A PRIEST AND HIS ANGEL…
Father Ilya Pavlovich Sokolovis a lonely priest and pariah of his small town. Tasked with killing an injured monster in the woods, Ilya is certain of his death. Instead, he heals the monster’s injury and lifts its curse, revealing a handsome, memory-less man.
Cocksure Danya is a man lost in an unfamiliar world. He struggles to recall his past life, flashes returning as he and Ilya grow closer. Soon, his appearance begins to change once more, but not into a beast — instead, Danya grows into something just like the Sun that Ilya has worshiped all his life.
With complicated pasts between them, the two must work together to deal with the corruption of Ilya’s own church, as well as their blooming feelings for one another.
If you’ve never bought a book by the sheer power and beauty of its cover, then you’re lying to yourself and to me, but also, this is what the cover is designed to do. A good book cover doesn’t only act as a signpost to a potential audience by revealing a hint of genre and story, but it also entices, it flirts with your eyes, and to not judge a book by its cover is to do it a disservice, really. Picking up a book based on the cover means the author didn’t waste all that money on good art!
So yes, I was first drawn to Mercy by Ian Haramaki from its incredible cover, possibly one of my favourite book covers, though it was always destined for my TBR pile. A gay love story about a priest falling in love with an angel? Sign me up! The cover to Mercy isn’t your typical romance cover, though there is a bare-chested boob window. It gives hints of something angelic, but also dark. Does the story match?
Set in a small town in an alternative 1920’s Russia, Mercy is the story of Ilya, a 30-something priest who has taken over the town’s church after his father’s death, though this has become something of a curse. While his father was a much beloved healer in the town, Ilya’s healing talents don’t quite match up, and many of the miserable townsfolk, including his own mother, believe him to be responsible for his father’s death. The townsfolk have shunned him for much of his adult life, if not acted downright hostile. Now that a demonic beast is stalking the local woods and preying on innocents, the townsfolk have demanded that Ilya, as their priest, do something about it. Even if that means risking his life.
However, as Ilya embarks on a mission he’s certain will end in his death, he comes across the wounded beast and feels a compulsion to heal it instead, resulting in its transformation from beast to man. A strange, handsome man at that, calling himself Danya.
Thus begins a complicated relationship as Ilya hides Danya within the church, allowing him to heal, while Danya has no memories of himself, his transformation, or his earlier life. What Danya does have though is one hell of a mouth on him, and the two of them couldn’t be more opposite. The pair clash as they learn to live with one another, and over time, Ilya is able to share aspects of his horrible life as Danya regains flashes of his memories and begins to transform. It wouldn’t be a huge spoiler to mention that what Danya transforms into is an angel, and that changes everything.
This is, of course, a MM romance story. There are on-page sex scenes, but there is more to the story, to these characters, than spicy scenes. Both characters have trauma and baggage from their past that they need to navigate alone and with each other. Mercy explores these themes with care, touching upon physical and emotional abuse, parental abuse, as well as the sense of isolation and insecurity that Ilya suffers from. It is a dark and somewhat depressing story in places that feels raw, but also gives way to some tender and emotional moments, and these were the scenes that really drew me in. If you’re searching for a hurt/comfort dynamic, then this story is for you.
The story also touches on sexual harassment, homophobia, and Church corruption, so do bear that and other content warnings in mind (listed on the author’s website).
I would have liked to have seen more of the worldbuilding beyond Ilya and his church, as some of the church sects and their dynamic seemed interesting, especially in relationship to Ilya’s church and worship, and Danya’s angelic background, though I believe there may be an upcoming sequel that could explore more of this. Other reviews of this book have criticised some of the modern words and slang that appear in the story, but as someone that writes gaslamp fantasy with a ton of swearing and some modern tech, this sort of thing isn’t a deal-breaker for me. As far as I see, Mercy wasn’t meant to be an historically accurate reflection of Russia, but rather an alternative secondary world that takes inspiration from it. If you’re someone that can’t handle the word ‘okay’ in your medieval fantasies, however, then some of the dialogue choices might annoy you.
As for the beautiful cover art? I’d say it reflects the otherworldly and dark aspect of this romance between a cursed angel who falls for his saviour, a tortured priest.
Final Words
Mercy is a queer adult fantasy that explores trauma along with a tender romance.
