Holy Sister

Holy Sister wraps up the superb Book of The Ancestor trilogy in a truly epic way. This trilogy has basically been about the rise of Sister Cage (aka Nona Grey), a completely badass military nun, and if that is not selling you this book I don't really know what will.

The character interactions have built and matured in a satisfying way over the course of this series, and this continues over this novel here. Now Abbess Glass is no longer here, but through Zole and Nona her plans are still very much being acted out.

The trilogy has been very satisfying in the way that things referenced right at the start are brought to a head here in this book - there were cut scenes involving Sister Thorn and Sister Cage in the first two books that finally make an appearance in realtime here as part of the series truly epic finale.

The world of the Corridor is explored more fully here as well, with our first trip onto the ice and into Scithrowl, and more of an interaction with these supposedly powerful neighbours. Everything is permeated with a satisfying sense of dread and foreboding - this narrowing strip of habitable planet is a clever reason for the events that are happening.

Mark Lawrence is due to return to this world with a new trilogy this year, and I for one cannot wait!

Red Sister and Grey Sister were both wonderful, especially the former, but I found Holy Sister to be a disappointing finale to the trilogy. Though shorter than the previous two novels, it felt like it had a lot of filler since it just wasn't as engaging. Characterization and interactions seemed to come after going through through the motions of wrapping up the main plot, and I didn't think it had the same heart as the previous books.

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