Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

I was born for killing - the gods made me to ruin.

At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In a few, the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices skills to deadly effect: it takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in ways of blade and fist.

But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don't truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder: guilty of worse.

Stolen from the shadow of the noose, Nona is sought by powerful enemies, and for good reason. Despite the security and isolation of the convent, her secret and violent past will find her out. Beneath a dying sun that shines upon a crumbling empire, Nona Grey must come to terms with her demons and learn to become a deadly assassin, if she is to survive...

If you read any of my other reviews, you might notice a trend... I have so many books on my TBR list, and there may be a good bit of time between when I request a book and when I actually get to read it. So, I have a tendency to request books after reading their description or reading good reviews, then not exactly remembering what they're about or why I requested them when it comes time to read them. 

This was was the case with Red Sister. I didn't remember what it was about, and the short description I read on NetGalley before downloading it only talked about the author's previous best-selling series and how this is the start to his new series. So, that's all I had to go on when I started reading the first line:

It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent and Lano Tacsis brought 200 men.

I've found that going into books you know you requested but don't know what they are about can be pretty exciting. It's not like just picking up any book at random and starting to read. That could spell disaster. Imagine instead, going through a bunch of books and reading descriptions and reviews, picking out 20 or so that you think you will like, then forgetting about them for six months. Then, randomly picking up one of those books and start reading, without looking at anything else about it.

I doubt the description said anything about armies killing nuns, but starting out a book with that first sentence, gave me an awesome first impression, and the rest of the book followed suit.

I absolutely loved everything about this book! The main character is strong and independent, and the author never takes away from that at all by adding a cliche love interest. The story doesn't call for it, and trying to add it in there would have ruined the story IMHO. The heroine is perfectly capable of rescuing her self, and she does (sometimes with a little help from her friends)!

After reading this book, I did a little more research and found out that it isn't going to be released until April, meaning that I could be waiting a long time for a sequel. :( While I might not be waiting patiently, I will be waiting anxiously awaiting more about Nona the nun! 

I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.