Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #2)

And war is a longer game than battle. For now we wait.

This book is on the cusp of being beyond really liked it and just under it was amazing and I may revise the rating when I have finished the series.

The village and the child-taker weren't things she had placed value in, or even liked, but they were her things, part of her story, and you couldn't choose those, not when you were a child.

Lawrence has hooked me with this series as he continues to weave a fresh story that features strong and diverse characters. In addition to this middle book moving the plot along and unfolding the powers our characters are learning to harness there are subtle hints to the history and life beyond Nona or Ara.

Spend too long watching the long game and the short game will kill you.

Each Sister in the Sister Mercy Covenant has a deep background lying beneath the surface and the reader only receives glimpses of it. What has Abbess Glass witnessed as a former High Inquisitor, current head at the Covenant who has suffered through terrible personal loses? What struggles have the Sisters encountered to be where they are?

What was life like before the ice encroached? Or how about the history of the Ark, Missing and the powers that drive everything now? So much is hinted at but so little is known.

Most importantly, these answers don't matter to my enjoyment of the series. I didn't start the book to learn about these historical items but they hint at a more detailed world and I fear that three books won't be sufficient to soak it all in.

For years she had walked the novice cloister, chased the others, sat on the benches chattering, and all that time this void had waited in the darkness only yards beneath them. Perhaps people were like that too: a void had waited behind Clara's smile, a dark space where unspoken thoughts had festered and grown into betrayal.

Make no mistake, Lawrence continues to craft a dark and grim story. Happy kids attending a school this is not. There is violence and death, but looking back over the highlights from this book, there was a common theme: self reflection. Nona is struggling to understand who she is, the violence inside her and the responsibility she has to honor both.

My father told me, your weaknesses have more to teach you than your strengths.

Or maybe I'm a sucker for self reflection and only highlighted lines that met this criteria, but Nona faces adversity and this is her story of how she struggles to stay loyal, seek vengeance and create violence.

I am not good at writing reviews for sequels. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one. Read it.

This didn’t get full stars from me because at the beginning it just feels like it is copying the same school issues that the first one re-framed so nicely from Harry Potter & Co.

I admit to having a general problem with book 2 in any series that is totally not the fault of the books in question. But first books introduce new worlds and characters to us, second books do not have the luxury of distracting us from the plot that way... or at least this one doesn’t. There aren’t really any new elements of the world introduced here. New worlds are just more mysterious than established ones.

If this sounds a little negative... well the book did start slow because it does take up a while to set up the furious final third which reads like the author was listening to Ring of Fire a bit too much “It burns burns burns...” or like he was on fire himself.

The ending more than makes up for the somewhat slow start. So if you liked the first book you are very likely going to be enjoying the second one and also you likely already made up your mind to read this one anyway? ;)

On closing this screening from Netgalley (thankyou) I say..

Mark you devilish bastard!

On the heels of Red Sister, we are committed to knowing how this child Nona and her cohorts are going to be raised, trained, and where they will happen upon in a world that is closing in. Ice walls, literally. With only the aimed faux moon melting a corridor during a nights sleep. Put there, controlled, and controllable only by histories are gone myth.

This book will not disappoint. First, thank you, Mark, for the lead in setting up what we know and might not. I can't tell you how often I forget where I was and a short recap is always helpful. I could have used a pronunciation guide here and there but I like made up names anyhow.

We join Nona in all her vainglorious self. Her Sister name is Cage and she is truly a wildfire in a bottle. She and her compatriots create a cast of human female figures of all types which makes for a well-rounded entourage and storytelling. My only gripe as it is wont is girls at 15.. #amirite? This too shall pass and their developing selves, feisty encounters, the idiocy of the moments, and predictability of a juvenile all must be met out in time. Plot lines all served well.

The book feels well-timed and paced. The silence within the margins only occurs as a storm builds or after one has passed and it's a needed breath before the next onslaught of perspective or ass-kicking. To that end, I could hardly put this down and caught myself up far later than I intended just to find one of those moments when I could rest, literally.

The overarching tale of a friend killed, a shipheart stolen, and the politics of empires are all in play here. I'm not sure if I found the troupe of 'new girl in new grade meets new girl pompous nemesis' (Joeli) was the right move but it was there and like an archetype of the style it's going to be an ax to grind upon. Really most of the book utilizes that as a method for achieving plot results.

Regardless of how we get there, we move forward. Nona is put through a deep crucible of fire and while at the end of this book we know she is tempered, we know Zole is also forged (I sure hope we get a novella about her adventure Mark!!) the stage is rounding out its finished look for a contest alluded to at the beginning. While a larger stage is still unknown and lingering in the shadows.

Lots to tell and we will sit here starving for the next volume. Good luck to you. Chew your brick of hardtack well it'll need to last. you!