"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?
3.5 Star Rating
My recommendation; Buy it in paperback or ebook!
Recommended Age: 15+ For those who like an "easy-read" historic romance with intrigue, this is a good book for you. Since this is a YA book, the author doesn't go into an in-depth retelling of the time period, but you do get enough history to understand the politics of the time. When you see the word Assassin in the title, don't think of an action filled book. Grave Mercy tells a very good story of a young girl who finds purpose in a life that started out abused.
Plot/Pace: The plot stayed consistent throughout the book. The story had a lot of plotting and scheming, but no twists. Nothing had me sitting up in my seat thinking..."Now, I didn't expect that to happen!". Even without surprises, I stayed so interested in what was happening to the characters that I stayed up later every night. It was difficult trying to stop at a point where I didn't feel like I was going to miss something.
Imagery: Thank you Robin LaFevers for not putting to much description in the book! Whew! I didn't have to FTP(Flip Through pages) too much or skim paragraphs. It was the right amount of description to to let me picture what was happening on the page. Unfortunately it was not written well enough to where I found myself slipping into movie mode.
Romance: Just enough for a YA book! No sex (at least I don't believe there was sex. Those that read the book may find themselves confused on a certain part that may have been sex, but wasn't really worded that way, and really Ms LaFevers given what they were going through there shouldn't have BEEN any sex...just saying) The kissing scenes were enough to get my blood just a little heated though. Nicely done!!
Action: Ehhh....only a little. I liked the different ways the girls were trained to kill and the choice of weapons they had to do this with, but there wasn't much murder and mayhem. Not that there needed to be a lot of killing for the story to be great. It happened when it needed to and not just to make the book more interesting. Which I think is a good thing.
Characters: I found myself more interested in the secondary characters than Ismae. Not that Ismae's character didn't have potential. The development of her character in the beginning pulled me in by making me feel for her. But that did not last throughout the book. After a certain point Ismae seemed to have everything together. There was no real conflict other than the attraction/confusion/uneasiness she felt with Duval. Which could have been played up a little more and explained a little bit better. I felt more pull and emotion for Duval, Sybella and deLornay. All in all, there was great chemistry between the characters. The characters were so uniquely described through their actions and words that I started developing the characters in my mind.
What Irked the Shiznit Out of Me: Nothing.
What Blew Me Away: Nothing
And....that is why this book gets a 3.5/5. It was a good read; I'd buy it again. I'd recommend to friends who like this kind of book.
If you like this book, what else might you like???
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