Courting Darkness

Author: Robin LaFevers
Genre: Teen, Historical Fiction
Series: #1 in the Courting Darkness Duology
Type: Hardcover
Pages: 512
Source: Local Public Library
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
First Published: February 5, 2019
Opening Lines: "As I stand on the battlements of the besieged city, looking out at the disarray before me, it is clear the god of Death has taken to the field. While this could be said of any battle -- death and war are old friends, after all -- today He rides a black horse, a pale-haired rider hunkered down in front of Him."

Book Description from GoodReads: Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning…

Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope is Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.

Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long-awaited orders from the convent.

As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?

As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?
My Rating: 3.5 stars

My Review: When I begin describing Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassins series to library patrons and friends, I usually have them hooked ... until I tell them that it's about a group of young assassin nuns. That's when they get an odd, confused look on their faces and things get a little awkward. 

*crickets chirping*  

BUT, stay with me here, once you get your head wrapped around the idea of young women who just happen to be trained to be Death's handmaidens, the His Fair Assassins trilogy is a remarkably entertaining read. 

Now LaFevers has come out with a new duology with Courting Darkness being the first book. It features dual POVs of Sybella (from Dark Triumph - my favourite book and character in the series) and a new character, Genevieve, a young nun who was sent to the French court years ago to await her orders from the convent. While the two POVs are well-balanced, it was Sybella's story that I was more taken with - that probably stems from wanting to see more of her with her beau, Beast. They are a swoon-worthy couple but sadly their romance is mostly on the backburner this time around.

While this is touted as a new duology it feels more like the fourth book in the His Fair Assassins series. For that reason, I strongly recommend that readers read the trilogy first. Without the background on Death's' Handmaidens - their training, purpose and background story lines - including all of the political intrigue, I think it would be extremely confusing and readers won't understand the underlying tensions and backgrounds of numerous characters (LaFevers thankfully provides a clear character list at the beginning).

This was an entertaining read and I loved being back in LaFevers' world, but this story dragged in a few spots and didn't feel like it had a tight enough plot or definitive goal for Sybella or Genevieve to work towards. And I was quite frustrated with how the book ended leaving us feeling like we're in the middle of the book with a plot point that I was hoping would have happened much earlier on.

Overall, this was a good read filled with political intrigue, a dash of history and two of my favourite characters. While this wasn't as strong of a read as I had hoped, I'm still eager to read the final book in this duology to see where things land for Sybella, Beast and Genevieve.

His Fair Assassins triology
Click on links for my reviews of these titles
Book 1: Grave Mercy
Book 2: Dark Triumph
Book 3: Mortal Heart