Review: Mercy

Mercy by Rebecca Lim
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book has been waiting on my shelf for my attention for years, and I finally got around to it and read it in a day. So I guess it's not a particularly interesting start but it gets addictive fast?

Now before everything: DO NOT READ THE BLURB OF THIS BOOK. I hope you got this message in time! Because the blurb tells us a major spoiler that the book makes a secret about and I wonder how different my experience of this book would have been if I didn't know it. Every time Mercy was like, 'what am I?' I wanted to scream because THE ANSWER IS RIGHT THERE IN THE BLURB. Seriously. Worst. Blurb. Ever. It also mentions stuff that doesn't happen until much later in the book so, really, avoid the blurb at all costs if you can. Just enjoy this random story about a girl who inhabits other people's bodies and is presently trying to solve the mystery of a missing girl. (Also, probably don't read my updates. I didn't know they were spoilers when I wrote them XD)

Mercy as a character, I did not like. She says she's respectful of the person whose body she is in (Carmen, presently), but then she repeatedly talks about how she is not Carmen and then stirs up trouble and gets into mischief. She also talks often about how she's putting others' needs first. Poor, hijacked Carmen. Mercy is also kinda horny, and wants to jump her host brother the second she lays eyes on him. But heeey the teacher is kinda hot, too. It all seems very high school, and if you know what Mercy really is (I told you not to read the blurb!) then it seems really bizarre and out of place. She acts like a total brat.

It was also really hard to be invested in her dream-relationship with Luc (already figured out who he really is - thanks, stupid blurb) because it's kinda random and there's not a lot of detail there. I'm guessing that will be built on more in the following novels but in this book it didn't really rate with me. I'm curious, since I've put together pieces (that I maybe shouldn't have yet?) but I don't really care, and I don't understand how she could be so in love with him when she falls so easily for host-bro, Ryan.

Host bro was okay, coz he's a bad boy who doesn't take crap, and what's not to love about that? But really, all we have here are character cliches. It's the standard high school cast, really, only hugely downsized and with more singing. Tiff and Brenda are basically interchangeable, and we don't hear much about the other characters unless they're part of the plot development (Hi, Spencer!) No one was really fleshed out enough to be interesting.

This actually feels more middle grade than proper YA (but it also has this one scene towards the end that shocked me a bit considering the rest was so G-rated). The story is simple, fast-paced and full of plot holes and questionable occurrences. It's highly predictable and has no depth to it, but it's easy to read and enjoyable enough. Low expectations is the key here.

I'm rather intrigued to see how the story continues, but not sure how soon I'll be motivated to pick it up. If you're after a quick YA with a hint of mystery, this could be for you. If you roll your eyes at cliches and hate anything you can easily predict, probably step away from this one. This is a YA novel that will be most appreciated by the younger readers.

View all my reviews