This was a great YA novel. I make the specification of YA because, while I have read some YA genre books that are just awesome compared to all books, this one was more just awesome compared to other YA books. I enjoyed the story a lot. The base in a little bit of history and a little bit of myth, but not so much that you feel it's taken too far past reality, really appealed to me. The phrase "death's handmaiden" is one of my new favorites, actually. But the setup, the idea of the convent, the eventual disillusionment that humans can infallibly speak for the gods and the black/white view of vengeance - all that was incredibly well developed. I enjoyed the romance piece (a staple for all good similar YA novels), though I'll be honest, it was a bit too obvious and not as deeply developed as Ismae's "coming of age." Plus, Duval is one of those characters that you can't help but recognize is too good to be true, too honorable to be real. But in considering that learning to share her heart with a god and a man is part of that, I acknowledge the growth there as well. Also, as a side tidbit, I enjoyed that Ismae's "love," if you will, was an antidote to Duval's poison. I see what you did there. I was also a little bothered by the training to kill/killing pieces - it is clear that the author had the least amount of experience here - 3 years is really not enough time to make anyone a competent anything, much less an assassin, especially (as with these women) they are mostly starting with no experience. They had a lot of cool stuff to use, like medieval James Bond tools, and of course the element of surprise as women were likely unexpected as killers in this era, but really it just wasn't completely believable. A women with a couple years' experience going after a man trained since birth as a knight/fighter - not likely to be a successful long term strategy. A bit of suspension of disbelief is required to get through this detail and more on through the rest of the story. The feminist in me both really liked and hated this view on women's strength - giving them a chance to fight back and defend themselves is wonderful, but the need to pose as whores or use womanly wiles to do so, as well as hardening their hearts to ALL men, is a bit short-sighted and demeaning. I respect what the author was going for though. All in all, a great start to a trilogy that kept me up late wanting to see what happens next and I am excited for the nest one.