Two and a half stars. ( )

This was a rather disappointing read. The synopsis on the inner flap of the book suggested a gripping adventure; instead the authors chose to focus on developing the relationships between the characters. I don't mind character-driven books, when the characters are interesting. Unfortunately, out of the four main characters, only Rook really stood out. Thom grew on me a little, by way of his interactions with Rook. They had a really interesting dynamic and lots of electric tension between them; they, along with the Dragon Corps, were my favourite part of the book.

Meanwhile, Royston and Hal had no real chemistry and yet the authors spent so long detailing their nauseatingly sweet, and ultimately tedious, romance. It also didn't help that the character of Royston seemed only to be there to provide exposition. I basically skimmed most of their parts so I could get to Rook and Thom. There were some interesting minor characters that I thought the authors could have dedicated more time to rather than to the boring Royston/Hal scenes, like the other members of the Dragon Corps who had some very funny scenes and proved that at least the authors could write some witty banter.

The plot itself, the bit in the synopsis about four different men coming together to save their country in one final battle, doesn't really come in until the last 80 pages or so. And when it did happen, it didn't have any real sense of urgency. The book takes place in a setting where two great empires are at war, yet there was never a sense of real danger in the book so the climax (the final and only real battle scene) fell a little flat.

Also, some things were just really farfetched, like a university student being sent to teach what is basically manners to a group of elite soldiers or Hal's ridiculously simple and obvious solution to the magicians' crisis. I got the impression that the authors had a lot of ideas for this book (giant metal dragons! young student vs. dangerous soldiers! gay magicians! war and intrigue!) but didn't know how to put them all together in a way that made sense. The result is a very uneven book that has a lot of wasted potential. ( )

Three and a half stars.

I liked this better on reread; I think because I didn't remember it at all and had no preconceptions.

It's a grittier fantasy than I generally like, and one of the four viewpoint characters (and nearly all his associates) is particularly nasty and unpleasant to be around. But it becomes an interesting character study, as parallels emerge between and among the four characters. That's really the point of this book: I wouldn't read it for the plot or for the world.

It's got a fairly sweet gay romance in it too, and includes the occasional bit of witty dialogue - not enough to make it a comedy of manners, though. ( )

DNF at about 20% because:
-nothing seems to be happening,
-I really, really don't like Rook,
-I know that Hal/Royston is a cannon pairing and I don't like the dynamic, it's very naive young man/teen and older, worldly man that in general I just don't particularly like
-I also know the spoiler about Thom and I just don't like how that is playing out and what the authors were up to there
-I really wish I read the tvtropes page before buying the book because I can tell this book was written for the slash fandom and there are tropes that I just don't like there
-I might have enjoyed this book 15 years ago when I was a naive teenager, but not now
-and have I mentioned I'm 20% in and still don't know what the plot is.

The story was pretty fun but very slow. Nothing really important happens until like 200 pages in. For the most part, it read like fanfiction. Royston kept going on and on about his feelings and doubts and nothing was really pushing the story forward. You know, it's a good story but not exactly the best novel.

I do have to ask. Why were there no major female characters? There weren't even kind of important side female characters. :/ It just feels really misogynistic, even if that was unintentional.

I still enjoyed it though and I look forward to reading the next books to see if things improve. There's a lot of potential here. ( )

I came here for the steampunk dragons, but the human interpersonal drama took all the page space. 100% more steampunk dragons 2k15!!!! ( )

I came here for the steampunk dragons, but the human interpersonal drama took all the page space. 100% more steampunk dragons 2k15!!!! ( )

This is an unholy cross between [b:Sorcery and Cecilia] and [b:The Mirador|219812|The Mirador (Doctrine of Labyrinths, #3)|Sarah Monette|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298471091s/219812.jpg|212827], 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 his secret long lost brother Thom. Because I never bought Rook as anything but a loud-mouthed jackass, I didn't care about his reunion with his scholarly sibling.

The other problem I had with this book was one of believability. It read like the authors *wanted* to write about sexy men in a baroquely steampunk society, but couldn't pull off the world-building or plot. Volstov is only faintly drawn, despite each of the characters going into rhapsodizes about the city, and Ke-Han is even vaguer. The plot itself is pretty flimsy, and the two sets of storylines (Royston and Hal; Rook and Thom) only come together for about three pages, and for no real reason. I was disappointed. ( )

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 separate stories: one about Thom, who is assigned to give the rude, crude Dragon Squad Sensitivity Training, and one a gay love story between a young country boy and a jaded aristocrat.
Yes, the stories eventually come together, and all the characters meet, but for most of the book, they feel very separate.
And, while both of them were adequate entertainment, I also felt that both of them could have been done better. I still didn't get a vivid sense of the world around the characters, especially that of the enemy (the Ke-Han). I felt like too much of the story depended on references to our society, rather than truly creating another world.
( )

One of my all time favorite books. I loved everything about it- the characters, the plot, the whole world where the story takes place...
My full review is here, on Hot Stuff for Cool People. ( )

Posted to my Livejournal in August 2008:

Havemercy is one of the best books I've read in a while. I recommend it for people who like Lynn Flewelling's Nighrunner books, because of its attention to character and because of the very sweet, well-done romance that develops between two male characters. It's set in a more contemporary-feeling fantasy world, where mechanical dragons fueled by magic provide the city's defenses, and it follows four characters who lives come together in an attempt to save their city from the neighboring country. Two characters fall in love, two fall in serious hate, and both are done very well. All of the characters narrate different chapters in first person, and the authors did a great job making each one distinct. This is definitely a character-driven book -- all of the characters are so alive you can't help but get sucked in to their lives. And the fantasy world is a unique one, too -- I'm definitely going to read whatever else these two do next. ( )

Amazon received

I was so disappointed with this book. I wanted to love it. I've very much enjoyed the authors' previous work, and the concept of Havemercy was so interesting.

But not one female character. Not one. There's a woman who is either raped or wasn't, and is slut shamed and harassed either way - all offstage; it's just a plot point. There's a shrew mother-in-law who faints a lot. There's a little girl for a couple of paragraphs, who cries a lot. There's someone's ex girlfriend, who shows a little promise by having a name, being on the page, and speaking a few lines, but she dies in the next scene. There's the Mysterious Mindreader, who Mysteriously speaks a few lines in one scene and is never heard from again, either. There's the misnamed woman at a palace party who is there to be the 'sluts totally ask to get raped by the rapist character' stand-in, and that scene is all about the two men in it anyway. That's all.

Oh, and the three kindly prostitutes who raised one of the main characters. They don't have names, either.

The metal dragons are called 'girls'. But beast-machines, while cool, do not count as representations of women, and besides which none of them speak more than a few lines either. And then they all sacrifice themselves for their country.

All other references to women are derogatory. Sluts, whores, and shews, and when a male character wants to insult another it's by comparing him to a woman.

This from two women writers who I've liked in the past was incredibly disappointing. One of the protagonists that we're supposed to like is almost definitely a rapist, and is without question an out and out misogynist. That could have been forgivable if there was a foil to him. There wasn't. By having no female characters, and only the one ineffectual other character who's supposed to teach him to 'respect women' - why would he do that, in this imagined world where apparently there aren't any? - his attitudes stand unchallenged.

I really couldn't get past this. I would have liked to see more of the dragons, as well. And rather less of what looked like racial stereotyping of the enemy state.

Two stars because the characters were interesting, when they weren't awful. ( )

Went back and gave this four stars instead of five. Still enjoyed it.

I picked up Havemercy because one of its coauthors also cowrote The Shoebox Project, a hilarious, poignant coming-of-age novel that happens to be Harry Potter fan fiction. She is scandalously talented, and her first published novel did not disappoint!

This was a beautiful, compelling pageturner of a novel, largely because of the fantastic characters. They were complex, charming, and deeply flawed, and watching their collisions and connections was simply a treat. It helps that the authors write love stories in what I shall call the George Eliot Tradition of Tormented Romance, where each scene is bursting with tension and nothing is ever resolved and if there weren't interludes about other characters, they would probably have to wheel you away to the emergency room, or possibly the psych ward.

The worldbuilding was also very good, and it was beautifully written (although occasionally a bit overwritten for my tastes.) The plot itself was possibly the weak point; it was rather simple and I didn't buy a couple things, although it was all nicely executed. Also, the fact that the first half of the novel is pretty much only driven by character interactions, while the second half had plot all of a sudden, made it feel slightly disjointed. I did think the ending clarified the themes nicely, though - it was a story about exile and belonging, but it was also a meditation on the wartime experience, a theme you don't often read about in fantasy novels even though most are about war. We really got a sense of what had been lost, and what it meant to survive.

Generally I liked it so much that these issues didn't bother me so much. Overall, a fantastic debut by two very talented authors! ( )

eBook

With the exception of Tolkien, I haven't read a fantasy novel in a long time, but they used to form the core of my reading materials. So I was expecting a bit of nostalgia to infect my reading of Havemercy.

I was surprised, however, to find that this book, despite so many of the trappings of a fantasy novel (dragons, magic, adventure in imaginary lands, etc.), had little in common with the fantasy books of my youth. The book could more accurately be described as a romance mixed with a family drama, since the plot elements more typical of the average fantasy novel are little more than subplots and window dressing.

I don't mean to suggest that the book is terrible, but even aside from my disappointed expectations, I was left wanting. Both pairings were distressingly uneven, with one of the characters being notably more mature, worldly, experienced, and confident than the other, which left me with a rather sketchy feeling about both. The same-sex stuff didn't really bother me (although, again, it was not at all expected in a book with a dragon on the cover), but the fact that both Hal and Thom were just wimps who were paired off with the more interesting characters of Royston and Rook for reasons of romance of kinship made both relationships seem kind of pointless, especially given that their contributions toward the subplot of the war with the Ke-Han were so inconsequential.

Since I gather this is to be the first book in a series, I hope that future installments develop a few female characters, make Hal and Thom worthy of holding their own against Royston and Rook, and put a little more effort into describing events outside of those two relationships. ( )

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 was different and following the progression of it was enjoyable - though the m/m romance fan in me was left wanting more.

The twist in the relationship between Thom and Rook was great, I thought, because even I didn't suspect it. The irony between what they really were to each other and Rook's past actions were not lost on me. Though Rook was a huge jerk after the fact - well, until the end. So, Thom really did end up changing him.

The ending was satisfying, I felt. Though, I wondered what happened to the supposed ally nation. Maybe I missed something and they stayed out of the final acts of war because of Royston's and Rook's actions. I also wonder how it took so long to figure out that they had to kill the Ke-Han magicians. That seemed pretty obvious to me as soon as the cause of the magical illness was described.

But those were the only questions I had, and they are only minor things. Nothing really stood out as bothersome to me in this book. Jones and Bennett did a great job writing it, and I can't wait to read the sequel. ( )

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.

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 ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2010/07/201055-havemercy-jaida-jones-and.html ( )

An entertaining romp. One (both?) of the authors used to be a slash fanfiction writer, and you can see a lot of the slash aesthetic in the novel. Both the good parts (the attractive men, the sly good humour) and the bad parts (pretending women barely exist — it wasn’t until at least two hundred pages in that you met a female character other than Royston’s screechy sister-in-law, and the way Royston dealt with her, by telling her husband to shut her up, gave me the creeps).

I’ll probably give the sequel a look see out of curiousity, though it won’t be high on my list of priorities. ( )

I got this book because it had a cool cover, was supposed to be about dragons, and had a recommendation on Librarything that it was like Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint . WRONG!

It was a mostly boring long slog with few dragons, and little wit or sparkling writing. The characters are rather bland or cliched and the storytelling is poor. A normal story has a conflict, a response, a resolution. This book just seems to wallow in the 'now' of everyday life. Yes, there is a need for world-building, but its way too drawn out, and not really well done.

The book is a pastiche of many things. Historical conflict between China (Ke-Han) and Russia (volstov) with a little magic and mechanical dragons. Dickensian London for the poor quarter of the city (Molly), and Cinderella for the palace and the countryside. None of it was cohesive, or explained well. It just all seemed to be there for the story, which meant there was no danger or suspense. You knew everything would work out.

The narrative is broken into 4 with different characters telling the story, ala George R.R. Martin and The Song of Ice and Fire . Again nothing like the real thing. These characters are not compelling. Although the story is supposed to be about the conflict between Ke-Han and Volstov, it is really about the conflict between 2 sets of men (women simply don't really exist in this book)with everything else as filler.

The first set, Royston and Hal, have a creepy relationship and really devolve into a bad romance.

When 35 year old bad-boy, city-sophisticate, magician Royston ends up exiled to the country he and young country-bumpkin Hal develop a passion for each other. It becomes like a bad romance where each of the principals thinks they alone love the other. So they spend their time together hiding their feelings.

Their relationship is creepy because Hal is a poor relative and introduced with the children of the house. Not until a way down the road do the authors say that Hal is 20. But he never feels 20 and I can't get the bad taste of child-Hal out of my mind.

The other set are a university graduate student, Thom, and the worst-behaved of a crew of military mad men, Rook from the Dragon Corps.

There has been a nasty diplomatic incident with the Dragon Corps and an ally. Thom has been tasked by the ruler to teach them manners. Thom becomes fascinated with Rook, and Rook with Thom. They have different reasons: Thom looks at Rook as some sort of alien bug he wants to study, and eventually to earn his respect. Rook as a street-wise criminal wants to manipulate Thom for his amusement and benefit.

Their relationship is not interesting. Its the typical cliched innocent against worldly, except its not really true and then there is a twist thrown in to explain it, since its not based on love or sex.

The book ends with a whimper, mostly off-stage, and the dragons are written out. What a waste. About the last 100 pages are interesting and the rest are just wallowing filler. ( )

Comedy of manners in the style of Ellen Kushner's "Swordspoint" -- but with Mechanical Dragons, and their Pilots! ( )

http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-of-havemercy.html ( )

http://www.neonjade.com/index.php/2009/09/impressions-of-jaida-jones%E2%80%99s-a... ( )

There are two things truly vital to any story, and perhaps in the fantasy 'genre' they are even more vital than most. The first is the plot itself. Now, this novel spent a lot more time on other things that I'll get to in a moment, so the plot was slowly woven in but not really dealt with until about the last hundred pages or so. It could have been a bit more impactful but was overall nice. But it's not what made this novel so much fun for me. That can be found in the other essential. The second thing necessary are well-developed, intriguing characters. With four protagonists it is often hard, as a reader, to feel empathy with all of them. Normally one or two just don't click or don't get fleshed out enough. But in Havemercy, Thom, Hal, Rook, and Royston are the stars nothing else was needed. Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett make these characters so relatable, so real, that everything else in the novel (the plot, the setting, the metal dragons) is simply an added bonus. It's been a long time since I've had so much fun reading something. ( )

I read the shoebox project, by the authors (A piece of Harry Potter fanfiction that is better than the books, novel length found here http://community.livejournal.com/shoebox_project/) and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I printed off the whole thing, was a huge fan, etc. etc. So when this came out I had to get it. It is just as good, if not better that the shoebox project.

Its about a world thats been at war for years and used metal dragons (made with magic) to fight. One of the dragonriders, a professor at a university, and country tutor and a magician are the first person characters and the story flips between them as they meet and interact.

One of the funniest, addictive and best books ever.