Red Sister: Book 1 (Book of the Ancestor)

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It had never crossed my mind that I would read a greater story than that of Kvothe the Arcane. I had never thought it was possible to find a greater character than the Emperor Jorg Ancrath. I had never even slightly considered that there might be a fantasy world out there toppling that of Τhe Final Empire, and most definitely, I had never thought that i could love a book more than The Night Angel. But here we are. Remember Harry Potter? When little Harry joyfully leaves Privet Drive to enter a school full of magic and hopefully escare his miserably cousins. This book is kind of like that, only little Nona is 8 years old and is entering a very interesting convent to learn to kill, after having already killed someone at her young age.

As stated, Nona, our protagonist, finds herself at a convent being forged into both a weapon and a shield and most of the tale follows her training and the forging of relationships with her fellow sisters. You know when they have a training sequence in a movie and they play some Eye of the Tiger and the MC fast forwards through an avalanche of techniques and exercises and bam, they are done and Neo says I KNOW KUNG FU and the plot moves forward? They do that whole fast forward bit cause a lot of people hate the whole training part and find it boring. If you find yourself nodding and thinking I totally hate those parts then I have bad news for you friend - you might struggle with a large part of this book. Me? Not so much. Train away young padawans! While the princes of both Thorns and Fools did indeed break all manner of literary rules, you could argue that they took the longest route to get to where they were going—that Jorg’s philosophising and Jalan’s repartee were obstacles in the journey. Red Sister has a much subtler, “grown-up” tone; one which I’ve only ever seen Lawrence exhibit in The Wheel of Osheim (the concluding volume of his most recent completed trilogy). This bodes well indeed for his future work. 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. I have been too young to know, and I have been too old to care. It’s in that oh so narrow slice between that memories are made.”As for the aforementioned issue of preference, I'm sorry, but Clera needs to die. I have no patience for letting that shiesty broad live. I get that Nona has her thing about friendship, but friendship isn't one-sided and Clera's #1 priority has always been Clera. And no, I don't feel sorry for her b/c she had a difficult upbringing. LOOK AT NONA. The main thing you need to know about Nona’s world is that it’s bloody cold, and bloody brutal. On a planet where every habitable area is gradually succumbing to encroaching ice from both poles, the warring kingdoms are confined to the Corridor: a narrowing strip of land between the ice, where peasants scratch a living from the frozen soil and nuns live in isolated cloisters, guarding their own mysterious and much-coveted sources of heat. This ARC was provided by NetGallery in exchange for an honest review. Release date in Australia is 6th of April 2017 The worldbuilding in Red Sister is outstanding, with careful consideration for all factors related to the geography, technology, religion, politics, and culture on a planet where only a small strip of land is inhabitable. Whoever controls the mechanical moon also has the fate of the entire world in their hands. I believe most of us were reassured, if not by Red Sister’s first line, then certainly by its second. I for one knew I HAD to read more about this woman—a bloody nun, no less—who is apparently so badass that it requires an entire army just to challenge her.

Sister Kettle’s words are apt indeed. Like I said: nobody likes change. At least, not at first. But in this case, the switch in style, setting and substance from the Broken Empire to the Book of the Ancestor is perhaps the best thing Mark Lawrence has ever done. Recommended to fantasy and to YA readers 15+ who are looking for a coming of age novel with a twist, it's very gorey and quite brutal, it had animal torture and castration. So don't rush out and buy it for your 12 year old daughter.Part of it might be that this one was centred around women. I know... I know... if a dude on GR wrote that he prefers to read almost exclusively about men and male experiences he would be castrated... but, but, but about three years ago I realised that I consumed a lot of literature that was exclusively about men. This story also beautifully features lesbians. In fact, I do not believe we even see a hetero relationship in this book. There are two nuns in this book, who are teachers and obviously together, which no one ever shames or questions, but treats the relationship how it should be treated: as normal. There is also a good discussion on being young and having feelings that you aren't sure are "correct" since the feelings are not of the 'norm" of society. One of the other younger girls in the Convent is discovering she is gay, and the transition of her realization is somewhat painful, but so very important. It is never stated that Nona is gay herself, but I truly feel like she is, and I am so excited for that development that could grow, you have no idea. Let the record state that all I want in my life are lesbians in my high fantasy novels and this portion of the story made me completely biased. Also, thank you Mark Lawrence for making a Convent, for only women and girls, have lesbians, because many other authors would have skipped the obvious and made everyone straight.