Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1)

by Mark Lawrence

The international bestselling author of the Broken Empire and the Red Queen’s War trilogies begins a stunning epic fantasy series about a secretive order of holy warriors...
 
At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls.
 
A bloodstained child of nine falsely accused of murder, guilty of worse, Nona is stolen from the shadow of the noose. It takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist, but under Abbess Glass’s care there is much more to learn than the arts of death. Among her class Nona finds a new family—and new enemies. 
 
Despite the security and isolation of the convent, Nona’s secret and violent past finds her out, drawing with it the tangled politics of a crumbling empire. Her arrival sparks old feuds to life, igniting vicious struggles within the church and even drawing the eye of the emperor himself.
 
Beneath a dying sun, Nona Grey must master her inner demons, then loose them on those who stand in her way.

• ISBN10: 1101988851
• ISBN13: 9781101988855
• Publish Date: 4 April 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Ace Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[malberto]

This was great fun! A but confusing at times, action charged but with a low pace, and the characters development felt a little rushed.
But despite all that it was awesome! What I would love to see for the next book would be some character background and of course some resolution for the small unresolved plot points that this one left unfinished, also I would really love some supporting material, it seems like a very complex world that the author created here, but the book hardly does any world building, maybe a short story of the ice warriors, maybe a encyclopedia, also some stories from the previous generation of nuns would be awesome, would love to see a story featuring Sister Apple on a mission.

Anyway, long story short, if you like action packed high fantasy storys, particularly bloody ones give this one a try, you probably won't regret it.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.


After finishing a high fantasy novel two books ago, I was eager to read more high fantasy. Over the last few years, YA has been primarily what I read, but high fantasy is the genre that got me reading, and I was eager for more after finishing an incredible series. So I picked up Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. And it was so good!

There's so much to this story that it's difficult to know where to start without spoiling things. Nona has a dark history, one we only get to learn in fits and starts, trickling in as the story goes along. And for such a young girl, it's terrible that she has known been involved in such violence from such a young age. The world building was incredible though, reading about the four different tribes, and the magical abilities - super speed, the ability to weave shadows, the ability to walk the Path, and growing to a huge height and strength -  they have that mainly got lost over centuries, but sometimes appear in people every now and again. It's these abilities that make children with them sought after, to grow and trained into ring-fighters, or by the priests of the Church, or by the nuns of Sweet Mercy Convent, where Nona ends up after being seconds away from being hung for murder.

I absolutely adored Sweet Mercy and it's lessons. Lessons in Blade - learning to fight with and without weapons; lessons in Shade - learning to make poisons and antidotes, and, eventually, espionage and shadow-weaving; Lessons in the Path - learning Serenity, Clarity and Patience in order to walk the Path (which I'm not even going to attempt to explain because it's seriously complex); and then lessons in Academia, which focuses, for this book, on Geography, and then lessons in Spirit, learning about the religion and the Ancestor. With the lessons and strong emphasis on friendship, and those friends getting caught up in dangerous things they shouldn't get caught up in, there was a strong Harry Potter feel for me. Don't misunderstand me; do not pick up Red Sister expecting Harry Potter, because that's not what you are going to get. But with the friendship of young girls and the things they get up to, plus all the lessons, it just felt familiar and it was lovely. And those Shade classes in poisons? I got a strong Potions class from them, though Sister Apple is not really anything like Snape, even if she does occasionally poison the novices. But don't let the talk of Harry Potter familiarity get you thinking this is a nice fantasy of fighting the bad guys with magic, because it's not. Not entirely. The novices are taught how to fight properly, with fists and feet, and latter, blades. Seriously, this book is full of violent pre-teens who are becoming experts in their field. And it's exciting, and so, so cool.

But it's not all schooling. Nona has enemies due to escaping the noose. There are those who want her dead, those who will go to lengths to try and make that happen. Plus there is the prophecy of the Chosen One, who people believe the Chosen One is and their desperate attempts to control them. The overarching story is, primarily, Nona learning and rising through the classes at Sweet Mercy, and surviving when people want her dead, but there are lots of smaller sub-plot stories throughout, so there are multiple, small climaxes to each, and each sub-plot affects the next, and all affect the overarching plot. These smaller stories, these sub-plots, are part of creating the world of The Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, and make Red Sister have a setting-up feel to it, but without making it feel like a book that is all setting-up. Red Sister has it's story, and it's exciting, and intriguing, and that final climax was so epic! And I'm just so annoyed the second book isn't available for me to read now, because I'm desperate to know what the ending will mean for Nona generally, but more specifically, what it'll mean for her life at Sweet Mercy. And I just want to learn more about her, the magic she has, and who she will become. The second book is just going to be so incredibly epic, I can feel it. Red Sister is an incredible start to the trilogy, and I'm so excited to continue reading it.

Thank you to Harper Voyager via NetGalley for the eProof.

[kimbacaffeinate]

We meet our protagonist, eight-year-old Nona Gray as she awaits the hangman for killing a man three times her size. Fate steps in and Nonna is saved when, Abbess Glass, the manager of the Sweet Mercy Convent offers her the chance to train as a Novice. Nona is a hunska, and you will learn more about this ability and others at the school. This magical school trains young woman on the path, blades, poison, physical combat and more. The magical elements are brilliant from what each girl possessed to what she can achieve.

I loved attended the Convent. If magical schools thrill you from lessons to boorish teachers, you will devour RED SISTER. Most of the setting takes place within its walls. From spells to training I was enthralled not only by the skills, but the worldbuilding, hierocracy, and political maneuvering that Lawerence developed within this world. A lot of what we learn is threaded throughout the tale, from lessons to conversations. Thus avoiding the need for information dumps, and while not entirely understood the magical elements hint at more to come.

The world is on the verge of collapse, and their civilization has been pushed into this tiny corridor whose fate is dependent on the moon, which we are told keeps the ice that covers the remaining world at bay. Lawerence revealed a brutal world where the church and rulers have power. There are layers of plots as we devel into the social hierarchy, meet indentured humans, and learn that the blade rules.

Written in third-person, this tale can be dark and brutal at times, but Nona and other characters offer balance as they pull the reader into their daily life. Prophies, villains, and uncertainty had me flipping the pages and eager to learn more. Lawrence cleverly added in flashbacks concerning Nona, and I thought they were well placed.

On a side note. Skip the prologue. I am not going to lie, I read it twice! All I could think was, "What the heck have I gotten myself into?' Nevertheless, I continued, and yeah, I still don't understand it. Well, I do NOW, but trust me, read it at the end.

"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"

RED SISTER wrapped up brilliantly while setting us up for the next installment. Nona is a compelling and complex character whose strength and sheer determination has me counting the days until I can reenter this world. RED SISTER is a book you will want to add to your bookshelf.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from the author, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Red Sister is the third of Mark Lawrence’s books that I’ve read – and you know what they say, third time lucky. That was definitely the case here, as I completely fell in love with the book. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Prince of Thorns, which I read with my online book group, but I enjoyed Prince of Fools a lot more. However, Red Sister just completely blew me away.

I can’t resist a good origin story, nor stories containing assassins, and Red Sister is both of these. It follows a young girl called Nona, who ends up at the Convent of Sweet Mercy after several unfortunate events. However, this is not any old convent, and the Sisters are not normal nuns. Many are ‘Red Sisters’, trained in the arts of fighting, and this is what Nona is on the path to become. Just look at this opening line:

It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.

Doesn’t that just intrigue you? I read the first 170 pages of the book in one sitting, absolutely enthralled by the world Lawrence had created, and what Nona was going through. Nona as a character is quite mysterious for much of the novel, she is perhaps almost as unfamiliar to the reader as she is to her classmates, but that certainly kept me reading. One of the things that made me eager to read this book was that it was centered around female characters, rather than a largely male cast. And within this cast of women and girls, there are some fantastic characters. Nona’s friends and their relationships are great, with rivalries soon becoming friendships. The Nuns are an interesting bunch – some kind, others cruel – so basically just like real teachers!

I have to admit that when I first started reading the book, I hadn’t realised that the protagonist was so young. However, this was not an issue – she therefore has plenty of room to develop, and due to the conditions in which she has grown up, she is very headstrong and mature for her age. I suppose in the sort of world that many of them have grown up in, childhood ends very early. The book is quite slow, and not much really happened in terms of ‘big’ events during the first half. This, to me, was actually pretty perfect. It meant I really got to explore the world Lawrence had created, learn along with Nona and her friends, and I got to see more of the ‘school’ setting (another story element I love!). There were flashes of the future in between, showing a huge and possibly catastrophic event, which only made me want to read even faster, even more in one setting to find out how this could happen.

Overall, Red Sister was an absolutely fantastic read, definitely one of the best series openers I have read in a while, and one of my top reads of 2017 thus far. Mark Lawrence has created something completely different from his other books with this series, so even if you did not get along with his other work I would absolutely recommend that you try Red Sister. If it’s already on your ‘to read’ list, then hurry up and grab a copy! I’m already anticipating book two, but looks like I’ll be waiting a while – so maybe I’ll continue on with Lawrence’s The Red Queen’s War series, to tide me over.

I also just want to extend my thanks to Mark Lawrence himself, who got in touch with me via Facebook to offer me a (signed!) ARC. I was ecstatic to receive this message, and so glad for the opportunity to read this book. I also need to thank Mark for being responsible for quite a bit of my blog traffic – a while ago he linked to my review of Prince of Fools on Reddit, as a review by someone who enjoyed the book but did not like Prince of Thorns. I’m still receiving blog traffic from that Reddit post, so thank you, Mark!