Grave Mercy REVIEW

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?


          
                                                   4 Smokin' Kisses!
                     
This novel was defenitly not what I expected, lets start off with that. I thought this novel was going to be about a girl who is an assasssin that goes on missions and kicks some men-ass and then falls in love.
wrong.
this novel is a historical-fantasy-action-romance set in the 15th century; year 1485. Ismae, the turnip farmers daughter, is unwanted in her village and family. they say she has been "touched by death" ever since her mother took poison to expel unwanted baby Ismae from her womb; but instead of death, resulted in the baby being born with a long red scar running down her back from her shoulder to her waist. This mark made her feared in her village- a being whom is touched by death isnt someone townsfolk would like to mingle with.
and so, after countlessly being abused by her father & unwanted husband, Guillo, and being constantly picked on by the townsfolk, Ismae is sent to the covent of St. Mortain, the Saint of death. There she is trained as an assassin and is to be one of mortains handmaidens of death- and the story goes from there.
personally, I quite enjoyed this story. but it all depends on your taste in novels. To enjoy His Fair Assassin one must be interested in history. A good chunk of this novel revolves around the affairs of Brittany and their on-going misagreements and warfare with France. It revolves around the Dutchess of Brittany who is trying to save her empire from the French. She is to wed a duke who will be able to provide men with arms to fight against the french alongside her own army; but falls into many problems while finding a worthy husband. This scenario takes up about 3/4 of the novel.... so if it's not something youre into, than I am afraid this novel isn't for you. However, if you do enjoy these old time tales like myself, then this novel will surely exceed your expectations. Ismae is a deadly lady, that knows more ways to kill a man than possible. It's a pleasure reading from her POV, she is a strong-willed character and her slowly flourishing love for Duval is interesting & believable. The Brittany-France affairs aren't boring as one would expect and I really ended up loving the dutchess- she's so cute!

Personally I love novels that are based in the 14-1500's - and this tale defenitly didn't disappoint !
I mean common, Kick-ass assassin nuns trained in untimely ways to kill men, 15th century weapons and poison- hot nobel men (Duval) , saints of death, love, war and so on ? yes please!
Especially when Duval gets protective over Ismae, it's the cutest thing ever. I absoloutly loved him.
Duval & Ismae fall in love... but it takes about 60% of the novel for them to even acknowledge eachother, so it's great to watch their love grow slowly as the affairs at court intensify.

The writting style is superior and the description doesn't disappoint! The author was able to successfuly create an old-time atmosphere and have tons of characters play vital roles throughout, without losing meaning & making the novel boring. each character developed, which is tough to do when you constantly have 20+ important characters in a novel... but LaFevers did it! - and she was successful. I could easily point out how each character developed... but that would take a while so I'll leave you to figure that out ;)

this novel is lengthy, and i defenitly feel that a good portion could have been cut out and the novel would have still been great, but the read was worth it.
overall, the novel earned its 4 hardworked stars and i'm quite excited for the second novel in the series to come out... I hear its about Sybella ! Cannot wait to hear her story ! Although I'll miss Ismae and Duval :(

Happy readings everyone!