better with time, as we got to know the characters.

The world is extremely interesting, and some of the twists and turns had me SHOOKETH. There‘s one big twist I really didn‘t see coming and it was absolutely brilliant but also super creepy.

Overall a very solid start and I‘m definitely going to continue this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit for providing me with a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

The Mercy of Gods is the first book in the new trilogy by the critically acclaimed James S A Corey.

The plot revolves around Dafyd Alkhor and his group of scientists. Their world is invaded by the Carryx, abducted, and placed in a deadly battle against time and other species to be useful for the overlords.

It is a setup book for the trilogy to come. The problem? it is a setup book. So, not much of relevance happens in the book. We are introduced to the key characters, their struggles, and a basic setup of the world. The characters were not relatable and the book sacrificed the world-building. It was very limited in scope and focused on the characters only. So, by the end of the book, we don't know much about the carryx, their motives, or the larger world beyond them. It felt like nothing really happened between the time the group is abducted and the end.

I was looking forward to reading this one after the Expanse series. Let's hope the next one is better than this one.

Thanks Little, Brown Book Group UK / Orbit and Netgalley for providing the ARC.