Book Review: Holy SIster by Mark Lawrence (Book of the Ancestors #3)

Holy Sister marks the conclusion to Mark Lawrence's Book of the Ancestors trilogy. On Goodreads this book has received dozens of positive reviews and many readers are voting Holy Sister as their favorite book of 2019. What are my thoughts about this book? Before I dive into my review, here is a synopsis for the story.

Synopsis:

Nona is reaching a crossroad in her life. She must become a full sister in the order of her choice. However war broke out before Nona and her friends can earn the nun's habit, and Sweet Mercy must now fulfil the duty to the emperor and join the fight.

Nona has the choice to use Shipheart and protect her friends, but she will discover soon that sometimes even great powers is not enough to avert the tragedies of war.

My thoughts on this book:

Legions of readers are loving this book for its excellent characterization and compelling story. Some are calling Holy Sister the best book written by Mark Lawrence. I, on the other hand, am of the opinion that while Holy Sister is good but I still prefer Mark Lawrence's earlier works.

Holy Sister is good, but it is not great.

Some readers may say such an opinion is blasphemy, but I have my reasons.

Firstly, while the characterization in the book is good but I felt the storytelling suffered from an uneven pace. Similarly to my criticism about the book's predecessor, Grey Sister, this book also paid too much attentions to the descriptions of the magic system. There was too much details to explain the workings of the magic system that at times it felt like I was reading a textbook.

Furthermore, the narratives in Holy Sister was jumping back and forth on the timeline. This "time jump" did not cause much confusions, but the transition was not seamless and it often bogged down the story's tempo. I was quite disappointed when on several occasions a build up to a climax was followed by a sudden jump to a different time and place in the next chapter.

It suffices to say I never felt the "unputdownable" sentiment while reading Holy Sister. Don't get me wrong. I like Nona and her friends and I also like the idea behind the story, but when the book ended I did not feel like I want to revisit it. My lukewarm response to Holy Sister (and the whole trilogy) is most likely due to the lack of humor in these books.

Long time readers of my blog would know, Red Queen's War trilogy is my favorite Mark Lawrence books, I liked it because those stories had this black comedy vibe to it. The humor resided in reading about Jalan's actions and inner thoughts while he lied and cheat because he was a professional coward. To me, Jalan felt like a realistic and relatable character. Book of the Ancestors trilogy, on the other hand, lacks this humor and realism. Nona's story is a good yarn, but I just didn't find it memorable.

I can understand why some readers are loving Holy Sister and the trilogy. The idea about warrior nuns is indeed unique and refreshing. But this time I just cannot heap praises on the emperor's new cloth.