Review: Grave Mercy - R.L. LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)

Author: R.L. LaFevers

Genre: Young Adult, Historical

Release Date: April 3rd 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages:549

Source: Bought

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

The beginning started with a bang, the middle fell through and I was falling asleep by the end. So what went wrong? 

Before you guys start shouting 'BUT THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS SO FAR or I LOVED THIS BOOK, HOW CAN YOU HATE IT?!? You're not the only one sad about me not liking this book. *I* wanted to like it, love it even. But probably that's why I didn't. All these high expectations and hype, just made me want it to develop into something much greater than what I experienced when I was reading it.

I don't like Ismae. Simple as that. I thought she was a cold, moody bitch most of the book. And when she wasn't, she was being annoying as hell. 

The love interest Duval wasn't much better. He's SO boring. Argh. I feel like the author is trying too hard to create a really strong, He's blatantly trying to be like Dimitri from VA, but ends up doing a Gabriel from Wither. And you guys know how much I  loathe him. 

If it wasn't from the side characters Beast and De Lornay, I wouldn't even end up finishing this. There's just something about them that's scary but interesting. Since the sequel will focus on Sybella (another assassin), I really am hoping that her love interest is De Lornay.  

I know I'm never much a fan of historicals (except for The Infernal Devices series) but I wanted to see if Grave Mercy would make me fall into the dark side. Obviously it didn't. The writing was obviously suited to that time period, which was too formal and long. Argh. It wasn't special though, historically accurate or not. 

The story just dragged on and on. God knows how many times I put this book down. Only to pick it up again and end up disappointed. Again. Anyway, I won't recommend this if you're looking for some humorous, engaging characters or a fast paced storyline. I would though recommend this if you're big on historicals and politics. That is all.