The person who closes the back cover may not be the same one that opened the front one. Treat books with respect.

Mark Lawrence and I have had an off again/on again relationship. I tried Queen's War in 2017 but didn't finish the series, and earlier this year I bailed on Broken Empire. There were enough recommendations for Book of the Ancestor that I felt Lawrence and I needed another go.

I took the book at a steady pace, tried to absorb the details, characters and story as I went. I wanted to give the book the reverence it deserved, and I feel it paid off. From start to back this book was an excellent read. When I think I'm about to burn out on the genre it takes a story like this to reinvigorate my passion and excited to read fantasy.

Knowledge is a rug of a certain size, and the world is larger. It's not what remains uncovered at the edges that should worry you, rather what is swept beneath.

Lawrence slowly built a story up, used the the student/school setting to ease the reader in to the magic and blood types and was clever in the build up of the big bad and not having a surprise twist/new character be the villain. In typical Lawrence the book is violent but not gory. There are brutal deaths but the story doesn't linger on enemies being eviscerated. The magic system, blood classes and characters helped move the story along between moments of action and I didn't find the story to drag at any point.

An enjoyable read and I'm glad Lawrence and I were able to make amends on this story as I look forward to the next instalment.