Red Sister

I just finished reading the Book of the Ancestors series and it left my mind spinning. I loved following along with Nona's adventure and seeing her grow into this courageous woman was a treat. I thought Mark Lawrence did her great justice.

From this series there are two aspects that I really enjoyed and thought Mark did a marvelous job on and that was: character building and world development.

For character building, I enjoyed how Nona seemed to start of as this innocent child and grow into her powers. I appreciated that loyalty to friends was a deep believe of hers, and to see that aspect transform was also interesting. But my favorite character was Zoal (not sure how you spell it as I listened to the audio books). Even Zoal grew as a character, although it was in the completely opposite direction that I as a reader would have expected. Zoal become more ethereal and less human, but none the less her friendship with Nona is what kept her tethered to reality. I would love to know more about Zoal's story... especially her adventures on the ice and how she managed to get her hands on the two ship hearts!!

For world development, the laws that Mark had written to govern this world was keenly thought out. I'm still boggled over the fact that I can't really tell whether this is a scifi or a fantasy book 😜 A mash up I think. The shiphearts do seem like technology that have been lost, but could just as well be a form of magic. I love the fact that Mark blended both of these so close together that it is almost impossible to distinguish the two. There were however two things that I'm still struggling with understanding. I'm having a hard time visualizing what the blade path is supposed to look like. I get that it is a gauntlet. I'm a visual person and seeing something is so much easier than reading. I was wondering if Mark maybe have a hand sketch or something that I could see to help me visualize the blade path. I would also really love a map of the corridor, to help orient myself. Don't know if Mark has given much thought to providing these to your readers, but I'd love to see them.