Red Sister

Ten Reasons Why Red Sister is My Favorite Mark Lawrence Book Yet

1. Unlike his Broken Empire and Red Queen's War trilogies, this series is set in a world that feels uniquely original and distinctive from our own. The sun is dying, and its left the world entirely covered in ice, except for a narrow band of livable land around the equator.

2. For the first time, I was able to see Lawrence try his hand at a detailed magic system with clear rules and costs. Which makes sense, considering this is a “magic school” series. For those of you that prefer your magic mysterious, worry not: there's enough left unknown to keep things from ever becoming predictable.

3. Speaking of magic schools, Red Sister sidesteps many of the traditional pitfalls of magic schools, avoiding info-dumps by teaching us new aspects of magic through thwarted assassinations, political scheming, and bloody fights between rival students.

4. As always, the prose is beautiful. If you thought the opening lines were awesome (and they are!), the rest of the book will absolutely not disappoint.

5. Red Sister has all of Lawrence's characteristic flair for darkness, but this time he drops the “grim.”

6. Yes, there's a chosen one. No, it's not the main character.

7. There's a prophecy. Some people believe it, some don't. Everyone tries to twist it to their own advantage.

8. There's a deep cast of characters, with even the tertiary characters feeling fleshed-out and alive. I cared more for the lead characters in Red Sister than I have in past Lawrence series, and I hated the villains with a passion I normally reserved for Robin Hobb's antagonists. Plus, Lawrence lays to rest the question of whether he can right compelling women. Spoiler alert: he can!

9. Going against the tried-and-true adventure nature of its predecessors, Red Sister is almost entirely set in one location. This never gets boring.

10. Red Sister feels like something new and special, even by the high standards Mark Lawrence established in his previous books. It strikes an ideal balance between light and dark, making this a book that will appeal to many readers who thought Lawrence's other books too bleak.