"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 …
"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"--
My son loved this book! I, on the other hand, really tried to quit reading, but Levi encouraged me to finish it. I'm glad I did, but seriously, the first two thirds are tedious and boring – to me anyway. The whole first part is world building, but slow and subtle. Small things are dropped that are important to be picked up on, but, as I say, it's subtle. The last "arc" (as Levi defines it) is stunning, and it really defines the whole book and the point of things. I don't think I LIKE the world, and the convent is uncomfortable at best and far from what we in OUR world consider the reason for a convent or religion, and the world overall depends far too much on distrust and violence. Again, it requires way too much buildup – boring buildup in my mind – for a satisfying but …
My son loved this book! I, on the other hand, really tried to quit reading, but Levi encouraged me to finish it. I'm glad I did, but seriously, the first two thirds are tedious and boring – to me anyway. The whole first part is world building, but slow and subtle. Small things are dropped that are important to be picked up on, but, as I say, it's subtle. The last "arc" (as Levi defines it) is stunning, and it really defines the whole book and the point of things. I don't think I LIKE the world, and the convent is uncomfortable at best and far from what we in OUR world consider the reason for a convent or religion, and the world overall depends far too much on distrust and violence. Again, it requires way too much buildup – boring buildup in my mind – for a satisfying but uncomfortable ending. I haven't decided on whether to read the next in the series, but I have enough on my plate that decisions of that sort can be postponed.
It's ok if you know not to expect anything from the plot. The world is intriguing, which is why I picked it up. The fights and reveals in the end were kind of fuzzy because I had caught a cold and was listening to it beyond where I was completely comprehending. But I liked how it turned out.
This series is tailor-made for an anime adaptation, with its eerie world, the powers of its characters and the wonderful fight sequences they get into, and its general vibe.
A fun, engrossing read. But I found the writing to be disjointed/confusing at times - only grew into it when I started reading it for long stretches.
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.
This story is an ass-kicking story of ninja-nuns wrapped in a melange of opposites: politics & prophecy, magic & technology and most of all friendship & treachery.
There are some things that must be done quickly or not at all. If someone asks you if you love them you cannot hesitate. There are some paths that must be taken at speed.
I finished reading the book in record speed despite a slow start with a poetic prologue which made me read every word twice to understand it. But that's no reason to be put off. The prologue is not only beautiful but at once a foreshadowing of things to come, an epic frame to the story and it raises …
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.
This story is an ass-kicking story of ninja-nuns wrapped in a melange of opposites: politics & prophecy, magic & technology and most of all friendship & treachery.
There are some things that must be done quickly or not at all. If someone asks you if you love them you cannot hesitate. There are some paths that must be taken at speed.
I finished reading the book in record speed despite a slow start with a poetic prologue which made me read every word twice to understand it. But that's no reason to be put off. The prologue is not only beautiful but at once a foreshadowing of things to come, an epic frame to the story and it raises some expectations that the story then turns around on the reader.
What follows is a coming-of-age story that takes place in a convent of nuns in a doomed empire on a world covered in ice held back only by the power of the moon and the moon, she's falling down. The main character is a young girl called Nona who grew up a poor outsider in a poor village. Nona had no friends. And then she had a friend and something terrible happened and Nona was sold by her mother and village to the child-taker. She's a monster. Or so she keeps insisting. But she's a monster looking for friends. Because above else Nona always believes in friendship. And eventually she finds friends and both Nona and her friends kick ass! And sometimes get their asses kicked in return.
Truth is a weapon and lies are a necessary shield.
There is magic in this world and it came from four ancient tribes: the giant Gerant, the lightning-quick Hunska, the magic-wielding Marjal and the mysterious path-walking Quantal. Those tribes and their abilities have long been lost under the ice. But their blood persists in smaller or larger amounts in people (the classification goes from touch, half-blood, prime to full-blood). Some may even carry two bloods. And of course there's a prophecy about a chosen one carrying all four bloods. The Chosen One or Argatha will be lifting the secrets of the Ark while the Shield protects her.
I am happy that Lawrence is handling the prophecy the way he does, explaining how the prophecy was created as a diversion during a time of unrest. So we're going to get the self-fulfilling prophecy or a complete subversion of this trope. This construct makes it possible for the protagonists to at once fall into the role of Argatha and Shield, and at the same time know the prophecy for what it is.
But before Nona can ever find out what has happened to her and why, she makes some powerful enemies that will not easily go away even with Abbess Glass' considerable political meddling.
I liked the convent idea a lot and the story managed to surprise me several times. First with the prophecy and then with the second interlude of Sister Thorn. I had truly expected thorn to be Nona. Arabella choosing Thorn as her name at the end of Red Class was a delightful reveal. However, at the end of the interlude she calls out "Don't do it C..." and I immediately suspected Clera not Cage because money is the all-time best motive and we already knew the Tacsis liked to buy people.
The writing is smooth and the intersection of magic (the tribes) and technology (ark, moon and shiphearts) is intriguing, reminding me of Wheel of Time and Dragonflight. I am looking forward very much to further books in this series.
A book is as dangerous as any journey you might take. The person who closes the back cover may not be the same one that opened the front one. Treat them with respect.
I haven't read Red Queen's War yet, but this book feels very different from Broken Empire. The usual Mark Lawrence flair is there, and the violence, but the moral center is shifted back into the human spectrum. The world-building is sparse, but efficient, and the mix of science fiction and fantasy that ML has put into each of his worlds still feels fresh. It hints at more, but leaves plenty unresolved - yet it doesn't feel unsatisfactory.
Nona is a very fun protagonist as well. She feels very much like Arya, but the dream-Arya who returns to Westeros and murders her way across the kingdoms. The fight scenes are visceral.
Most importantly, the book is about magic warrior nuns.
