Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, Book 1)

By: Mark Lawrence

Narrated by: Helen Duff

It's not until you're broken that you find your sharpest edge.

"I was born for killing – the gods made me to ruin."

At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers. In a few the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices’ skills to deadly effect: it takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist.

But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder: guilty of worse.

Critic reviews

‘An excellent writer.’ George R.R. Martin

'If you like fresh, take-no-prisoners fantasy, this is for you'
No.1 New York Times bestselling author Rick Riordan

‘Dark, passionate, tense, with a female hero anyone could relate to–I was utterly fascinated! This is no pretty, flowery tale, but one of vastly different people struggling to survive when a hostile government comes to power’ – No.1 New York Times bestselling author Tamora Pierce

‘This is a book very distinct from everything that came before; what it has in common though is a narrative that pulls no punches, and characters that are beautifully, brokenly, repellently, cleverly human’ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews

‘I had never thought it was possible to find a greater character than the Emperor Jorg Ancrath. I had never even slightly considered that there might be a fantasy world out there toppling that of Τhe Final Empire, and most definitely, I had never thought that i could love a book more than The Night Angel. But here we are’ BookNest

‘Any other author is going to have to smack the ball way, way out of the park to top this read’ Parmenion Books

Interesting world and great action

Very nice story. The kind with which you sometimes stay extra time in your car to finish a chapter.
The world is interesting. The characters are flawed superhumans (a great combination). The action is wonderful with excellent "bullet-time" descriptions.
My only issue is with some the main character's decisions, which kind of serve the narrative in a forced way.
The narration is lovely and rich. well acted. But I sometimes had trouble making out the words. And I felt too many of the characters got a "special" accent.

You'll never want this story to end

This is a book that, once you start it, grips you with iron hands. My only criticism is the narrator. She has terrible articulation. She merges words and is hard to understand some phrases.

Enjoyable !!

After a few titles with I could not listen to the voice... here we've got a good narrator! not too much haffs and puffs. a good combination of a story plus a story teller :) just bought the next book.

Listen at 1.25 X speed

I had a hard time with the speed and voice of this narration. Putting it on 1.25 speed saved it for me, and after half a book I got used to it.

The story is brilliant!

Amazing!

I love it, the narrator was fantastic and the story intense. I am so glad that the main character, a small girl, was allowed and even encouraged to be angry.