“Grey Sister” by Mark Lawrence
In Mystic Class Nona Grey begins to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the Convent of Sweet Mercy Nona must choose her path and take the red of a Martial Sister, the grey of a Sister of Discretion, the blue of a Mystic Sister or the simple black of a Bride of the Ancestor and a life of prayer and service.
All that stands between her and these choices are the pride of a thwarted assassin, the ambition of a would-be empress wielding the Inquisition like a blade, and the vengeance of the empire’s richest lord.
I was excited for this book. I absolutely loved Red Sister and had been wanting to get my hand on the second book in the series. However, as much as I still enjoyed it, it couldn’t shake the feel of being Part Two of a trilogy.
As much as I still enjoyed it, Grey Sister didn’t have quite the same feel for me. I think this is possibly an opening up of the focus. In the first book, everything has a clear focus on Nona’s world: going from her village, to fight school, to the monetary. But now the events that closed the last book have expanded her worldview, opening up the plot to the larger politics and events that were the driving cause of the previous book’s plot.
I have the same issue with Grey Sister as I do in a lot of Fantasy; a wider world that somehow still feels small. While the view and scope have been opened, we only really get a feel for the parts of the world the protagonists directly interact with. Creating a world that honestly feels like it exists beyond the confines of the plot is hard. Very few authors have the talent to make me believe what I’m reading is only a small part of a living, breathing world.
I also feel the story lacked a tightness the previous book had. We were introduced to several new aspects, all of which I felt were more setting up the plot for book three rather than existing in their own story.
Overall I enjoyed this Grey Sister. Lawrence’s writing and characters are engaging, even if I wasn’t as excited for this one as the last. And while I felt there was a little too much set up for the next book, I’m hoping that means that the final book in the trilogy will pack the same punch as the first.
