Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
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 (goodreads)?
1/2
Ismae is everything that I wanted in an assassin, she's not afraid to poison a man but she still has a sense of innocence to her.
To escape an abusive childhood and an arranged marriage, she is whisked away to a convent, but it's not the Catholic church they follow. These selected women are servants of Death, and they are quick to answer to His call. I was sucked into the book from very first chapter. The story was engaging, it told of political unrest, religious power, and even a dash of a love story. It all came together in blended perfection and there was never a moment that I felt this story dragged.
The characters are this book's strongest points. Although Ismae is the lead character, there are two other assassins that LaFevers introduces and they both seem like extremely interesting and complex characters. Like I stated earlier, Ismae is everything a reader could want in an assassin. She is focused, precise, but still has time to question her attraction to the dashing Duval. Speaking of which, Duval and Ismae's chemisty is so hot that I kept wishing that this book WASN'T Young Adult.
The writing was flawless. The story is told from Ismae's point of view and she is just a great character overall, I cared to hear her thoughts and I never questioned any of her actions.
I highly recommend this book for any history buff out there, or anyone who likes to read about awesome stuff.
Labels: 4.5 stars, grave mercy, review, robin lafevers
