A 16,000 word short story that sits between Grey Sister and Holy Sister in the Book of the Ancestor trilogy.

The story focuses on an incident involving Nona, Ara, and Regol with support from Kettle, Ruli, and Jula.

Well, it feels a little weird reviewing a short story! But I’m not going to pass up the chance to review anything Mark Lawrence writes, particularly a story from Book of the Ancestor, which is quite likely my favorite fantasy series!

I all but gave up digital reading quite a few years back, but since there was no print option available for this, I read it on my phone…as you do.

Bound is a pretty contained story set in this world…if you’re a fan of Book of the Ancestor, I can’t think of a single reason you wouldn’t want to read this story, set between the events of Grey Sister and the upcoming Holy Sister. But I imagine you could skip it & read Holy Sister with no trouble. But don’t skip it.

Don’t.

This is almost like a murder mystery in a lot of ways. Although this being a Book of the Ancestor story, it’s a murder mystery with highly-skilled badass ninja assassin nuns!!! The story centers around Nona & Ara. There’s been a series of high-profile poisonings, and the Convent of Sweet Mercy has been tasked with finding the killer. It’s a covert kind of deal. Ara is selected to rejoin high society for an evening, and attend a grand ball to find the poisoner and…some seriously crazy shit goes down.

Nona is there, but…not there, as the story further explores the possibilities of two characters being thread-bound.

I’m not sure what else I can say! There’s some great moments of humor in this story, especially in the early going. It’s Mark Lawrence, so of course it’s just beautifully written, and if you love these characters & these books as much as I do, you’ll want to check this out!

Oh, and if you’ve read any other reviews of this, you’ve maybe heard there’s a kissing scene. And goddamn…it is an absolutely gorgeous moment in this series!