Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
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This is written by one of my favorite authors whose existence I consider a hidden treasure - he's not really well known, but damn he should be.
Red Sister is the first installment of the Book of the Ancestor series, currently awaiting for its conclusion - the author tends to be pretty productive, so I'd expect the third one to come out some time in 2019.
This is how it starts:
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."
The book is so varied, mixing together gritty fantasy and echoes of Harry Potter along with some absolutely fucking badass women. Some old, some very young (the protagonist isn't even ten years old), they all placed in the same dying world where corrupt men and hundreds of minor kingdoms have been struggling to survive in the aftermath of a massive cataclysmic event that left most of the planet uninhabitable.
The story follows one girl's story, and without spoiling it for anyone, it's really cool. Its magic system is organically introduced to the characters and the reader without being in our face, and both personal and larger mysteries are revealed one by one, sometimes without fanfare which forced me to re-read pages once they became relevant later on to make sure I got that right.
Highly recommended.
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Just in case you're like, hey, Mark Lawrence, where do I know that name? He wrote the Prince of Thorns series.
maximum craveability
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@theonceler And the Red Queen's War, its side-quel? With events running parallel to the Prince of Thorn's events, but with a different focus and characters. Equally amazing, and the lead character was so much fun.
