February 20, 2013

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers



Publisher’s summary: 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?

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My take: This book is phenomenal! The moment I started reading Grave Mercy I knew that it was a lot different than anything I’ve ever read before. It’s set in a different time era (more than a few hundred years ago) and it starts out with a really horrible scene. In fact, the scene was so horrible and I felt so bad for the main character (Ismae) after that opening scene, that when Ismae is then taken to a sanctuary and discovers that she will become a trained assassin, I was absolutely thrilled! Isn’t that weird? That I should be happy that a character will be killing people? And thrilled that the character is the daughter of Death Himself?

I absolutely adored Ismae. She’s a very well developed character, and I loved every moment when she’d excitedly start looking for the first sign that would tell her when and who she could kill next. I actually caught myself giggling a couple times over these moments. And she is one kick butt heroine! There were quite a few characters that I also grew to care for or admire later on, but I don’t want to talk about them to avoid spoilers.

The romance in this book was very well developed. And I think it was developed in a way that is just right for Ismae because of all the horrible experiences she’s had with men in the past. And the way the romance was intertwined throughout the story was just the perfect touch.

I do want to touch on the writing in this book! Robin LaFevers writes beautifully! The whole story flowed very well, and I was easily sucked into the world Robin created in Grave Mercy.

The way the story ended was fabulously done and the whole book (and ending) have me craving for more. But I’m even more thrilled that we will be getting the story of a girl-character named Sybella in the sequel Dark Triumph. She was only briefly introduced in Grave Mercy and each moment she pops up in the story is so brief that I’m craving to know what the heck she’s up to.

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7 comments:

The Insouciant Sophisticate said...

I loved Ismae so much-seeing her grow and become the kick-butt young woman she was meant to be was so happy-making. Also very excited for Dark Triumph and Sybella!

Kimberly said...

I loved this book at well. I seriously can't wait for Dark Triumph :)

Kat
Wit and Sin

Natalie Aguirre said...

Great review. I really loved this too. Can't wait for the sequel.

Emily Blake said...

Yay I'm sp glad you loved it! This book was so amazing. And, just like you, it isn't really the genre I enjoy, but anything with assassins it I'll give a try. I too really loved the romance (oh Duval, won't you be mine?) and Ismae was a SUPER kick-ass main character. I also really liked the story line, and how it flowed flawlessly, and the writing was just amazing. This is literally in the top three of my all-time favs list. Awesome review!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good pick, enjoy!

http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2013/02/waiting-on-wednesday_20.html

Amy said...

I really enjoyed this book. It was one of the first historical YA books I had read so I was nervous about it, but it surprised me. I really liked the writing too. It was very good beautiful and had me very sucked into the story. The romance was awesome!! Great review!!

Sassy Sarah Reads said...

This book and I struggled all the way through. I do want to give it's sequel a shot, but Grave Mercy and I were not friends. I had a problem with the characters and pacing. But this is an excellent review.

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