I've tried reading this several times now but something about it just isn't engaging me - I don't know why, because a book about assassin nuns sounds like everything I've ever wanted, but something about Lawrence's writing style isn't letting me into the story. Considering how many excellent ratings it's been getting I don't know if it's simply a case of the finished book being edited and of better quality or if there's something I'm missing, but right now this book isn't for me. However, I'm still very intrigued by the premise so I'm likely to pick up a copy in future and give it a second chance.

it has taken me a long time to write this review. mostly because i couldn't bring myself to do it on my phone which would take FORever and i'm too lazy to be on a laptop when not at work. but here we are on a sunday and i feel it's my chance.

i actually received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review but did not manage to read the dang thing until it was actually out for real. this is my bad. i saw the synopsis on netgalley and was like, "yes. that. please. thank you." and was super excited but have a boatload of a backlog and it took me a while to get to. i am depressed now at the delay because this was FAR better than any of the other books i read in the interim.

i have never read anything else by mark lawrence. this needs to be remedied. immediately. (i'm on the library wait list for Prince of Thorns.)

at the beginning of Red Sister, i started highlighting passages which i liked a lot. i stopped after page 6 because i was highlighting too much. the writing is glorious. the characters are fucking heartbreakingly stunning. i cannot say enough good things about this book. 

disclaimers for people with issues: there is rape/female sexual abuse mentioned more than once. there are lesbian characters. there is child slavery. there is animal abuse. 

the story follows a young girl named nona who is a semi-unreliable narrator with a confusing and partially made up back story for most of the book. she is awesome. she's like a fun little sociopath with a kick ass attitude and PTSD. she also has special abilities. she goes to live at what basically amounts to a nunnery but with sisters who are maybe sort of being trained to be assassins. the VAST majority of characters in this book are female. it is DELIGHTFUL. a lot of them are messed up psychically, some physically, definitely emotionally, but they are also strong and caring and loyal to each other. the main characters the reader gets to learn about are nona, arabella, clera, and hessa. i've only just noticed all these characters end in the letter A. the other sort of main character but she doesn't come in until the last fifth of the book is zola. (ALSO AN A. IS THIS ON PURPOSE?)

so basically it's a bunch of girls at a semi-magical boarding school/nunnery learning combat, psychic magic, and meditation. they play pranks. they practice running an obstacle course. one of them may or may not be the chosen one (there's a whole back story with 4 races that came to the land long ago that have different abilities and someday there will be a person with 3 or 4 of the blood of those races running through their veins who will save them from the moon/light refractor falling out of the sky or something. honestly, the whole world building was awesome and interesting but also sparse on details which i think is just because our main character is basically an illiterate plebe from the sticks and what she knows about history is what we got to know about history.)

there's some other backstory about politics and rulers and stuff which impacts the girls at school. there are quite a few battle scenes which are written with a high degree of danger and drama. it's all tense and nail biting a lot of the time and i loved it. 

the beginning starts with a bang and has a scene from the current/future and then we go back to learn about their childhood and then at the end it picks up again with that first chapter and then BAM it ends. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL. 

really, really good. highly recommended. i am excited to read Prince of Thorns!

This is one of those books that just grabs you and won't let you go.

It's a truly epic dark fantasy - violent and knife-sharp.

Nona was wonderful I didn't just love her...I wanted to be her! And while the book is long at almost 500 pages, it's so fast paced that you're done before you know it - it certainly ends before you want it to! This was a two sitting read for me.

This is the first in a series and I truly with the other books were available now. I'd buy them all in a heartbeat.

Nona Grey is only eight years old but she's facing the hangman's noose. Angry but fierce, Nona is ready to fight when she is saved by Abbess Glass and brought to a convent where young girls are trained for years to be expert mystics, spirit walkers and fighters. Nona has a destiny and she's about to learn how to walk it. 

I'm a huge fan of Mark Lawrence's writing and loved his two previous protagonists from his other trilogies - Prince/King Jorg and Prince Jalan. However I was so, so excited and intrigued to follow his first main female lead who seems to have all of Jorg's fierceness, Jalan's talent and something all of her own. The world of Abeth and the Corridor was just as wide and detailed as I would expect from Lawrence with tribes and lands far off and near as well as a ruthless emperor with many enemies, some of whom share his blood. 

I think the first half of this book would be a 5 star for me while the second half slipped into a 4 star. I loved learning about Nona and who she was (not sure if it was just me, but at times she came across a bit on the autistic spectrum in the way she found it difficult to connect to and understand people). Her classes and what they did in them I loved of course - a bit of fighting and a bit of magic is just a recipe for a great book in my opinion!! 

This book only reached up till Nona being 10/11 so I really can't wait to see what happens as she gets older as already so much has happened to her. I liked the glimpses we got into the future though I did guess the end as I thought it was too shocking and easy. I think I felt slightly underwhelmed by the ending but it left me wanting more all the same so job done.

Awesome book by Mark Lawrence! Had a great time reading it!

Mark Lawrence's name springs to mind, two of the bloodiest and the most enthralling protagonists sketched in modern fantasy. Jorg, the prince of thorns, a cunning and deadly player of politics and Jalan, the laid-back self-centered young man forced to the ways of magic and politics to save an empire.

Both these series are very dear to me. For numerous reasons but the special manner in which Mark writes about the grim truths of life laced with dry acerbic wit and fantastically violent action is just amazingly compelling. And it's his dramatic departure from using the tropes of this genre, spinning his own original stamp on the twists and turns of the events in these remarkable stories that makes him stand tall above others writing today.

With Red Sister, the first in the Book of Ancestors, Mark's chosen protagonist is a young girl, growing up in a convent, learning the ways of faith and war simultaneously and also discovering truths about herself amidst all the brutal cold whipping in around her world and the treachery and backstabbing that defines her world. Did that make you sit up and take notice?  It should. Because yeah - Mark's doing something different this time.

“It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.”

And hell, the very first sentence in the book grabbed me by the throat and from then on, it was a headlong flight - through the life and times of Nona Grey, a special young girl who is cast-away by her own mother to a child-taker and then ends up being saved from the hangman's noose by a nun who smuggles her away to a far-distant Convent to begin her eventual training in the ways of faith and violence.

It is a fascinating coming-of-age story - and yes, it has it's fill of prophecies about the Chosen One, the daily grind and extensive training within a 'special' school for the gifted that reminds you of many other books. (Harry Potter - and mix it up with Anthony Ryan's Blood Song!) And yet even as I dove right into the depths of Nona's tale, I knew I should just blindly trust this guy to pull a jack-rabbit out of the hat - and twist things up. And does he do exactly that, by Gods.

So the narrative cleverly crisscrosses across three different time-lines and Mark also goes in for a dramatic shift from first-person to third person, yet sticking true to Nona’s point of view, the nuances of her compelling personality shining through everything. So stylistically we are reminded of his previous books but this time, somewhere along the way, I got the feeling that Mark is striking out for something really special, very ambitious. The characterization is where Mark usually shines best: Flawed, human but with a spark of goodness, somewhere buried deep within their exterior flaws. But this time in addition to giving us Nona and her friends, Mark has also painstakingly created a glorious world, well thought and beautifully fleshed out, an exceptionally detailed wire-frame on which hangs this perilous and stunning story of Nona and her sisters.

Abeth, a world where the sun is dying and ice encroaches upon the living from both the poles forcing men to live within this narrow corridor, whipped on by the brutal cold winds and inhospitable terrains, is the world that the living fled to, from across the stars on their “ships”. And originally there were four tribes who landed in this world: Gerant, known for their brute strength. Hunska, for their unmatchable speed. Marjal, for their ability to fashion and use lesser forms of magic. And lastly Quantal, for their ability to ‘walk the Path’, the higher form of magic that lends people inhuman energies and power. Now with time, the blood has been diluted but there are still births that has traces of these magical abilities. People with one or more such abilities. And are highly sought after by academics, the Church and the Emperor’s people alike.

Nona, as we first meet her, is a young eight-year old who is about to be hung for a heinous crime, unthinkable of a young girl: Accused of trying to kill the son of a nobleman. Nona is a hunska, perhaps a full-blood and cannot stand to see wrongs committed against her friends. Her bonds of friendship and loyalty runs very deep and hence, the uncontrollable surge of anger that leads her to commit acts like trying to kill an eight-foot gerant ring-fighter who was hurting her friend. But she is saved by Abbess Glass, a nun of the Convent of Sweet Mercy where they train nuns to channel such magical abilities to become part of orders like the Red Sisters ( Martial ), Grey (Assassins) or dedicated to the Path.

But the slights committed against Raymel Tacsis, son of a powerful nobleman who by the way, has also got the Emperor’s favour, are never easily forgotten. Nona comes to know this the hard way, even as she grows from strength to strength under the brutal training of the different Sisters within the convent. Bonds of friendship, the hesitant explorations of the Path, the trails of the Blade-Path, the myriad poison concoctions, all of these that she has learned and all the new bonds she has formed and treasures, are tested with time.

Initially, I admit I was thrown off-track by the manner in which Mark started gathering the genre tropes and stacked them on. He went on to build the aura of a prophecy and the chosen one, then brought in the concept of a school for gifted and then tacked on sisters as teacher stereotypes. And I was like, I really hope Mark is going someplace good with all this. But you needn’t worry! After all, he has a legacy of skewering the genre tropes bloody.

So in terms of characters, if you thought Nona was the star, then Mark, just as he built the Band of Brothers for Jorg and Jalan’s counterpart in the Vikings gang, paints up some of the most interesting and compelling side-characters, making the tale really come alive. They are mostly the different novices within the Convent that Nona has joined up. Arabella, who initially is the ‘ice-princess’ and the ‘competition’ in the Convent quickly rises up the ranks to be part of Nona’s inner circle. I loved the balance and maturity that Ara’s character brings to the tale. Woven in to the same is also, the impetuous and highly ambitious Clera as well as Hessa, the girl who can best walk the Path who was also Nona’s companion from the days of her capture by the Child-taker. Then of course there are the various sisters in the Convent – a lot of them draw comparisons to the teachers from Hogwarts but be warned, that within the Convent, there are no soft spells – there is only pain, broken bones, shaved heads and worse, poison.

Despite the young age of the protagonist, the book is full of unexpected violence. There is the opening scene of Sister Thorn going up against two hundred mercenaries, there are the ring-fights that Nona witnesses and also takes part, there are the competitions within the Convent and that against other institutions – and a countless more. Some sinister and terrifying in its intensity. But for people who got turned off Mark Lawrence’s first series because of the grim nature of the narrative, this would be a wonderful point to get on-board.
What I badly missed, was the sense of levity, that grim humor that was the mainstay of both the Jorg and Jalan narrative. The nuns tend to be serious – and Nona, earnest and straightforward. That left maybe, her friends at the convent but sadly no, Mark seems to have left that part out in entirety.

All in all, I do feel that this could be Mark’s most defining work yet. The world is limitless and there are so many threads that he can explore. The story of the Red Sister is just getting started – and with the series starter shaking things up quite a bit, the legion of Mark Lawrence’s fans are only set to grow further. This one’s all set to be one of my favourite books this year for sure.

Mark Lawrence is a name I’ve been hearing in the fantasy arena for years. So when the chance came to read one of his books, I figured why not? And now that I’ve read it, I find myself…a little disappointed. The world is really interesting, and the characters were definitely engaging. But the plot and writing? That’s where things went a little wry.

First off, let’s talk about flashbacks. Because there were a lot of flashbacks in this book, particularly at the beginning. For me, flashbacks are difficult to make work. And unfortunately, I think this was one of the cases where they just didn’t work well. The amount and length of the flashbacks jarred me from the story and I found myself losing track of what was happening in the present because I couldn’t always distinguish between the past and present.

The pacing was also really slow, which I think ties into the plot. In all honesty, not much actually happens in this book, despite it being a bit on the long side. I loved the idea of a group of young women training to be super powerful fighters and use magic, but I kept finding myself wondering what this book was actually about. I’m still not a hundred percent sure I could give a good synopsis of the story. I liked most of it, but I had a hard time staying focused because of the slow and somewhat wandering pace.

That being said, it was the characters that really saved Red Sister. Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the flashbacks, I will say they did a good job developing Nona’s backstory. I felt like I understood her so well. And the rest of the characters were pretty developed and interesting as well. Everyone had their own specific motivations and I loved that.

So, would I recommend this book? Possibly. The story has a lot of potential and, since this is the first in a series I can understand some of the slower pace. So, while I got a little bored sometimes, I’m still glad I gave Red Sister a try. I still haven’t decided if I want to read the second one, but I think I might give it a go. Like I said, this story has a lot of potential.

I've heard it said that Red Sister is the adult version of Harry Potter, but I didn't see that correlation here. In fact, this book was much better written and the story was its own. The only common factor the two stories has is that the young girls are trained in a school like setting to use magic. 

I enjoyed this world. It was full of mystery and darkness. The sisters of the convent were strong and full of power and I loved each and everyone of them. I do admit that I was a little lost some times with the progression of the story, but I quickly caught up.

Mark Lawrence has come up with an epic tale of magic and wonder and I can't wait for the sequel.

Red Sister
Red Sister, book 1 in Lawrence’s new Book of the Ancestor trilogy is amazing and a testament to his masterfully unique storytelling voice. Using his characteristic dark prose he’s made sure to dot all his beautifully violent world building i’s and cross all his mystical magical t’s eloquently locking together all the intricate story pieces. His noir-ish lead character(s) and amazing co-stars drive this fast-paced action packed start to another of his epic tales giving new meaning to Holy War. Nona is not his first child protagonist and like his first is an unapologetic combination of innocence and maturity garnering not only empathy from his audience but a bit of terrible awe as he takes Nona and her friends from wet behind the ear novices to full-fledged, licensed to kill, warrior nuns.

Abandoned by her mother, and sold by her village 9 year-old misfit Nona Gray eventually winds up in prison for the attempted murder of a despicable but noble bully. She escapes the hangman’s noose with the help of the Abbess of the Sweet Mercy Convent who takes her in as a novice with the intent to train her to become a fierce and deadly weapon to fight in the prophesied upcoming holy war.
Is the convent and the Abbess enough to keep her safe until she reaches the maturity and skill to fulfill it, or will the factions who want her dead succeed?

Maybe 4.5 stars. I could not put this book down! I loved the first part, the last part was good, the middle part a bit slower, but overall, thoroughly enjoyable. Anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-ARC of this book: it's a definite winner!

Red Sister is the first installment in author Mark Lawrence's Book of the Ancestor series. Lawrence is also the author of the Broken Empire Trilogy, which I have not read. Red Sister follows a girl known as Nona Grey. When readers first meet Nona, she is only (8) years old, but in reality, she comes across as a young woman twice her age. Lawrence takes readers on a journey that sees Nona taken away from her mother, and sold. Later, she is spirited away to a place called Sweet Mercy Convent after she is nearly hanged.  

By the time Nona is saved from being hanged, and brought to Sweet Mercy, she had already faced more challenges than most students will face in a lifetime. Sweet Mercy is filled with girls from a whole array of backgrounds. Some rich. Some dirt poor. Everyone has their quirks and their issues. This is a story that features girls in a school. What happens when you have girls in a school? There are bullies. There is jealously. There is infighting, and hair pulling, and jokes played on the newbies, and it is a place where you better pay attention because you never know when your teacher might try to poison you. 

Sweet Mercy is a place where the girls are separated into (4) classes: Red (9-12), Grey (13-14), Mystic (15-16), & Holy (17-19). Along with the (4) separate classes, there are also (4) paths for novices to take. Bride of the Ancestor, Martial Sister, Sister of Discretion, and Mystic Sister. Four is a key component of this series. The story is set in a world called Abeth. It is a fictitious world where the people of Abeth descend from (4) different tribes; Gerant, Hunska, Marjal, & Quantal. Also, there are (4) key characters that stand out among a large cast of characters. Besides Nona, there is also Arabella, Zole, & Clera. Please don't overlook Hessa. She really is an amazing character who is not only disabled, but one of the few friends that Nona has.

A large part of this story is centered around the actual teachings, while there are flashbacks interspersed here and there which tells how Nona's past is something that should be not be ignored. There is also something very important about Nona that makes her intriguing to those at Sweet Mercy and beyond. Because of her blood, she has much more of a future than most of the girls she meets along the way. I am just going to jump feet first and say this; The beginning and the ending are the most action packed and dramatic than most of the story. While there is a bit of a let down in the middle, I rather understand what the author is trying to translate to us as readers, rather than just take things as they come. 

Upon finishing this story, I compared the book to Grace Mercy but with the girl from Logan as the lead character.

Red Sister is a novel which has (rightly so, in my opinion) been dubbed the new Harry Potter for young adults. And, without a doubt, it follows the familiar pattern of children growing up and being trained by wise teachers at a specialized school for youth; the narrative fully embracing the whole coming-of-age and Chosen One mythos for good measure. Our main character’s unfortunate past and current travails chronicled in excruciating detail: every friendship, every enemy, every struggle, every triumph, every doubt, every hope. Mark Lawrence taking great pains to create a close knit community of young and old women bound together by their order and their emotional ties; massive page time devoted to the tough training and wise teachings the characters receive. And while that probably sounds like sugar coated candy for Harry Potter lovers, it left me more than a little disappointed.

The tale is told through the eyes of Nona, a young girl, who is waiting her turn for the gallows after committing the terrible crime of saving her friend from a violent man; a man whose father just happened to be one of the most powerful people in the kingdom. All that rescues Nona from death the timely intervention of a nun from the Covenant of Sweet Mercy: a monastery devoted to training women to be the most feared warriors in the world.

Once in her new home, Nona quickly meets and befriends a host of girls her own age; people whom she grows to care about in different ways. Each of them sharing their hopes, dreams and fears to one another as they attempt to survive the brutal training of their teachers; women who will do anything to train their pupils – even poison them when necessary. But while Nona attempts to lose herself and her past in the confines of the convent, her past will not leave her be; powerful people bent on revenge, not only against her but against the order itself and the nuns who run it. Much of this hate driven by an ancient prophecy and the social, political, and ecological events transpiring in the world outside.

Just as with The Broken Empire and The Red Queen’s War, world building is a real strength of this narrative; Mark Lawrence outdoing himself with a unique, compelling setting for his characters to play in. Nona’s world quickly becoming an intriguing place, filled with ancient mysterious, ominous prophecies, environmental issues, and technological abnormalities, which are only loosely explained; all of it blending together to create a panoply of lands and people which a reader will desperately wish to explore and learn more about. This fact made even more impressive when you realize the whole book basically takes place inside the walls of a convent with only the character’s conversations and brief flashbacks and flashforwards to future events being used to accomplish all this.

Populating this fantasy world is a cast of characters cut in the cloth of realism. Our main protagonist, Nona, a more normal person than prior Mark Lawrence leads. No sociopath princes to be found here. No cowardly heroes either. Rather, we have a girl with no family, no future, and no real idea who or what she wishes to become. A youth who grows and matures before a reader’s eyes, guiding by strong women; many of whom are involved in mature same sex relationships. (These relationships normal and matter-of-fact affairs.) Nona slowly revealing her troubled past, sharing her feelings, admitting her fears, and learning the cost and worth of real friendship. Her and her young companions slow march toward maturity drawing you into their demanding life of constant training.

And so we come to my main difficulty with Red Sister: the training. Once Nona arrives at the convent, nearly every moment is consumed by training. We learn about the different blood lines the girls come from – each with their own unique abilities hardwired into their genes; the “levels” each novice must go through during their training; we experience the numerous classes with the unique teachers – some friends and some foes; the “Paths” these youths must one day choose from when they finally become nuns. Nona’s martial education conservatively taking up around 75% of the narrative. Which might not be a bad thing if you love Harry Potter-like books or just really love endless training sessions. Unfortunately, I’m not a Potterhead and a little training is more than enough for my tastes, so the bulk of this novel was a horrendous chore for me to get through.

I know, I know, every fantasy reviewer out there seems to adore Red Sister. Five star ratings everywhere one looks. And I certainly understand why some readers would adore this story. But, on this occasion, I can’t jump on the bandwagon. For me, this novel was an okay read. Only reaching 2.5 stars due to the great ending. So while I know people will vehemently disagree with me about Red Sister, I’m perfectly okay with my opinion being in the minority here, because the bulk of the narrative left me cold. No, the book wasn’t bad at all, mainly because Mark Lawrence can make a discussion about menstrual cycles seem interesting (Yes, there is exactly this type of discussion in Red Sister.), but it just did not read with the same fire, same passion, same energy as other Mark Lawrence stories. Hence, the low star rating.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is a new story in a new world by an author who is trying (and succeeding in my opinion) to stand out as one of the premier fantasy storytellers of the last few years. It is a story set in a world of great challenge, where the environment itself works against the people who rely on it, about a bunch of gifted individuals who can do great things when they work together. This is, yet again, a supremely accomplished story by Mr Lawrence which I will have no problems recommending to any reader of fantasy novels.

The story follows Nona, a young girl cast out by her family and village because there is something not quite right about her. Her agency is taken away from her as she bounces around from village to slave master to fighters guild to death row before finally being taken in by the sisters of the Sweet Mercy convent, who immediately see the potential that Nona possesses and pledge to make the most of it. Thus begins the story of a young girl, fighting not only to make the most of her potential, but fighting just to prove herself amongst a cohort of young girls who would love to see her fail.

Red Sister is a magical academy story. Young farmgirl born into a situation where the world is against her finds out she has magic powers and is part of some great prophecy, which she can only fulfill by completing her magical training. Lawrence does plenty to differentiate his story from the standard fare of magical academy stories, but its still hard to think of this story as something other than Harry Potter meets Earthsea / Name of the Wind. There are a few stand out scenes, such as the scene with the candle or the first time Nona takes a few steps along the path, but the rest are just what you would expect from a magical academy story.

My favourite part of a Lawrence story are the characters, and for Red Sister its no different. Nona is fantastic, more serious like Jorg than free-wheeling like Jalan, but with so much personality that she can stand on her own as a big-hearted warrior without the need for comparison against other Lawrence characters. What I liked most where her relationships with her friends, and her relationships with her teachers - it felt far more realistic than other magical academy stories and made this book so much more readable. I think I would have preferred to experience Nona's story in first person like we did with Jorg and Jalan - I got everything I needed in terms of story but I missed the truly personal storytelling that Lawrence gave us in the Broken Empire novels. Also what I think was lacking was Lawrence's dry wit, something very present in Jorg and Jalan's stories but fleeting in Nona's story. If this story had been written by anyone else I probably wouldn't have noticed, but because it's a Lawrence story I was hanging out for more of his cutting insight than what was delivered. Its a very small detail, but one that sticks out to me simply because of the calibre of the author.

In short, Mark Lawrence proves once again that he is a master storyteller who can craft amazing worlds and fill them with awesome characters. While I might have liked the Broken Empire stories more than Red Sister, this book is clearly superior to many of the fantasy stories that have come out in the last few years. I can't wait to read more of Nona's story - I have no idea where it's going but I'm desperate to find out. 

9.5/10

A fare warning before you start reading this book. Once you take it, you will not be able to put it down. And it's quite a long book, so be prepared to shut the world out for a day or few. And I'm being serious. Say goodbye to eating, working, sleeping, even breathing is optional. All you'll want to do is read this book. Nothing else will matter.

And man, what a book. I really couldn't put the book down. If you haven't, pick it up and read it. This is actually the first Mark Lawrence book I've read. I own a few of them but they're all on my TBR list. 

And I am in love. Marks' writing is incredible, gripping & few other things that I have no words for. Descriptions and attention to detail puts you right there as the story unfolds. And that is all you can ask for in a book. In words of W. Phelps, if you're reading to remember or to forget, pick up this book, you will not regret it. 

The story is fluid and simple. Characters are introduced and developed in a way that you get to know each of them. And periodic looks into the future and time skips only add flavor and intrigue to the story. Keeps you second-guessing yourself as you try to figure out where the story is taking you. And you can't, or you don't really want to, cause the story is pure brilliance. Prepare for the sleepless nights cause they are coming. And the best thing about the book is it's number one in the series. Of the rest of his book are this good then I don't want to miss not reading a Mark Lawrence book, and neither should you

RED SISTER by Mark Lawrence
Rating 5 stars

To say that Red sister is a big book is one hell of an understatement. This book is so long and daunting, but still I managed to read it in two days! It shows rather than tells how the main character, Nona Grey, developed and grew up from being a rabid child in the wastelands of the empire to being a Red Sister, a fighting nun, of the Sweet Mercy Convent. However, this book only encompasses the first two levels which she must undergo in order to become a fully-fledged nun of the order and already it has managed to be a #page book. Not that I’m complaining. Despite it showing the daily routine of the novices in the convent, I never got bored or felt that it was too slow for me. A lot of things happened that were really necessary in developing a strong foundation for the character so that she doesn’t become flat for the reader. The plot was like the life cycle of an avalanche! Every little event grew to affect and instigate others and then eventually grew into a hulking mass of excitement that all tumble down into one massive action-packed ending featuring a whole lot of blood and gore and plain badass-ery.
There were a multitude of interesting characters, from the nuns, the officials, and other novices, that were vital to the plot, although I did have some trouble keeping up with all of them. The main character herself seemed to contain traces of the “chosen one” or the “special snowflake” trope, however, the book presents many challenges to that observation because she often got beat up and because of other twists which you should definitely find out for yourself. 
Red Sister’s winning touch for me was definitely the world building. I was literally jumping with glee at the idea of a dying sun, a flat moon that acts as the sun, an impending ice age, and the possibility of *gasp SPACE SHIPS! Abeth, their planet, is so genuine that I could almost feel the Corridor wind peeling of my skin with its sheer temperatures. And their culture, although heavily based on 14th to 15th century times when the church was the mostly governing body, had its own interpretations of the faith. There is a bit of mystery surrounding their world and I badly want to know everything about it. However, I noticed that their empire seems to be lacking a name, but no matter, I find myself wanting to go there despite the ice waging war on their ways of life. 
I realized that I’m ranting now and that this feels a whole lot like Nevernight. No biggie! I’ll be featuring both on a Venn diagram of sorts which I will post soon

Red Sister, the first book in Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor series, which is a brand new world and completely unrelated to the Broken Empire. That statement was for all you people that couldn’t get past Jorg Ancrath’s callous exterior to his broken interior and find out that he was only about 90% the bastard you thought he was. Rest assured, Nona Grey is much more likable than Jorg but just as much a killer, thus fulfilling all your grimdark needs.

Seriously people. Battle-nuns. I didn’t know this was missing from my life until it was there. Nona Grey comes to the Convent of Sweet Mercy at a tender young age, having narrowly escaped the gallows for the attempted murder of the son of a wealthy and powerful man. At first glance you may think that going to a convent will tame Nona and turn her into a pious girl, but nothing could be further from the truth. You see, the Convent of Sweet Mercy trains girls who have the blood of the ancient tribes to be killers.

At the convent Nona meets many other girls around her own age and surprisingly makes a solid group of friends. I anticipated a rivalry between Nona and another girl, but was pleased to find that they end up being closer than any of the others. That was definitely a petty, mean-girl catfight that I didn’t want to deal with for an entire series and I breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t happen. I greatly enjoyed all the characters, whether student, teacher, or enemy. Nona in particular was wonderful and as many reviewers before me have said, Red Sister was a classic coming-of-age story. Abess Glass is cunning and if she were in Game of Thrones, she would sit the Iron Throne or run the spy network. The Sisters who teach each class are ridiculously proficient and tough and the whole teaching system reminded me of that featured in Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.

Mark Lawrence also managed to squeeze some fascinating world building in between all that nun training. Abeth is a planet on the brink of death- the sun is dying and ice has encroached on much of the planet. Only the nightly heat from the focus moon (which I suspect is a type of satellite or space mirror) has kept the ice at bay from a narrow strip around the planet and even that can’t hold doom at bay forever. Abeth’s magic is fueled by the blood from the ancient tribes (gerant, hunska, marjal, and quantal) and enhanced when in proximity to the shiphearts. Most of the shiphearts are lost under the ice, but one resides below the Convent of Sweet Mercy, providing toasty warm water and easier access to the magical Path. Did I mention that there’s intrigue, prophecy, and some exciting subplots?

Overall, Red Sister was an excellent book and definitely one that will appeal to a broader audience than Mark’s previous two trilogies. This is one series I’ll have to have hardcover copies of, because they’re too good to not be gracing my shelves. If Red Sister sounds like your cup of tea, check it out on April 4, 2017!

I have been looking forward to reading Red Sister for almost a year.  I have only read one other book by Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns, and while I really, really enjoyed it, I just haven’t had time to read the remainder of that trilogy.  Red Sister didn’t work as well for me, and it has what I call, “The Harry Potter Syndrome.”  A large part of the plot revolves around the protagonist learning how to use her not insignificant skills for slaughter in a classroom setting.  I have just read so many magic school series that the format doesn’t work for me anymore.

Nona is a peasant who is sold to the child-taker after a bloody incident in her poverty stricken village.  She is then sold to a fighting house for a few pennies, where she makes only her second friend.  When Saida is threatened by one of the fighters, Nona’s rage gets the best of her and she mortally wounds him.  She and Saida are sentenced to death, and after Saida is hanged, Abbess Glass from the Sisters of Mercy convent saves Nona and takes her back to the convent.  There, the uneducated, illiterate nine year old is expected to attend classes taught by the sisters, classes which include meditation, poisonous compounds, geography, history, and martial arts.  Martial arts?  Did I forget to mention that the nuns are kick-ass fighters, with  the Red Sisters being an elite group of battle hardened warriors?  No?  Well, that’s the hook that got me geeked on this book.

While the endless classroom scenes didn’t completely hold my attention, they are, thankfully, broken up with intense, no holds barred action bits.  Nona’s would be victim is not only a champion ring fighter, he’s also the son of a wealthy, power hungry noble. He’s not about to turn the other cheek after Nona sliced his son’s throat, forcing him to spend many many gold pieces on mages to keep his heir alive and help heal him.  Most of the hardships Nona faces in this installment of the series are a direct response to her attempt at saving her friend from Jaymel Tacsis, a handsome, brutal warrior who loves causing others pain, especially those much smaller and weaker than himself. 

The world-building was a bit confusing for me. Nona’s world sounds, to me, like hell.  The sun has failed and the population lives within a strip of land not covered in ice fields, 50 miles wide and thousands of miles long.  There is a focus moon a night, when the land is bathed in the warm red glow of the manmade moon.  The rest of the time, it’s cold and bitter, with howling winds ripping through the corridor made by the ice fields.  No. Thank. You.  Forget the warning that winter is coming.  In Nona’s world, it is never leaving. 

Some of the population show the characteristics of the four original people to inhabit the planet.  Nona is hunska, which means she’s really, really fast.  Some others have gerant, powers, and are huge, hulking creatures with unbelievable strength. Others have magical abilities, or are able to walk the Path and absorb its magical powers for their own use.  I wish we were told more about these ancestors, and how they arrived at Nona’s world on their ships.  It reminded me of Pern, where the population was once highly advanced, but outside forces, in this case the failing of the sun, throws everything into such a state of chaos that most technology is lost. I’m all about the how this all happened.

I thought that pacing was the biggest problem with the story.  The classroom sessions and Nona’s struggles to fit in with her new classmates just got old after a while.  Just when I was ready to put the book down, some outside force intruded on the somewhat predictable life of the novices, throwing everything on its head.  Intense action usually followed, so I found myself looking forward to changes in Nona’s daily routine.  Learning about the shape of the planet and how the moon revolves around it is fun and all, but gosh darn it!  I just wanted an awesome fight scene where Nona is forced, with little training, to dodge spears, morning stars, and arrows launched at her by large, professional warriors.  And near the end, where she had to face TWELVE seasoned warriors to save her friends.  Yes! That was awesome

So, despite not living up to my admittedly high expectations, Red Sister offered enough excitement to keep me around for the next book in the series.  I hope Nona and her new buddies are finished with classes though and that she’s a full fledged Red Sister, ready to take on enemies of the convent.  The class instruction? I don’t know.  Maybe because I wasn’t a huge fan of my own school days the thought of reading more about someone else’s school schedule just doesn’t earn a lot of enthusiasm from me. 

Grade: 3.5 – 3.75 stars

This torture as training thing that keeps popping up in modern fantasy… is it going to stay a thing? Because frankly it hit its peak in The Long Price Quartet where it lasted all of a short prologue and has just gone down hill from there. A teacher poisoning her student to teach a lesson in being prepared is less edgy than it wants to be; it is no longer even shocking.

Red Sister is the latest outing from Mark Lawrence. It will be popular and win all kinds of fan awards. It is exactly what one would expect if they heard Lawrence was writing a new novel with a young girl as a protagonist. Or if a person suspected the author planned to respond to past criticisms with a giant ‘take that!’ A bloody outing where said girl has a horrible past, something about her that makes her special, and then cuts a bloody path toward a bit of vengeance. The all-girl academy trains near invincible warriors in the aforementioned torturous methods (though to be fair not to the preposterous extremes seen in some other recent releases).

For many readers this will be enough. After all Lawrence has a track record; broken worlds full of broken people is nothing new to his works. He remains something of a wordsmith and has done especially well framing the long game in Red Sister. Conversations flow naturally. And a whole new broken world with small clues dropped for perspective readers provides an inspired world for the new story. Once again we visit a far future in which our earth is nothing but a mis-remembered past.

However this pretty packaging seems hollow. Over the top violence and darkness always walks a fine line before it falls into parody. Lawrence avoided this in The Red Queen War trilogy with a strong thread of humor and genuinely likable characters (even as one felt guilty for liking such terrible people). The humor doesn’t show its face as much in Red Sister, leaving the near super-human nuns of the convent and their powers no balance. Nor does Nona provide a protagonist to feel much empathy or excitement for.

So what does that leave? A book that must be carried on its plot. There is a good story buried in here, absolutely one that will require the trilogy before it resolves anything. Once the plotting becomes clear world changing events are underway involving the very giver of life in this world. The relationships Nona does build are clearly foreshadowing even more pain in her future; and this being the author of the Broken Empire series more betrayals are coming from somewhere. There is promise here but to get to it one has to go through a long training montage followed by a test straight from Starship Troopers (throw ’em to the wild and see who comes back alive).

Red Sister is sure to be one of the more popular books of the year. That is fine and the author has earned his loyal legion. There is a frame here that could lead to a very good series. Sadly this is a step back from the excellent Prince of Fools when it comes to a series starting point. When the shocking no longer shocks it instead starts to drag. And worse, becomes predictable.

3 Stars

Copy for review provided by publisher.

"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.
...and so begins another familiar stranger in dark fantasy. And can I just say, "OHMYGAADSWHATAFRICKINGRIDE!!!!?"
So there are a few 'change of script(s)' to note right off for you Mark Lawrence fans, the first of which is that the dark is {in a word} SUBTLE. That is right. There is no opener of rape or a cagey ole biddy cursing her way through the family greed. Throughout this particular piece, the dark is in the heart of man...in his, or rather in her, motivations. In the past, Mr Lawrence has shown us the worst in a man's actions and the snake infested mind comes second. Here we see the fine line between inner virtue and inner vice. And really, who are we to judge where that line ends?

“Don’t move. I won’t have time to look at you. I have to know you’re where I put you.”
The second thing to note is that while all his books seem to be about the slow strategy, this one is like watching a past game of chess play out to remember the moves in that important game whilst setting up the pieces to a game that started without all the pawns on the board. If that sounds confusing, it is...but also it is not. After all, most people use the same three moves to open up any chess game. So why would you not recall the game where the players develop their first three moves? In simpler terms- this book has slowed the game way down. It is told at a steady pace without a whole lot of flair. Definitely slower than his other books; and definitely aimed more out our thinking minds versus the action loving blood and gore parts.

"People lie, Nona, they steal, they cheat, they’re unfaithful. People hurt you, they let you down. They sell you out.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to be like that."
The last thing that I feel the need to warn you about is this-- between the pace and the content, if you are not enraptured by the characters this book will hold no interest. We are given glimpses of the plot that will take over in the upcoming novels ,BRIEF glimpses, but overall this is about introducing us to the characters, perhaps so that we can fully understand the complexities of what is to come. To a lesser extent there is a bit of world building. But that world building was confined mostly within the walls of the convent. In fact, that was my main peeve...what the heck is this whacko political system and why are a bunch of girls all so important? There needs to be quite a bit more rounding in the world development part. I suspect, given past series, that things were kept vague. But honestly if I was not so hooked on figuring just who was lying and why and how our big 4 would end up developing, I would have walked away from the book.
The fact that I not only kept going but rate this at almost, if not 4 Stars says a lot about just how intriguing these characters are. And anyway (I have said it before in another series start,) you had me at "killer nun."
Now to the story!

"Your death has not been waiting for your arrival at the appointed hour: it has, for all the years of your life, been racing towards you with the fierce velocity of time’s arrow. It cannot be evaded, it cannot be bargained with, deflected or placated. All that is given to you is the choice: meet it with open eyes and peace in your heart, go gentle to your reward. Or burn bright, take up arms, and fight the bitch."
There is this religion. The one that is worshipped is the Ancestor and what holds power in the modern world are bloodlines. In the beginning of their world, their were four tribes (that number 4 again) and those tribes had to blend blood to survive a harsh land. But the traits that manifest are important. Particularly when prophecies and politics mix. Enter into this world convents that train notes from youth in all manner of worship: discretion (spies,) the holy (scripture bound religious,) the path (magic workers of a specific energy flow,) and the red (soldiers of a sort.) Each has a rather murky (WORLD BUILDING!!!!) purpose in the grand scheme but each gives up even their name to serve after years of schooling.

"...you appear to have been purchased wholesale, along with your staff and office, for something as worthless as money."
And where there is religion (especially killer nuns,) there is power. And where there is power, there are politicians and old families and family members grasping and clawing at each other. In this world of magic and religion, a prophecy and a few old relics serve to guide murder and scheming. And at the dead center of it is the princess, the murderer, the liar, and the spy. Four children who are bound to play out roles in an uncertain prophecy while the adults fight around them.
THIS IS NOT A COMING OF AGE NOVEL. I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A COMING OF AGE NOVEL.
This is an intriguing look into the past so that we can understand the present.

"Even children deserve honesty in the dark.
As we delve deeper into the manipulations of the past, we begin to understand that something deeper and angrier and more personal may just be happening in the present. But first we have to decipher the lies from the truths. The cunning from the guileless. And it will be harder than we could think as past and present betrayals are blurring. Who is friend and who is foe?

" Trust is the most insidious of poisons. Trust sidesteps all of your precautions.”
As always, Mark Lawrence delivers on his seamless character interactions and lyrical one-liners. He engages our minds with quasi-philisophical prose and drags us into the foundation that lead us to a precipice where 200 armed face one nun years after that foundation has been set.

But seriously...world building. I needs it. I wants it. I am crossing my fingers for the next novel. Because as awesome as getting to know these characters may be, another novel with only characters and a moderately slow pace will drive me batty. Time for some of the hinted intrigues and subtle prods to manifest in blazing glory. And I have high hopes they will...because...well...THE ENDING!

I will not give it away...but it is well worth reading for! Also...IDONTWANNAWAITTOFINDOUTWHATHAPPENS!!!!

All in all this character based read was plot and world lite but still delivered in the customary dark intrigue that guides me to the author and has me hungering for more novels. But I suppose I will take a lesson from the nuns on that score...

"Anger had its place, it was a weapon not to be neglected, but so did patience, and Nona decided that control lay in deciding which to use and when."

This ARC was provided by Netgalley for an honest review.