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Havemercy (Havemercy #1)

by Jaida Jones, Danielle Bennett (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 1,302 ratings · 147 reviews

This stunning epic fantasy debut introduces two exciting new authors—and a world brimming with natural and man-made wonders, extraordinary events, and a crisis that will test the mettle of men, the boundaries of magic, and the heart and soul of a kingdom.

Thanks to its elite Dragon Corps, the capital city of Volstov has all but won the hundred years’ war with its neighborin...more

Hardcover, 388 pages

Published June 24th 2008 by Spectra

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Jul 11, 2008 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I wanted to care for this book. I really did. But it turned out to be a big disappointment.

First of all, I could not stand "the society's" (Volstov's) view of women. Granted, I've read what Jaida and Danielle had to say about this and what they've said makes sense. The book is told from the perspective of four male characters. None of them have the need to comment on the role of women, but simply put, I just did not, could not, enjoy reading about a society where women were portrayed as cows, wh...more I wanted to care for this book. I really did. But it turned out to be a big disappointment.

First of all, I could not stand "the society's" (Volstov's) view of women. Granted, I've read what Jaida and Danielle had to say about this and what they've said makes sense. The book is told from the perspective of four male characters. None of them have the need to comment on the role of women, but simply put, I just did not, could not, enjoy reading about a society where women were portrayed as cows, whores or shrill, overbearing mothers.

Although my biggest problem was that I never got the sense that the Ke-Han were actually a real threat. Sure, Volstov and their dragon riders were fighting the Ke-Han but...it never felt like anything was really at stake. The final battle was cool though. But that's the thing! There were no real action or tension anywhere. Not that a good book requires action scenes. Quite the contrary sometimes. But what was missing from this book was suspense. I just didn't care if Volstov lived or died. I never came to love the world that had been created in this book. That, with any fantasy book, is a big problem.

Now for the characters. I have to admit some of the Royston/Hal scenes... just get on with the story. please. Some of it, particularly when they were walking in the park, felt like badly written fan fiction. But their relationship was cute. Whatever. I still don't care about Volstov. Rook was badass. I liked him at times. Other times I wanted to punch him in the mouth. I liked all the characters, I guess...but never grew to love them.

That being said, the dragon riders were awesome but never used to their full potential. The metals dragons were what saved me from giving this book two stars. Their brotherhood and what they were capable could have been explored so much more. I think if we'd been given some quality time with the dragon riders as opposed to Thom's inner angst, I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. The problem there is that the narrative style of Havemercy doesn't facilitate that - unless Rook was the one narrating. The dragons and their riders were so cool but the main focus was on Thom.

Also, the title of the book is Havemercy. Havemercy herself was only in four scenes.

There were moments that got me to laugh out loud however. Rook screaming that they had to "haul ass" to the palace made me laugh.

I wanted to care about this book. But it feels like what could have potentially been great material was handled in the wrong way. I wish whoever edited this book had told these two brilliant young writers what was missing.(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Wealhtheow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, mannerpunk, queer-characters, urban-fantasy

This is an unholy cross between Sorcery and Cecilia and The Mirador, with little of the charm of either. The metal dragons of Volstov are on the cusp of victory in the generations long battle against the Ke-Han. During a lull in the war, the magician Royston is exciled to his family's country estates, where he falls in love with the young tutor there. Their slow building romance was quite sweet, and I actually cared about it. Not so with the relationship between Rook, a dragon jockey, and (view ...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Clay rated it 2 of 5 stars

“Havemercy” (Bantam Spectra, $22, 388 pages) is puzzling from the title to the conclusion – so puzzling, in fact, that I had trouble deciding if I liked it. On reflection, I didn’t, because in the end co-authors Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett spent too much time on one problematic, improbable relationship that they resolve with a deus ex machina.

The setup is interesting: It’s an unnamed world populated by humans living along what is pretty recognizably the border between Russia and China. Russ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Eden rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first book of a fantasy series (the third recently published) set in an Empire called Volstov, this book follows four separate characters: Royson, a Margrave (or wizard) in exile; Hal, a clever young country bumpkin; Rook, the loud and antisocial rider of Havemercy, a mechanical dragon; and Thom, a 'Versity student charged with teaching the dragon riders manners.

I've been aware of this book since before it was published, as these authors did the impossible - they were picked up by a publishe...more The first book of a fantasy series (the third recently published) set in an Empire called Volstov, this book follows four separate characters: Royson, a Margrave (or wizard) in exile; Hal, a clever young country bumpkin; Rook, the loud and antisocial rider of Havemercy, a mechanical dragon; and Thom, a 'Versity student charged with teaching the dragon riders manners.

I've been aware of this book since before it was published, as these authors did the impossible - they were picked up by a publisher because they wrote fanfiction. They created The Shoebox Project, a Harry Potter fanfic that had a huge following. I've wanted to read their published work for years but I don't think it ever came to print in the UK. As it was, I only go hold of a copy this summer, and I started reading eagerly.

Is was surprising how much I struggled to get into it. The book starts off on the wrong foot, with a pages-long info dump that was gruelling to get through, let alone understand. It didn't help very much that the POV changed every half-dozen pages, with a new info-dump to get through. The one character I liked from the off was Rook. His dialogue, his thoughts, his actions were all so vibrant and strong. The other three characters seemed to blur somewhat here-and-there, but Rook was unique and always interesting.

As a whole, I feel it failed to deliver any real satisfaction. The relationship that blooms between Royson and Hal feels fake and is the most tedious thing I've read since Twilight. There is a lot of 'I think only of you, I adore you, I must have you - but no! It is forbidden and we must not!' happening. Not even hot-and-cold, just tepid-and-lukewarm. It is like that until the last three chapters. It really pissed me off that so much time/space was dedicated to this and their wooden dialogue. In retrospect, the relationship between Rook and Thom is a lot more dynamic - and a hell of a lot more sexual, but that aspect is apparently accidental on the author's behalf as [spoiler:] they are brothers[/spoiler:].

Relationships are the meat of the book. Some are interesting, some are not. The characters are very well developed and I found myself half in love with some of the side characters (Greylace - unf) but the true thing the book is in dire need of is action. There are nearly no scenes where magic is seen used - I think the most we get is a table exploding. There are some good parts where Rook is flying Havemercy in battle but otherwise there is little violence. Royson spends most of his time in bed, with Hal fluttering over him, in the most dull hurt/comfort scenarios I've come across. The way Hal saves the day is really, really pathetic. I don't think a book has annoyed me this book in a very long time. I don't know if I'm going to pick up the second in the series, Shadow Magic. There are four different characters in that one, so I won't have to suffer through Royson/Hal - but saying that, Rook will be absent. It was a good concept, but it just failed to deliver any satisfaction for me.

Characters: 7/10
Setting: 4:10
Plot: 3/10
Dialogue: 6/10
Overall: 4/10(less)

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Mar 12, 2009 Erika rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Havemercy (one word) is the joint effort of debut authors Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. Normally, this would be really cool, but the execution left something to be desired. The book opens with four different points of view: Royston, Rook, Hal, and Thom. Royston is a Margrave, a title never explained but presumed to have something to do with being a magician, and his scene opens on the eve of his banishment from the bustling city of Thremedon after a lukewarm scandal sends ripples of anger th...more

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Aug 17, 2008 M. Weaver rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: steampunk/fantasy lovers, gay romance, dragon enthusiasts

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've been waiting for a book like this for years now. Blindly I groped, searching through page after page of cliche fantasy only to find myself disappointed. I will admit to being a very picky reader with strange tastes, and Havemercy almost nailed it. Warning, spoilers present :)

Jaida Jones is well known in the online artist community for working on a collaborative illustration/book series called Pie-IX and I will admit to being a fan. I highly enjoyed her writing skills of the first installati...more I've been waiting for a book like this for years now. Blindly I groped, searching through page after page of cliche fantasy only to find myself disappointed. I will admit to being a very picky reader with strange tastes, and Havemercy almost nailed it. Warning, spoilers present :)

Jaida Jones is well known in the online artist community for working on a collaborative illustration/book series called Pie-IX and I will admit to being a fan. I highly enjoyed her writing skills of the first installation and I am still waiting for the next installment later on this year. So it would be only natural that I heard about her collaborative work with Danielle Bennett on Havemercy the day it got taken in by Bantam; I didn't hear much about it but other than it was steampunk (a personal favorite sub-genre of mine ) and about metal dragons (as I had seen the front cover). I was sold.

To be perfectly honest--whether out of personal bias or just out of pure love for homoeroticism present--I loved this book. The characters were engaging and intriguing and I'll keep a special place in my heart for every one of them. However, when I first started reading and switched viewpoints for the second time (from Royston to Rook to Hal), I started to feel a little nervous, that too much was going on for me to take in properly. By the time I reached Thom I was nearly having a panic attack. So many names in so little pages, how was I to remember them all? Four main characters, all seemingly little to have to do with one another (save Rook and Thom).

From the beginning I knew Royston and Hal would become lovers. Perhaps it's from Ms. Jones' previous work with Pie-IX, but it seemed rather obvious from page one that Royston had loved and lost and would find love again. I knew that to be with none other than the naive, brilliant country boy, Hal. Hal was an adorable character, almost too adorable. Their growing relationship at Castle Nevers was what really kept me going for the first fourth of the book, while I would skip greedily ahead during Thom and Rook's parts to see when Royston or Hal would next speak. To be honest, I didn't like Rook in the beginning. Sure, he's gorgeous and loud and obnoxious; what's not to love, right? I had a real issue with the way he treated women, but as the story trudged forward, my sympathy for him really strengthened. I didn't skip through pages to see when Hal or Royston spoke after a while because each character became interesting (and very important) in their own way. I enjoyed the voice of each character and the way they spoke, and I can only wonder about how Ms. Jones and Ms. Bennett split up their parts. The action parts were interesting and well written; I do wish there had been more of them. I also wish there had been more at the final battle, for most of it took place off-screen. It frustrated me a little that the entire novel was working up to this final push to make things right, and it was skirted around and left for the characters to explain in aftermath.

I hadn't expected Rook and Thom to be brothers (for all I knew I thought they'd end up as lovers as well, seeing no female main character come to the surface!) but I guess I should have expected as much. Rule number one about character deaths: if the surmised death of a character is not seen, then they might as well still be alive. I should have seen this yet I didn't. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it along with Thom, and his struggle to divulge it to his newly discovered brother, Rook. Rook's reaction was fantastic, real, sympathetic.

Other than this fact I didn't find much of the book surprising. I knew there would be obvious import to the story Hal read in the beginning and pieced the puzzle together far before Hal did. That's not to say I found the book incredibly predictable and boring. On the contrary, the relationships woven between these characters were fabulous; I am a much more character driven writer myself, as opposed to plot driven, so this was right up my alley. I'm a huge sucker for gay romance, especially between such lovable characters as Royston and Hal.

This book was a breath of fresh air for me. It provided me with joy and inspiration, which is more than I can say for most of the books I've been reading recently. I will say that Antoinette was a shining gem in this book and I do expect her to be in any planned installations of Havemercy. Such a very limited part for played, and yet she made my heart glow.

This book is not for everyone and the demographic is a bit confusing to me (as well as to other readers, as I can see). However, I think it fits nicely into the young adult category; I've read much edgier young adult than this. Much edgier. If you are not particularly fond of homosexual romance I would steer clear as well, for it's a difficult thing to avoid when it's being told by two of the main characters.

Overall, fantastic job, ladies. I look forward to the next one!(less)

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Dec 02, 2008 Tortla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dragons, dragony-dragons

It definitely wasn't my favorite book (the whole switching narrations took a while to get used to, and the language sometimes offended my delicate sensibilities, and it often felt like the characterization was playing up stereotypes/typical masculine and feminine roles too much). All that aside, though, it was really amusing. And it definitely made me chortle to myself a few times and had me for quite a long time assuming something about the plot which later turned out to make me feel quite gros...more

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Jun 11, 2008 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-fantasy, 2008_release_read, review_fbc, t1_recommended_2008

While it was not quite the book I was expecting, I enjoyed it a lot, maybe more than if it were a standard human/dragon book. Despite being a 400 page book, it's a very fast read and I almost did not put it down.

This book is much closer to Sarah Monette's Mirador series, though it's not as dark and explicit, and there are four main characters, rather than two, but there are similar kind of emotional undercurrents, and ultimately this is where the book succeeds very well - in the relationships be...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Molly Jo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-books, all-time-favs

What impressed me the most was Jaida and Danielle's ability to move flawlessly between characters. Each personality was beautifully developed. Watching the subtle similarities between the character pairs develop added so much to the plot and story development. I will forever be in love with Royston and Hal, and wishing for more of their relationship. Thom's anguish over the situation with Rook broke my heart every time.

My one criticism is that I was about halfway through the book before I felt l...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Bee rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's weird - I should have really liked this book, rather than reacting with, basically, a shrug. I liked the writing style - sometimes. It was markedly different depending on which character was narrating, which is good, obviously, except that in the storyline (out of two) that actually interested me, it frequently didn't work for me. I'm hesitant to blame it on the writing; the formal, slightly stilted language was clearly a character choice, so this just may have been a case of Not For Me. It...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Elyese rated it 1 of 5 stars

The book starts off with some intensely fetishistic portrayals of gay couples, followed by fairly heavy misogyny. Then there's some more gross portrayals of gay couples and poor writing, followed by even more misogyny. Did I mention the misogyny and complete and utter lack of any real female characters?

It's a real shame considering I wanted to like the book. There are mechanical dragons who run on magic. That talk. There's an entire group of people who do this as their jobs. Wait and there's que...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Blythe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Havemercy is one of those books to read in your spare time or on holiday, but nothing worth getting highly invested in. [spoiler]In sequels, the viewpoint characters are often not repeated[/spoiler]. The romance was built up nicely, and happened in good time, but other relationships happened quite suddenly and often out of the blue. I admit this book made me cry because of one such relationship, but mostly out of shock of it happening and not because the relationship made me care more about eith...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Canticle Van Darq rated it 4 of 5 stars

Title: Havemercy
Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy
Authors: Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Publisher: Bantam (Hardcover, 388p)

First of all... if you think that the novel "Havemercy" is about the mechanical/magical dragon named "Havemercy" you will be disappointed. The dragon, Havemercy actually has a relatively minor part in the novel (as do all the dragons) and is used as a driving factor behind the real primary participants of the novel. So look on Havemercy as the "Maltese Falcon" of the plot.

"...more Title: Havemercy
Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy
Authors: Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Publisher: Bantam (Hardcover, 388p)

First of all... if you think that the novel "Havemercy" is about the mechanical/magical dragon named "Havemercy" you will be disappointed. The dragon, Havemercy actually has a relatively minor part in the novel (as do all the dragons) and is used as a driving factor behind the real primary participants of the novel. So look on Havemercy as the "Maltese Falcon" of the plot.

"Havemercy" is about the personal lives of four men in an alternate imaginary world. The Margrave Royston (an exiled combat magician), his young lover Hal (a country tutor), Thom (a university scholar), and Rook (the pilot/dragon rider of Havemercy). The entire novel reads exactly like a Harlequin Romance Novel -- so much so that the normal science-fiction and fantasy reader will choke on the first 50 pages. The bulk of the novel is all about 'feelings' and 'motivations' of these four men set in a world at war. The 'action' doesn't start until about three-fourths of the way into the novel. This is definitely a 'touchy-feely' novel -- not an action novel. By no means, does that make it a bad thing as long as you know that going into it (which I didn't).

I have two main problems with this piece of work and also two large points of praise for it.

The first problem was the fact that the authors did not give me enough detailing to imagine their world. In fact, the novel was confusing, along those lines. At first I thought it was a Victorian setting -- there were country manors and castles and people traveled by horse and carriage. But terms like 'sensitivity training' made me think it was a modern setting. At one point I thought it was a 'British' setting due to language phrases and terms like "Molly", but I often got the feeling it was a "French' setting since so many of the words used were French or French-like. The enemy appeared to be straight out of the Arabian Nights. If they had added more specific detailing, I could have established the world right up front. But the novel was coy and vague and instead of focusing on the relationships of the four men, I spent my time trying to create and solidify an image of the world and its settings and this diverted me from plot. It took me half the novel to finally come up with a part Victorian, part French, partly alternate-modern world.

The second problem was with the contrived personalities and actions of the principles. Now, mind you, I have never read a Harlequin Romance Novel. But I surmise that the interactions between Royston and Hal and between Thom and Rook were typical of such a genre. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where the actions required by the principles were so clear and obvious that it actually broke the book or movie by the fact that the characters refused to do the obvious? That's the situation we have here. Royston and Hal were obviously in love with each other but withheld actions for a myriad of reasons all of which (IMHO) were STUPID. Thom had a major secret to tell Rook (I won't reveal it and ruin the sub-plot for anyone) and had he told Rook this secret he could have saved a lot of grief and started the healing processes earlier. I found myself in too many spots screaming out loud "Oh, for god sakes just jump him!" or "Oh, please -- tell him the secret you big stupid nincompoop!" It frustrates me when half the problems you are dealing with in a novel or movie are contrived and unrealistic. It ruined the characters specifically and the story as a whole to a certain extent.

So what did I like about the novel? I mean... what did I like enough about it to continue reading it when the first fifty pages seemed so dismal? The first was that it is rare to find a novel that deals with same-sex relationships wherein one or both of the people involved aren't total perverts and assholes, and also wherein one or both of them don't come to a violent and tragic end. Like the movie "Big Eden", the novel left me with a 'feel good' attitude on this subject.

The second positive thing about this novel -- and it's an important one because it involves literary style -- was the manner in which the novel was written. While there were your classic chapters to the novel, the chapters were sub-divided into sections. Within these sections the four principles told the story from their point of view. One chapter might start with the events being told by Rook, then you switch and the events continue to be told from the perspective of Hal or Thom. This was, to me, incredible genius and really added a dimension to the story that I had not seen before in other works. It helped flesh out each of the four characters way more than a disembodied narration would have.

If you are looking for a novel that is written in a unique way, deals with 'feelings' and 'motivations' more than action, has a relatively 'feel good' ending (we were in a war here you know), doesn't flinch at same-sex issues, and don't mind the fact that you don't really get into the science-fiction and fantasy part until half way through the read; then you might consider picking this one up. I am quite happy that I stuck it out and read the book. I have to admit that once I got to page 200, I couldn't put the book down -- I was to worried about Royston, Hal, and Thom.

I will close with a small warning: the novel was written by two ladies which is surprising in that women are treated so horrifically in the novel. It's not their intent to condone such treatment, obviously. It was necessary in order to tell this particular story as they wished to tell it. There is also a lot of profanity in the novel. Again, it was appropriate for the characters and situations. If such things twist your gut, then you might wish to avoid the book.(less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: female-author, lgbt, reviewed, fantasy, young-adult, made-me-laugh

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I enjoyed this book, but I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The idea of mechanical dragons is a cool bit of steampunk fantasy, and the idea of a world in which these mechanical dragons fly is even cooler— I love worldbuilding. Unfortunately, neither of these ideas were very fleshed out: the mechanical dragons were birthed as a product of magic, but we were never given any insight into how they were created, and the universe, a sort of Russian-inspired kingdom, gets very little developmen...more I enjoyed this book, but I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The idea of mechanical dragons is a cool bit of steampunk fantasy, and the idea of a world in which these mechanical dragons fly is even cooler— I love worldbuilding. Unfortunately, neither of these ideas were very fleshed out: the mechanical dragons were birthed as a product of magic, but we were never given any insight into how they were created, and the universe, a sort of Russian-inspired kingdom, gets very little development or exposition about the politics or populace of the location.

The characters were somewhat more well-developed (although out of the four POV characters, only one had a particularly distinctive voice, which was frustrating given their first-person perspectives), and I particularly liked the storyline involving Rook, one of the Dragon Corps, and Thom, a professor sent to make the dragon riders act more like gentlemen. One of the best scenes in the book was when Thom attempted to have the Dragon Corps roleplay as other people in order to teach empathy. I would have liked one or two female characters, instead of women being barely mentioned except in a fairly sexist manner (which was entirely understandable and didn’t bother me considering it was usually from men in the Dragon Corps; respect for women was surely one of the things that Thom was attempting to teach them), and I would have liked to learn more about the Dragon Corps than just Rook (Balfour particularly interested me).

In terms of the other two POV characters, Royston the magician and Hal his love interest/assistant, I found myself confused by their storyline. At the start of the book, I was under the impression that Royston was sent away from the city for being gay, but soon after he returns to the city with Hal, in a relationship that he makes very little effort to hide from anyone else (so perhaps the previous incident was due more to who he was with as it seemed to be a member of royalty, but this was unclear). I also felt that the plot was not well-resolved, although the threads of storyline that seem to be setting up the sequel (I believe there are four books in the series?) intrigue me.

The best part of the story, in my opinion, is the writing itself. When I began the book I was steeling myself for an overload of banter (If you’ve read that other story co-author Jaida Jones co-wrote, you understand my trepidation), but it was toned down just enough that it was witty and entertaining, but not overwhelming. Also, although I would have loved everything in the story, from plot to setting to character, to be more fleshed out, the writing was definitely enjoyable in the details we do get. I’m not sure if I’m going to read the sequel to this book, but I think that I might at least give it a try.
(less)

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Jan 13, 2012 E rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, fantasy, lgbt

Decent fantasy story with mecha dragons, which should have been a winning formula in my book, but the writing is sub-standard and there are too many characters with far too little characterization. I saw the twist at the end coming from a mile away, and the rest of the book lacked suspense. The gay characters seemed very seme/uke to me, and not engaging at all.

Furthermore I was incensed at the portrayal of female characters. Once again you get this bizarre apologist internalized misogyny from fe...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Yvonne Boag rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Havemercy is told from the view point of four different characters. Rook is an airman who rides a mechanical dragon, Havemercy, the newest and biggest of the dragons. He is rude, sleeps around and has no respect for anyone, especially women. Thom is a scholar who is called in to teach the dragon riders some manners after Rook almost causes an international incident. Royston is banished to the country after sleeping with the wrong person, while there he meets Hal, who is his nephews' tutor. Their...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Sasha Kay Riley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-11

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved this book. I thought the plot was fantastic and the characters were interesting. I enjoyed the fact that the characters tell the story from their different points of view, because it allows the reader to really hear their individual voices.

I thought the relationship between Hal and Royston, though fairly slow to progress and very chastely described, was beautiful in an old-fashion-romance sort of way. I don't know how else to describe it, because it made me think of courtly romances. It...more

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May 03, 2010 Jain rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads, american-literature, fantasy, fiction, lgbt, northamerican, canadian-literature

The good: I loved the premise of steampunk dragonriders in a magical Eurasia; I found several of the characters very engaging; and the story is exciting, with a great mix of action, drama, humor, and romance.

The bad: The worldbuilding is incredibly sloppy. The two major countries in the book are Volstov, which reads as a Russian-English hybrid, and Xi'an, a Chinese-Japanese hybrid, with no attempt made to explain how and why those nations/cultures would have intermingled. And this can't simply b...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Lawrence Kapture rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-new-weird

Fun soap opera about four characters caught in the endgame of a magical war.

Titled for a character's flying mechanical dragon, the book has little to do with the dragons, but alot to do with their riders, the "airmen".

The first 50 pages were a bit of a slog, but after the tension ratchets up between two of the main characters, an airman and a sensitivity trainer who is tasked to teach the valuable airmen manners after a diplomatic incident, it begins to roll along. That storyline, the chaste M...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, favorites

Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett's Havemercy is an entirely unique take on dragons in fantastic literature with "fantasy, dragons, war, magicians, political intrigue, steampunk, alternate history, Russia, China/Japan, and shonen ai" being my list of tags for it.
Havemercy is a fast paced direct narrative told from four distinctly different voices based on an in-depth, complex world building full of unique elements. The book is highly complex, with even small details from the beginning playing a...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Verditwist rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: light

No wimpy dragons here. Very easy to follow: A collection of diverse characters have their own chapter headings, and their own style of speaking, thinking, acting etc. The 'imagery' is good, somewhere between the 17th and 19th century in my mind, the wizards are more Soho than LOTR, the dragon riders are more RAF than elvish (apologies to Terry Pratchet there), a little bit fey in places but not faintingly so. A sprinkling of familiarly modern situations add humour without jarring (anyone else he...more

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May 02, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, young-adult, gay-sexuality

i want to give this four and a half stars, but because goodreads doesn't do half stars, it'll get away with five.
this is a thoroughly enjoyable book with well-cut characters and an intriguing world and storyline. i'm much too tired now to actually go into details of why i loved it so much, but towards the end i had to keep taking breaks just to prevent the story from being over.
the reason why i want to take half a star away is that i have some issues with how the names, for people, cities, cou...more i want to give this four and a half stars, but because goodreads doesn't do half stars, it'll get away with five.
this is a thoroughly enjoyable book with well-cut characters and an intriguing world and storyline. i'm much too tired now to actually go into details of why i loved it so much, but towards the end i had to keep taking breaks just to prevent the story from being over.
the reason why i want to take half a star away is that i have some issues with how the names, for people, cities, countries, etc., have been constructed. i realise we aren't all tolkien, but having clear references and influences from vastly different languages in the real world to show something of the same cut was a bit confusing, and one has to wonder whether the writers were just counting on no-one noticing the irregularity in their system. nevertheless i enjoyed playing 'spot the language' whenever something new popped up, so it wasn't all bad. another, also language related, reason why i want to take away half a star is because some words just seemed very out of place, such as 'gasoline' and 'cappucino' which seem to me to be very modern words and don't really fit into a semi-medieval fantasy world. minor details, though, and i'm sure there are explanations for them.

i don't want to end this review on a critical note, but it's often easier to pinpoint one's problems with something than the likes, so have a bulletpoint list of awesome to sleep on:
- rook with his braids and blue streaks and foul mouth
- relatedly, havemercy with her dry wit and equally as foul mouth
- thremedon, for being probably one of the most confusing cities i've yet met in fiction, but simultaneously the most charming and beautiful
- the strong bonds the characters form between themselves and the different ways in which they manifest
- the fact my heart got torn out on several occasions
- and just as many times, whooped of joy
- the clever and vivid descriptions of both people, places and actions
- there are more books in the series and i'm going to buy them all instantly so that i can stay in this universe with this characters for a little while longer(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this book last night.

And it was pretty great, I guess? I mean, it wasn't bad at all, but it's hard to be a bad book when you have talking mechanical dragons.

But there were a few things that made me really uncomfortable.

This might be vaguely spoilery, but I'm trying not to be, but it felt like one relationship was being written as romantic, and then about half-way through the story they decided to change it to where they were brothers? I'd seen mentions of people seeing them as a romantic...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

As another reviewer says this book is something of a cross between Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and The Mirador. Unlike that reviewer, I think this has a lot of their charm and works rather well.

I particularly liked the character of Rook (to read about) and the interaction of Thom with the Dragon Corps (again to read about - it would have been grim to live through). The Royston/Hal romance was very sweet. A little too sweet for my taste as times but touching all the same.

My...more

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Sep 23, 2008 Baco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbt, magic, airships

Well-written, unusual, and entertaining, with a really well-fleshed out world and some really neat POVs and writing styles. On occasion the writing style sort of ran away with itseld, but overall this was really well done.

I have an issue the lack of female characters, and I found the big gap between the two main storylines kind of perplexing. They just seemed really disconnected, and never quite meshed the way I thought they should.

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Oct 08, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

The latest I've read in The Series I've Been Reading Mostly Backwards, for Unknown Reasons.
After reading #4, and then #3, I suspected that I really should have read #1 first, in order to be properly introduced to the characters.
After reading it, I was correct.
Many vaguenesses are now explained. I do feel much more familiar with the characters.
However, while the book was entertaining and fun, it still wasn't great. Perhaps as a result of having two separate authors, I felt this was really two sep...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

So, i'm going through a fantasy phase. I just want to be dazzled by an epic story of magic right now. This book, however, was not a big hit. It was okay, not bad, but not great. The homosexual subplot was weird and didn't really jibe with the entire premise. Actually, the whole book was a dozen mini subplots, none of which were really cohesive at all, which is the main problem I had with it. Separately, the characters were solid, even somewhat interesting and I think Royston and Hal's little lov...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Anny Pham rated it 4 of 5 stars

I dunno... I liked the book. Simple as that. Though I do have to agree that it was not the plot that kept me hooked, but the characters. The interaction between the four main characters was definitely a daring choice for new authors, but, if done correctly, can keep you reading for a long time (like the Warriors series by Erin Hunter).

The plot, on the other hand, seemed sort of rushed towards the end. The book started off really slow and kept going like that until the last hundred or so pages o...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Alicia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 31, 2011 Ryn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. OH, how I wish I could give this 5 stars.

The reason I can't?

I've read Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths series.

The character development is spectacular, and the emotions each character feels and the tension between them seems to just leap off the page. But felt like the whole novel was just Monette's series... slightly sqashed and then straightened out.

Margrave Royston (aka Felix Harrowgate) is a gay, exiled magician. Felix was the more vibrant, memorable character - so Monette: 1, Jones...more OH, how I wish I could give this 5 stars.

The reason I can't?

I've read Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths series.

The character development is spectacular, and the emotions each character feels and the tension between them seems to just leap off the page. But felt like the whole novel was just Monette's series... slightly sqashed and then straightened out.

Margrave Royston (aka Felix Harrowgate) is a gay, exiled magician. Felix was the more vibrant, memorable character - so Monette: 1, Jones/Bennett:0. Rook (a mashup of both Felix and Mildmay Foxe in that he talks like a guttersnipe and is as predictable and violent as a tsunami) is, eerily enough, brother to Thom (again, a mashup of Felix and Mildmay in that he is ever so calm and stable, and has crawled his way from the gutter to rubbing elbows with intellectuals), in a sweet twist that I really enjoyed. Though I will admit that I love Rook slightly more than sanity should allow, I ADORED Mildmay and the juxtaposition of his and Felix's personalities better than Rook's and Thom's. But I guess Monette and Jones/Bennett are tied on that one.

I liked Hal and the tension between him and the Royston in the beginning, but by the end he just seemed like a useless, weepy sod and I didn't really understand how Royston put up with him (he reminded me of Monette's Gideon, although hers was much more believable/selfish/human). So Monette wins on that score again.

Even the settings of the books were so similar that it was easy to imagine that it was just a different set of characters in Monette's Melusine. One thing I would commend these authors on is that they kept it simple and still managed to produce great characters - Monette's writing is a quite a bit more complicated, which is not always necessary. The plot of Havemercy was lacking too, but the characters were so lovely that I could overlook it.

I will *definitely* check out the rest of this series because I lovelovelove the way these women write, I just wish they would... go for more originality? More of a plotline? The metal dragons made an appearance for what felt like a total of 5 pages in the whole book (but they were fairly boring, so that was no great loss for me), which made the title of the novel a little strange... However, I could honestly have read an entire novel about Thom and Rook and the other airmen, so that itself made this an amazing read. (less)

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About Jaida Jones

Jaida Jones is a graduate of Barnard College, where she wrote her thesis on monsters in Japanese literature and film. A poet and native New Yorker, she had her first collection of poetry, Cinquefoil published by New Babel Books in 2006. she also writes the Shoebox Project - a Harry Potter fan website with more than five thousand subscribed members.

- From the back flap of Shadow Magic

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“I don't know," I said. "Whether or not he can write his own name seems to have very little impact on his ability to be an ass.” — 5 people liked it

“What I caught that winter was a memory of a purpose.” — 3 people liked it

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