Red Sister

March 6, 2017
Lawrence (the Broken Empire trilogy) grips readers from the opening sentence—“It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size”—of this successful fantasy series launch. The prologue setting up a battle between a Martial Sister and a force of 200 men ends just before the first blow is struck. The main narrative is a lengthy flashback recounting the story of Nona Grey, a young girl who was given to a childtaker; she’s introduced moments from being hanged for attempting to kill a powerful noble who was hurting a friend of hers. Her life is spared through the intervention of Abbess Glass, who takes Nona to the Sweet Mercy Convent and puts her through rigorous training. The contours of the plot will feel familiar to genre fans—a young orphan, possessed of special gifts, receiving lessons in a cloistered community on how to realize her potential—but Lawrence makes it seem fresh through evocative prose and three-dimensional characterizations. Agent: Ian Drury, Sheil Land Associates.

Differences in age are an important part of Heather O'Neil's portrayal of the primary characters in this audiobook. Nine-year-old Nona, who is rescued from the hangman's noose, is initially wary of the abbess who saved her and keeps her distance from the other girls at the convent school as well. The school's unusual curriculum features the arts of assassination and magic. While the abbess and the other nuns sound authoritarian, O'Neil tempers their harshness, making clear their dedication to the welfare of their young students. O'Neil does justice to the lyrical prose, and provides a bonus: a few notes of the songs that are part of the story. In this first of the Ancestor series, O'Neil builds the relationships among the girls as they learn to trust and rely on one another. J.E.M. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine