March 2018 Book Club: Red Sister

Red Sister by Mark  Lawrence

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, Talk of nuns sharing beds


It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.

I know practically everyone has the above quote in their reviews of this book, which means normally I would steer clear of using it, but I couldn't help myself, it was a great opening for the book, and I loved it.

I need to admit here that I had originally decided against reading Red Sister. I had heard Mark Lawrence's books were pretty dark, so I decided it probably wasn't for me. But it ended up being the book that was chosen for my fantasy book club this month, and so I read it. And I'm really glad I did! I ended up really enjoying this book and it wasn't nearly as dark as I thought it might be. Sure, it's set in a really rough world where there are some despicable people, and there is some blood and gore, but it wasn't over the top. Most of the characters were easy to love and I'm always a sucker for the kids at the magic/battle school plot.

The idea of the convent training assassins reminded me a little of Grave Mercy, and although I enjoyed both books a great deal (Grave Mercy is still one of my favorite YA books), that is really the only comparison. This one is written for adults and I would say the writing is superior here, and this is much darker. Others have said this reminds them of Harry Potter for adults, but besides the fact that they are at a school the books really have nothing in common. They don't even have the same feel to them.

If the book has a weakness it's that Nona and the other novices feel older than they are. I kept picturing them well into their teens instead of 10-12 years old, but for the most part I was able to overlook that. There were too many things to like and, for me, they all outweighed that flaw. The friendships between the girls, and the different personalities of the Sisters were two of my favorite things about this book. And there was a bit of humor that would creep into the story from time to time that I appreciated as well. This is the first book in a series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one. I'm hoping it won't be a long series though. I really enjoyed this book and wouldn't mind reading a couple more books, but I don't want it to wear out its welcome.