Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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This is a spoiler-filled review of Red Sister (First Book of the Ancestor) by Mark Lawrence.

This is an Adult Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, borderline Grimdark Fantasy novel. It has a 3.08 rating on the Mark Lawrence unofficial grimdark rating list on his blog, where readers go and vote in an attempt to nail down what it means to be grimdark.

What this book is not is an adventure story. The Prince of Thorns and The Prince of Fools are stories where the protagonist goes on an adventure. In Red Sister, Nona goes to school. Sure there is violent action at times, but do understand that most of this story takes places at a nun's convent where they train assassin nuns.

This feels much more like the first story in a trilogy than the previous two series did.

The pace feels a little slower and that's going to lose some readers. The best advice I could give is to push through it because it's worth it.

Mark Lawrence is the kind of author that will only give you what you need to know to move forward in the story. That is a style I prefer. I know when it comes to Fantasy some people really spending time detailing all the intricacies of a magic system or the world at large. He does not do that. You know what you need to know. The story is focused on Nona and the obstacles she faces in life.

Also there is violence. It's a story about assassin's so yeah. The fight scenes are well painted and filled with tension.

Mark Lawrence is an established author that will always pass the prose check. His style is very literal and transparent, his prose will not get in the way of the story, but he also knows when to turn the dial and slow the pace for the important moments and in those important moments he turns into Anna Spark Smith all of a sudden and gets a little poetic, and I love that.

Nona is a child who was given away and I couldn't help, but root for her. She's young and she's a hunska, which means she can be incredibly fast for short periods of time. She has no problem killing and it always feels justified to me. She's a little badass and some rich and powerful people want her dead real bad.

The antagonists are easy to root against and there's a bunch. There's a moment where Lawrence does an amazing job of making you hate one of the minor antagonists, but I can't really talk about that here. I will talk about it in my spoiler-filled review, but anyways...even the main antagonist does a thing, where you can totally see why young Nona wants to end this person.

In Abeth, some people are born with one of four special abilities.

Hunska: Fast. Like quicksilver fast.
Gerant: Big, like Rike big.
Marjal: Lesser magic.
Quantal: Greater magic.

The extra long final chapter + The Epilogue + The teaser for the next book all back to back to back is just unfair. It's so good. Three heavy hitters in a row. There are some slow moments, but the fight scenes, the emotional bits, and the end more than make up for it.

5/5 I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

If you are interested in picking up Red Sister (First Book of the Ancestor) by Mark Lawrence, you can find it here: amzn.to/3r2sP0v

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