Red Sister
core novel 2017 Book of the Ancestor / Book of the Ice
Record
| First published | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.16 (64,552 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781101988879 |
Synopsis
Red Sister, the first novel in the Book of the Ancestor trilogy, is set on the dying planet Abeth, where a failing artificial moon keeps only a narrow habitable strip, called the Corridor, warm enough to sustain life. The story follows Nona Grey, a peasant girl rescued from execution by Abbess Glass of Sweet Mercy Convent after Glass recognizes signs of extraordinary, hidden abilities in her. Taken in as a novice, Nona begins the convent's demanding training in combat, poison and magic alongside other girls being shaped into warriors, assassins or spies for the wider world. Her arrival draws her into a larger conflict between rival kingdoms and factions competing over stolen magical artifacts called shiphearts, forces whose reach extends well beyond the convent's walls and threatens to catch Nona up in schemes far bigger than her own survival.
Where it sits
- Universe: Book of the Ancestor / Book of the Ice
- Series: Book of the Ancestor core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Mark Lawrence
Notes
- From the series record (Book of the Ancestor): A completed trilogy set on Abeth, a different world from Lawrence's Broken Empire -- explicitly named as a separate continuity at Broken Empire's own admission, confirmed here rather than assumed. Red Sister was a 2018 David Gemmell Legend Award finalist for Best Fantasy Novel, independently corroborated via both Wikipedia and sfadb.com; no individual award record was found for Grey Sister or Holy Sister in either source.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Book of the Ancestor: position 1 of 3: next Grey Sister (2018)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Book of the Ancestor trilogy
- sfadb: Mark Lawrence Awards
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sister
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