Since I’ve been living under a rock for several years, I’ve finally crawled out and read Mark Lawrence’s Red Sister. This novel stands out as one part coming-of-age story, one part mage school, and all careening toward a finale that is pulse-pounding in its intensity. This is one you should enjoy soon if you haven’t managed to enjoy it already.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Red Sister was the way Lawrence makes use of unreliable narrators. It actually might be better to say that Lawrence makes use of characters who deliberately play fast and loose with the truth as a way of defending themselves or getting what they want. This occurs with the viewpoint character, Nona, but Lawrence also puts this to use with Abbess Glass who tells us she’s an unreliable narrator. There are also various kinds of magic in this world, and I loved learning about each of them. Lawrence does a great job of never info dumping, but just giving us bits and pieces that feel natural in the narrative. This is helped greatly by the fact that Nona is learning many of these things herself. The characters also deserve praise, particularly for their variety and that way that characters who seem friendly end up less so or characters who initially seem like enemies end up playing a quite different role in the book. Perhaps the most unique element of the novel, however, is the world building. The story is set on a planet with a dying sun, the vast majority of the planets surface is covered in ice, with a thin strip near the equator the only land warm enough to support farming—and this only remains so because of an orbiting artificial moon mirror that the ancients apparently launched into the sky. It’s worth the read for the worldbuilding alone. The narrative itself keeps you guessing at several points though and I really enjoyed that element as well. The endgame is also intense and interesting, with some good reveals and aha! moments. Fast-paced and bloody at times, there is a lot to like throughout Red Sister.

There were several things that didn’t work as well for me. Most of these amount to preference issues. The largest issue is that Nona is twelve years old for much of the novel, and she just doesn’t feel like a twelve-year-old. Even allowing for her being abnormally mature because of the difficulties of her life, I just don’t buy her as a middle school student. Add four years, make her sixteen, and maybe her character starts to feel believable in terms of age. I also felt the pacing was a little slow at some points, perhaps getting bogged down in the magic school and class themes. Beyond this we’re getting into the weeds of preference, but one thing I really dislike is when a narrator withholds information the viewpoint character has or things the viewpoint character does, as a way of creating additional tension. Lawrence does this in the endgame with Nona, and when it was revealed I was frustrated.

Red Sister is one to read, and the world building, characters, and mysteries of the plot make it stand out. If you haven’t read this one yet, it should definitely be on your TBR.

8.0/10

4/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing