Happy Booker

Assassin nuns, death's handmaidens, and a historical setting sounds like it would be a complete win for me. Unfortunately, I ended up feeling a bit "meh" about it. I mean, Ismae, the MC, is definitely one bad-ass heroine who is quick to stick a knife in someone (or crossbow bolt, or poison, or anything else really). But the political intrigue in this story was tedious and I found myself bored a few times and contemplating moving on to a different book. Ultimately I liked Grave Mercy, it held my interest enough to finish it and while the background characters were a bit thin and the plot tedious, I definitely enjoyed the main character and the slow building romance.