Stunning photo by @herzzwischenseiten
Hello Fairy Friends! How are we already at day 4?
I really hope you’ve been enjoying the readalong and The Merciful Crow so far! I’ve loved reading the comments and all of your theories!
The Trio have faced so much already and I don’t know how much more they can go through! Let’s hope todays chapters are a little easier on them, however, I have a feeling they won’t be!
Today we’re reading chapters 15-19
Please be warned, the following will include spoilers for chapters 1-19 of The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen. Read only if you’ve finished those chapters!
-!SPOILERS!-
Fie is using more and more magic every day to keep the Vultures at bay and it’s surely going to catch up to her soon!
She couldn’t handle it anymore and collapsed, forcing them to find shelter for a while but will this give the Vultures the edge they need?
I’m so happy she finally got a chance to rest and they’ve all managed to get clean again somewhere warm! Can imagine how nice that must feel after travelling for so long!
But the Vultures are still after them and closing in so they probably can’t stay as long as they’d want to.
Its so obvious that Fie and Tavin both want each other and it’s so sad they’re separated by castes!
Ahhh she kissed him!! I love that it happened just after Jasimir told Fie to leave Tavin alone so he might not be too happy about this :/ and what if what he said is true and Fie is hurt…I don’t know if I can handle that 🙁
Oh no the Vultures are closer than they thought and they have to leave straight away! Their journey has turned treacherous now! They’re facing snow, ice, mountains and wind and Jasimir doesn’t seem to be in the best mood which doesn’t help!
The Vultures know where they’re heading now, they’ve lost their lead, it will only be matter of time before they catch up *cries*
No way did she just slap the Prince omg!!!
The Vultures have found them and I don’t know if they’re strong enough to escape!
Omg what! Is Tavin going to pretend to be the Prince so Jasimir and Fie can escape??
They believed he was the Prince which gives Fie and Jasimir the time they need to get to Trokovoi but what’s going to happen to Tavin?? He has to be okay!
And now Jasimir is refusing to go with Fie! I feel like he’s acting a bit childish but maybe so much has just happened that he’s struggling to think rationally? But surely he should realise that staying put will mean he’ll be caught eventually!
Thankfully he’s come to his senses and followed her!
Oh no, they were too focused on their argument to notice the Oleanders approaching them and now they’re surrounded! And they’ve brought skin-ghasts! They seem like they’ll be hard to fight!
Ahhh I thought Jasimir had given up for a second but it was only a ruse to allow him to kill the Oleander and give them time to escape!
They plan to travel the roads by day, keeping away from the Oleanders and hiding through the night and hopefully, that will let them get to Trokovoi without too much hassle…but they’ve thought this before.
One days walk away from Trokovoi and there’s a new plague beacon. Will they answer the beacon even though it could be a trap or go straight to Trokovoi?
I know what I would do!
And day 4 is done! Well done everyone! I can’t believe Tavin has gone with the Vultures pretending to be the Prince! The glamour will only last so long and then what will they do with him?
With only 1 day left of the readalong, what do we all think is going to happen! I want all your theories!
I’ll see you tomorrow to find out what happens!
Amy
I’m loving this book! I laughed out loud when Fie told Tavin to mind his teeth while kissing her 🙂 Can’t even imagine how awkward that could be. I hope in the next chapters we learn more about what happened to Pa, Tavin, the rest of her kin and of course the cat!!
That was so funny!! I love them! Yeah I’m hoping everyone is gonna be okay!
Ok, one thing is persistently on my mind: the theme of the month was “things are not what they seem” so is there a huge plot twist coming our way tomorrow? Most likely. But what could it be?
I can’t shake the feeling that Barf the cat is more than it meets the eye…could it be the king turned into an animal? I mean, the king’s a shady figure we haven’t met yet, and he was supposed to be in the throne room in chapter one. Only that he wasn’t.
Or: everything we know about the reason Tavin and Jasimir left the palace is an explanation given by them…what if that’s not the truth? What if queen Rhusana is not the evil mastermind pulling all the strings?
However I’m loving this book to pieces, I’m already looking forward for the sequel!
Oooo those are some good theories! I can’t wait to find out what happens!
I keep thinking this too!! The whole time while reading I have been saying “but things aren’t what they seem, something is about to happen!!” That is a great theory, I haven’t thought of that! I’m excited to find out the plot twist!
I think what is going to happen is that this book is going to be part of a series and after finishing this one I am going to be very irritated the second installment is not there yet. I think that is most accurate because, accept maybe HangDog’s deceit. I just Googled Hangdog and apparently that name has meaning!
hangdog
/ˈhaŋdɒɡ/
adjective
adjective: hangdog; adjective: hang-dog
having a dejected or guilty appearance; shamefaced.
And so does Fie. Fie. Fie is an archaic interjection or exclamation expressing disapproval or disgust. It came into use during the thirteenth century, probably from the Old French fi, which is an exclamation of disapproval.
The details that have gone into this book are amazing. Just a short stretch of reading more.
“the hangdog look of a condemned man”
Oooo that’s so interesting! The details in this book are amazing!
Yes absolutely. There is even a nonbinary person in there (Madcap) who uses they/them pronouns and how beautifully and unfuzzed it was written in.
So much happens in these chapters! Fie has such a strong character, I wish she and Tavin will be together at the end. I’m still not a friend of the prince, he acts too childish all the time and I hope, he will be worth all the troubles. I hope also that there is a happy end for all three of them tomorrow ?
I really hope it all goes well for them but I’m not sure! Can’t wait to find out!
These chapters were brutal. Chapter 15 lifted me up and gave me everything I wanted. Such happiness that Fie and Tavin finally admitted they liked each other! Then came chapter 16 and 17. And I received as much pain and suffering from these chapters, as I did happiness from the previous one. ?
At this point, I wasn’t sure how things would go with the Jas and Fie. I’m glad to see they have made somewhat of a truce. But man, did he make me so mad so many times. Really bummed we haven’t rescued Tavin yet. (Because, they have to save him…right???).
So many emotions!! They definitely need to save Tavin! I would be heartbroken if anything happened to him!
Oh. My. Gosh. These chapters were intense! I’m so upset about Tavin even though I’m sure he’s going to be fine. I about died when Fie started dragging the prince ? I understand that Fie feels this need to answer the plague beacons, but they’re going through so much already, I think she needs to ignore them. They also keep talking about how the Crows are needed but so disrespected, but I wonder what would happen if they didnt answer the beacons…
Yeah there’s definitely some more pressing issues at the minute! Oooo yeah thats such an interesting idea! If one day they just didn’t show up, I wonder what would happen!
Ahhh the intensity!! I have so many questions though! What has happened with the king? What happened to Pa? Please tell me Tavin makes it out…??
I really hope somehow Jas is made king only to help the crows. I’m still not a big fan of him, but I think he’s seen enough to understand what it’s like to be Crow.
I’m so intrigued by the King! Hopefully all your questions will be answered by the end!
Fie hiding them so well she faints! She is so strong! The KISS!!!!! Jas is totally being a jerk and I don’t appreciate it, go back to teaching her how to read and learning from her perspective :/ SHOOK! When Tavin gives himself up! It also took me until chapter 18 to realize each chapter has a title ??♀️ finally after all the fighting the prince and the crow have a heart to heart that’s sweet. I’m glad they are back to being friends and reading and running for their lives together. Honestly idk what they will do anymore ??♀️ It’s still (just barely) the last day of this readalong for me in my time zone, I’m a day behind and will probably finish tomorrow because I’m tired 🙁 But I got super close to finishing in time and I’m always so happy to do these readalongs with everyone!
Gaaarrrrr Tavin let himself be captured to save the Prince……which, yes I know is his job but as the Prince is still being annoying just frustrates me