March 31, 2012

Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers




Hated by her poor turnip-farming father seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes an arranged marriage with an abusive man and is whisked away to the convent of St. Mortain. But this is not your ordinary convent. The nuns of St. Mortain have special skills... they are gifted in the art of death. They serve the Mortain, the god of death, as assassins against those who wish to harm Anne, the Duchess of Brittany.

Trained for three long years Ismae finally ready. She completes her first two assignments but on both she narrowly escapes capture by Gavriel Duval, half-brother of Anne. She returns to the convent only to find that her next assignment is to accompany Gavriel Duval into the court of Anne and find the traitor who is trying to sabotage the country of Brittany against the French but the convent has their suspicions about Gavriel so Isame has to be especially watchful.

As the political maneuverings swirl around her things turn confusing for Ismae quickly and she has to deal with the pressure of serving Mortain or her own heart before all is lost.

In 2010 I got on a huge historical fiction kick and read tons of historical books but they soon grew tiresome. Last year I didn't pick up too many but when I started seeing tons of glowing reviews and read the synopsis of Grave Mercy I snagged it up in a heartbeat. Who can resist assassin nuns? Not only did this book live up to the hype it wowed me. The plot is so well done, the characters became amazingly real and I didn't want the story to end. This is the first book in the His Fair Assassins Trilogy and I cannot wait for the next book in the series out next year. I highly recommend this one for anyone who loves historical fiction and kick ass heroines. 

2 comments :

bermudaonion said...

Holy cow! I don't read much historical fiction, but you sure have made this sound compelling.

Wrighty said...

I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction either but this one sounded too good to pass up! I'm in the middle of it now and really enjoy it. I'm glad to hear you liked it too!