Showing posts with label book of the ancestor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book of the ancestor. Show all posts

24 Mar 2023

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays: THE GIRL AND THE STARS by Mark Lawrence

24 March 1 Comments

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays introduces readers who are unfamiliar with the Adult SF/F genre to books, authors, and discussions all about the vast expanse of the world of Adult SF/F!

THE GIRL AND THE STARS

Author: Mark Lawrence
Series: Book of Ice #1
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date: April 21, 2020

Summary:
In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.

On Abeth the vastness of the ice holds no room for individuals. Survival together is barely possible. No one survives alone.

To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.

Yaz is torn from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.

Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she learns to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.

Only when it’s darkest you can see the stars.

Purchase:
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.

Content Warnings: Ableism, Gore, Death of Loved Ones

Set in the same world as the Book of the Ancestor trilogy (that starts with Red Sister and ends with Holy Sister), I was on board with this book from the first page.

I thought that there were a lot of good discussions around disability, ability, and the ways in which we work in the world around us and how we have to adapt. There was a lot of really great characters, a lot of intrigue, and my favourite type of magical systems. I am excited to see how this series relates and ties back to the Book of the Ancestor!

While this is separate and apart from that, I think you will enjoy this more if you've already been introduced to that world. I highly recommend this one!

Have you read this book? What was your favourite part?
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1 May 2019

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays: HOLY SISTER by Mark Lawrence // #Review + #interview for #SFFFridays

01 May 2 Comments

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fridays

introduces readers who are unfamiliar with the Adult SF/F genre to books, authors, and discussions all about the vast expanse of the world of Adult SF/F!

HOLY SISTER

Author: Mark Lawrence
Series: Book of the Ancestor #3
Source: Finished Copy from the Publisher
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: April 4, 2019


Summary:
They came against her as a child. Now they face the woman.

 The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat.

 Nona faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that Nona and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.

 Even a warrior like Nona cannot hope to turn the tide of war.

 The shiphearts offer strength that she might use to protect those she loves, but it’s a power that corrupts. A final battle is coming in which she will be torn between friends, unable to save them all. A battle in which her own demons will try to unmake her.

 A battle in which hearts will be broken, lovers lost, thrones burned.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Below is my review of RED SISTER!



 Disclaimer: I received a finish copy from the publisher, but then bought a copy from Audible and listened to the audiobook. This in no way impacts my opinion.
I followed because I thought that if I turned back then I would keep turning back, turning away from every other fear, from every new thin, and that I would never leave that place to which my father had brought me. I would live, toil, grow old, and die, all within sight of my mother's hut, and the ice would remain forever a line glimpsed in the distance, and I wouldn't matter to the world nor would it matter to me.
This was one of the best Adult fantasy books I've read in a very long time. I have so many positive things and thoughts about this one. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good magic system, badass nuns, and women who know being vulnerable can be strong as well.
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15 Aug 2018

Double #Review: RED SISTER and GREY SISTER by Mark Lawrence

15 August 0 Comments
Today I have a double review for you of the first two books in a series,

RED SISTER and GREY SISTER by Mark Lawrence!

I absolutely loved this series so far and I can't wait to share my thoughts with you. Be sure to check back next year when I review the final book in the Book of the Ancestor series, HOLY SISTER. I am on the list to get a review copy so I cannot wait! So let's start at the beginning...

RED SISTER

Author: Mark Lawrence
Series: Book of the Ancestor #1
Source: Finished copy via Publisher
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

 Summary:
I was born for killing – the gods made me to ruin.

 At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers. In a few the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices’ skills to deadly effect: it takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist.

 But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder: guilty of worse.

 Stolen from the shadow of the noose, Nona is sought by powerful enemies, and for good reason. Despite the security and isolation of the convent her secret and violent past will find her out. Beneath a dying sun that shines upon a crumbling empire, Nona Grey must come to terms with her demons and learn to become a deadly assassin if she is to survive…
Purchase:
Disclaimer: I received a finish copy from the publisher, but then bought a copy from Audible and listened to the audiobook. This in no way impacts my opinion.
I followed because I thought that if I turned back then I would keep turning back, turning away from every other fear, from every new thin, and that I would never leave that place to which my father had brought me. I would live, toil, grow old, and die, all within sight of my mother's hut, and the ice would remain forever a line glimpsed in the distance, and I wouldn't matter to the world nor would it matter to me.
- page 432
This was one of the best Adult fantasy books I've read in a very long time. I have so many positive things and thoughts about this one. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good magic system, badass nuns, and women who know being vulnerable can be strong as well.
Continue reading...
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