Review: Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor #2)
On closing this screening from Netgalley (thankyou) I say..
Mark you devilish bastard!
On the heels of Red Sister, we are committed to knowing how this child Nona and her cohorts are going to be raised, trained, and where they will happen upon in a world that is closing in. Ice walls, literally. With only the aimed faux moon melting a corridor during a nights sleep. Put there, controlled, and controllable only by histories are gone myth.
This book will not disappoint. First, thank you, Mark, for the lead in setting up what we know and might not. I can’t tell you how often I forget where I was and a short recap is always helpful. I could have used a pronunciation guide here and there but I like made up names anyhow.
We join Nona in all her vainglorious self. Her Sister name is Cage and she is truly a wildfire in a bottle. She and her compatriots create a cast of human female figures of all types which makes for a well-rounded entourage and storytelling. My only gripe as it is wont is girls at 15.. #amirite? This too shall pass and their developing selves, feisty encounters, the idiocy of the moments, and predictability of a juvenile all must be met out in time. Plot lines all served well.
The book feels well-timed and paced. The silence within the margins only occurs as a storm builds or after one has passed and it’s a needed breath before the next onslaught of perspective or ass-kicking. To that end, I could hardly put this down and caught myself up far later than I intended just to find one of those moments when I could rest, literally.
The overarching tale of a friend killed, a shipheart stolen, and the politics of empires are all in play here. I’m not sure if I found the troupe of ‘new girl in new grade meets new girl pompous nemesis’ (Joeli) was the right move but it was there and like an archetype of the style it’s going to be an ax to grind upon. Really most of the book utilizes that as a method for achieving plot results.
Regardless of how we get there, we move forward. Nona is put through a deep crucible of fire and while at the end of this book we know she is tempered, we know Zole is also forged (I sure hope we get a novella about her adventure Mark!!) the stage is rounding out its finished look for a contest alluded to at the beginning. While a larger stage is still unknown and lingering in the shadows.
Lots to tell and we will sit here starving for the next volume. Good luck to you. Chew your brick of hardtack well it’ll need to last. you!
