Mercy: Tears of the Fallen by Chance Dillon

At a Glance: This Grimdark Debut Swings Big and Connects

Chance Dillon’s debut book Mercy: Tears of the Fallen enters the epic Grimdark genre with a bang, creating a vast world, huge twists, memorable characters, and Game of Thrones levels of betrayal and political maneuvering. This book promised a lot, and it delivers in all the areas that count, especially in it’s epic battle scenes.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is a muli-pov epic grimdark fantasy that has multiple sub-plots that run along side it’s central looming threat of a second reckoning. Multiple characters with different motivations are showcased in the vast world of Maetlynd which is still recovering from the first reckoning 34 years prior. The world is a good mix of grimdark and high fantasy with unique races, interesting creatures, a robust magic system, and political machinations that I absolutely live for in stories like this one.

Dillon has created something special in his debut work, that I think fits well in both the Grimdark subgenre and the epic fantasy genre as a whole. This book will appeal to fans of politicking that isn’t instantly gratifying, but is clear that there is a long game being played and everyone has their own ambitions and goals.

Tears Awakened: Relics of Power in a Blighted World

Maetlynd is a post-reckoning land in recovery from the crimson storms that cause people to go mad, poison the water, and threatens everything the Unity is trying to build. The Epoch of Unity is the political arm that consists of a strained alliance between the different factions of Taldreas, ruled by a High King.

The magic system is tied to Runes and Tears, runes are usually embedded and manifest in different ways, and always have a cost associated, usually through pain to their wielder. There is nine orders who leverage the nine different forms of Will ranging from blood, dusk, choas, dawn, and more. Then you have the different groups that believe in the specific form or forms depending on who they are and what god or religion they worship.

The Relic hunting is where you can really feel the souls like elements of this work, making it stand out, fans of games like Elden Ring (Dillon mentions this as an inspiration) will really enjoy this and feel at home, but those not familiar with the works will be given plenty of context to understand what is going on.

The world is full of diverse cultures, and as a result we see several cultural clashes that set up our alliances and even more so the betrayals. Some groups have different Artisans, some are driven by religious beliefs, some are pushed by the desire for power, but all know the power of the Will and the runes.

Character Loyalties: Fractured Bonds in a Fractured World

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is full of multiple characters who all feel unique and purposefully written, they all have their own motivations, voices, and never feeling like they don’t have a place on the page.

Alevist Lightseeker is our fallen hero, our broody, vengeful, powerful as shit protagonist who is both a sad story, and someone who I rooted for. He’s built by 100s of years of experience, and a lot of trauma.

Erevayn is our sad boy, he’s an exile who hass fallen from grace, has a major drinking problem, and can’t seem to find his way back to grace. He is full of despair and self sabotage, but finds a renewed purpose through the tears and his childhood love who comes back into his life.

Viyala is training to become the next hand to the high king, learning how all the politics work behind the scenes, getting a view of the high king and his current hand few do. She is our north star, the morally right character in a sea full of gray.

Several regular side characters appear throughout the stories being told, a few to note are Merin, Slasmir, Dullo, Hayde, and Nerra. All the characters wether they be the main focus, or supporting have interesting dynamics and interactions. The relationships feel genuine, as do their motivations.

Plotlines Merge: Different Threads Fall Into Place

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is certainly dense, this is a true epic fantasy, where everything is new, every concept, place, race, and magic system is going to take some getting used to. Dillon rewards patience, and it pays off. This book certainly throws you into the deep end, and you very much need to trust the process before things start to really click.

Two huge positives that stood out to me through my read was Dillon’s ability to transport the reader into the battle, it felt like I was watching a film as these characters clashed, scenes are visceral, and certainly don’t shy away from the dark parts of conflict. The other was the scheming, I’m a sucker for a big twist and a good long game, and Dillon delivers on both of these over and over again throughout this book, with promises for the upcoming continuation of these plot lines.

Dillon also does a great job at the convergence of different plot lines, while there are many things still unfolding, the pieces of the story that do converge feel natural and make sense, I never had a moment where I was left wondering if it made sense that these overlaps were happening when and how they did.

While there are a lot of strong points, this book does have some brief moments where dialogue can feel a little robotic and I felt like I was being told how I should feel in the moment vs getting there on my own. These instances were enough to note, but not enough to take away from the depth of these characters and their interactions. This being a debut novel, I have no doubt these first book hiccups will be addressed in the next installment.

Between the Sheets: Fade To Black

This is a true epic fantasy, where the relationships are there, feel good, but never get hot and heavy which earns Mercy: Tears of the Fallen a 🌶️ (1.0) on our spice scale. While there are moments of romance, the reader is left to use their imagination on what happens under the sheets between our characters.

The lack of spice doesn’t mean lack of connection though, these bonds develop in a way that makes you get attached and root for their success. This also adds to the feeling of betrayal that will come with these types of bonds through different action of our characters.

This is a great read for those who don’t like their pages to get too steamy, but still value that deep character connection through things like found family, shared trauma, and forgotten bonds renewed.

Bro Reading Comfort: Darkness Might Raise Some Eyebrows

The cover is stunning for this book, but it certainly lets someone sitting next to you on the bus know you’re reading something that is clearly a gritty fantasy which earns this one a 😳😳(2.0) on the reading in public scale.

This book covers some pretty dark themes, doesn’t shy away from the trauma of war, and certainly has some intense battle scenes. This book isn’t going to spark much outside of an interesting conversation due to the cover, or a respectful nod from someone else who has read it.

Darkness Factor: Grimdark That Cuts Deep

Dillon takes you head first into the gruesome world of Maetlynd through a prologue full of despair and pain which left my jaw on the floor in the first few pages, earning this one a 💀💀💀 (3.5) on the darkness scale.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is Grimdark at it’s finest, hitting on all the themes that make the genre what it is, a super dark place with those glimmers of hope to hold onto. This book doesn’t shy away from the trauma, depression tied to loss, addiction, or the gritty aspects of battle. With that it also does what can sometimes be so hard in this genre, and that is keeping the reader hopeful even when all seems lost.

Dillon is never overbearing with the use of these dark themes, they’re all purposeful and never inserted just to move the plot along or add shock value to a scene.

Book Battlefield: Standing with the Greats

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is a true epic Grimdark fantasy with all the things you expect from the genre, morally gray characters, dark costly magic systems, political maneuvers that seem justified depending on who you’re rooting for, and super dark imagery and tones.

Where this book stands out is it’s clear inspirations from games like Elden Ring and the souls genre, through the characters, it gives that familiar feeling of the uphill battle to achieve the goal while consistently getting knocked back and having to reassess the strategy.

This is an ambitious debut with a wide scope, dense in lore, world building, and a complex magic system that all take the time investment to get comfortable with. This is very much a setup book in that way, but has a complete story within it as well. Dillon leaves plenty of room for expansion while not leaving me feeling like I’m completely lost as to how the world of Maetlynd works.

If you enjoy the complex political maneuvering of books like A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin or the moral gray character decisions and motivations of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie you’re going to feel at home reading Mercy: Tears of the Fallen.

Should You Bother?

For Grimdark Fans: This debut is a great addition to your TBR, and the sooner the better because this book feels like the start to what could become a household name in the genre.

For Politicking Fans: This book has all the deep schemes, betrayals, and maneuvers that I thrive for when getting into an epic Grimdark.

For High Fantasy Fans: This book has it all, new world, lands, magic systems, and races that all make sense and have a clear direction and rule set

Final BroMantasy Verdict

Chance Dillon is a name you should get familiar with, because I’m blown away that Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is a debut for him, this book reads like Dillon has been at this a while and is very comfortable in the Grimdark space, which earns this book a 4.25 overall.

Mercy: Tears of the Fallen is the strongest debut fantasy I’ve ever read and I don’t say that lightly, Dillon manages to weave so many moving plots together seamlessly in ways that make sense and don’t feel forced, while creating a world shrouded in dread with just the smallest glimmers of hope, and a magic system that feels fresh with clear rules and costs that kept me engaged even during it’s slower moments. The characters are well fleshed out and the main characters are immensely complicated in the best way possible.

The book can be a bit of a slow start and will require some patience because Dillon boldly does no hand holding and thrust you into the story clearly expecting you to trust the process, which is rare in a debut book. Outside of some super minor times where I felt the dialogue was a little clunky and very few editing hiccups, if I didn’t already know it, I would have never thought this book was a debut from a new author that independently published. This book feels like it came from someone who has a few books under their belt and has started to hit their stride as an author vs someone just coming onto the scene.

If you’re into Grimdark, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, or Souls Like video games, you can’t go wrong picking this one up and I highly suggest you do so because this story was a great time. The ending was emotionally brutal and laced with the impending consequences that I can not wait for book two!