Review and Giveaway: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy

Author: Robin LaFevers

Series: His Fair Assasin

Book #: 1

Pages: 564

Reading Level: YA

Book Rating: .5

Goodreads Rating: 4.25

T.B.Published: April 3rd, 2012

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Taschima's POV:

Grave Mercy is everything you like about the old tales of medieval times with a twist. There is love, secrets, loyalty, and war, minus the damsel in distress because Ismae is anything but helpless. In fact, she ends up saving the lives of everybody in this story a couple of times. Gotta love a woman who is armed to her teeth while still wearing the facade of a proper lady. She has a freaking bracelet that is a weapon in disguise used to CHOKE PEOPLE. Ah, good times.

What I liked about this novel was how complex it was. It is so very different from every other YA novel out there. It is more serious, and it deals with a lot of real issues that were present back in the day that can still resonate with people in today's age. It doesn't have vampires or werewolves or ghosts or anything like that and I still found it enjoyable beyond belief. It does deal with gods, as in mythology gods, but they are not called gods and Death doesn't go by the name of Hades. In this case they are saints, it's pretty weird but really it isn't that different. It is also set in a time that hasn't been in the spotlight for quite sometime, the medieval. It is so unique, and so in it's own time and space that is difficult to compare it to anything else I have read recently or even in the last few years. But don't worry it isn't so foreign that you won't be able to connect with the characters, specially the main girl since she could be part of the kick ass heroines club; in fact her membership has just been approved.

That leads me to Ismae. She is something else. She has all the etiquette that comes with being a proper lady but still she is a freaking assassin! An assassin nun! She knows her poisons, she knows her weapons, and she knows how to spy. She also has an inquisitive mind and asks lots of questions, by the end of the novel there is a lot of character development and lets just say that Ismae will surprise you. Give this girl some props. The only thing she isn't so well versed at is flirting, or as they call it in the book the "womanly arts", but I think that she holds her own, that is whenever she is not close to Duval she holds her own, when he is near, well, she gets some butterflies in her stomach. Duval is brave, smart, and can hold his ground when it comes to flirting and fighting (I liked that). But he is surrounded by mystery and for half the novel is under suspicion... Is he a true knight or is he playing us all for fools? All that Grave Mercy's characters were missing was sarcastic banter, which is probably why I didn't give it 5 hearts (what can I say? I love banter).

The romance is so sweet and believable. It isn't love at first sight, it's actually annoyance at first sight. Then the trust starts building up and everything starts working. The romantic scenes were far in between, but they are so teasing! Every time I was like "jeeez get on with it already, you are killing me here!".

Sometime that might annoy some people is how long it is and it isn't very fast paced. Over 500 pages... But I read it in like 2 days so imagine that! It will not be for everybody true, but the story is so good it can only get better from here so I suggest that everybody give it a try.

Grave Mercy is everything the cover promised. Overall I gotta say I really liked the book, the idea is fabulous and unique, and the rest of the books seen to hold a lot of promise. Every book (3 in total) is going to be about a different assassin that we have been introduced in this book (which makes me very happy because I want to know their stories as well) and the author did a great job of introducing us to them while not completely giving us their story. Leaves you wanting more...

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PS; Don't forget to enter the giveaway for The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa!