Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Pages: 549
Released: April 2012
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Escaping from the brutality of an arranged marriage, seventeen-year-old Ismae finds sanctuary at 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 be willing to take the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany, where she must pose as mistress to the darkly mysterious Gavriel Duval, who has fallen under a cloud of suspicion. Once there, she finds herself woefully unprepared- not only for the deadly games of love and intrigue, 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?

My Thoughts: Ismae has lived a pretty tough life ever since she was born. She is helped and taken to the convent of St. Mortain who happens to be the god of death. There she is given the opportunity at having a better life as long as she does what the convent says. After finishing some of her assignments, she is given one that she isn't too happy about and where she will start to question what she has been told and also find that not all men are alike.

We start off when Ismae is younger and how her father hasn't been the best person to her and is also forced into a marriage that turns out to be horrible. When she arrives at the convent she is given the opportunity for a better life and takes it. After three years she has been trained in different ways to go through with what her convent is asking of her which killing people who are a threat to her country. Once she gets to the court of Brittany she starts to see things differently and starts to realize that she may have taken too easily to the orders of the convent. Her change in thoughts and feelings throughout the story is something I really loved about her.

The majority of the book is Ismae trying to find who are the ones they can trust and who is trying to gain something for themselves who are also a threat to Brittany. There's a lot mystery and I loved finding along with Ismae who were the traitors and who were not. Duval was another character that I really loved! At first he seems cold and distant but as the story progresses we see different sides of him. Everything he does is for the safety Anne who is the Duchess even if others are trying to go against him.

This book honestly had everything that I wanted for in a book. I loved seeing how Ismae changed throughout the story and seeing her interact with others who she might not have. And we can't forget the fact that she was trained to be an assassin so she knows how to use various weapons. Even though it was a long book I went through it pretty fast so don't think too much about how long it is!