The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Summer 2019 Group Read Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

I thought this book was a solid OK. I loved the premise... serving the god of death and becoming a bada** assassin. The book turned a little more politics than I enjoy. I also wasn't completely sold on the love plot. The character development didn't quite do it for me. But all in all, it was interesting enough to give book two a whirl.

I liked it more than I expected from the premise. I was a little concerned it would turn into instalove and concentrate on action without thinking about why it's happening so I actually appreciated the politics in this. I also liked that it started to look at the different aspects of death rather than just thinking of the god of death being a god of punishment and vengeance. I'll probably give the second book a read (so long as my library has it)

After finishing this book, I was interested to read more about Brittany's history and particularly about the real Duchess Anne, who seems to have been immersed in just as much political intrigue as her fictional counterpart. I'm curious about whether the rest of the series stays true to the actual events of her reign (setting aside the impact a league of supernatural assassins likely would have had).

Jackie wrote: "I thought this book was a solid OK. I loved the premise... serving the god of death and becoming a bada** assassin. The book turned a little more politics than I enjoy. I also wasn't completely sol..."

I felt the same way on most parts. I wasn’t sold on the plot at first but then got sucked in. I was ok with the political development. The character development is where I struggled. It seemed like they over developed some characters while not developing other characters enough....

Why did the Abbey align themselves and trust the Chancellor over the duchess’s own brother? Why even bother with characters like Sybal and the duhess’s little sister? Both could have been removed with little to no effect on the story. Ending sounds like Sybal is going to play an important role in the next book, I was just waiting around for her to do something in this book.

I've started listening to the audiobook. It will take me a while to get through it as its 14 hours long. I'm not sure what genre to classify this as - fantasy, or historical fiction - as it has elements of both.

I like Ismae - she is strong and resilient, but I'm not sure about the whole (view spoiler)[convent of assassins (hide spoiler)] thing. There is something fishy about it all.

Casey wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I thought this book was a solid OK. I loved the premise... serving the god of death and becoming a bada** assassin. The book turned a little more politics than I enjoy. I also wasn't..."

Sybella is Book 2 and then Annith is Book 3; then Sybil’s is in the spin-off that just came out

Dee wrote: "Casey wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I thought this book was a solid OK. I loved the premise... serving the god of death and becoming a bada** assassin. The book turned a little more politics than I enjoy...."

Good to know. Hadn’t heard of the series before picking this up. Probably going to add the remaining books to my to-read list.

Casey wrote: "Dee wrote: "Casey wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I thought this book was a solid OK. I loved the premise... serving the god of death and becoming a bada** assassin. The book turned a little more politics t..."

i really enjoyed the series when it came out a couple years ago - i'm typically not a huge re-reader, but i'm tempted to re-read for the challenge

My heart sank when the themes were chosen for this season. None of them fit with what i normally read and one of the chosen books I had already read. I found this one on audio and decided to give it a go.

To be fair I didn't dislike it - the audio was well narrated and easy to listen to. The narrative was pacy and I enjoyed the characterisation of Ismae and Anneth in particular. The setting was well described. The ending has given the author scope to change the way she progresses with the series.

However it didn't make me feel that I wanted to read more of the series, it is still not a genre i would choose. I hope next seasons books area bit cheerier

I've finished and I've enjoyed it overall.

It's definitely more historical fiction with all the political machinations surrounding Anne of Brittany. I'm much more of an Anglophile so while I know quite a bit about this time period in English history, the focus on Brittany and France was new to me and I ended up learning a great deal (thank you Wikipedia).

The story itself was well paced, although I do think it could have been ~150 pages shorter, and the elements of magical realism were well integrated.

Not sure that I will continue with the series as neither Sybilla nor Anneth really appeal to me as heroines.

I picked this one for the group reads because I found it available on Open Library. I came into this not really knowing what to expect as I wasn't familiar with the series beforehand. It was a decent read, though. I liked the magical aspect set against a historical background. The characters had enough backstory to make me interested in them. I liked it enough to probably read the next in the series to see where it goes.

I gave the book a solid 3 stars on Goodreads. To be honest, I did find it somewhat pedestrian. I am used to read fantasy books that are a lot more complex than this. I was able to work out the plot very early on, which did not help. I also found the characters under developed and predictable in the main. Still, it was well written and held my attention throughout. I am not sure if I will continue with the rest of the series, but as I am a completist, I might.

I did not really care for this book. Honestly, I don't think it fit the "Medieval" category - it was a fantasy, so in my mind that disqualifies it as a historical fiction.

I predominantly read fantasy and thought this was a pretty poor version of it - neither decent as a fantasy nor as a historical novel, so not sure of its target.

I think my biggest gripe with this book was the politics and the world building. Why exactly was the Convent so closely aligned with the Duchess and her aims? Explain the marques more. If the marques were to denote treachery, why would THE most treacherous person not have one?

Definitely won't be reading further in this series.

20.1 - Mr. Bond I Expect You to Read

Option 2: Recurring Villain
Traitor Born - The main character's mother is the recurring villain in the trilogy.

Points this post: 20
Total Points: 20
Tasks Completed 2

20.5 - Bigger is Better
Option 2: ICONS - Read a book with author initials in MARSHA P JOHNSON

A Conspiracy of Faith Jussi Adler-Olsen
Big Book Ticket - 504 pages

Points this post: 20
Total Points: 60
Tasks Completed: 3
Big Book Tickets: 2

bridgit wrong thread - this isn't a task completion thread

It was an okay read, I am usually a fan of medieval fiction however this was quite a drag and didn't really push me to continue reading or consider the rest of the series. It was a fun one off that I could enjoy in bits and pieces but still nothing crazy. It was something I could go eh it was fine but I wouldn't have pulled it off the shelves myself.

I actually really liked this book. I was not looking forward to reading any of the selections for this challenge but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.I have added the rest of the series to my to-read list.

The concept of serving the god of death and carrying out his wishes was a twist on the god-servant relationship. Ismae as a lead character was very interesting and a strong female lead. I always have a hard time getting my head around the fact that women of this era were married off at 13 or 14.

Amy FL

I found parts of it very predictable, and as others have mentioned, some of the characters weren't well developed or utilized. That being said, I'm intrigued enough to read the next book in the series.

I've had this book on my TBR for quite a while and was happy to finally find a reason to read it. I was not disappointed at all as I greatly enjoyed the story.

Political intrigue is not my favorite plot but it wasn't so deep and convoluted a story that it was impossible to follow and figure out. I liked Ismae and Gavriel and thought they make a terrific couple. I'm not a fan of insta-love so I was happy that it didn't feature in this story. I much rather see the hero and heroine develop a relationship and have to struggle to make things work as in real life. I greatly enjoyed their dialogue and maneuverings to keep their secrets secret.

I think the story had just enough political intrigue to keep the readers interest while not overwhelming those of us who do not enjoy this type of plot point. Overall, I felt the story was well balanced between political intrigue, romance, war and even religion (well from death's perspective anyway).

I look forward to see where Ms LaFevers takes this series though I understand Sybella and Anneth will each have their own book. So I hope Ismae makes appearances in both.

This is a book that I've had on my kindle for several years, so I was glad to finally have a reason to pick it up and get it read.

I thought it was okay. I expected more fantasy elements and was actually surprised it was medieval historical fiction. That's not my favorite time period, and I'm not crazy about court intrigue. I think if I had a better idea of what it was about, I might have enjoyed it more. The beginning of it just did not seem to match with the rest of the book.

I did like the characters, especially Ismae (a teenage assassin who actually assassinated people! what a thought! - looking at you, Throne of Glass), but I don't plan to continue on with the series. If this book sticks with me, I may change my mind about that.

I didn't really expect much out of this book, but I ended up really loving it overall. Nun assassins in medieval Brittany, defending Anne of Brittany? You'd think it would be ridiculous but it actually works really well without sacrificing much historical accuracy.

I liked that the supernatural elements of the story were understated and it felt very medieval historical fiction with a bit of fantasy, rather than overwhelming the reader with magic. The end was a little underwhelming for me, but otherwise it's a really compelling book and I plan to continue the series.

I am a fan of both fantasy and historical fiction so this book was perfect for me. I don't know much about the history of Brittany so I found it very interesting. At times, I thought Ismae was a little immature but I had to keep reminding myself that she was only a teenager. And the descriptions of Anne made that hard to keep in mind as well. I had not heard of this series before but will continue reading the rest of the series.

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this as much as I did. I was able to read it fairly quickly. I did enjoy the politics involved in the story. I will most likely read the next book.