wrenlee's review against another edition
2.0
13533650
Amazon / Goodreads
Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.
To break the spell, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks--all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic...and the growing romantic tension between them.
I feel disappointed by this book. Oddly so. I was promised this fascinating story. An impossible curse. Three impossible tasks.
What do I get? I get that at the end of the book. Within the last fifty pages. Wow. Thanks... (Sarcasm alert.)
I love Ananna's spirit. She's feisty. Brave. Determined. I love that. She doesn't like anyone pull her down. She's not perfect. She can be impulsive. I like that, though. Her impulses force her fighting instinct to come out. And it also helps the plot by giving it fight/action scenes. And her attitude makes some great replies. She is sassy without trying. But she's not annoying because of it. It makes her a great character. A brave character. Recklessly so.
Naji is mysterious but oddly dull. He has the air of mystery around him. I like that. But then he starts speaking...and I want to punch him in the face. He is dull. Boring. The mystery is annoying really. And then the relationship with Leila made me want to groan and turn away. Naji could be great. He has the power. He has the prowess. But then he opens his mouth. He has no personality. Not one I could see. He's empty. And it's not the kind that makes you want to lean in and say 'I'm intrigued'.
The plot is slow. There isn't much happening. What we're promised doesn't come in until the ending, the last few chapters. That annoyed me to no end. You don't understand my irritation. The story drags out the travel to Leila. And it drags out the story when they're on the ship. I kept suffering through it. It was slow. Unbelievably so. I can't stand it. I complained about it to my friends. They heard my complaints loud and clear. The plot wasn't enough for me. I wanted so much more.
The action isn't bad. Ananna is a good fighter. Naji is good fighter. They're both good at fighting. And the scenes show it. The scenes are fast-paced. Exhilarating. Exciting. I like them. A lot. They made me sit up straighter. They made me look. The action scenes caught my attention. They were the only plot points that did.
Hold on. What? Where did the romance come from? Where is that from? I don't see it. There is no chemistry. Naji is so closed off. You can't even think about having a crush on him. There was no reason for romance. Not even for one of the impossible tasks. There is nothing there. And Naji probably hates Ananna. And Ananna doesn't need Naji. As a boyfriend. Or a hubby. Or a bae. She needs no one. She's tough as nails. There is no reason for the romance. And where do these feelings come from? Seriously. Where?
And the ending. I just can't help but groan here.
The ending...such a cliffhanger. Wow. Will they succeed? Will they fail? WILL THEY KISS? (Kidding kidding. I hated the romance.) There are so many questions. And the plot is really just beginning.
What's the worst thing, though? The ending is what we were expecting throughout the entire book. We didn't get the plot until the end. The majority of the book could be compressed into five chapters. It was drawn out. The major plot thing wasn't introduced until it was too late.
Weather:
Cloudy with a 20% chance of rain
2.5/5
Amazon / Goodreads
Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.
To break the spell, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks--all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic...and the growing romantic tension between them.
I feel disappointed by this book. Oddly so. I was promised this fascinating story. An impossible curse. Three impossible tasks.
What do I get? I get that at the end of the book. Within the last fifty pages. Wow. Thanks... (Sarcasm alert.)
I love Ananna's spirit. She's feisty. Brave. Determined. I love that. She doesn't like anyone pull her down. She's not perfect. She can be impulsive. I like that, though. Her impulses force her fighting instinct to come out. And it also helps the plot by giving it fight/action scenes. And her attitude makes some great replies. She is sassy without trying. But she's not annoying because of it. It makes her a great character. A brave character. Recklessly so.
Naji is mysterious but oddly dull. He has the air of mystery around him. I like that. But then he starts speaking...and I want to punch him in the face. He is dull. Boring. The mystery is annoying really. And then the relationship with Leila made me want to groan and turn away. Naji could be great. He has the power. He has the prowess. But then he opens his mouth. He has no personality. Not one I could see. He's empty. And it's not the kind that makes you want to lean in and say 'I'm intrigued'.
The plot is slow. There isn't much happening. What we're promised doesn't come in until the ending, the last few chapters. That annoyed me to no end. You don't understand my irritation. The story drags out the travel to Leila. And it drags out the story when they're on the ship. I kept suffering through it. It was slow. Unbelievably so. I can't stand it. I complained about it to my friends. They heard my complaints loud and clear. The plot wasn't enough for me. I wanted so much more.
The action isn't bad. Ananna is a good fighter. Naji is good fighter. They're both good at fighting. And the scenes show it. The scenes are fast-paced. Exhilarating. Exciting. I like them. A lot. They made me sit up straighter. They made me look. The action scenes caught my attention. They were the only plot points that did.
Hold on. What? Where did the romance come from? Where is that from? I don't see it. There is no chemistry. Naji is so closed off. You can't even think about having a crush on him. There was no reason for romance. Not even for one of the impossible tasks. There is nothing there. And Naji probably hates Ananna. And Ananna doesn't need Naji. As a boyfriend. Or a hubby. Or a bae. She needs no one. She's tough as nails. There is no reason for the romance. And where do these feelings come from? Seriously. Where?
And the ending. I just can't help but groan here.
The ending...such a cliffhanger. Wow. Will they succeed? Will they fail? WILL THEY KISS? (Kidding kidding. I hated the romance.) There are so many questions. And the plot is really just beginning.
What's the worst thing, though? The ending is what we were expecting throughout the entire book. We didn't get the plot until the end. The majority of the book could be compressed into five chapters. It was drawn out. The major plot thing wasn't introduced until it was too late.
Weather:
Cloudy with a 20% chance of rain
2.5/5
januaryf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
seriouslybookish's review against another edition
3.0
I was really just okay. There really wasn't anything remarkable about the characters but the plot was original and something I hadn't read before. It was weird, but different and that's why I liked it.
hgranger's review against another edition
4.0
Quick and funny read about a pirate and and assassin who get caught up in an inconvenient curse. Quirky and delightfully imperfect characters make the story even better and the writing style is just right for a pirate girl. Looking forward to reading the conclusion. (And grateful it’s not another trilogy!)
moirwyn's review against another edition
5.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/08/17/the-assassins-curse-by-cassandra-rose-clarke/
Ananna of the Tanarau grew up on a pirate ship. She’s about to be married off to a member of the Hariri clan, a rival pirate family, but she doesn’t like her fiance and runs away instead. Ananna has heard stories since she was a little girl about the mystical assassins known as the Jadorr’a, but she’s never seen one, and doesn’t think they’re real. They’re like a bogeyman or a monster under the bed.
The Hariris send an assassin to kill Ananna, but during the fight, she accidentally saves his life. Naji (the assassin) then tells her that he has been cursed, and now he is bound to protect her. Together the two of them embark on a quest to break the curse, which will take them on a fantastic voyage where they travel to distant lands filled with unstable magic.
First of all, pirates. I’ve been in a piratey (and I know that piratey is not a word, but I’m gonna use it anyway) mood all summer. I’m in the middle of a high seas D&D campaign, my ringtone is the theme from Pirates of the Carribean, and for some reason the rum is always gone. Reading a book about pirates and assassins was loads of fun, and The Assassin’s Curse is one of the best books that I’ve read this summer. It is unputdownable. I read the sequel in the same sitting because I couldn’t stop without seeing how the story would end. (Public Service Announcement: This is why owning a Kindle is dangerous. You can get books on demand without having to leave your home.)
It’s the little details that get me, and that make me love this book so much. There’s a scene in The Assassin’s Curse where Ananna gets sunburned. One of my pet peeves with the fantasy genre is that the protagonists will spend all day in the sun and not get sunburned. I was so excited to see an author pay attention to something like that rather than just assuming that it’s a magical happy land where the sun’s radiation does not affect the skin.
Another wonderful detail is Ananna’s voice. She’s a little bit rough around the edges, and so her speech isn’t quite proper. She’s a bloody pirate, and will curse like one when the occasion calls for it. It’s done in an authentic and believable way, and her spunk and determination come through in the way she speaks to others. She’s such a fun character.
And the romance… there’s not a trace of instalove here. Ananna doesn’t even realize she likes Naji until the very end of the book. For a while the two of them flat out don’t like each other and are annoyed that they’re stuck with each other until the curse is broken. Their relationship develops slowly as they get to know one another and start to trust each other.
The one down side to the book is that it doesn’t really end. When going back to write my reviews after reading The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish in succession, I had a hard time remembering where the first book ended and the second book began. It felt like this should really have been one long book rather than two shorter ones. That being said, I’m saving many of my thoughts on the series for my review of book two, just because I don’t want to accidentally talk about things here that were really a part of the second book more than the first one.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/08/17/the-assassins-curse-by-cassandra-rose-clarke/
There are three ways of bettering yourself in the Pirates’ Confederation, Mama told me once: murder, mutiny, and marriage.
Ananna of the Tanarau grew up on a pirate ship. She’s about to be married off to a member of the Hariri clan, a rival pirate family, but she doesn’t like her fiance and runs away instead. Ananna has heard stories since she was a little girl about the mystical assassins known as the Jadorr’a, but she’s never seen one, and doesn’t think they’re real. They’re like a bogeyman or a monster under the bed.
The Hariris send an assassin to kill Ananna, but during the fight, she accidentally saves his life. Naji (the assassin) then tells her that he has been cursed, and now he is bound to protect her. Together the two of them embark on a quest to break the curse, which will take them on a fantastic voyage where they travel to distant lands filled with unstable magic.
First of all, pirates. I’ve been in a piratey (and I know that piratey is not a word, but I’m gonna use it anyway) mood all summer. I’m in the middle of a high seas D&D campaign, my ringtone is the theme from Pirates of the Carribean, and for some reason the rum is always gone. Reading a book about pirates and assassins was loads of fun, and The Assassin’s Curse is one of the best books that I’ve read this summer. It is unputdownable. I read the sequel in the same sitting because I couldn’t stop without seeing how the story would end. (Public Service Announcement: This is why owning a Kindle is dangerous. You can get books on demand without having to leave your home.)
It’s the little details that get me, and that make me love this book so much. There’s a scene in The Assassin’s Curse where Ananna gets sunburned. One of my pet peeves with the fantasy genre is that the protagonists will spend all day in the sun and not get sunburned. I was so excited to see an author pay attention to something like that rather than just assuming that it’s a magical happy land where the sun’s radiation does not affect the skin.
Another wonderful detail is Ananna’s voice. She’s a little bit rough around the edges, and so her speech isn’t quite proper. She’s a bloody pirate, and will curse like one when the occasion calls for it. It’s done in an authentic and believable way, and her spunk and determination come through in the way she speaks to others. She’s such a fun character.
And the romance… there’s not a trace of instalove here. Ananna doesn’t even realize she likes Naji until the very end of the book. For a while the two of them flat out don’t like each other and are annoyed that they’re stuck with each other until the curse is broken. Their relationship develops slowly as they get to know one another and start to trust each other.
The one down side to the book is that it doesn’t really end. When going back to write my reviews after reading The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish in succession, I had a hard time remembering where the first book ended and the second book began. It felt like this should really have been one long book rather than two shorter ones. That being said, I’m saving many of my thoughts on the series for my review of book two, just because I don’t want to accidentally talk about things here that were really a part of the second book more than the first one.
readbyjoey's review against another edition
5.0
A lighthearted and enjoyable read. I enjoyed the story and really liked the characters. Definitely looking forward to reading the next book.
unicorn's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
5.0
somarostam's review against another edition
4.0
I was immediately captured by the cover of this book (ain't it lovely?) and its blurb, plus reading a bunch of positive reviews on a couple of blogs. So I decided to give it an honest opinion in exchange for a free copy, thanks to the author and publisher.
I have almost no complains regarding this wonderful work. I fell in love, head over heels, with this book. Ananna, the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family, decides to run away from the arranged marriage that her parents forced on her. But now, she is alone, hungry, with no money, and she knows that the family of the boy she was supposed to marry, will send an Assassin to end her life.
Ananna tries to sell her dress, to get some money. But when the enters a dress shop, the owner, a beautiful woman offers to help Ananna. Although Ananna doesn't trust anyone, she doesn't want to die yet, But it looks like she is meant to die, as the magic stops working when she is face to face with the assassin.
By killing a snake, and saving Naji's life (the assassin), Ananna activates a curse on him. Now, whenever Ananna is in pain, or tries to run away, Naji will feel a tremendous amount of physical pain. None of them are happy with this, so they try to find a way to break this curse.
Ananna and Naji search the globe, visiting witches, fighting supernatural people from the Mists (a world above the Earth). As Ananna falls more and more in love with Naji, they try to find a way to break this impossible curse. But it indeed is an impossible curse, as it requires three impossible tasks in order to be broken.
Will Ananna and Naji end up safe and sound after all these fights? And will they find the cure to this curse? Find out much more when you read this book. An exhilarating, thought-provoking adventure.
I adored this book! The cover is very captivating, I loved how the spotlight is on the ship in the middle. The hues and the colors are just so beautiful. The blurb is captivating as well, and the characters are exceptional.
I loved how Cassandra Rose Clarke took a different turn from the beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous heroins. Ananna is smart, outspoken, but she is not very pretty. She is just a normal seventeen year old, you will instantly react to her emotions and connect with her, she is very lovable. Cassandra has created an amazing world, and her descriptions are all so detailed, I loved it!
Well, the book does not contain a lot of romance, I am guessing that Ms. Cassandra saved it for the sequel to this book. But I didn't mind the lack of the romance, because the book is very adventurous. The one thing I didn't like was how the book ended, when I read it, I thought that I didn't download the whole version. But after some googling, I realized that this was only the first book, and there more to come.
I'm still reeling and swaying over how much I adored this book! The Assassin's Curse is the adventure of a lifetime, told by a deeply intriguing, unique voice, and set in a world that you will wish to live in. It's definitely a must-read for every reader out there!
I have almost no complains regarding this wonderful work. I fell in love, head over heels, with this book. Ananna, the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family, decides to run away from the arranged marriage that her parents forced on her. But now, she is alone, hungry, with no money, and she knows that the family of the boy she was supposed to marry, will send an Assassin to end her life.
Ananna tries to sell her dress, to get some money. But when the enters a dress shop, the owner, a beautiful woman offers to help Ananna. Although Ananna doesn't trust anyone, she doesn't want to die yet, But it looks like she is meant to die, as the magic stops working when she is face to face with the assassin.
By killing a snake, and saving Naji's life (the assassin), Ananna activates a curse on him. Now, whenever Ananna is in pain, or tries to run away, Naji will feel a tremendous amount of physical pain. None of them are happy with this, so they try to find a way to break this curse.
Ananna and Naji search the globe, visiting witches, fighting supernatural people from the Mists (a world above the Earth). As Ananna falls more and more in love with Naji, they try to find a way to break this impossible curse. But it indeed is an impossible curse, as it requires three impossible tasks in order to be broken.
Will Ananna and Naji end up safe and sound after all these fights? And will they find the cure to this curse? Find out much more when you read this book. An exhilarating, thought-provoking adventure.
I adored this book! The cover is very captivating, I loved how the spotlight is on the ship in the middle. The hues and the colors are just so beautiful. The blurb is captivating as well, and the characters are exceptional.
I loved how Cassandra Rose Clarke took a different turn from the beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous heroins. Ananna is smart, outspoken, but she is not very pretty. She is just a normal seventeen year old, you will instantly react to her emotions and connect with her, she is very lovable. Cassandra has created an amazing world, and her descriptions are all so detailed, I loved it!
Well, the book does not contain a lot of romance, I am guessing that Ms. Cassandra saved it for the sequel to this book. But I didn't mind the lack of the romance, because the book is very adventurous. The one thing I didn't like was how the book ended, when I read it, I thought that I didn't download the whole version. But after some googling, I realized that this was only the first book, and there more to come.
I'm still reeling and swaying over how much I adored this book! The Assassin's Curse is the adventure of a lifetime, told by a deeply intriguing, unique voice, and set in a world that you will wish to live in. It's definitely a must-read for every reader out there!
waywardskyril's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I really enjoyed it.
The characters, Annana and Naji had excellent depth. I could see they had a past, and secrets and stories that came from it. Also, the style Cassandra Rose Clarke wrote in for Annana's form of speech was well done and fitting. The story was also exceptionally original; I've never seen anything Quite like it. Although, Annana Did remind my a good bit of the character Jacky Faber from Bloody Jack Adventures by L. A. Meyer, only.. Hm, how to say? A little harder maybe. Cassandra added a lot of her own perks and things, though, and I definitely loved both of the main characters.
There are two reasons why I ended up giving it a four instead of a five. The first was for the swearing. There was more than I generally tolerate and, even in passing, hard swearing. Being a Christian, I don't swear, and swearing in books and everything else always turns me away from it. Yes, I can see how it fitted the book, and it fitted Annana, she, having grown up as a pirate. Still, I think it's unnecessary. The books I've read without swearing- Divergent as an example- you don't even realize there isn't any, because not having it doesn't detract from the book in the slightest.
The second reason was that every now and then, I would get confused by the dialogue, and I wouldn't know who was talking. I would have to stop, go up, and re-read it until I figured out what was going on. Hence, it wasn't always clear, and I had to figure out what the characters were trying to say.
It was only sometimes though, and it tended to be more irritating than anything.
However, I Did enjoy the story enough that I would read it again, and I'm seriously looking forward to getting my hands on The Pirate's Wish.
I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes adventures, pirates, assassins, dark magic, and camels.
The characters, Annana and Naji had excellent depth. I could see they had a past, and secrets and stories that came from it. Also, the style Cassandra Rose Clarke wrote in for Annana's form of speech was well done and fitting. The story was also exceptionally original; I've never seen anything Quite like it. Although, Annana Did remind my a good bit of the character Jacky Faber from Bloody Jack Adventures by L. A. Meyer, only.. Hm, how to say? A little harder maybe. Cassandra added a lot of her own perks and things, though, and I definitely loved both of the main characters.
There are two reasons why I ended up giving it a four instead of a five. The first was for the swearing. There was more than I generally tolerate and, even in passing, hard swearing. Being a Christian, I don't swear, and swearing in books and everything else always turns me away from it. Yes, I can see how it fitted the book, and it fitted Annana, she, having grown up as a pirate. Still, I think it's unnecessary. The books I've read without swearing- Divergent as an example- you don't even realize there isn't any, because not having it doesn't detract from the book in the slightest.
The second reason was that every now and then, I would get confused by the dialogue, and I wouldn't know who was talking. I would have to stop, go up, and re-read it until I figured out what was going on. Hence, it wasn't always clear, and I had to figure out what the characters were trying to say.
It was only sometimes though, and it tended to be more irritating than anything.
However, I Did enjoy the story enough that I would read it again, and I'm seriously looking forward to getting my hands on The Pirate's Wish.
I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes adventures, pirates, assassins, dark magic, and camels.