The Faithless Hawk (Margaret Owen)

The Faithless Hawk
The Merciful Crow series, Book 2
Margaret Owen
Henry Holt and Co.
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Life for the Crow caste in Sabor - the ones who, through their immunity, deal with victims of the Sinner's Plague, persecuted and even hunted - is always rough, but things seem to be going rather well for young chief Fie. By helping the crown prince Jasimir and his half-brother/bodyguard Tavin escape the would-be usurper tyrant Queen Rhusana's clutches, she secured a blood-sworn oath that would better the lot of the Crows in general, while the cross-caste love she found with Tavin will hopefully better her life in particular once this whole scuffle for power is resolved. It shouldn't be too long; Jasimir has the backing of Tavin's mother, the Hawk general, and Rhusana's base is an extremist minority who want to exterminate Crows even if the whole of Sabor burns to ash from unchecked plague.
They all underestimated their enemy.
With an army of skin-ghasts - nearly-indestructible boneless monstrosities created from the dead - and her Swan-witch power to manipulate those around her, coupled with the other castes' utter paralysis in the face of her sheer audacity, Queen Rhusana quickly regains the upper hand... even gaining control over Tavin, when Jasimir proves intractable. Soon, she will be properly coronated, the Crows will die, and all of Sabor will burn.
But Rhusana has also underestimated someone. Crows take care of their own, and Fie isn't about to let them fall without a fight.

REVIEW: Like the first book, The Faithless Hawk is almost compulsively readable. Fie and her companions remain strong characters, not prone to dithering or monologuing or pining or otherwise tripping up the plot with angst or stupidity. That's not to say they don't feel or make mistakes, but feelings are channeled into action rather than inaction, and mistakes recognized and corrected rather than stupidly ignored and magnified. Seeing Tavin turned tears the heart from Fie's chest; while he was raised on the poetic notion of sacrificing the world for the sake of love, she knows the world Rhusana wants won't be one in which any love can last. But she knows her duty, and still has allies, not to mention the teeth from which she draws the power of Sabor's other castes. (She also still has her cat, Barf, a good luck charm who helps her out of a few situations.) Likewise, Rhusana is no simple cackling evildoer, but a cunning and manipulative foe who maintains her grip on power as much by shocking the establishment as by her witchcraft. (One can very easily draw certain parallels with real world tyrants, particularly those who use pandemics and scapegoated minorities and flagrant norm-shattering to gain control and care not a whit if their own country burns so long as they rule the ashes.) The matter is further complicated when she learns the truth of one tale: the witches of Sabor, such as herself, are indeed the reincarnated souls of the dead gods who created the Covenant. In her case, that adds another layer of complication, as an unfulfilled blood-oath from a previous life is part of what's fouling things up so terribly in this one, not just for her but for the whole land. It ties into the deaths of the gods, the creation of the Covenant, the origins of the Sinner's Plague, and the stolen gift of the Crow caste... all of which could've easily tipped over into preaching, but which fits perfectly into the worldbuilding here and meshes with everything already established about Sabor. The whole builds to an intense climax. I came close to shaving a half-star for one revelation toward the end, but the characters pay a sufficient price, and the overall story is strong enough, that I wound up forgiving it. The whole is a solid tale with one of the strongest and most genuine heroines I've read in a while. I look forward to Owen's future works.

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