Grave Mercy Book Review

 

The writing and inner voice of main character Ismae are what kept me engaged. Ismae, is a living, breathing embodiment of the author’s creative imagination. She was meant to die in the womb, and yet she defied death and lived to become an allied instrument of death. She is young, naïve, insecure, and inexperienced, but somehow manages to survive abusive conditions due to the fate of an unwelcome birth. Ismae is a survivor adapting to changes in her journey as well as herself, and there lies the story's strength.

 

The love story was a bit corny for me. It took up more pages than I would have liked. Or at least her inner thoughts on loving Duval did. But again, that inner voice of hers (Ismae) was written with such pulsating curiosity and hope that I didn’t mind the amorous imaginings of a young woman. 

There could have been more physical confrontations, being that Ismae was trained in combat. I would have liked to have seen more decisiveness and aggressive action from Ismae. However, it is clear her loyalty to the convent limited her actions. The physical battles were too few and far in-between. I suppose it was really a female’s story with men and war as props. At some point it seemed poison, a female's weapon, would be the primary choice of weaponry to dispatch an enemy. 

All in All, I can say I enjoyed coming back to “Grave Mercy” again and again, picking up easily from wherever I had left off. 

I began this book while finishing another, “The Faithful Scribe.” Although the book I was reading was good, full of interesting historical facts about Pakistan, its memoir/non-fiction style did not excite and mesmerize like the gothic, fantasy, feminist, assassin novel that is “Grave Mercy.”

 

Robin LaFevers novel might be categorized as Young Adult, but very often showed itself to be written for older readers. I would recommend it to young readers for its balance and storytelling expertise. I believe a well composed novel helps with mental development and critical thinking patterns of its readers.

 

I personally liked the white witchcraft and politic intrigues surrounding the power struggle for Brittany in the novel. I wasn’t completely sold on Duval as the “knight in shing armor” type. But for whatever reason women in the story did find him manly handsome. His mother Madame Hivern, although well written into the story, along with his bastard brother Francois, could have and should have played more an evil role. As a reader I was attracted to her deceptive beauty, cold evilness and manipulative manner. Ismae could learn much from such a worldly woman, experienced in the ways of seducing men of power.

 

I give the book Grave Mercy an overall review rating of 3.5 of 5 stars. Its faults and shortcomings did not take away from an enjoyably light medieval story. It was a fun mystery-fantasy to follow.

The religious aspect of the story may also have been what attracted me to its pages. That and the brutalness of the times, especially upon women (witch-burning, inquisition).

 

Here are the first lines of chapter one which had me immediately wanting more:

I bear a deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch’s poison that my mother used to try to expel me from her wound. That I survived, according to the herbwitch, is no miracle but a sign I have been sired by the god of death himself.

Pg. 545 Ismae confronts Rev Mother (the Abbess) “I wish to serve in honor of his mercy rather than his wrath.” – It is in this line that Ismae courageously chooses her inward goodness over the outward political maneuverings of church and state.

Book based on actual historical events and characters.

Some creative character names throughout the book.

At The Convent

Ismae Rienne

Gullo the pig farmer

Sister Annith

Sybella

Sister Widona

Sister Eonette

Sister Vereda

Runnion, traitor to Brittany and Ismae’s first kill

The Privy Council

Viscount Maurice Crunard, chancellor of Brittany

Captain Dunois, captain of the Breton army

The Breton Court and Nobility

Gavriel Duval, a Breton noble

Benebic De Waroch, the Beast of Waroch and knight of the realm

Raoul De Lornay, a knight of the realm

Madame Antoinette Hivern, mistress of the late Duke Francis II

Francois Avaugour, a knight of the realm

Anne De Beaujeu, regent of France

Norbort Gisors, ambassador for the French regent

Federic, Duke of Nemours, one of Anne's suitors

 

Grave Mercy

By Robin LaFevers

Graphia Publishing (2012)

549 pages