A review by horoxv
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

5.0

“I was born for killing—the gods made me to ruin.”


Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy is one of my favorite series of all time.

And the Red Sister is better than all of them.

This book played with so many emotions in so many ways. This book was a work of art.

If you're seeing these words, "GO BUY RED SISTER NOW AND READ IT!"

***There may be minor spoilers. I will try my best to keep them minimum.***

Red Sister is the first novel of the Book of the Ancestory series. I've been a reader of Mark Lawrence since his first book reached shelves and I thought I wouldn't be able to love any of his books more than that original Broken Empire trilogy.

I was wrong.

Red sister has not only become my favorite Mark Lawrence book (thus far), but one of my favorite books ever!

Coming of age stories are a weakness for me as well, my childhood being filled with Harry Potter and other various tales of young nobodies fulfilling their destiny or becoming something great. It must reach out to the boring life my soul desperately wishes it could escape.

I was born in the wrong era, but I digress.

One of Mark Lawrence's biggest strengths is turning darker characters into someone you can relate to. He causes empathy and support to happen naturally, not forcing it upon us but showing us the character through multiple levels of depth. I still have not read an author who does it quite like Mark Lawrence does.

Damnit why did I wait so long to read this book!
“I hope he comes back full of devils and they eat his heart.”

All of the sisters were unique and exciting to learn about. I constantly kept asking myself, "Who did Sister "This" used to be? How did she get to this point? Was she like Nona once?
What is the focus moon?
What are the Shiphearts?
What is the Ark?
Who is Nona really?
What, who, why, how, where when.... Mark is a master of laying pieces and subtle clues to make you pull your hair out in desperate attempt to finish the book to receive the answers he has been titillating you with for 400-something pages. Every piece is interesting and feels sooo important. Nothing feels like useless information.

And that's also how I felt about the story.
The pace was fantastic. Every chapter felt useful and exciting. Everything kept moving you forward. There were slight hints and previews of the future and what was to come, but they only fueled my eager fire of avoiding sleep and reading long into the night.

“The hardest lesson I ever learned was that every bad thing you see a friend do to someone else they will some day do to you.
Nona is a god damn GENIUS character. She is such a deep character and I get lots of kudos to Mark Lawrence for making such a powerful female cast. As a man, I know I struggle to understand the female mind but Mark does it in a such a way that you don't doubt any of it for a second.

I've been rambling for a while. But all I really want to say is go buy this book now. You will not regret it for a second. It's the type of book that makes me forget all the other books on my plate. It's the type of book that makes me put down everything else I'm in the middle of because I need my fucking answers!

I love you Mark Lawrence. You've taken me to worlds that have become a part of me. Your prose is elegant yet easy to ready. Your characters feel like I've known them outside of the pages. I will read anything you write. Anything!

The shortest lives can cast the longest shadows.”
5/5 Steps on the path.