Uptown Oracle Reads… Grey Sister

Grey Sister
Mark Lawrence

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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.

I adore Mark Lawrences writing and so I binge red both Grey Sister and the third book Holy sister. So, I apologise in advance if this review touches a bit on the third book and the series as a whole – however I will not be including any spoilers. Lawrence has created anothter brilliant series that every fantasy fan should try – and I’ll also be mass stalking all his other books.

Grey Sister was great as it did not suffere from 2nd Book Syndrome at all. I found that I loved all three books just as much as each other, and Lawrence has given each book enough content. The writing is very epic fantasy and the story does contain a lot of slower parts, however there’s big action scenes, world building and so much character development throughout that you can read it so quickly.

The front has a little summary of book one for reminding you of what happened, and then the book throws you straight back into the adventures of Nona Grey and co. I found the world building to further expand from Red Sister in a good way. We get more information about the Corridor and the history of this world, as well as snippets about the Ice.

The Noi-Guinn were a mysterious and great antagonistic group to go up against the Covenant of Sweet Mercy and Nona. I enjoyed how Lawrence gave us more information about them, and that Nona learned along with us. Nona as a whole has matured since the first book, and is further training herself for the fight we see at the start of Red Sister.

Each of Nona’s sisters also have great depth to them. No two are the same, and they all have their strengths. As each of them are training to be different Sisters – it gives us a great insight into all the paths that Nona could take too. The Covenant of Sweet Mercy is all about girl power with how bad ass these players are.

Alongside the young sisters, we have the mentors and also Abess Glass who we get a great POV from. I loved how her chapters gave us so much more information, and intriguing parts that Nona doesn’t quite grasp yet. The love she has for all her sisters really shines through.

I clearly loved Grey Sister because I immediately went on to Holy Sister after reading it!

Positives of Grey Sister

• World building
• Character growth

Negatives of Grey Sister

• Slow parts

I received Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review