Title: Red Sister
Author: Mark Lawrence
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Series? Yes, 1 of 3
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Disclaimer: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the Harper Voyager Australia in exchange for an honest review.
From its very first lines, Red Sister had me hooked and wholly invested. It promised warrior nuns, political and religious intrigue, along with a cast filled to the brim with complex ladies. Red Sister delivered on all counts. I especially loved its exploration on relationships between females, from friendship, to mentorship, to rivalry.
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.
The first lines of Red Sister are some of the most captivating I’ve read in several years, and it sets the tone for the entire book. Mark Lawrence’s writing style is meticulous and vivid, his sentences pulse with life and intrigue. In particular, I love the way he writes action scenes – I’ve admitted several times in the past that I am not a particularly visual reader when it comes to fight scenes, but Lawrence’s writing are cinematic even to someone like myself.
Red Sister contains a whole new world, separate from the universe established in Lawrence’s previous two trilogies: The Broken Empire and The Red Queen’s War. We’re thrown into a land by the name of Abeth, populated by descendants from four mythical tribes: the speedy hunska, the solid gerants, the mystical quantal, and the magic-wielding marjals. Children from these bloodline are highly prized as apprentices in the land’s various institutions, be it convents or academies. Nona is one such child – by the time we meet Nona, she’s ready to be hanged for using her power to subdue a nobleman’s son. Through the intervention of the abbess of Sweet Mercy Convent, Nona is allowed to take up the habit – trading death for a future in combat-training and espionage.
Although Nona is only eight years old at the start of the novel, and does not age very much during the course of the novel – her narrative is filled Lawrence’s characteristic bloodshed and darkness. It is still less confronting than his first trilogy, so I think Red Sister is the perfect place to start for those unfamiliar with his work. I also say this because I immediately found myself liking and rooting for Nona, along with her relationships with the women and girls of the convent.
Harry Potter has primed me to appreciate magical schools in all its form – so it’s little wonder that I fell in love with the Sweet Mercy Convent, the setting for most of this novel. It contains all of the following:
- assassin nuns of various ages and ethnicity and sexual orientation
- an obstacle course that would strike fear in the heart for most acrobats
- 3 meals a day, always described in a way that makes my stomach rumbles
- a teacher who literally poisons her student on the first day of class, Snape could use a lesson from The Poisoner
The Sweet Mercy Convent populated by teachers and students with all manners of characteristic and temperament. I enjoyed watching their interactions with Nona and how it gradually shifted over the years. The relationships I am most invested in are the friendship between Nona and Ara, along with Nona’s complicated relationship with the abbess.
Pacing wise, I felt Red Sister is very much the set-up book – we spent a lot of time establishing characters and the lores of Abeth. This resulted in some sections of the boo to feel a little slow, especially in its second quarter. However, once Nona graduated to Gray Class, I simply could not put the novel down. There are new stakes, an elusive prophecy (still one of my favourite fantasy tropes, especially when it’s being subverted, I can’t help it), and new characters abound. I can’t wait to see where the sequel takes us.
Have you read this or any of Mark Lawrence’s other works? What did you think?
Read at Midnight 
This sounds like a book I would enjoy. I read Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy and the first book of the Red Queens War trilogy and while I enjoyed them both, I found the female characters extremely lacking in depth. It is nice to see him not try to tackle something different and it sounds like he has succeeded. Thanks for the recommendation and review!
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Great review. I’ve read all Lawrence’s work so far and he seems to get better with each book but for me Red Sister is his best and most accessible book yet. 🙂
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I wasn’t too keen on Prince of Throns, but I really loved this one! I feel like he’s grown so much as a writer. It was such a captivating book!
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I haven’t heard of this book before seeing your review and it sounds SO GOOD! Lovely review and now I’m wanting to read this so bad.
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I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this book! It seems to be making quite the waves in my blogging community. I personally won’t read it until the last book is about to be released, as I binge read series, but it sounds right up my alley!
I haven’t read any of Lawrence’s other works before, but perhaps I should. If you have read any– where do you recommend I start?
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EPIC review!!!! this was my first Mark Lawrence book & I also loved it for all of the reasons you mention. The female bonds, friendships,and rivalries were refreshing to read since I barely see that in the books I’ve read. Also, YES! on the topic of vivid and detailed fight sequences/scenes lol. I’m also not the best with picturing fight scenes but felt that Lawrence wrote them in a way that was easy to follow & picture in my head. I am still verrrrrry curious about the elusive prophecy *thinking emoji* 🙂
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I’ve heard only good things about this book. I really have to get to it sometime.
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Well, this sounds fun! Thanks for the review! 😀
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I liked this one too!! I admit, I especially liked that it was like 90% women, because that’s something I’ve not ever found in epic fantasy??!? (Which is obviously a huge shame, so I’m glad this book is filling that gap!) And YES to assassin nuns. Never going to get tired of that. :’) I’m so glad you liked it too!!
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Your review is AWESOME and I CAN’T WAIT TO READ THIS. It sounds like everything I want in a fantasy book!! ❤ ❤
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I haven’t read any of the author’s book before, but this one sounds so cool! I’m getting more excited now that you mentioned the action scene feels very cinematic, it just sounds like the author has amazing way with words. Thanks for sharing! ❤
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Ooooh this sounds really good!! I can’t wait to read it! Awesome review 🙂
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I loved the Prince of Fools. It started my love affair for Lawrence’s books and I can’t wait to read this one. Great review An. I’m more excited now to read it
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It sounds really good! Thanks for the review, I will definatley give Red Sister a read 😊
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I loved his Prince of Fools and I’m curious to read that one! I still need to decide which edition I prefer, US or UK??
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I haven’t heard about this book before, but it sounds pretty badass! I don’t read a lot of adult fantasy, but my recent binge read of The Shades of Magic books makes me want to get into them. Maybe this will be the one! Especially since there’s diverse characters. I literally have zero patience for books without diversity now. It’s freaking 2017, there is no reason (there was never a reason but you know) to have an entire cast of non-diverse characters.
Anyway, glad you liked this one, Aentee! I hope you like the sequel, too 😀
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