Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
two days ago and I am surprised by how much I wound up enjoying it. I got the ebook from the library because I was skeptical and I am going to buy this one and the next two companion novels for sure!
Here is my non-spoilery synopsis:
A teen girl, (I know original) Ismae, in late 1400's Brittany (now in France) gets sold to this man by her dad for money in exchange for marriage. On her wedding night she escapes from her abusive spouse with some help.
She winds up at this place where they, all nuns, worship the god of death, Mortain. The head nun there is like hey, you can get married and live a happy life or live here and kill people, mainly men, do the work of Mortain and always have a home.
Since she experienced abuse before and thinks all men are evil (misandrist) she chooses the death nunnery.
Fast forward 3 years later she gets HER FIRST EVER ASSIGNMENT to protect the DUCHESS OF BRITTANY with the help of wait for it....A MAN, Duval, who may or may not be a traitor.
Also, France is trying to take over Brittany.
And the late Duke of Brittany promised his daughter, the Duchess of Brittany to many suitors and they have to pick the best* one. (*Best being the one that will not sell them out to France and actually has an army to help them fight France.)
One last thing, someone on the Duchess' council is a traitor and Isame has to figure it all out.
I almost forgot, she has to go with Duval as his cousin* to figure this whole mess out. (*Cousin is apparently code for mistress because for some reason (that we figure out later) it's impossible that he can't have a cousin that no one knows about and as we know she is traumatized with abuse.)
Talk about one hell of a first mission.
Basically, I really loved most of it.
In the beginning Ismae really just kind of bought into everything too easily and was a C O M P L E T E misandrist, which really frustrated me to no end. Robin was trying to write Isame as a feminist but she just wasn't. A feminist thinks everyone is equal, a misandrist thinks that women are better than men and that was Ismae because of her time in the nunnery. Luckily, Ismae developed as her relationship with Duval developed.
Which brings me to one of my OTPs now. Let me tell you, I love a good OTP that starts out hating each other then doesn't. Either they become best buds or they fall in love, that is my shit man, I live for that. Once they started hating each other, I started shipping it. They hate each other and gradually start to trust each other and realize that in a castle full of traitors, they are the only people they can trust and it's beautiful.
The side characters are great and I'm excited to see some more of some of them in the next companion novel, Dark Triumph.
Dark Triumph centers around Sybella who we saw a few times and know is one of Ismae's two best friends. We first saw her as a crazy person when Ismae first came into the nunnery. Sybella was throwing fits and trying to escape so maybe we'll learn why? One thing that Ismae and Annith, Ismae's other best friend (we'll get to her) were wondering was where was Sybella? They hadn't heard from there so hopefully we'll learn about that too. We also saw Sybella twice, really quickly, saving Ismae's skin so basically WHAT IS SYBELLA DOING AND WHAT IS HER DEAL GIVE IT TO ME NOW!
Now, Annith, she was the sweet one that really wanted a mission and the last book is probably about her and that excites me. Ismae was writing her the whole book for guidance and it was really sweet to see a supportive girl friendship. Keep it up!
The Head Nun (I forget her name), was not happy with Ismae at the end of the book and I wonder what is going to happen.
I also have a feeling we're going to see Ismae and Duval and see how their story closes, because it doesn't really, like it could, but it doesn't really. I hope we see them again. OTP.
Some we won't see again and I'll mention them here:
Duval's two bff's were great, The Beast and Le something (look I had to return the book and I had trouble with pronouncing the names). Ismae hit it off immediately with Beast but not Le. She later warms up the Le. In one scene Le and Ismae are forced to dance together and it is freaking hysterical and I was literally laughing out loud and giggling. This was when they still hated each other too (I almost shipped them but then I remembered Duval is superior).
The writing style was captivating too. It was never info dumping and it was atmospheric. It made me want to snuggle up in my Harry Potter blanket and fly to Hogwarts. I always looked forward to reading it! I didn't fly through it because I was in a slump but it helped pull me out of one and I just took my time and enjoyed it. It was lovely.
Rating: 4.25 stars/5
TLDR; Nun assassin, best read in a castle
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