Tag: Book of the Ancestor

Book Review – The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence – fantasy

Here’s the blurb;

“Only when it’s darkest can you see the stars.

East of the Black Rock, out on the ice, lies a hole down which broken children are thrown

On the vastness of the ice there is no room for individuals. No one survives alone.
To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is different.

Torn from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her life with, Yaz has to carve a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of danger.

Beneath the ice, Yaz will learn that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined.
She will learn that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she will learn to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.

Only when it’s darkest can you see the stars.”

The Girl and the Stars is set on the same world as The Book of the Ancestor, and I’m aware that there are many more stories that need to be told to fully understand Abeth. Not that new readers can’t pick up from here. There is no need to have read The Books of the Ancestors.

I’ve heard a great deal about The Girl and the Stars on twitter and I was looking forward to reading it. The story starts strongly and Yaz is an enjoyable character to read about. The set up of the story is intriguing and not at all where I expected it to go. Foolishly, I thought I knew where Lawrence was going with this new trilogy. There are many fascinating elements and I was really enjoying exploring the landscape of ‘the stars,’

Lawrence titillates with fragments of what’s actually happening and what’s happened in the past (he’s a bit good at this) but I found I wanted to know more about that, and less about Yaz and her group of friends. And by the time I was a decent distance into the book, I was beginning to suffer from the same sensory deprivation as the characters. This probably isn’t a good thing. My enjoyment of the story did drop away – the relentless pacing couldn’t quite make up for my lessening enjoyment, and while the ending is bloody stunning, I can’t help but think it could have been reached at least a hundred pages earlier!

I’m still very much looking forward to reading all the books in this new trilogy, but hopefully, they won’t share the same setting!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.

The Girl and the Stars is available in ebook now and hardback from next week. You can snap up a copy from here:

Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence – Book Review – released today in the UK 4th April 2019

Here’s the blurb;

“Nona Grey’s story reaches its shattering conclusion in the third instalment of Book of the Ancestor.

THEY CAME AGAINST HER AS A CHILD. NOW THEY FACE THE WOMAN.

The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat.

Nona faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that Nona and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.

Even a warrior like Nona cannot hope to turn the tide of war.
The shiphearts offer strength that she might use to protect those she loves, but it’s a power that corrupts. A final battle is coming in which she will be torn between friends, unable to save them all. A battle in which her own demons will try to unmake her.

A battle in which hearts will be broken, lovers lost, thrones burned.

HOLY SISTER completes the Book of the Ancestor trilogy that began with RED SISTER and GREY SISTER. A ground-breaking series, it has established Mark Lawrence as one of the most exciting new voices in modern speculative fiction.”

 

Holy Sister is a satisfying conclusion to the Book of the Ancestor Trilogy. For other authors, I would have found that acceptable, but for Mark Lawrence, I confess, I was a bit disappointed.
As with the ending of the previous two trilogies, especially Jalan’s, I’m left wishing there had just been ‘more’.
The concurrent storylines are not without excitement, indeed from about 50-80% the storyline is extremely exciting, but to get there I had to wade through the first 35% and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would. Yes, a year has passed since I read the previous book, and I had forgotten much, but even so, and especially considering the ‘summation’ at the beginning, I feel I should have been able to grab the characters and events far more quickly. For readers who can just plough on through all 3 books one after another, I’m sure this won’t be a problem but I’m far too impatient to have actually waited for the end of the trilogy.
And the eventual ending, well. It was somewhat anti-climatic.
If this was merely a coming of age story, then I would say the job had been accomplished very well, but it was always more than that, and sadly, Book 3 doesn’t quite do justice to the characters.
I appreciate that there are many who love this book – I’ve been seeing 5-star reviews flying around for Holy Sister for about 6 months. It might just be that, for me, the book suffers from too much hype, and so I would like to apologise to the author if my comments seem too harsh. It’s truly not the author’s fault when something gets blown out of all proportion.
The majority of people will love this book – and I’m excited for Mark Lawrence because that means he’ll get to write more and more books, and share his wonderful ideas with a wider and wider audience.
I think we will get to return to the world of the Book of the Ancestor, and I look forward to that. Perhaps then all my unanswered questions will find answers. Although I doubt it. Mark Lawrence is a sly old fox for a good reason!
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an E-Arc. I confess, there may have been a squeal of delight.

Holy Sister is released in the UK today in hardback, ebook and audiobook and you can purchase it here (other retailers are also available). I give it a 4/5;

Book Review – Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence – fantasy – 5/5 stars

Here’s the blurb;

“In Mystic Class Nona Grey begins to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the Convent of Sweet Mercy Nona must choose her path and take the red of a Martial Sister, the grey of a Sister of Discretion, the blue of a Mystic Sister or the simple black of a Bride of the Ancestor and a life of prayer and service.

All that stands between her and these choices are the pride of a thwarted assassin, the ambition of a would-be empress wielding the Inquisition like a blade, and the vengeance of the empire’s richest lord.

As the world narrows around her, and her enemies attack her through the system she has sworn to, Nona must find her own path despite the competing pull of friendship, revenge, ambition, and loyalty.

And in all this only one thing is certain.
.
There will be blood.”

Read it in a day! What greater compliment is there.

Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence -the sequel to Red Sister – is a good book. Never doubt that. It might even be an excellent book – and just as with Red Sister there will be a wide swathe of people who rave about this book, ensuring everyone they know, and vaguely know, goes out to buy it. This is a good thing. Mark Lawrence is a great writer – he doesn’t mess around with anything we don’t need to know – everything to his writing has a point – whether we know it at the time or not. His storylines are pretty rock solid, and his ‘world-building’ never, ever deteriorates into long sweeping paragraphs that are unneeded and detract from the action (which can be a problem with fantasy writers).

Yet, in giving this book 5 stars, and saying how great it is, there is, I admit, a part of me, that wishes it were as dark and complicated and downright transfixing as his previous two trilogies. The Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, for all that some may call it ‘dark’, is almost a walk in the park compared to his previous diabolical creations of Jorg and Jalan – and I admit – for all that sometimes I did find them a bit too ‘dark’ – I miss that ‘darkness’. Don’t all shout at once, I appreciate that death-dealing nuns do sound pretty dark, but when it’s mingled with the whole ‘school’ scenario, it does lose its ‘dark’ appeal for me – and I find some of the much-quoted sentences a bit misleading as to the path the story ultimately takes. No amount of bloodshed can quite make-up for that, but, I am very excited to see what happens in Book 3. Clearly, there’s still a great deal to come in The Book of the Ancestors series, and I’m keen to see how it all ‘ends’, while also being a little wary – I don’t think the final book will answer all my questions – but then, many great fantasy writers (cough, Robin Hobb) leave us thinking about the might-have-beens.

So five stars – and Book 3 is on my ‘to-read’ list already.

Grey Sister is out in the UK today – for some reason we’re weeks and weeks behind EVERYONE else!