Synopsis

Destined to destroy empires, Mia Corvere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.

Six years later, the child raised in shadows takes her first steps towards keeping the promise she made on the day she lost everything.

But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, so if she is to have her revenge, Mia must become a weapon without equal. She must prove herself against the deadliest of friends and enemies, and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the heart of a murder cult.

The Red Church is no ordinary school, but Mia is no ordinary student.
The shadows love her.
And they drink her fear.

My thoughts

This epic story does take some getting into, as it is the first in a new series, Jay Kristoff has the unenviable job of building a new world, creating new characters and keepi9ng us interested in everything that is going on at the same time. The description of his locations are fantastic and the main character of Mia Corvere is both likeable and unlikeable at the same time.

Kristoff uses footnotes at the bottom of the page to expend on certain elements of the story and this does work quite well, with funny little comments and asides added to the narration, however I did find that when I was engrossed in the story I would miss the asterix that advises there is a note at the bottom and it would only be when I reached the bottom of the page that I realised that they were there and I would have to then scan the page again to find out what the note actually referred to. However, once you know they are there it is a clever way of adding to the story.

I did enjoy the way the font changed depending on whether or not we were learning about Mia’s past (in italics) or her present (in normal font), this kept a clear distinction between the two parts of the story.

There are lots of twists and turns in this story, and some shocks as well, the pace in the second half of the book is excellent and I found that my heart was in my mouth as Mia and the and the story hurtles towards it’s climax, the ending was amazing and I cannot wait for the next in the series. I only hope that Kristoff does not take to long to get this to us

I gave this 4 out of 5*