The Merciless Hardcover – Deckle Edge, January 1, 2014

Very much like mean girls, with a lot of twists. I wasn’t sure what or who to believe, and I’m interested in how the rest of the series turns out.

I was really excited when I read the synopsis of this book and even more excited when I seen the amazing bright pink cover. I enjoyed reading this book, but I was slightly disappointed. I had read several reviews stating how scary this book was, but I found it to be more of a gory thriller.I found the writing of this book to be good, but average. The pacing was perfect, which kept me reading into the night to find out what would happen next. I do wish that Vega did not add the romance aspect to the plot. It did not add anything to the story and felt very disconnected to what was happening.I also had a problem with the characters; however, I liked the main protagonist, Sofia. I thought Sofia made some great decisions when it came to the plot. This is an easy story to add stupid behavior to drive the plot forward, but I am so happy that Vega did not go that route. Sofia made calculated, smart decisions when it came to her survival. However, I really wish that there would have been more character development. I did not feel any connection to the other characters in this book. Riley, Grace, Alexis and Brooklyn all fell flat. I did not care about the characters survival, which I think impacted the suspense for me.I really liked the ending of this book. However, I was disappointed because I was spoiled. While reading this, I wanted to check to see when the second book was going to be published. I did not read the synopsis, just the book title. I really wish that the second book was named something that did not give such a big clue about the ending of the first book. If you are interested in this book, do not read anything about its sequel.Overall, I thought this book was a fun read. It was not overly scary, but was a suspenseful, gory thriller. I am interested in seeing what happens in the second book, but after reading the synopsis, I am a little concerned. It seems like the sequel is going to take a different route than what I was hoping for, but I will have to wait for reviews to make my final decision.

‘The Merciless’ definitely creeped me out. In the last half of the book I was squirming at the tension and excitement. This book is definitely a well-written YA horror. After being introduced to Danielle Vega’s writing with ‘Survive the Night’ I expected great things and wasn’t disappointed.Sofia was a great choice for a protagonist, new to the school with a hidden past. Her Latino heritage played into the religious aspect too. The narrative doesn’t get involved in the mythology of religion, possessions, and demons, just observes what is happening.I hope we get more of Sofia’s mum and abuela (grandmother) in the sequel. They were such a strong presence in her identity and gave her a safe place from which to deal with all the craziness.I wish the story would have been a little more complex, and sometimes the popular girl gang who welcomed Sofia to the new school, and the situation, felt immature and ridiculous - but I was certainly hooked. What possessed (see what I did there?) these girls to think they could perform a religious rite? Little girls playing, like at a séance – until it gets ugly.Would have loved to explore the groups self-appointed leader, Riley’s motives and back story some more – she seemed to be the driving force for the plot. Especially with Sofia’s other friend Brooklyn who has been ostracised from the group for some reason… Is this just a gaggle of mean girls or something more?We do get some layers peeled back from the girls (sometimes literally… ew!) to reveal failings which was a masterstroke. I love a flawed character.I had a hunch of what the ending was going to be, but there is a little twist that I was never quite sure of until I read the words. So it is somewhat predictable, but not entirely. Plus, this novel reads like an expert thriller/horror. I have the next two books in the series and am excited to continue on very soon.Totally recommend this series for a fun scare!

Let me start off by saying I’ve had my eye on this one since at LEAST the beginning of this year and never seemed to get round to buying. Well with it getting closer to my favourite season of Autumn and Halloween, I could resist no longer. I decided to take a break from my recent crime thriller streak and give myself a little break with a paranormal read.I would describe this as a Mean Girls meets The Cult with a bit more commitment to gore and a darker progression for the characters and was NOT disappointed in the plot or characters. Each character served their purpose well and brought their own factor of broken, deranged or even just misled, to the story in a way that complimented the craziness that ensued.The Merciless is a fast paced read that pretty much gets into action from the get go. At first I was worried I wasn’t being given enough backstory to empathize with or relate to the characters, but as the pages went by this became less of a problem. Between the mystery and scheming, pitying the victims and rooting for the protagonist wasn’t really an issue by time I was about a third of the way through. If anything the mystery added to the intrigue just nicely.Without giving anything away, I will say that by the end, you’re really not sure who to root for as each main character has their own issues and ‘demons’ to deal with and confess to. This story gives you everything from a little religious hysteria (somewhat reminiscent of the salem witch trials) to classic exorcism and a good old dose of crazed violence.Finally, I would definitely recommend this to all you paranormal horror fans but not to any of you who can’t handle the occasional severed appendage.

Well, well, well, what can I say? This thoroughly disappointed me, after giving it some more thought, I’ve taken this down to 2 stars.So we have 3 beautiful and popular God-fearing girls who adopt the new girl into their secretive little gang and warn her against demon-possessed Brooklyn. To cure Brooklyn of her devilish ways they decide to kidnap her, stick her in a basement and torture her, or “exorcise her”… Sound like I’m giving too much away? Well yes, I probably am, but the blurb tells you the exact same thing, making the whole suspense element of this book completely useless and a waste of the author's time. Don’t try to keep us on our toes when you’ve already told us what’s going to happen.Due to this being a novel aimed at Young Adult readers, the language, for me, felt simple and lack lustre. I can only read so much before it becomes laughable for me, and laughable it became. All the characters speech was so unrealistic and straightforward it was almost impossible to believe anyone would actually talk like that. This unrealistic speech really made it difficult to connect to any of the characters on a deeper level so I had no empathy for any of them.The plot, overall, is just a little bit… completely… ridiculous and nonsensical. The blandness of the characters, scenes and speech make the whole thing feel like a pretty demented, but dumb dream. I didn’t find myself shocked, scared or creeped out at any point in the entire book because it was all so juvenile and cheesy. The reasons the girls did what they did was childish and cringy and it just wouldn’t happen in the way Vega wrote it down. And let’s not get me started on all the loose ends...Anyone up for reading one of the most predictable endings ever? My God, what an unexciting end to a pretty unexciting novel - at least it was consistent.I did read this over the period of just one day, so it had me wanting to finish it, but not for any of the right reasons. I wasn’t reading it quickly because I wanted to know what was going to happen next, I was reading it quickly because it was getting stupider and stupider and I wanted to get it over and done with. Do I want to put myself through reading the second book in the series? I don’t know… I’ll give it some time first.

The synopsis of The Merciless got me curious, but it was the physical book that actually made me pick it up and read it as soon as I took it out of the packaging. It’s a hardback, without a dust jacket, bright pink and deckled edged – it practically screamed at me to open it, and once I did, I was pretty much hooked.Sofia is an experienced new girl, and has perfected the art of slipping seamlessly into a new school. But she unexpectedly finds herself part of the popular crowd and although not completely comfortable, she’s so expert at not making waves she just goes along for the ride. I’m a little ambivalent as to how I feel about her as a character – I didn’t particularly like her, nor dislike her. The disadvantage of The Merciless is that there isn’t a massive amount of initial character development, so I wasn’t particularly invested in them.What Ms. Vega does in The Merciless however, is write a pretty disturbing plot – it’s pretty damn scary and downright addictive, despite the fact that a few times even I, the gore loving horror addict, internally flinched at some of the things that go down inside the inside the house. In that respect, it’s a compelling plot, but it’s also one that I wasn’t entirely convinced of, especially at the end. It just felt like there should have been something MORE, but I can’t really elaborate without giving away major parts of the story.However, the first thing I did when I finished was try and find out when the next book will be published, not just because it ends on the most horrible of cliffhangers, but I’m so intrigued with where the story goes next.Overall The Merciless has a lot of great points for horror lovers, and it’s a very quick, engrossing read. Definitely not for the faint hearted but the storyline and Ms. Vega’s twisted imagination promise a lot more to come…

The first 25% is a real page turner. There was potential for character development, then it gets bogged down a bit (I won't spoil it), in the location where the next 60% takes place. Then when they change location again it feels like a relief. The ending is quite good.I can't help but think that it was written to be a teen horror movie. Maybe it was.

I have lent this book to a friend but i myself got through it within 2 days. Its got action, drama and dont forget horror. The perfect combination for a good book that kept you always wanting more. Praise to danielle vega!

It looks second hand. It's crinkled up, torne pages and worn out bits on the cover