A lot of time is spent setting the scene, familiarizing readers with the world and the people who dwell there, and allowing us to learn a bit about our heroines. My description of the book is purposely vague since the details of the assignment Sybella and Genevieve have been given aren’t revealed until about a third of the way through. Instead, she must always be on the lookout for the arrival of one of her fellow assassins, for only when her unknown partner arrives at court can their mission actually begin. In some ways, she’s living the life of a privileged young Frenchwoman, but she knows she can’t get too wrapped up in her false identity.

In fact, there are times she has trouble remembering her actual assignment. Genevieve has been an undercover agent in the French court for what feels like forever. To this end, she accompanies Anne of Brittany to the French court where unspeakable danger awaits them.

If she fails to successfully complete this most secret of assignments, her sisters will be killed, and Sybella will stop at nothing to keep that from happening. But her latest mission is personal since it involves her two younger sisters, the only members of her family with whom she has remained in contact. She’s quite good at her job, and has undertaken several extremely dangerous missions over the past few years. Mortain to assassinate those the saint has earmarked as in need of killing. Sybella is one of the darkest daughters of death, trained at the convent of St. Having said that, this review will contain some spoilers, especially for Dark Triumph which is the first book to feature Sybella. It’s certainly possible to read and enjoy Courting Darkness without having read the original three books, since the author does a great job bringing new readers up to speed, but I think you’ll have a better understanding of the world and its characters if you start back at the beginning with Grave Mercy. It’s a spin-off of her wildly popular His Fair Assassins series, and it features Sybella, whom readers of the previous series will recognize. Courting Darkness is the first book in a new duology from author Robin LaFevers.

Courting darkness