NONA GREY RAISES her head and regards her foe through midnight eyes. Perhaps it is just the reflection of the torchlight but somewhere in their darkness a red flame seems to burn. “I am my own cage.” She lifts her sword. “And I have opened the door.”

Grey Sister takes the fantasy world¹ with a magical school full of battle nuns that we started with in Red Sister and turns things up a notch. Nona isn’t hiding any more just how much she can do, which is causing just about as many problems as it solves. And halfway through the books, things really escalate once again, with politics and problems outside of the convent itself coming to bear.

Overall, it’s a solid sequel and I look forward to finishing the trilogy. I love seeing how Nona and co grow as characters and really turns up the worldbuilding a few more levels. We have demons (that seem to be twisted side effects from the technology that brought people to this world, although exactly how is unclear), more shadow magic, a few more powers and players in the world, and the feeling that things really are about to fall apart more as time goes on.

“Who do you pray to on the ice then?”

Zole shrugged. “Any god who answers.”

As a random side note, there are a few bits of entirely too on the nose commentary that I found interesting:

“It is surprising,” said Zole behind them. “That surrounded by unbelievers on all sides, and even among your own peasantry, so much effort is spent on hunting down and torturing those who agree with your faith almost entirely.”

Onward!