My Rating: 3.5 hearts
Thoughts
on the Novel: When I first heard about Angry Robot’s latest imprint,
Strange Chemistry, and its upcoming releases, I was most excited about
Cassandra Rose Clarke’s The Assassin’s Curse because the synopsis promised
pirates, assassins, curses and magic. It’s not surprising then that my
expectations for this fantasy novel were high … perhaps too high.
Although I didn’t really fall in
love with any of the characters, I did like the secondary character of Marjani.
I also liked the main character, Ananna, because I found her to be spunky and
very unladylike. She lies, steals and curses, and is clearly capable of surviving by herself. It was much harder
to appreciate Naji as a romantic lead because I felt that he was quite useless
as an assassin. After all, not only does he fail to kill Ananna, but he also
manages to get himself bound to her through a curse! Furthermore, he refuses to
tell Ananna anything important. I couldn’t understand why Ananna would find
Naji appealing – he didn’t seem to find her quite so attractive – nor did I
feel like there was much chemistry between the two.
Another thing that bothered me was
the lack of details about certain parts within the plot. For example, I still feel
like I don’t know anything about the Order or the Mists. Readers also don’t
learn much about Naji’s background – or even how old he is.
In spite of its flaws and the lack
of a climax, I did enjoy The Assassin’s Curse while I was reading it because the
pacing was relatively fast and didn’t give me time to dwell on the book’s
faults.
The Assassin’s Curse was released by
Strange Chemistry on October 2, 2012.
Comments
About the Cover: The desert setting of the novel evokes a Middle Eastern feel, which is why love the Middle Eastern-inspired artwork and font.
In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Strange Chemistry) for free.
