fatimareadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
How to rate this book is kind of a blurry affair for me because on one hand, it was pretty enjoyable, but on the other hand, so many things pissed me off. For a book about rival assassin groups involved in a blood feud, this was kind of underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, there was some ass-kicking going on but the first half and middle of the book were just very… sluggish. The second half did have some slight improvement, though not by much.
Can we start off by saying how much I usually love assassin books? Bonus points if it’s in the Fantasy genre. So when I got this book you could definitely see why I was over the moon. I, however, was let down by the very poor assassining (assassinating?) going on. From the very first few pages we see our protagonist get poisoned by… wait for it… her mom. Here, we have everyone singing her praises and amaaazing “Clipper” skills then she goes and makes rookie mistakes all throughout the book. Forgets her weapons, gets poisoned by her mom, repeatedly gets caught by whoever she’s sneaking up on or trying to avoid (Captain LeFevre), and constantly gets injured and blames her less-than-exceptional fighting skills on these injuries. Girl, what type of assassin are you?!
The characters in this book really lacked complexity, especially the “bad guys”. They’re just handed to us on a silver platter like ‘Here, these people are evil; you have to hate them… They’re BAD.” The Da Vias, especially Estella and Val, were portrayed as the bad guys with no clues or justification given as to what the reasons behind their actions might be. The author did try with Estella with the whole pregnancy thing, but it just served to make it seem more lacking and hastily thrown together, in my opinion.
Also, as I mentioned a few paragraphs back, the pacing of the story seemed off. Three-fourths of this book consisted of pointless journeys and excursions that led to nowhere. To get from one place to another probably takes fifty pages of mind-numbing self-rumination from the protagonist. It was so goddamn boring – like, can we please just get back to the relevant plot material?! And speaking of plot, when we actually do get a fight, there always has to be some type of convenient rescue to aid our humble main characters -- like a mysterious smoke bomb or, say, How opportune.
However, not everything about this book was a plodding disappointment; there were redeemable aspects! For example, the romance between Lea and Alessio (I’m not calling him Les because ‘Lea and Les’? Hell nah.) It was obvious Alessio fell for Lea really early on, although she remained oblivious to it for the most part of the book. It still made my heart stutter. Alessio is an adorable mess – he reminded me of a puppy. He’s definitely one of my favorite characters in this book!
In a Fantasy book, the world building is usually what makes it or breaks it. In this case, the world building is what glued the whole damn story together. The setting was rich and imaginative and along with the writing, helped to immerse the reader into the story. Such unique world building and setting surely deserves an award!
All in all, this was an enjoyable book… just not that hooking. It was kind of underwhelming and screamed ‘debut author’, but it still had potential. I’ve heard that there will be a sequel, though I don’t know what it could possibly be about since this book already wrapped itself up. A companion novel about another character maybe? I’m pretty picky about fantasy, so if all the above appeals to you then go for it. There are definitely a lot of things that I enjoyed, more than I hated.
Many thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views.
Can we start off by saying how much I usually love assassin books? Bonus points if it’s in the Fantasy genre. So when I got this book you could definitely see why I was over the moon. I, however, was let down by the very poor assassining (assassinating?) going on. From the very first few pages we see our protagonist get poisoned by… wait for it… her mom. Here, we have everyone singing her praises and amaaazing “Clipper” skills then she goes and makes rookie mistakes all throughout the book. Forgets her weapons, gets poisoned by her mom, repeatedly gets caught by whoever she’s sneaking up on or trying to avoid (Captain LeFevre), and constantly gets injured and blames her less-than-exceptional fighting skills on these injuries. Girl, what type of assassin are you?!
The characters in this book really lacked complexity, especially the “bad guys”. They’re just handed to us on a silver platter like ‘Here, these people are evil; you have to hate them… They’re BAD.” The Da Vias, especially Estella and Val, were portrayed as the bad guys with no clues or justification given as to what the reasons behind their actions might be. The author did try with Estella with the whole pregnancy thing, but it just served to make it seem more lacking and hastily thrown together, in my opinion.
Also, as I mentioned a few paragraphs back, the pacing of the story seemed off. Three-fourths of this book consisted of pointless journeys and excursions that led to nowhere. To get from one place to another probably takes fifty pages of mind-numbing self-rumination from the protagonist. It was so goddamn boring – like, can we please just get back to the relevant plot material?! And speaking of plot, when we actually do get a fight, there always has to be some type of convenient rescue to aid our humble main characters -- like a mysterious smoke bomb or, say,
Spoiler
a rescue from the goddess of Death and Resurrection herself!1!!However, not everything about this book was a plodding disappointment; there were redeemable aspects! For example, the romance between Lea and Alessio (I’m not calling him Les because ‘Lea and Les’? Hell nah.) It was obvious Alessio fell for Lea really early on, although she remained oblivious to it for the most part of the book. It still made my heart stutter. Alessio is an adorable mess – he reminded me of a puppy. He’s definitely one of my favorite characters in this book!
In a Fantasy book, the world building is usually what makes it or breaks it. In this case, the world building is what glued the whole damn story together. The setting was rich and imaginative and along with the writing, helped to immerse the reader into the story. Such unique world building and setting surely deserves an award!
All in all, this was an enjoyable book… just not that hooking. It was kind of underwhelming and screamed ‘debut author’, but it still had potential. I’ve heard that there will be a sequel, though I don’t know what it could possibly be about since this book already wrapped itself up. A companion novel about another character maybe? I’m pretty picky about fantasy, so if all the above appeals to you then go for it. There are definitely a lot of things that I enjoyed, more than I hated.
Many thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views.
rini1310's review against another edition
5.0
5/5
I read it in one sitting :)
It was so good; I honestly teared up a bit and the ending was promising.
I read it in one sitting :)
It was so good; I honestly teared up a bit and the ending was promising.
fictionalkate's review against another edition
1.0
Assassin's Heart is one book with a truly interesting concept. Families of assassins who see their work as the ultimate way to worship their goddess of death and resurrection. Oleander Saldana, the daughter of the most prominent Family in Lovero, goes on a mission of revenge when her entire family is taken out in single blow. With no one left to assist her, Lea travels across the country to find her banished uncle hoping he will give her to the key to avenge her family and her goddess.
I wanted to like this book. It started off strong but after the first few chapters I found myself losing interest. The characters are rather two-dimensional. Lea is a spoilt princess type who is apparently the best at assassinating. She's distrusting and always right. Her quest to find a way to kill the Di Via Family was incredibly ill-thought out and she is too impulsive to be believable as a good assassin.
I'm not new to reading books about assassins. But I had problems with this particular one because I couldn't quite grasp the society Lea lived in. People could pay the Families to murder people for whatever reason and that was cool because their goddess, Safraella, would resurrect the deceased with a rebirth. It just didn't make sense to me why everyone was so okay with this. I did like how over the course of the novel, characters would call Lea on her plan and her beliefs but overall it just didn't make sense to me. The pacing is a bit weird in this book. I didn't feel like I had enough time to get to know characters before being forced to mourn them or be invested enough to feel betrayed by them. It was just an odd experience.
I did like the ghosts in this book. I thought they were interesting and enjoyed most of the scene with involved them but I do think that they were underutilised in this book but that may have been because I wanted to see more of them. Plot wise they probably appeared as much as they needed to.
This is one of those books which throws in a romance story line that doesn't feel entirely necessary. I thought certain parts of the book felt a little jarring and took me out of the overall revenge plot. It may have been a way to try and soften Lea to readers and show there was more to life than violently avenging ones family but it felt superfluous.
Assassin's Heart is a book which made me question a lot over the course of the novel. Some bits were plot related and sometimes I just didn't understand the morals. I understand that everyone has a different moral code but there were things in this book which confused me and I don't get why they were allowed to happen. They're just wrong no matter what god you follow. Yep. That's me putting a judgement call out there.
This book is one which I think had great promise. But everything is a little underdeveloped. I didn't understand their religion well enough to get behind the Families assassinating the townspeople. The world building is rather flat and for the most part the characters are not explored well enough for me to have overly strong feelings on way or another about them.
I won't be reading the next book in this series but I would be interesting in reading more from the author. She's got a great imagination but I felt this book lacked it in execution.
I wanted to like this book. It started off strong but after the first few chapters I found myself losing interest. The characters are rather two-dimensional. Lea is a spoilt princess type who is apparently the best at assassinating. She's distrusting and always right. Her quest to find a way to kill the Di Via Family was incredibly ill-thought out and she is too impulsive to be believable as a good assassin.
I'm not new to reading books about assassins. But I had problems with this particular one because I couldn't quite grasp the society Lea lived in. People could pay the Families to murder people for whatever reason and that was cool because their goddess, Safraella, would resurrect the deceased with a rebirth. It just didn't make sense to me why everyone was so okay with this. I did like how over the course of the novel, characters would call Lea on her plan and her beliefs but overall it just didn't make sense to me. The pacing is a bit weird in this book. I didn't feel like I had enough time to get to know characters before being forced to mourn them or be invested enough to feel betrayed by them. It was just an odd experience.
I did like the ghosts in this book. I thought they were interesting and enjoyed most of the scene with involved them but I do think that they were underutilised in this book but that may have been because I wanted to see more of them. Plot wise they probably appeared as much as they needed to.
This is one of those books which throws in a romance story line that doesn't feel entirely necessary. I thought certain parts of the book felt a little jarring and took me out of the overall revenge plot. It may have been a way to try and soften Lea to readers and show there was more to life than violently avenging ones family but it felt superfluous.
Assassin's Heart is a book which made me question a lot over the course of the novel. Some bits were plot related and sometimes I just didn't understand the morals. I understand that everyone has a different moral code but there were things in this book which confused me and I don't get why they were allowed to happen. They're just wrong no matter what god you follow. Yep. That's me putting a judgement call out there.
Spoiler
Why did she take those children away from their families? I understand that their parents betrayed her god. But it's just one of those things I couldn't rationalize. What's she going to do with them? And now she's decided she's going to a city who don't worship the Death Goddess and do what? She has no skills except for judging people and killing them. I just.. can't even.This book is one which I think had great promise. But everything is a little underdeveloped. I didn't understand their religion well enough to get behind the Families assassinating the townspeople. The world building is rather flat and for the most part the characters are not explored well enough for me to have overly strong feelings on way or another about them.
I won't be reading the next book in this series but I would be interesting in reading more from the author. She's got a great imagination but I felt this book lacked it in execution.
burstnwithbooks's review against another edition
4.0
YES I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! It was pretty fantastic, but a bit cheesy at times. I’m curious to see how the series continues.
mb_booklady's review against another edition
3.0
In the medieval like city of Lovero, nine special families serve the goddess of death, Safraella, by assassinating the terminally ill or those who have wronged others. Lea Saldana is the only daughter of the first Clipper family, but the plague has left them with fewer family members and susceptible to being removed as the first Clipper family.
After Lea's entire family is killed, she seeks to find an estranged uncle and escape the guilt for her role in her family's death. Lea faces many hardships to get to another country, where she finds a man posing as a Clipper. Reason in this fake Clipper will lead her to her uncle, Lea follows him.
The uncle refuses to help and demands she stay away from the fake Clipper, Les. Trouble seems to find Lea wherever she goes and Les is usually there to help her out of it, until the night Lea is forced to watch as an old-flame kills her new love, before being killed herself. But, that is not the end of their story.
Although Lea is a strong female character, she is certainly too focused on vengeance for her murdered family. She must determine which is greater--vengeance or love.
No doubt about it, this book is dark. It is based on a system of gods that might have been worshipped prior to the Great Enlightenment. Ahiers may have been inspired by the series His Fair Assassin by Robin Lefevers as the corrupt policeman is named Lefevre. Although some sources rate this tale for 12+, I will be leaving it for eighth graders only.
I think a deep reading of the book could lead one to argue this is a book of good triumphing over evil, being true to yourself and being who you are, remaining true to your beliefs, the power of love, and the meaning of family. But, it may take maturity and experience to glean those themes from the story. A solid 3.5 stars story.
After Lea's entire family is killed, she seeks to find an estranged uncle and escape the guilt for her role in her family's death. Lea faces many hardships to get to another country, where she finds a man posing as a Clipper. Reason in this fake Clipper will lead her to her uncle, Lea follows him.
The uncle refuses to help and demands she stay away from the fake Clipper, Les. Trouble seems to find Lea wherever she goes and Les is usually there to help her out of it, until the night Lea is forced to watch as an old-flame kills her new love, before being killed herself. But, that is not the end of their story.
Although Lea is a strong female character, she is certainly too focused on vengeance for her murdered family. She must determine which is greater--vengeance or love.
No doubt about it, this book is dark. It is based on a system of gods that might have been worshipped prior to the Great Enlightenment. Ahiers may have been inspired by the series His Fair Assassin by Robin Lefevers as the corrupt policeman is named Lefevre. Although some sources rate this tale for 12+, I will be leaving it for eighth graders only.
I think a deep reading of the book could lead one to argue this is a book of good triumphing over evil, being true to yourself and being who you are, remaining true to your beliefs, the power of love, and the meaning of family. But, it may take maturity and experience to glean those themes from the story. A solid 3.5 stars story.
jaydenduds's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
amarylissw's review against another edition
4.0
3.75 stars.
A solid protagonist, intriguing world, and not too bad of a plot. The cast of characters could use some work, especially the love interests -- I didn't find myself too interested in either of them, there was some insta-love, and the original love interest ended up becoming flat and one-dimensional, which I hated.
The world had a lot of potential, but I felt like some of the views and ideals were skewed. If fleshed out more, it could've been pretty cool. The writing was really nice, and the action scenes flowed well. Some of the plot was a little slow, but it never really dragged.
Overall, not a bad story, which I'm grateful for, because it had a great premise.
A solid protagonist, intriguing world, and not too bad of a plot. The cast of characters could use some work, especially the love interests -- I didn't find myself too interested in either of them, there was some insta-love, and the original love interest ended up becoming flat and one-dimensional, which I hated.
The world had a lot of potential, but I felt like some of the views and ideals were skewed. If fleshed out more, it could've been pretty cool. The writing was really nice, and the action scenes flowed well. Some of the plot was a little slow, but it never really dragged.
Overall, not a bad story, which I'm grateful for, because it had a great premise.
bridrizzle72's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bookishlizz's review against another edition
3.0
The book reads like a knock-off of Throne of Glass. I love Throne of Glass, I enjoyed this. But if you compare the two, this one comes up lacking. Lacking world building, lacking character development, suffering from a rushed plot.
I picked this up simply because it was available on Overdrive and I needed something since Playster is down right now. The story was good, at least, it was interesting. I never wanted to stop reading, but between overused phrases and weak characters, there were points I struggled through.
Lea belongs to a family of assassins who kill under the game of their god. This is an interesting plot line. She loves a boy and it is a very Romeo and Juliet story. Which is actually where I thought this story was going ... but it wasn't. That isn't a spoiler, because it happens within the first 30 pages of the story.
Anyway, Lea must bring revenge against the Da Vias after they destroy her family in an attempt to be the best. Along the path of revenge it becomes a holy mission. There are about a billion characters introduced and enough places that I started to lose track of what was important and what wasn't.
Because the story felt like it could have been something Sarah J Maas could have written, I kept waiting for her rich detailing of the surrounding areas, the incredible character development she brings to main and minor characters alike, and the complex plot that makes her stories so fantastic. However, that is all lacking here. The book was great, don't get me wrong, but it lacked what makes other stories amazing.
I picked this up simply because it was available on Overdrive and I needed something since Playster is down right now. The story was good, at least, it was interesting. I never wanted to stop reading, but between overused phrases and weak characters, there were points I struggled through.
Lea belongs to a family of assassins who kill under the game of their god. This is an interesting plot line. She loves a boy and it is a very Romeo and Juliet story. Which is actually where I thought this story was going ... but it wasn't. That isn't a spoiler, because it happens within the first 30 pages of the story.
Anyway, Lea must bring revenge against the Da Vias after they destroy her family in an attempt to be the best. Along the path of revenge it becomes a holy mission. There are about a billion characters introduced and enough places that I started to lose track of what was important and what wasn't.
Because the story felt like it could have been something Sarah J Maas could have written, I kept waiting for her rich detailing of the surrounding areas, the incredible character development she brings to main and minor characters alike, and the complex plot that makes her stories so fantastic. However, that is all lacking here. The book was great, don't get me wrong, but it lacked what makes other stories amazing.