Author: Robin LaFevers
Genre: Historical Romance
Year Published: 2012
Number of Pages: 549 pages
Date Read: 8/8/2015
Series: His Fair Assassin #1
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)
Now, I have read many historical romances during my time
reading various romance novels, but I rarely read romance novels that deal with
war and assassins all in one package! “Grave Mercy,” the first book in Robin LaFevers’ “His Fair Assassin”
series, is seriously one action packed and intense story that I immediately
fell in love with!
When Ismae was seventeen years old, she was forced into an
arranged marriage by her father to the brutal Guillo, who would constantly beat
her to death. Ismae then thought that
there would be no way to escape this horrible life until a handmaiden from the
convent of St. Mortain told her about the convent and that she could live there
to escape her life of misery with Guillo.
Ismae then goes off to live in the convent for many years and was taught
the ways of following St. Mortain the God of Death’s will which included
learning how to be an assassin and using different kinds of poisons to kill
their victims. One day, the abbess of
the convent sends Ismae on a secret mission to the high court of Brittany to
seek out the traitor amidst the Duchess’ company and it is there that Ismae
meets the mysterious duke Gavriel Duval, who is regarded with suspicion at
every turn. Even though Ismae is trying
to do St. Mortain’s will throughout her mission, will her love for Duval blind
her from her faith in St. Mortain and the convent?
Wow! I am quite impressed with how exciting and intense this
book was! Now, many of my book friends
have been telling me forever to check this book out and when I finally did, I
was not disappointed! Robin LaFevers’ writing is truly
beautiful and mesmerizing as the story is written in an ancient manner that
really captures the society of 1485 Brittany and it felt like I was
experiencing this culture through the writing itself! I also loved the fact that Robin LaFevers was writing this story
from Ismae’s point of view as we get to see the world of Brittany through her
eyes and hear her thoughts on what she thought about her beliefs in St. Mortain
and her growing love for Duval. Ismae is
an extremely fantastic heroine as I was quite impressed with her assassin
skills and I also loved the fact that she is a cunning character as she easily
figures out what is going on in the high court of Brittany and tries to come up
with many strategies to protect the Duchess from any harm. I also loved the fact that we get to see
Ismae struggle with her faith in St. Mortain and her love for Duval as it made
her character even more complex and I was wondering throughout the entire book
about who will Ismae choose: her faith in St. Mortain or her love for
Duval? I just loved Duval! I will admit that at first I found his
character to be a bit obnoxious at the beginning, especially with how he was
treating Ismae, but as the story progresses, we start to see more dimensions to
Duval’s character as he proves to be a caring character who cares about his
family and Ismae eventually and those personality quirks just made me love his character! I also loved the bantering between Ismae and
Duval as it was hilarious as well as heartwarming and I always believed that
these two were just made for each other!
For anyone who does not like graphic battle sequences, this
book does have some scenes where people are killed in gruesome ways which
includes getting shot in the head by an arrow and getting cut up by a sword and
that might be unsettling for some people.
Overall, “Grave Mercy”
is one book that you should definitely check out if you are a fan of lady
assassins! Now, I am off to read the
rest of Robin LaFevers’ “His Fair
Assassin” series!
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