Review: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publication date: April 3rd 2012
Pages: 549 (hardcover)
Source: Netgalley






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

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sactuary 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?

Goodreads

Grave Mercy is historical fiction and as it happens to be I really like historical fiction. So when I had the chance to finally read this book I immediately grabbed the opportunity and I didn’t regret any second of it.

Ismae her life has never been easy but when she has the opportunity to escape her old life she takes it with both her hands. When she’s taken into the Convent of St. Mortain, the old God of Death, a whole new world opens up to her. A life that she never could have dreamed of and she’s determined to do everything to make this second chance work.  

I loved this book so much. The author did a thorough job of describing the details of the setting and the appearance of the characters without it being an overload of information. I had a very clear picture of how everything would have looked back in the 15 century and I could perfectly imagine what was going on. I really liked the setting of this book. European history is really fascinating and I hadn’t read that much yet about the history of Britanny so that is another bonus point for me.

Ismae, the lead character of this book was amazing. I really admired her, she has had a terrible past but she still manages to get over it and make the best of the rest of her life. She’s a really smart girl. Part of that is because she’s very observant and because she has a quick mind. Both of these traits often get her out of trouble. I liked that we could she her character grow throughout the book. At first she was very cautious when she met new people and she had a hard time letting people in. But she learned that not all people are bad and more specifically that not all men are the same. She also learned to rethink everything she had learned at the convent and determine for herself what she believed to be true.
Duval was a really great guy, I loved him from the very first moment I met him in the book. It’s clear that he is a man of honor and that he will do everything to protect the ones he loves. Like Ismae he had some trouble trusting people, but again that’s not really surprising when you see in what kind of situation he grew up. The other characters were great too. They were all well-developed and they all served a purpose in the book. The Duchess of Britanny, Ann, was so fascinating. I often forgot while reading this book how young she was. I really admired her for being so responsible at such a young age.  

Grave Mercy is a great book. Everything about this book felt so right. The book was also well written, everything was interwoven neatly and it was impossible for me to put the book down. The original take on assassins, I mean who would suspect a nun, was also a really nice aspect of the book. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially the ones who love historical fiction mixed with some fantasy. I can’t wait to read the other two books in this series. 

El