The Book of the Ancestor series has to be one of my favorites, if not my number one favorite, to date. It really has everything I love about stories and writing in it and I cannot wait for the third book! Nona Grey is an amazing main character that is so simplistic in her want of friendship and of safe guarding that friendship. However, a true friend will cross all trials for another and Nona learns that time and again, throwing herself into the wake of any wrath, ire, and danger for those she loves.

In Grey Sister, Nona must also contend with a serious inner demon and be forced to look more closely at her own nature and the consequences her actions may wreak outside of any immediate gratification. Nona has had to struggle through being close to someone, only to loose them to horrific means she feels she should have been able to stop, on multiple occasions now. Her story becomes much about how to grieve, gain justice for those cruelly wrenched away, forgive friends and enemies, trust in others and herself, and ultimately survive in a structured environment in which she must constantly break boundaries to hang on to those people she lives for.

I really enjoyed seeing Nona’s relationship with Kettle, Clara, Glass, Regal, and Zole expand in this volume. Each of the characters are so unique and feel fleshed enough that I enjoy reading about each of them and seeing how Nona’s relationship continues to grow with them. Nona is also just so hardcore. I am always at the edge of the seat to see how she will manage the next situation in which she is backed into a corner. Luckily for her, This seems to be a predicament in which she thrives.

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Some really insightful and lovely prose in this one, along with a whole lot of action! I found the character depth sufficient, though not nearly as deep as we saw in book one, but loads more action, which I'm sure many people love. An excellent second installment!

Why only 4 stars you might ask? A note on bookends: they never work if the bookends are the present and the main chapters are the past. It takes away all the suspense to know that your protagonist is alive in the present. All those scenes you worked so hard to make us wonder if our hero would come out unscathed just fall flat when we start out with her in the present. Also, bookends should either add something significant to the story, or serve to frame it, and these do neither. Really a shame to take away everything at stake in the meat of your story.

Still, I love the book. The prose is so on point and I can't wait to read the final installment. Read it! ( )

We begin this book about 2 years after the end of Red Sister.

Except for Clera and Hessa, Nona and company are all back at Sweet Mercy moving up to grey class and enjoying new rivalries and enemies there.   Yes folks, it's more of the catholic girls school dorm rivalry and pecking order stuff that Red Sister was full of.   However, the petty rivalries and pecking order stuff don't take up much of our time as this book soon picks up speed as Nona has to run away from Sweet Mercy to escape the Inquisition who have turned up at Sweet Mercy with a nefarious agenda.

I was hoping that this book would be much better than Red Sister and i wasn't disappointed.   It's well good and immensely unputdownable.   I don't really want to say any more because i think i'll give away too much of the story.   Suffice it to say, if the slow pace of the bulk of Red Sister left you a little disappointed but you enjoyed the faster pace of the ending, then you'll really enjoy this, so definitely give it a go.

Next up is Bound, which is a novella that one should read before moving onto Holy Sister. ( )

4,5 stars

- I loved the characters. Some of them I loved to hate. Keot I loved despite myself.
- The writing is great, but in all honesty my simple brain prefers simpler prose.
- Much like the first book, Grey Sister didn't exactly make me feel a lot of things beside excitement. (But more than Red Sister.)

I'm tempted to get Holy Sister on Kindle and just finish the series straight away, but I think I'll wait for the audiobook that should be out by the end of the month. ( )

Ágætis framhald hjá Lawrence af sögu Nonu Grey sem er heldur áfram námi í klaustrinu hjá bardaganunnunum. Hún er enn í sárum eftir missi vinkonu sinnar er líka farin á næsta námsstig sem er öllu erfiðara því þolinmæði hentar lítt hinni öru og ofsafengnu Nonu. Hún á sér nóg af andstæðingum frá fyrri sögunni og þeir gera nú öfluga atlögu að Nonu og því verndaða umhverfi sem hún býr við í klaustrinu.
Skemmtilegur heimu sem Lawrence hefur skapað en stenst þó ekki við heimsmyndina í Broken Empire sem er ein af uppáhalds ritröðum mínum. ( )