Book Recommendation: Epic adventure with solid female friendships
The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke
I found this book by chance in a second hand bookshop on a trip to Riga, Latvia - and I’m very glad that I did.
It is a strong, beautiful book about friendship, courage, grief, and what it means to live a good life.
April Genevieve Tucholke writes forth her Scandinavia-inspired Vorseland with light, deft penstrokes. Her worldbuilding is brilliant and delicate, never overloaded. Her world feels like it is much wider and more lived-in than what we get to see - which I think is a hallmark of great fantasy worlds.
She makes a few missteps with her Scandinavian inspiration - you don’t pick cloudberries on hills, for example - but her ideas are beautiful. I particularly love her green-haired sea witches.
Her main characters are mercies, a group of strong young women surviving by ingloriously giving death to people who are ill and suffering and whose families pay for an easier end. Their friendships, courageous Frey, taciturn Runa, mysterious Ovie, kind Juniper, and more people they meet along the way, is the beating heart of the story. The rest is a heroes’ journey through a fresh, magical world.
This book focuses on friendship and not romance, which I think is a really nice change.
I particularly like that the author never shies away from complexity, this world is more shades of gray than black and white. I love her focus on female friendships and it is a joy to spend time with her characters and discovering her world.
There is a free-standing second book called Seven endless forests which I’m looking forward to reading as well!
Book Recommendations Masterlist
