—Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers

Grave Mercy review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, Medieval fantasy, assassins, political intrigue TW child marriage, assault/abuse, attempted SA I first read this when I was 13 and haven't read it since, so it was a shock to go back and realize just how young Ismae is when the book opens. I do think LaFevers could've done to age her up a little (and Sybella in her book). Even 15 or 16 would be better (still bad, but better). Luckily, Ismae is only 13/14 for the first chapter or so, after which she's 17, though at times she reads older. I really like the concept of a convent for assassins. There are so many intriguing possibilities there and we get glimpses of the lessons Ismae and her peers get in fighting, poisoning, and seduction. While we spend only a brief time at the convent, I'm definitely intrigued by the goings-on there and wish the book explored that setting a bit more. The reasoning behind certain things in this book is a little confusing for me and I wish there was a more thought-out explanation. The convent trains assassins who are fiercely loyal to Brittany and their young duchess, which is fine and good, but then it's cloaked in this idea that Mortain wants them to be patriotic because keeping Brittany independent keeps him alive since the French would stamp out their religious practices. I can understand one position, protect the duchess and Brittany as a whole, or the other, serve Mortain, but the way they were combined is a little weird to me. I mean it does make sense, but the way it's been put together just doesn't quite fit. That being said, I loved seeing Ismae put her training and abilities to use. As a novitiate about to be ordained, Ismae is only just coming into a lot of her Mortain-gifted skills, such as the ability to read souls and see the marque of death. As a result, we get to learn a lot alongside Ismae as she goes through trial and error on her mission and discovers that some of her abilities are more complex than she, and the convent, initially thought. I also liked reading about Ismae's assassin skills and think she does a good job keeping it subtle while still managing to get the job done. Ismae herself is determined to do her job protecting the duchess and Brittany. She's a good assassin and is able to put her skills to multiple uses, from actually killing people to snooping to soothing a sick child. What perhaps stands out the most is her intense loyalty to Duchess Anne and to her sisters in arms. Despite being raised in an abusive household, then sent to a loving convent of assassins, Ismae has a gentle soul and wants to see justice done. Duvall is a mirror to Ismae, though not an assassin, and is equally, if not more so, dedicated to keeping Duchess Anne safe and Brittany independent. He comes off as pretty gruff at first, for good reason, and he's infinitely suspicious of Ismae when they first get paired together. As the book goes on, however, it's clear that his suspicion and gruffness are just the surface and underneath he has clear love for the young duchess and his other friends. Duval is a strategist and I enjoyed the scenes where he's laying out plans or trying to puzzle something out. The romantic pairing in this book is, obviously, Ismae and Duval. There is insta-lust going on there, but at least it takes them most of the book to get together, which is at least a few months. Ismae is skittish due to her past, busy trying to protect Anne, and has her duties to the convent, which does keep a lot of the romance at bay, but I do like the two of them together and think they work well. There are a lot of court politics going on in this book. Ismae spends the majority of it in Rennes with Anne and Duval, where there are schemes upon schemes. The French are hovering at the borders and Anne desperately needs to make a marriage match in order to secure troops. On top of that, the chancellors of the Privy Council have their own agendas, only some of which map onto what Anne wants/needs. There are a lot of layers to unravel here and schemes within schemes. I enjoyed reading about the politics and trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Overall, I enjoyed this read and loved reading about Ismae again. I think Ismae could've been aged up a bit without impacting the story, especially since she often reads as older than she is, but I still enjoyed the politicking.

These ya books all feature poison!

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Book thoughts: His Fair Assassin

4.5 ✰ - Grave Mercy

5 ✰ - Dark Triumph

the way i've delayed reading these for 10 YEARS. I read them in two days. and now i'm delaying reading the finale.

left side art from pintrest, but I can't find the artist. Let me know if anyone recognizes the signature!

right side art by keepsake20 on deviantart

this series was more mature, more in depth, and just overall deeper and better written than I thought it'd be. I wasn't the biggest fan of Ismae (didn't hate her, but didn't love her) but Sybella was such a fantastic character, and her romance with beast had me in a chokehold. the summary on the back of the book does this book a huge disservice, because the plot, world building, and characters slap. love how the author made this historical fiction mirror actual events that occurred in real life

I’m way behind the times, but honestly? I highly recommend Grave Mercy.

Title: Grave Mercy | Author: Robin LaFevers | Publisher: Clarion Books (2018)

Let Death's Assassins Thrive in Robin LaFevers's Grave Mercy

I read this many moons ago but there is something that’s calling me to reread the His Fair Assassin trilogy. Robin LaFevers’s Grave Mercy is a historical fiction young adult fantasy novel rife with political tensions. In a time when women had no autonomy, Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, a convent where…

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alecto the ninth predictions with this laminated and stapled to the top

WHERE IS LEX LUTHOR SO I CAN SLAP HIS BALD HEAD. WHERE IS HE. ALSO MERCY???? PLEASE.

ALSO FINALLY MY PENGUIN AND RIDDLER DESIGNS ALONG WITH MISS TUESDAY.

Superman (2023-) #7

Max Caulfield being called an "angel" as a result of using her ultimately apocalyptic time powers to save a life versus Rachel Amber being called an "angel" as a side effect of the pedestal she's on that can't prevent her from being murdered versus Daniel Diaz being called an "angel" as a tool of exploitation and abuse. is this anything.

ISMAE RIENNE

Grave Mercy, Robin Lafevers

What would Ma'al do if he met Lex Luthor tho? 👀

Billy Batson Gets Adopted AU, but the adopter he’s avidly avoiding is Lex Luthor.

When Lex first heard of Captain Marvel, he was… unenthused, to put it lightly. Another Kryptonian? It was bad enough when that second one, “Supergirl” had entered the superhero stage; Lex had few hopes for the appearance of a third. Superman even paid Fawcett a visit, and Lex’s grim worries were all but sealed. Except… he started hearing rumors. Different rumors, of the world’s “Mightiest Mortal”. Of a man, human and magic and power, who could stand up against Superman and maybe come out on top. A match. A defense. A man Lex most certainly wanted on his side.

Which turned out to be difficult, since Marvel was impossible to get ahold of. He was nowhere. Sure, he showed up to every disaster, every moment of peril and sign of distress, but he never stayed. He was there precisely long enough to get the job done, and not a second later. It was irritating. It was infuriating. It was giving Lex a migraine. Even Batman, you could occasionally catch at crime scenes or flag down on the rooftops of Gotham, not that Lex had ever tried—Gotham was a beast best avoided. But Marvel? Nothing. At least when he was battling his rogues gallery you could see him flying through the streets, but on his off time? It was like the man stopped existing. Lex Corp’s agents couldn’t find hide of hair of him. The man didn’t respond to public requests for contact, nor any of the more discreet methods Lex and employed. It was astounding. And Lex did not like astounding. He liked answers, and he liked aces in his pocket, and neither of those things would matter if he couldn’t get the Big Red Cheese to talk to him. So he sent Mercy to investigate. To either get Marvel on their side, or get the idiot to speak to them. Mercy marched into his office two weeks later with no contact point, no progress, and a video. a video of a man, a flash of lightning, and then a small, malnourished child.

“Ah,” Lex thought. “Ah.”

So. Captain Marvel was an orphaned, homeless ten year old with inexplicable powers and absolutely zero support system.

Lex was going to steal him.

Steal wasn’t quite the right word, since everything Lex was doing would be completely legal and above-board. Unorthodox, sure, but he had far more than enough money to make it happen in a way that even Big Blue couldn’t dispute. An application, some pressure and a few favors, and suddenly Lex Luthor was a registered foster parent. Now all he needed to do was find the child and ensure he ended up in his care

Billy doesn’t know what the hell is going on or why Lex Corp is suddenly flooding the streets of Fawcett, but he figures this is as good an excuse as any to punch a billionaire in the face

Que several thousand words of Kevin McAllister level evasion tactics, tomfuckery, stranger danger, weaponized baby face, (attempted) manipulation, a very confused and concerned League, telling Superman to fuck off for wildly different reasons, identity shenanigans, and the slow, begrudging mutual understanding and sort-of respect that Billy and Lex are furious is happening

(Luthor and Billy are locked in a battle of wills and guile while the League stands there like “is Luthor… trying to kidnap a child?? Marvel, are you doing anything about this?? We can help, this seems like a multiple hero situation—“ and Marvel is very nicely telling them to mind their own fucking business. They do not. Billy is mad at everyone except Cyborg, who let Billy know he was coming to Fawcett ahead of time)

Anyone who’s ever visited my blog knows I love Supercorp. I don’t think there’s a single objective metric where it’s not Lena’s most popular ship. I believe it’d crush this poll handily. However, I’m also a multishipper and these polls are fun for me to watch and track the results, so I’m curious to know: what’s your favorite non-Supercorp Lena Luthor ship?

I gotta say, as YA novels go, Grave Mercy is not my typical faire, at least not these days (I bought it like 6 years ago and then never read it) but it is quite amusing, and pretty well written and plotted.