The Serpent Called Mercy - Roanne Lau // Book Review

The Serpent Called Mercy

Roanne Lau || Publication Date - 25.03.2025

Begging for money, in debt and working for abusers just to make ends meet. What if risking your life could bring you comforts far beyond your wildest dreams?

Fantasy | Fiction

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Lythlet and Desil have been sworn siblings since they were children after Lythlet came into the care of Desil's parents. However, growing up together hasn't always been smooth sailing for the pair. After Desil was desperate to save Lythlet's life, he made a deal with a loan shark and has been drowning in the crippling cycle of debt ever since.

One day, after giving up hope they're ever going to break free of their debt and be able to start living better lives, they make the heavy decision to join the arena as Conquessor's. Fighting in a Colosseum style match-up between themselves and sun-cursed beasts, Desil and Lythlet have the capacity to shape their futures and roll in wealth they could only have dreamed of.

However, when things start going down a different path, it's up to them whether their friendship is worth more than riches.

The Review (May Contain Spoilers)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this eARC for an honest review!

I felt while reading this book, that there were multiple story hooks which didn't quite gel together. As much as I enjoyed the concept of the story, and it had the foundations for being an epic fantasy novel, I couldn't help but have the impression for how disjointed it was. It would have been more enjoyable if each storyline was broken up over a duology, too much wanted to happen in this single book.

The main friendship and their debt is clearly the focus of the novel. It's their driving force to becoming Conquessor's and fighting for money to pay off the collector and be able to be free. I would have loved to have seen more of Desil's internal monologues and character viewpoints through the novel. It's essentially written solely through Lythlet, and I do believe it could have benefitted for some sections or chapters divided up to incorporate Desil.

One of the traits being highlighted in this novel is Lythlet's financial skills. This to me is unique, and I'm genuinely happy to see this being showcased in the forefront of a characters skillset. I see money being used a lot in Fantasy novels, but there's never really any mention of characters being versed in their own financial situation. She's also incredibly perceptive, which as a skill is remarkable however seen far too often in my opinion.

Overall Thoughts

As a whole, I personally felt this novel was trying to be too much all in one sitting. There's arena battles, magical beasts, gods/goddesses, magic, fugitive thieves, espionage and a political social hierarchy all trying to take centre stage in this one book. All of these ideas and the development of them could have been so much more enjoyable if they were spread out over more book real estate. A lot of the time this story felt disjointed and too much was happening in too many different areas for me to really keep a grasp of what was happening.

I would have also liked to have explored Desil's point of view more than we had. I truly believe he would have been a useful and refreshing voice in the jam packed narrative which could have helped flesh things out a little more and extend the story to a sequel at best.