Red Sister: Book 1 (Book of the Ancestor)

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No one is truly all good; everyone comes with failures and faults. Good people can do terrible things just as easily as bad people can perform righteous miracles. Believing in someone else can be a great treasure or a horrible curse, but believing the bad or the good of yourself can be catastrophic. I received an advanced copy of Red Sister from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to announce my gratitude to Mark Lawrence, Ace and Berkley Publishing Group for this opportunity. The sprawling cast of mostly female characters also springs to life. The villains are frighteningly effective, and the development of the plot in tandem to how the main characters get to know each other is well played out. It’s no easy feat to handle the fraught, delicate balances of teenage female friendships as well as the terror and violence of an imminent war, but Lawrence does so masterly. I relished seeing these girls learning to form bonds with their peers, to empathize with them, to draw strength from each other instead of setting out to destroy each other in ways that a sexist system would benefit from. I’m honestly a huge button when it comes to lady friendships in books and this book new just where to push.

Being someone who grew up alongside Harry Potter, magic boarding school books have a special place in my heart. I love the inevitable jealousies, rivalries and friendships that form between the students. And, hey, it's almost like the four Hogwarts houses because here the girls train to become either Red Sisters, Grey Sisters, Holy Sisters or Holy Witches. A book with several strong parts, but has too many boring sections to be anything more than "average". In contrast with the travelogue-style adventures of Jorg and Jalan, much of Nona’s tale takes place within the Sweet Mercy convent. Here, she learns the subtle arts of poisoning, self-defence, and—most importantly—trusting her own instincts. Nona’s band of sisters are also developed in a nicely understated way, and they all play off one another in entertaining ways. But for those who remain unenamoured (or unfamiliar) with Lawrence’s work to date, Red Sister is the perfect point at which to become (re)acquainted… and this time, there isn’t a sausage in sight.The book has a large cast of characters, and most are well developed, with their own distinguishable personalities. Nona is fascinating – due to her upbringing, she doesn’t understand people, and if you’re her friend, you have to spell it out for her, or else she’ll never know. She’s extremely undiplomatic – she can never pretend to be civil with someone she hates, and is ready to go on a murder spree even if it could lead to an absolute disaster. She’s also strangely devoid of anxiety at some points. If I were her, after arriving at the convent, I’d be driving myself crazy with worry the Tacsis family would be coming, but she doesn’t spare it much thought. I would have liked to see more of her character development happen onscreen. We start with the girl who can’t understand people in Red Class, and move on to someone joking around with the friends in Grey Class, and all of it happens during the gap we never get to see. Despite these not inaccurate criticisms (which, believe me, Bourke is far from the only reader to have voiced), I—and many others—have spent the last few years eagerly devouring the regular instalments (one per year!) of fresh, sausage-y goodness. Okay, let's talk for a minute about *holds breath and pauses for dramatic effect* SCHOOL SETTINGS! Most people, like me, in their mid to late twenties, grew up with Harry Potter which has bewitched all of us to absolutely love and devour books set in boarding school settings. All the different nuns, with all their different specialties, were so reminiscent of Harry Potter, too, that I couldn't help but become addicted to reading this. (Side note: Apple/Mistress Shade is everything I wish Snape was in a Potions Master, and she filled my heart with so much happiness.) I went to a Catholic school for 14 years, nuns were the ones responsible there. Naturally, we disliked them, they were mean, heartless, and too strict. However, after this book, all I can say is wow, I wish that was my kind of school! Because you see, these are no ordinary nuns. I mean who would train the students to poison, kill, and destroy? Of course, in self-defense ;) You learn about a world on the verge of collapse, a thin corridor of civilization dependent on a failing moon that somehow keeps the ice at bay. You learn of nuns who, if they have the blood for it, train as poisoners and spies and warriors. Plots within plots within plots reveal the scheming hearts of the various leadership, and at the center of it all is a convenient prophecy about the one who will save them all.

The hardest lesson I ever learned was that every bad thing you see a friend do to someone else they will someday do to you.” I suspect it’s going to be impossible for Lawrence to escape the notoriety that’s surrounded him since the release of Prince of Thorns. I’m also fairly certain that he wouldn’t want to; the bloke’s sold more than a million(!) books, after all. (No such thing as bad publicity, and all that.) This story surrounds a young girl, given away by her mother and village after a frightful night. Yet, even being given away, our young protagonist, Nona, proves that there will always be room in your heart to love. The children that are given away to be sold are worth as much as what is in their blood. There are four tribes in this world, and the purer the blood you have, or the more tribes you have in your blood, makes your worth incredibly more valuable.Nona, a young girl of eight, orphaned by her father and abandoned by her mother, is waiting her turn on the gallows. She committed a terrible crime; that of saving a girl that was not meant to be saved. But Nona isn't a simple girl. She has Hunska blood in her veins; a residue from a civilization long lost, blessing her with unique abilities. So, she is given a choice. Either pay for her crimes, or join the Convent of Sweet Mercy; a military monastery with the reputation of raising little girls to fearsome warriors. But even though Nona is determined to leave behind her violent past, her powerful enemies are not... Would science have developed to the point of being able to create and implement a giant mirror (where the moon used to be) to reflect and amplify the sun's diminished light? I went into Red Sister with apprehension, because I didn't love this authors other series Broken Empire. So automatically knowing this was a YA I thought I'd hate it. However I got it completely wrong, I actually really enjoyed reading this book and it was actually a fantastic coming of age, YA book. I honestly thought Mark would have struggled transitioning from grimdark and adult fantasy to a YA novel, however the transition was smooth and it was the best book I've read by him yet. However it had a few issues, that's why it isn't getting five stars from me, but I honestly think the rest of the series will be awesome and more then likely a favourite for myself.