Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin's #1) by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin's #1)

Author(s): Robin LaFevers

Release Date: April 3, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Page Number: 549

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

Synopsis: 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

My Review

When I first heard about Grave Mercy being about assassin nuns, I definitely knew I wanted to read it. And I was glad I did because it was fantastic.

 

I didn't really like Ismae at first. She was really cruel, cold, and bitter. She had escaped her arranged marriage and was now learning to be an assassin. Imagine going through that. But she fit the story perfectly and as the story went on she started to shed her cruel and bitter feelings. Duval was also pretty awesome. He would do anything for those he cared about and always put them first. I thought the characters were really good.

 

The idea of a book about assassin nuns is honestly crazy. Robin LaFevers gets points for coming up with that crazy idea. The story itself went at a medium speed, but it was really enjoyable because you got to read what all was happening in court, and things weren't what they first seemed. I thought it was great. There weren't any high paced action scenes I was hoping for though.

 

The writing style of this book was great. It took a few chapters to get into, because I don't really read a lot of historical fiction, but I felt that it really captured the mood of the book. Robin's writing style was really descriptive and I enjoyed it very much.

 

Rating: 4/5 worms

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction. Definitely going to continue on with the rest of the series.