“Holy Sister” by Mark Lawrence
The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat.
Nona faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that Nona and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.
Even a warrior like Nona cannot hope to turn the tide of war.
The shiphearts offer strength that she might use to protect those she loves, but it’s a power that corrupts. A final battle is coming in which she will be torn between friends, unable to save them all. A battle in which her own demons will try to unmake her.
By the time I got to the end of this book, I was really enjoying myself. Honestly, the final couple of chapters were hard to put down. But that isn’t able to cover up the fact that the first half felt rushed, oddly structured, and kind of redundant.
While loving the first book in this trilogy, I felt that the second had opened up the world without managing to give it any real sense of scope. This third and final instalment has the same problem.
The first half of this book is split between two different periods. One follows on immediately from the end of the previous book, while the second takes place three years later.
It was an interesting way to go, but to work both plotlines needed to impact each other. Events or facts from the earlier timeline needed to clarify things happening in the second. Without some kind of interconnectivity, it just felt like each one was padding out the other.
It also didn’t help that neither story really felt important. The first has Nona and Yole fleeing with the shipheart, but as we know Nona escapes it lacks any real drama. In the second Nona and her friends are stealing a book for a reason we’re assured is important. But considering the war that is destroying the Empire is supposed to be on their doorstep at this point, breaking into a library to steal a book seems rather childish.
I finished this book convinced it should have been built up to four books. Nona’s flight onto the Ice with Yole should have been something fundamental to her growth. It was the opportunity for her to learn things from a new perspective, becoming the woman the Empire needed on her return because of this new perspective. The theoretical final book could then have focused on the encroaching threat of the war coming closer and closer, rather than simply skipping forward three years and just telling us it had. This way Nona’s journey would have felt more substantial and the reality of the war would have had some actual impact.
But I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the final scenes. Lawrence’s writing is at its best when it’s tight and focused. We had some nice work with characters showing another side to themselves when petty politics are put aside against a true threat. And, best of all, Lawrence has no problem killing off named characters when it’s logical for it to happen. Too many authors fall into the trap of having one “main” character dying in a climax, and the survivors are made up of the protagonist’s friends. Not wanting to give away too many spoilers, Lawrence avoids this and gives a very satisfying conclusion.
Despite its issues, overall I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this series. True, the second two books never quite match the promise of the first, but all the plot-lines are wrapped up and the final solution wasn’t unsatisfying. But it felt like it wasn’t given the time it needed to build up the scope that would have given it a truly substantial feel.
