Book Review: Mercy (Mercy #1) by Rebecca Lim

MERCY (MERCY#1) by Rebecca LIm
Published by Disney Hyperion on February 12, 2013
Length: 280 Pages
Genre (s): Young Adult, Suspense, Paranormal
Source(s): Barnes and Noble / Goodreads / Amazon

Mercy is an exile from heaven with shattered memories of who she used to be. She's doomed to "Wake" repeatedly on earth, each time ina  new body, and assuming a new life. During the day she survives in the world on instinct, and at night her dreams are haunted by her lost love, who pleads with her to find him.

This time is different. When Mercy wakes up she meets Ryan, an eighteen-year-old reeling from the loss of his twin sister, Lauren, who was kidnapped two years ago. Only Mercy and Ryan believe his sister is still alive. For the first time she can remember. Mercy has a purpose: she can help.  So she doesn't understand why the man in her dreams cautions her not to interfere. But as Ryan and Mercy come closer to solving the mystery of Lauren's disappearance, danger looms just one step behind. Will Mercy be able to harness her extraordinary power in time?

It's the interesting synopsis that inevitably drew me in. We rarely see novels with angels as the main focus of the story. But there's a huge market for Vampire's, werewolves and even zombies. And I do think that with Angel's, it is harder to hit the nail. 

Mercy is the kind of story that just spirals you right into the action. No breaks no pauses. It mystery after mystery after mystery. The idea is unique but there's a touch of another Angel story which I've read before. Does Lauren Kate ring any bells? Anyway I do hope that it would be able to uphold itself all throughout.

I like the fact that for once the character has enough spunk that makes a likeable female protagonist. I'm just so over the whiny characters that you'd see in abundance nowadays. Her sarcastic and no nonsense attitude is refreshing. The voice in the story is strong, giving you that sense and feel of who Mercy is beyond all that body jumping thing. Glad to see that eventhough she's grown to not let herself get too overly involved with all those lives she's lived, she's still able to let go of her qualms and just you know live as Carmen without thinking about what's going to happen after. She lived the moment and left a mark.

The pacing is smooth without idling on something far too long to get you bored or start skipping pages just to get back in on all the action that such a mystery laden plot promises from the get go.

The mystery on the disappearance of Ryan's sister, Lauren is more thought of as compared to Mercy's own backstory for some reason. I think the little snippets with Luc and Uri, made to feel cryptic and mysterious appeared random and confusing. I would've loved to see more of Luc and Uri but it would seem that it'd be on another story, which I am most looking forward to reading. The insinuation that Luc and her go way, way deeper is something that I'm quite puzzled given that Uri seem to have been expressing an even vaguer opinion on things. I couldn't quite put my finger on whether Luc is even the real bady or what.

The emphasis on the musical prowess of Carmen somewhat hogged majority of the story. She's good but what made her really good? The likeability factor would have boosted up if there was more growth between Carmen and Mercy and not just the mere host factor in the relationship. They appear to be too intertwined that we can't quite grasp nor appreciate their individuality.

A possibility of a budding romance between Ryan and Mercy is a bit of a stretch for me. They were helping each other out throughout the story and a deeper attachment that seem to have grown in that span of time seemed vague. Ryan was just too focused on finding his sister that I doubt that he'd feeling anything else besides companionship or see her as an ally.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the story and I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

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