The Devil You Know

Book of the Ancestor #1.5

by Mark Lawrence

A short story that serves more as an immediate continuation of Red Sister, picking up events from the end of book 1 and introducing a character who we meet in Grey Sister.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Magic, Fiction, Action, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

39 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 21, 2021

About the author

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Mark Lawrence is married with four children, one of whom is severely disabled. Before becoming a fulltime writer in 2015 day job was as a research scientist focused on various rather intractable problems in the field of artificial intelligence. He has held secret level clearance with both US and UK governments. At one point he was qualified to say 'this isn't rocket science ... oh wait, it actually is'.

Mark used to have a list of hobbies back when he did science by day. Now his time is really just divided between writing and caring for his disabled daughter. There are occasional forays into computer games too.

Reviews

[John Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Devil You Know" is #4 on my list of Top Ten Mark Lawrence Short Stories. Read my full listicle at Grimdark Magazine.

Some say we carry an angel on our right shoulder and a devil on our left, and that both whisper to us all the days of our life. The truth though is that we carry them not on our shoulders but within us, and they are legion. Our lives are not swayed by whispers. Our lives are the smoke that rises above the battleground of hearts where the armies of light and of darkness make war.

The Devil You Know is an outstanding short story that fills the gap between Red Sister and Grey Sister as part of The Book of the Ancestor trilogy. It picks up right at the end of Red Sister and describes the aftermath of the final battle scene between Nona and Raymel Tacsis.

I won't spoil anything about the plot here. Let me just say that The Devil You Know gives us our first introduction to a new character that appears at the beginning of Grey Sister.

This story is like manna from heaven for fans of Nona Grey who want more beyond The Book of the Ancestor trilogy itself. The Devil You Know deals with the themes of friendship and inner demons, building upon the same themes in both Red Sister and Grey Sister. It also has a connection to The Book of the Ice trilogy in its discussion of Zole and the Missing. (Again, I will avoid revealing any spoilers.)

I consider this to be a must-read for fans of Mark Lawrence and The Book of the Ancestor. Please plan to read it immediately following Red Sister, or to fill in the gaps after finishing the entire trilogy.

[Mark Lawrence]

Find this Nona short story along with 2 others (about Jalan and Snorri from The Red Queen's War).

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devil-You-Kn...

US: https://www.amazon.com/Devil-You-Know...

It carries on directly from the end of Red Sister, treat it like 4 extra chapters.



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[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great story, and I can't wait to read more!

[soph · Rating 5 out of 5]

do you know how much i love nona grey???

anyways i wanted to read the immediate aftermath of red sister for so long!!

[Bouh · Rating 4 out of 5]

La nouvelle est à lire après le 2ème chapitre du deuxième tome.

Elle est vraiment super intéressante et elle assouvit notre curiosité car elle se passe dans la continuité directe des derniers événements du tome 1.

Je regrette qu'elle n'ait pas directement été écrite à l'épilogue du tome 1 ou au début du tome 2... cela aurait fait beaucoup plus sens que de la sortir séparément comme cela...

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love the Book of the Ancestor short stories. Nona is incredible and I’m so happy we got more of her in this story. Also Keot and Nona’s first interactions!! I loved this

[Fiachra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet little novella between books one and two. There's an advantage to reading things like this in a chronological time as it helps build and define the character. One of my favourite things about this however is that I've finished the series, I know where Nona's story goes. This was a beautiful gem that I've now discovered and it's allowed me to access one of my favourite literary characters again. Back when she was coming into her own, without any one else influencing her, just Nona in her 'purest' self. The hug, the selflessness! I want to know her, I want to be her friend. Nona has always been a beautiful person and this little story has me itching to pull out Red Sister all over again.

I will lap up anything Mark has to offer and his prose will always leave me smirking. His wit is like her blades "sharp enough to make wind the bleed".

[WARSKUNK · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What a strange, terrible, and wonderful thing it is to be your friend, Nona Grey."

When Mark Lawrence announced that Tales of Abeth would be collected in a neat little paperback package, I saw the perfect excuse to return to Red Sister and immerse myself into Abeth again.


I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the trilogy (including countless hours spent listening to Helen Duff's incredible narration). Saying this, I could have just read the short stories one after the other and been fine, but I wanted to experience reading them all in order.

While The Devil You Know isn’t essential reading to follow the main trilogy, skipping it means missing out on a delicious extra layer of the story. It’s like adding chocolate topping to ice cream—not necessary, but it makes the experience that much sweeter.

Now, onto Grey Sister before I can finally read Bound...

[Mina Latifi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting continuation of Red Sister. Now I'm much more excited for book 2: Grey Sister.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when one of my favorite authors puts out an additional story about one of my favorite characters in his books.

Excellent Nona story!

[Shae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read the Book of the Ancestor short story, but was great to read on a reread of the whole series. Doesn't really give any new info, but shows Nona dealing with her new devil for the first time and has some interesting interactions.

[Yentl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tried to read the second in the series because I didn’t realise this one existed and almost stopped reading because I didn’t understand anything. This is so important for understanding the series, but is also only like 3 chapters long? And set seconds after the first one? So just don’t understand why the first one wasn’t just 3 chapters longer, or start the second book from straight after if you need this context? Did enjoy it, but the whole thing just felt so unnecessary and annoying!

[Evan Ye · Rating 3 out of 5]

more nona!

[Eirik · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I'm not sure what to say about this. Without thinking too much about it, it's a good short story, giving more insight into what's happening to Nona, while also expanding the world building a lot, and giving hints about what's going on.

On the other hand, was it actually necessary to have a separate publication for this? Even the author says that it's more like four additional chapters to the first book. I wasn't particularly happy with the ending of Red Sister, so to me it would've made more sense to use this, though I can see it would be tricky to pull off considering that this is basically a mini story that would've been tacked on an already resolved (more or less) main story.

At any rate, I did like the story and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Marilyn Peake · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Introduction to this short story, Mark Lawrence mentions that rather than being a short story in the traditional sense, The Devil You Know is more like four extra chapters of Red Sister, Book #1 in his Book of the Ancestor series.

As I loved Red Sister, these bonus chapters were a real treat. They begin after Nona has killed Raymel Tacsis. The devil Keot begins speaking to her.

This story allows us to see details of what happened to Nona and her friends after being betrayed by Clera and attacked by Raymel Tacsis and his soldiers. We also see details of what happened with Kettle being poisoned by a Noi-Guin assassin and Apple leaving to find and help her.

The Devil You Know explores Nona’s experience being infiltrated by demons, which is one of the most interesting aspects of Mark Lawrence’s world of Abeth and things that were left there by the Missing. While possessed by Keot, Nona takes part in a battle with the Durns, a ruthless group of invaders.

The Devil You Know is a wonderful addition to the Book of the Ancestor series.

[SHANNON YOUNG · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the immediate aftermath of Nona's fight against Raymel Tacsis. In the preface to the story, the author explains that this isn't a short story - but rather a continuation of Red Sister. If you go into this expecting a self-contained story, you'll be disappointed. But if you've just finished Red Sister and you want to know what happens next, you'll enjoy it.

[Neall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the Nona story so far because I haven't read the books the other stories refer to yet. I guess it was worth the three bucks for the Kindle version to be able to read it, but I think it really just should have been included in book 2. Otherwise, good, as expected.

[Tristan Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much wish I had read this short story between Red and Grey Sister, because The Devil You Know answered many questions I had when I started Grey Sister. I highly recommend people read this before starting Grey Sister.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

CAWPILE 6.57

[TheHomesteadReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little snipit. Keot has got his work cut out for him.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to give five stars to such a short story, but this was a nice collection of scenes between books 1 and 2 that definitely provided some helpful insights and details. I only wish I had read it at the correct time!

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good short with Nona and nice to get back into book of the Ancestor.

[Simon Gosselin · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are basically a couple of not so necessary chapters to add at the end of Red Sister. It’s a good branching between Red Sister and Grey Sister.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

[Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Peter Ravijts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with action.
Movie material.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok hang on. I got used to the idea of Nona being a little X-Men Wolverine with invisible claws… but now she’s also like Venom because of Keot? Huh.

[Reeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read to revisit Abeth

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story that takes place straight after the events of red sister. Great introduction to a new character but to be honest I don’t know why it just wasn’t added onto the end of red sister.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

No complaints…a cute little diddy