Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor, Band 2)

Grey Sister disappointed me. As expected. I just can't stand to give Mark Lawrence a 1-star-rating. After reading Red Sister my expectations dropped into an abyss. The whole nun-assassins story doesn’t work for me. But since I liked Mark Lawrences books in the past, I am bound to read this trilogy. Unfortunately, the things that stuck with me are the bad ones. The sequel picks up track some years after Red Sister. Nona killed Raymel Tascis in the corridor and is now back at the Convent. We miss out on important developments in those years. Again. Imagine Rothfuss skipping character development. (This nun-assassin business is character driven!) But rest assured, you missed nothing. Nona grew a bit and that’s about it. She’s still in training, we follow her attending classes, having arguments with classmates, repetitive trivialities. A new development is a mysterious power that seems to inhabit Nona. I was so confused! Suddenly the MC talks to a voice but everything stays vague. I was panicking, thinking I missed a whole book in-between. But no. It’s supposed to be vague and irritating for the reader. The information about the past two years is dropped somewhere random in the novel. The plot is dull, the worldbuilding an attempt at best, the character development inconsequential. We get more POVS and we’re moving out (finally) from that dreadful Convent into the outside world. Which turns out to be pretty dull. Also: Nona turns out to be not the most important character in this book. Well, can I please have my money back and instead a book about the new MC then?! Even with the fast pace it was a struggle to get through. Flashbacks seem to be the new thing. It’s so damn chaotic in this book, my irritation is bordering on hate. Try reading a book by opening it at a random page, read 5 pages, repeat. That’s The Book of Ancestor-Trology for you. I’m DNF-ing this wretched trilogy. I don’t think I can drag myself through another dull novel – there are way too many awesome fantasy novels waiting for me instead.

Mir ging es bei Grey Sister ähnlich wie schon beim ersten Teil, grundsätzlich hat mir das Buch gut gefallen es war spannend und hat Spass gemacht zu lesen. Ich mag die Charaktere und mir haben besonders auch die verschiedenen Sichtweisen gut gefallen. Auch die Welt und die verschiedenen Arten von Magie sind interessant. Allerdings hatte ich auch wieder etwas Mühe mit dem Tempo. Während die Geschichte nie langweilig war, gab es doch ein paar Stellen in denen gefühlt sehr wenig passierte, während es am Ende fast ohne Pause einen Kampf nach dem anderen gab. Auch hatte ich in diesen Teilen etwas das Gefühl gewisse Figuren wirkten etwas zu stark. Dennoch bin ich nach dem Ende sehr gespannt wie es im dritten Teil mit Nona, Glass und den Anderen weiter geht.

Amazing It's hard to put into words how good this series is proving to be! I never imagined someone could write a book with characters that not only jump off the page, but feel fully real and tangible. I really hope that the last installment doesn't let the side down. I doubt it will.

Finally continuing with this series! The story is set three years after the first book and it still follows Nona and her life in the Covenant of Sweet Mercy. None is now in a higher class and not only has hostile classmates to fight, but also political machinations to maneuver. I still enjoyed the world, even though it felt like the plot didn't really start until the second half of the book. Sometimes, all the political issues were a bit hard to understand, too. However, my understanding didn't matter for my enjoyment of the book. One of my favorite trope in a book is characters make a complicated scheme and the reader has to figure it out while it unfolds. There were many such instances here! I am growing more and more curious towards the resolution of the series. The reason for that are mostly the chapters from the future that continue from those of the first book and provide a nice frame. How could it all possibly end? It is even more intriguing after this book - the stakes are a lot higher than I previously thought. Now, if only I could read faster to finally get to the last book!