Red Sister
By: Mark Lawrence
Grade: B+
I was really excited to read Red Sister but I have to be honest for a little while I didn’t think I’d even finish it. This is mainly the story of Nona- trouble seems to find her and she winds up in the Convent of Sweet Mercy a school of girls being trained to become Nuns/ Sisters/ Super Assassins which sounded so bloody cool I jumped on it!
In the end despite putting it down for a while and some confusion with the two names of the teachers as well as a time jump it came down to…
I really loved the characters. I loved Nona, Ara, Clera and pretty much all the girls. The school is fun. I’m a particular fan of Sister Apple the poison teacher who gets to (gleefully) do what Snape could only dream.
Snape: You get to poison the students?
Sister: Well how else will they learn about poisons?
Snape: I need to go talk to my Head Master.
(She’s not trying to kill them though.)
I liked the magic system and not all the classes were fun and Nona wasn’t great at everything. Though this did lead to a bit Nona has issues, Nona gets beat up or in trouble and somehow everything is good rinse and repeat cycle. She’s also got powerful enemies that only being in the school is keeping her from.
But most importantly Nona is a sweetheart. Yes, a brutal killer in training (and not so much training) Lawrence takes the time to create real ties between the girls and we can see how and why Nona values friendship as greatly as anything else. The world building is slow and confusing because for the most part were learning with Nona and the girls.
It seems odd perhaps to say that a book about killer children and a dying world could also be such a sweet book about friendship and sisterhood. So character won out and my issues aside Grey Sister is already on it’s way and I’m here for the end of the girl’s journey rooting for them.
Recommend: Yes.
This one’s been on my list to get but I haven’t yet. I liked Grave Mercy which was sort of the same concept but never finished that series- and not because it was bad, just never did. Now this series looks awesome ha ha and I think I’m going to go ahead and get this one- I can’t resist the siren call of assassins in training in a convent lol.
I DNF this one despite loving the premise and characters! It waa moving too slow for me 😩 I do want to give it another try! Great review!
Trust me I get it 🙂 There was a stretch where I thought I’d do the exact same thing!
I started reading it a while ago but could not get into it at the time. I really enjoyed your review and will give it another go. 😊 Sometimes revisiting books is not a bad idea. 😊
Definitely seems to be true for a lot of people that they couldn’t get into it. Maybe wait until the last one is out and see if it all works together?
Great suggestion! I may just do that, thanks. 😊
Fab review! I downloaded this a little while ago but haven’t got round to reading it yet. It sounds great but like one of those books that you have to devote a lot of attention to so I’ll wait until I’ve got a bit more time to invest in it.
Probably a good idea. It does take a lot to get into as well.
Fair point about it being a little slow, but I love what you said about it being about sweet friendships! Fantastic review!
Thank you! I so loved that moment at the end when she couldn’t kill you know who and said she had been a friend to and it wasn’t that easy to cut it away. That was the moment where I was like okay girls I’m with you to the end of the journey 🙂