Red Sister

“Dark, passionate, tense, with a female hero anyone could relate to—I was utterly fascinated!”—Tamora Pierce, #1 New York Times bestselling author.  

“Dark and relentless…A two -in-the morning page turner.”—Robin Hobb, New York Times bestselling author.  

“It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before.”—Rick Riordan, #1 New York Times bestselling author. 

“It is important when killing a nun, that you bring an army of sufficient size.” I could go on for quite a while about the praise offered for Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. This is an amazing book! It was also described as epic fantasy on a George R. R. Martin scale but on speed by Fixed on Fantasy. This is a really incredible book, and is the first book in the Ancestor series.

The story follows a young girl by the name of Nona, as she is taken into a school to become a nun. The character development in this book is phenomenal and everything you would expect from a best selling author. The story is told in third person from a young girl from the Grey named Nona who is rescued from getting hanged by Abbess Glass for certain abilities that seem to be rumored about her—whether or not they are true is yet to be determined. Why was she getting hanged? She slit the throat of Raynel Tacsis: one of the realms hight families, born of the line of emperors. A man who’s father speaks in gold, and Tacsis gold speaks the loudest. She got into a little bit of trouble for this.

If we were to break down her character in terms of likeabilty, competence, and proactivity, I’d say that Nona is a highly likeable character. Though she does some bad things early on, she is aware of her behavior, and the effect that it has on those around her which gives me something to relate to. This is something that Nona will struggle with throughout the story, and something that I can relate to. I think we all make mistakes and have done things that we aren’t proud of. As far as her proactiveness throughout the novel? I’d say that it starts out fairly low, and then builds up. Nona goes to a convent to train and become a nun, so she starts out listening to everyone and following their directions. Though I’d say that she’s quite talented, as we learn early on in the book, I’d still say that her competence is quite low and progresses throughout the story(she is training).  

There are two other main supporting characters in this story named Clera and Arabella, or Ara for short. Clera befriends Nona quite early after arriving at the Convent of Sweet Mercy, giving her advice, showing her around, and telling her who everyone is. Arabella shows up in the story shortly after Clera arrives and is announced to be The Chosen One, and later revealed that Nona has been rumored to be The Shield in which to guard her.  

This in itself provides some good conflict being that Nona is from a small village in the Grey, and Arabella is from a wealthy family. It’s noted early how Arabella shows up in her traveling clothes: brushed suede, fur edged leather, dark red cape. She also has this air of confidence about her as if she’s lived at Sweet Mercy her whole life, owns everything, everyone, and pays their wages. This is the girl who Nona is to guard. The two of them couldn’t have had a more different upbringing. This book is dark, grim, and begins with the hanging of a little girl– one of Nona’s only friends.  

The world-building in this book is absolutely incredible. It has everything that you would expect in a fully fleshed out world, and for me is my favorite part of the book. The characters as I said are very amazing, but for me it’s the world that was built that stands out the most. 

The story takes place on the planet Abeth, where the Northern and Southern ices are advancing and closing in on the narrow lands called the Corridor. Sweet Mercy Convent is one of six different convents: Silent Patience, Sweet Devotion, Chade Devotion, Gera’s Crag, and Hope being among the others. The people of Abeth descend from the four “tribes” of the Gerant who are distinguished by their size, the Hunska, distinguished by their speed, dark hair and eyes, the Marial who have the ability to tap into the lesser magics, and the Quantal who have the ability to walk the Path and work greater magics. Although the main conflict in this story seems to be about Nona learning how to navigate this new world with her inner struggles, there is a greater conflict that deals with corruption that is touched on lightly throughout the story and leads to greater consequences as the story progresses.  

Sweet Mercy Convent Lies on the Plateau, an ancient ground where one thousand and twenty-four ancient stone pillars, and is described as a forest of stone without order or pattern covering the level ground from side to side so that no spot may lay upon it more than twenty yards from a pillar. Sweet Mercy, is an enormous spread of various buildings that reminds me of a giant university with dorms, various halls, kitchens, a bakehouse, scriptorium, refectory, and a place called The Necessary. Nona says that back in Grey it would have been considered a village.  

The details of this world are incredible and what makes it stand out so much for me. One of the notable parts about Sweet Convent are the three bells that are located on the sight and what they’re used for: Iron Bell—hollow sounding, dies off quickly, used for prayers. Bray—has more of a drawn-out sound and is used for sounding the hours, meals, when to get up, lunch, etc. The last bell Bittel, is a steel bell—sharp, very loud, and used for emergencies such as if there’s a fire, intruder, or something. There are also many legends and tales of history in this book, which is another favorite thing to me. The world is simply too big for me to go on about, but it’s really amazing.  

Although this book grabbed a hold of me on page one and pulled me through all the way to the end, I’d say the pacing and structure of this story are probably the weakest parts for me. This isn’t to say that the plotting is bad by any means, but nothing is perfect, and if I had to choose something to critique about it I would say that the pacing is its weakest spot. 

If you like dark stories about nuns fighting corruption, definitely check out Sister Red, you won’t regret it.  Have you read Red Sister, what do you think about it?

If this sounds like something you’d like to read you can purchase it can be purchased through Amazon or Audible.  Note: These are affiliate links. If you purchase something using one of these links, I’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!