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bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The challenge for the novelist is that they must create characters and situations that are compelling at the beginning of the story, but then those characters and situations must change and those changes must have a result that is equally as compelling as the start. This can be a difficult feat, especially if plot events result in widespread destruction, and it’s one that I don’t think Holy Sister quite managed.
That’s not to say I disliked the book – on the contrary, I liked it a lot. There was tons of action, plenty of magic, lots of Nona being absurdly powerful (though many fewer entertaining reactions, because her friends are used to her doing impossible stuff at this point), and many moments of puzzle pieces falling into place. It was bloody, violent, engaging, and emotional.
However. It did have a few very large problems that kept it from being as great as I think it could have been. All three books in the trilogy have these issues, but they’re the most glaring in this book.
First, the time jumps. The narrative has a habit of jumping over huge spans of time to pick up the story later on – often years later. This would not have been a problem, except that important events happened in that intervening time and you only find out about them through exposition later. One major character from Grey Sister died during one of the time jumps, and skipping over it like that cheapened what should have been an emotional and poignant moment.
The other major problem I have is Nona’s character development. In the previous books, she grew in small ways but was still fundamentally the same old Nona. This book felt like the author went, “Oh shit, this is the last book! She’s gotta have a big character arc!” and stuffed an entire series worth of character growth into one book. It’s actually a really solid arc, brings her wonderfully from the child she was at the start of Red Sister to a more mature young adult, and it fits her. I don’t object to the growth itself, but shoving it all into one book felt rushed.
Even though this book is longer than the other two, a lot of it felt rushed. I think some of that was from attempts to add time pressure to the plot, but it didn’t need any more help. Trauma is there but it’s glossed over because there isn’t time. Some of the important deaths feel cheap because there isn’t time to actually realize they happened before it’s on to the next thing. The entire romance subplot gets almost entirely forgotten because there just isn’t time. It feels more like the plot is moving at breakneck speed than it’s particularly rushed, but I can’t help noticing all the impact it could have had if there was time to actually notice what just happened before leaping on to the next thing.
All that said, this is an enjoyable book. There’s plenty of that nonstop action, extreme violence, and anger-as-a-superpower that I loved in previous books, Nona herself was awesome despite too-fast character growth, and I got to learn more about the world these characters live in. It’s not the best book in the series, but it’s still very good and makes a solid conclusion to a fantastic series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Animal death, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content
strange's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Torture, War, Violence, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content
kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The perfect conclusion to an excellent series. I am so glad I finally picked up Book of the Ancestor up, and it really was everything I hoped it would be. Although this concluding installment broke me in pretty much every way, it also wrapped up in the only acceptable way and I am LIVING.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
azaliz's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The ending is a bit less enthralling than the rest of the story, it's abit of a bummer; but it's still a very nice read, still a lot of action and badassery, flash-backs and flash-forwards that add to the suspense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Genocide, Grief, and Terminal illness
Minor: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
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