Grave Mercy by Robin Lafevers

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart? 

The Review:

This is a book, I picked up on a whim, mainly because I have heard good things about this series and also with the release of Counting Darkness, which is said to be a spin off of that series.

What intrigued me about the premise is the fact that it deals with assassins, and a convent that deals with them. It starts with Ismae who escaped an arraigned marriage and seeks refuge. The convent gave me a lot of Red Sister vibes to it, I just wish I had seen more of the convent.

The main plot of the story is when Ismae goes to the high court of Brittany, and deals with the political intrigue that is going on, especially when dealing with Gavriel Duval, who is very mysterious.

I thought the book would have  a lot more assassinations, but the political intrigue was enough to keep me interested with a sinister plot. The main plot of the book also deals with the romance between Duval and Ismae, and yes it did start off as the enemies turned lovers, but their relationship was good enough to keep me interested.

A problem I had with the book, was the pacing. It did suffer from a kinda of boring middle part of the book, which nothing much was happening, but when the twist happened , is where the book started to pick up again.

I also liked the world building. It is a historical fiction dealing with a war between Britain and France, and it didn’t feel like info dump.

In the end, I enjoyed reading Grave Mercy. The political intrigue was enough to keep me interested, and also the romance between Ismea and Duval was interesting as well, even if the book had pacing issues. I do want to read the other books of the series.

Grade: 3.8/5

August TBR

Happy August everyone,

Wow, where did this summer go. I realized that I haven’t done a TBR in a while mainly because I have had a reading slump, but now I am trying to get back into reading.

I read the first volume recently and what can I say, I am in love. The world building is amazing, I never read any graphic novel like that before.

I have heard some great things about this author. I saw Courting Darkness at bookstores but realized that I may have to read the other books, to get into the world and why not start at the beginning.

Finally dipping my toe into the world of Naomi Novik. I have heard so many good things about this author, that I have to start finally reading her books, instead of putting it on my TBR.

I picked this at a bookstore warehouse sale, and just judging by the premise alone I decided to pick it up. Another book I have heard good things about.

I bought this last September and it was sitting on my bookshelf, not being touched. Now I have decided to read it. The premise is strong, dealing with mages and how one has so much power that it could threaten an empire.

That is my TBR for August. What are your August reads? Let me know in the comments below.