The Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Kings become outcasts and lovers become foes in The Faithless Hawk, the thrilling sequel to Margaret Owen's The Merciful Crow.
As the new chieftain of the Crows, Fie knows better than to expect a royal to keep his word. Still she’s hopeful that Prince Jasimir will fulfill his oath to protect her fellow Crows. But then black smoke fills the sky, signaling the death of King Surimir and the beginning of Queen Rhusana's merciless bid for the throne.
With the witch queen using the deadly plague to unite the nation of Sabor against Crows—and add numbers to her monstrous army—Fie and her band are forced to go into hiding, leaving the country to be ravaged by the plague. However, they’re all running out of time before the Crows starve in exile and Sabor is lost forever.
A desperate Fie calls on old allies to help take Rhusana down from within her own walls. But inside the royal palace, the only difference between a conqueror and a thief is an army. To survive, Fie must unravel not only Rhusana’s plot, but ancient secrets of the Crows—secrets that could save her people, or set the world ablaze.

Hello hi I am converted and obsessed with Margaret Owen’s books. I picked up The Faithless Hawk immediately after finishing The Merciful Crow and have zero regrets. In fact, this is my favorite kind of reading to do. BINGE READING, where you just gobble up one book after another by the same author. I don’t often give myself permission to do this, but am going to aim to do it more. You see, reading The Faithless Hawk in quick succession with The Merciful Crow completely enhanced my experience with this duology.

As you know, The Faithless Hawk concludes The Merciful Crow duology. This book picks up pretty immediately after the events of the first book. Fie is now the leader of her group of Crows. She’s hoping Prince Jasimir will keep his pledge to protect the Crows. However, tensions are increasing. People aren’t paying the Crows what they should be. Meanwhile, Rhusana, the Swan Queen, has got something sinister up her sleeve for the crows. This comes to light as the plague beacons are lit and it turns out that the king has died. This leaves Rhusana a path to the throne. But also, it seems, Rhusana has an unlikely ally. It will take extraordinary planning and effort from Fie, her band of Crows, and others to save Sabor from Rhusana’s clutches and ensure the right person is on the throne (Jasimir).

You’ve probably already gathered this, but I LOVED The Faithless Hawk. The character development of Fie was chef’s kiss PERFECT. She is now in her role as chieftain and making some pretty big decisions that will impact all of the Crows. We see a huge reveal about Fie’s character as well as about the whole Caste system, the Plague, and the Crows. I loved how that played out, but I can see how it could go either way in reader opinion.

Also, with a certain other character, Tavin, I was so on edge. But, of course, Margaret Owen is a wonderful puppet master and the way the characters were maneuvered was ideal in the end. How everything came together was so well done and I just ended up extremely satisfied. Personally, this was a wonderful fantasy YA read for me and honestly I am going to pursue buying a copy of this duology for my book shelf.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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