Mark Lawrence, Grey Sister

Two mornings ago, I woke up to find a repellent news story on my Twitter feed, concerning a New Jersey judge’s argument that a 16-year-old boy accused of rape should be tried as a juvenile rather than as an adult. The basic stance that kids of 16 belong in juvenile court is understandable, but here was his reasoning: the boy comes from a “good family,” gets good grades, and is a Eagle Scout, and besides, to qualify as “rape,” at least two men and a firearm have to be involved. (Date rape, I guess, doesn’t exist.) It got even worse: the judge declared that before pressing charges, the boy’s victim should have considered what effect it might have on the young man’s future.

This is Brock Turner 2.0, proof that 1) judges have learned nothing from that notorious case, 2) for some men, and even some women, in positions of power, girls’ and women’s lives will always matter less than boys’ and men’s.

In times like these when just being a woman can be downright depressing, Nona Grey, avenger of friends and executioner of affluenzic rapist punks, is the fictional hero we need and deserve. At the heart of Mark Lawrence’s often violent and brutal Book of the Ancestor series, of which Grey Sister is the second book, lies the ethos that every person has value, regardless of wealth or bloodline. It’s a poke in the eye to the concept of privilege.

When we first meet Nona at the beginning of the previous book, Red Sister, she’s about to be hanged for attacking Raymel Tacsis, the heir to nobility who raped and nearly murdered her friend Saida. (Saida, regrettably, doesn’t survive.) She’s saved at the last minute by Abbess Glass of the Convent of Sweet Mercy, who believes (wrongly) that she’s a child of prophecy, and so begins her journey toward the arcane powers the Sisters can wield, solid friendship and ties of loyalty, and successful revenge. Nona — Spoiler Alert — does kill Raymel in the end, but vengeance comes at a price: because she enjoyed ending the slimebag’s life a tiny bit too much, the demon he harbored, Keot, enters Nona just as the young man breathes his last. As a voice in her head, Keot plays a central role in Grey Sister, constantly urging her to give in to her darkest impulses.

These books are not popcorn reads; no one in their right mind would shelve them or describe them as YA even though Nona is a teenager when we meet her. Lawrence isn’t afraid to put Nona through hell, particularly in the last two thirds of Book 2, as Raymel’s bitter and toxically privileged father plots revenge of his own, not only against Nona but against her protector, Abbess Glass. Nona is imprisoned in a dungeon, and her repeated failed attempts to escape can be frustrating. But we’ve seen Nona is willing to die as well as kill for those she deems her friends, and now we see how they have her back in return. One of the nuns, Sister Kettle, along with a fellow novice, Zole (Nona’s antagonist in the previous book), sets out on a hazardous journey to rescue her. Friendship prevails, and Nona, resisting her demon, manages to maintain the moral high ground in her battle against privilege. Unlike her enemies, she is capable of kindness and empathy, and it’s this that saves her from the dark, dangerous voice in her head.

Nona and her friends aren’t in the clear at the book’s end; we still have a third volume, Holy Sister, remaining. Yet all the same, seeing them take their stand and fight for each other against those who would dismiss them as worthless, valueless, and unimportant is gratifying. If you’re looking for high-octane girl power and female heroes who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, this is your series.