Woman Reading

Grave Mercy was such a surprise!  Yay for YA-MA on Goodreads for forcing me to read this book in a group read, because I likely would never have picked it up on my own. 

Ismae is the daughter of death, and after a hard life she is spirited away to the Convent of St Mortain.  Once there she discovers that they would like to train her as a Handmaiden of Death to be an assassin for the old God/Saint Mortain.  Ismae is thrilled with this, as her hard life has made vengeance sound wonderful. 

After three years of training she finally is given an assignment and soon she finds herself caught up in the political intrigues of the Duchess Anne and the fight for Brittany's freedom against the French. 

"But the two sisters could not be more different.  Amourna was happy and giving, but her sister, Arduinna, was fierce, jealous, and suspicious, for such is the dual nature of love."

This is the very first book I have read that pairs a true Historical Fiction with an element of Fantasy.  Sure sure, Outlander was a Historical Fiction and had a dash of Fantasy because of the time travel.  I don't count that though, because in Outlander the time travel was secondary, or possibly even further down the list, of ways I would classify that book.  The time travel was a paradox thought to happen due to the 'auld ones', and as Scotland is full of magic and legends of magical/mystical things happening I never felt that it could be classified as true Fantasy.  But Grave Mercy, the Fantasy is just as prominent as the Historical Fiction.  They coincided magnificently and really balanced each other well, bringing a new spin to an old genre. 

In the group read thread I stated that while I thought the characters were well-developed I never thought they were personable.  I still stand by that statement, however by the end I found that cared about them anyway.  Isn't it true that sometimes, once you get through the exterior, even the reserved can still be loveable?

And lastly, while there is a romance in the book, I never felt that it overshadowed the core of the story which was Ismae and the convent, and the fight to save Anne's Duchy.  The two characters that slowly grew to love each other did so gradually, and never once did they put their burgeoning feelings for each other ahead of their goals for the good of the country.  And, bottom line, THAT is why it was a great story with admirable characters.

4 Stars