#64 Red Sister

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence 

This book follows the story of Nona Grey, a young girl who from the first chapter is sentenced to death by hanging, she has the noose around her neck when an abbess from a nearby convent comes to her rescue and steals her away from her fatal fate. The abbess takes her to The Convent of Sweet Mercy and its there that the story unfolds.

Nona becomes a novice in the red class of the convent. The convent is training the novices to be bad ass magical fighting nuns. There's a range of classes that teach them things from blade training to spiritual magic in the form of paths.

I adored Nona as a character, i love her mysterious past and how she does everything she can to hide it from everyone around her. Nona lies several times about her past so its left to the reader to try and piece things together which i very much enjoyed. I loved how angry Nona was and how this fuelled the majority of her decisions.

A few other notable characters are: The abbess, shes such a sass queen and a bad ass female character. Shes logical and takes no shit, i love that. Clera, Clera becomes Nonas first friend at the convent and is the main reason that Nona starts to open up and let her many walls down. Ara, Ara is one of my favourite side characters she is brought into the convent as 'the chosen one' and is exceptionally skilled at path magic. Sister Apple, although shes not a very integral character i thought she was amazing, she was so shady and was known as 'the poisoner' as she has a knack for poisoning the new students.

Another thing i loved was the world building, it is so amazing and well done. You really feel like you are there as everything is described so well. Parts of this book are really slow burn and you feel as if you haven't a clue what is happening but if anything i think that really adds to its charm!

The magic system is so interesting too. There are 4 main 'tribes' that the magic came from, the gerant who are said to be the strongest, the hunska whose magic makes them really fast as they can slow time around them, the marjal who mainly use shadow magic and the quantal people who use path magic. Nona is believed to be from the hunska tribe as she is very quick in her fighting style and is able to anticipate the blows and block them.

Something i usually dont care for in books generally is 'the chosen one' trope (obviously HP is not included in this :P) but in this book i really enjoyed it. There are many characters that could be 'the chosen one' and you are constantly guessing who it could be. This was a solid 4 star read for me and im really keen to pick up the next books. (ive already requested them at my local library #keen)

#63 Daisy Jones & The Six

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I read Evelyn Hugo last year when it took the world by storm and i loved it, one of my favourite books on 2018 so naturally i was both excited and nervous for her new book Daisy Jones & The Six. I received it as a Mothers Day Present from my little cherub. I heard from my delightful friends on Discord that this was loosely based on Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac who i absolutely adore so it immediately made me very excited to pick this one up. 

The story is made up entirely of interviews and starts off with Daisy Jones as a young teenager, neglected by her rich parents that pay little to no attention to her. Daisy begins sneaking out and singing in clubs and bars, she soon becomes a regular on the club scene and becomes influenced by alcohol and drugs. Daisy writes her own music and dreams of performing her own songs but she struggles as she cant seem to find anyone to take her seriously as a song writer.

The other main story line is how The Six came to be. The Six started with brothers Billy and Graham Dunne who learned how to play the guitar as young kids and started a band as teenagers. Billy quickly settles down with Camila and works hard to be a family man but he too like Daisy becomes caught up in drugs and alcohol and slowly spirals.

When Daisy is signed to the same record company as The Six the record company suggest that Daisy features on one of The Six' song. The song quickly becomes the bands biggest hit and Daisy becomes the bands opening act when they go on tour. When one night Daisy gets into a fight with her manager he leaves the tour and takes her backing band with him. Daisy then becomes a fully fledged member of The Six.

The story is so intricate and as you are reading you really cannot believe that this is fiction and that none of the characters even exist! This book reminded me of one of my favourite films 'Almost Famous' which made me only love it more. In true TJR style the ending really packed a bunch and was gut wrenching in parts.

Although i loved Evelyn Hugo more i still think this was a great read in its own right.

5 stars