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Thou Shall Read Till Thy Eyes Bleed

Thursday 15 March 2012

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: Photobucket.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!

48 comments:

  1. Awesome review! I have been dying to read this book! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  2. I have heard mixed reviews on this book and I am really looking forward to reading it to see how I feel about it. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

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  3. Wow never noticed this cover before its stunning.For it to get such a high rating makes me excited to get my hands on it.

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  4. I'm interested in this boo,k so i hope the giveaway is for international too^^;;
    i'm intrigued by the plot and the reviews i 've read gave me want to learn more

    thanks you a lot

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  5. I love that she goes to a convent to find out that she has to destroy people's lives. That is awesome lol

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  6. lol aynoyance at first sight/i agree

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  7. Great review! Thank you for the chance to win it! (=

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  8. i am DYING to read this book!!!! I can't wait!! Thanks for the giveaway!!! :D
    Alyssa S.

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  9. I can't wait to read this one.

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  10. I've read positive and negative reviews for Grave Mercy, but I am will to get it a try. :D

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  11. Sounds interesting, can't wait to read it! :) Thanks!

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  12. The first time I saw this book was love at first sight, I didn't even read the plot. I need to have it! I love reading books with a strong woman characters! Girl power! Thanks for the review! (ileana on Rf)

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  13. I am so excited about this book. I love the cover and it looks amazing. Thanks for the great giveaway!! :)

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  14. That's a lot of pages, but the cover is beautiful! I love these newer books coming out where the female MC is the badass. :)

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  15. Im so glad this got a positive review, I saw the premise a while back and I was hoping it would be an awesome debut

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  16. great review!! I've been meaning to read this book!

    thanks for hosting this giveaway!

    Dominique
    bookvault(at)yahoo.com

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  17. I've been dying to read this books since I read the summary ages ago, and your review has just made me want to read it even more!

    Thanks for having such an awesome giveaway!

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  18. Glad you liked this one! I haven't read it yet (well, I scanned it, but didn't read it).

    And maybe I will enjoy it, because I don't like a whole lot of banter! (most of the time I find book banter to be just downright mean, lol).

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  19. I've been so bloody eager to read this book. I've heard nothing but fantastic things!!! A gorgeous cover...I hope I enjoy it as well.

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  20. I really like this cover, I hope the book lives up to it!

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  21. Thank you for the great review, definitely a book I want to read!

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  22. This book is on my TBR list and has been for a while. The cover is so pretty :D

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  23. I would love to read this considering I missed this on Netgalley lol
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    Janiera @This is From my Heart

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  24. Thanks for the great review. I hadn't heard much about Grave Mercy before. It sounds like a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to reading it.

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  25. Aah! I'm SOOOOO excited for this one! I absolutely cannot wait for it to just come out already!

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  26. I want to read this book so bad! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  27. Thanks for the giveaway.

    lizzi0915 at aol dot com

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  28. Awesome review. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com

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  29. I'm bouncing up and down in my seat right now. This book sounds so awesome! Lately I've been craving a book where the female MC totally kicks butt, and this Grave Mercy sounds like the perfect book.

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

    - Jackie

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  30. This book sounds really good.
    Thanks for the giveaway!!!

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  31. A kick butt heroine in medieval times? That's everything I love in a book right there!!

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  32. Thanks for this great giveaway!
    I really want to read this book! ;)

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  33. I am so excited about this book!

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  34. like to be included! GFC tetewa tWarner419@aol.com

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  35. This books sounds awesome, can't wait to read it! Thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  36. This novel and the others in the series sounds AWESOME! Thanks for the giveaway =D

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  37. I am dying to read this book. Thanks for the giveaway! =)

    Kassandra

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  38. Yay! I'm glad you liked this book. :) It sounds marvelous, despite the slow beginning.

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  39. I am nervous about the length of this book but the positive reviews are making me excited! Thanks for the review.

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  40. this looks awesome! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  41. OMG! So glad you enjoyed this. And the sarcastic banter comment was funny. lol. I'm glad to hear that the romance in this one takes it slower and is believable. I think this is a book I'd really love. Though I'm sure I'd love it even more if...you know...there was some witty bantering thrown in. :P Great review twin! :D

    ~Briana

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  42. I'm about to run over to my local B&N because I heard most of them already have this on their shelves! I've been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it. Thanks for the giveaway and the great review!

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  43. Great review! Thanks for the giveaway.

    molly(dot)frenzel(at)gmail(dot)com

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  44. Thanks for the great review - I want to read this one so bad!

    suzebomb(at)gmail.com

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  45. I have heard incredible things about this one. Can't wait to read it!

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  46. Oooohh the story sounds awesome! I can't wait to start reading! You are majorly, epically, awesome! Yes, I just made up that second word :P

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  47. This book looks really good! Another one added to my TBR! -- Jennifer

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