A tale of vengeance in a Renaissance-inspired world | Assassin's Heart

Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Published: February 2nd by HarperTeen

Genre: young adult, high fantasy

Goodreads summary: In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.

REVIEW

I was so excited about this book, because assassins? Heck, yeah. For those who are wondering, it's not similar to Throne of Glass. At all. This book was a fantasy standalone, which doesn't happen often -even if I recently read two books that were standalones, it might be a trend for debuts- and it was done very well in this case.

FIRST PAGES

What I really enjoyed is that in the first chapter, you already see action. Like the main character is almost dying type of action. Because of that, I was hooked straight away into this book. Moreover, I found the chapters to be rather short, which always helps to get into the story.

THE PLOT

To be honest, I had no idea where the story was going during the entire time, which was really enjoyable. It's actually the type of story you can't tell too much about, because it would be spoiler-y. So yes, the premise talked about revenge. But there are thousand ways to do it. I really enjoyed that we saw a lot of this world during the whole book, because it helped the pacing for the first third of the book.

But, when Lea arrived in her final location, the plot slowed. The middle section of the book dragged a lot, unfortunately. Moreover, the scenes were feeling a bit repetitive, it was always the same thing, and it was boring, let's be real. The thing is, I expected a lot of fights and murders from this book and in the first half of the book, I didn't get a lot of it, which disappointed me. Hopefully, the second part of the back was full of action.

However, when the pace picks up during the last third of the book, EVERYTHING happenned. At that point, the book was full of twists and turns and it was such a gripping read. Even if it dragged in the middle, it had that addictive quality to it, which made me read it in 24 hours. The author made some choices I wasn't expecting, but was very pleased with.

Be warned, you'll always want to read the next page.

THE WORLD

I was amazed by this world. It was set in a kingdom with nine families of assassins, no one else can kill legally. Why do they kill, you'll ask? Because they worship a goddess that likes it, apparently. I would have liked to know more about the mythology though, because why does this goddess want people to kill? I found it a little mysterious. Of course, the Families are in competition with each other, because it wouldn't be funny otherwise. Reading about the Families was interesting even if we didn't get an insight for long, since the Saldanas were killed early one.

I really enjoyed the importance of religion in this world. Everything was done in the name of the goddess, and it also involved monasteries and angered gods, which was pretty fun. After reading this book, I felt like I knew the world and its society, and it's all I ask from a standalone fantasy book, so for that, it was great.

Moreover, and the best of the best:

This world was inspired by Italian Renaissance. The assassins were wearing masks (!!!) made from bone (!!!) and they choose the pattern. It reminded me so much of Venice, just like the city of Yvain, with its canals. It was clear the author was inspired by Italian Renaissance, especially because of the names of the characters and it was such an interesting aspect.

THE CHARACTERS

The story is told from Oleander's -Lea's- point of view. I enjoyed her as a character, because she grew a lot during this book. At first, she believed that Family could do no wrong, that it was what would drove her life. But the deeper we got into the story, the more she was questioning her beliefs about that. Her reflexion was a great lesson about the importance of family. Moreover, she made a lot of mistakes and some of them made me cringe, but it made her all the more relatable. The real problem I had with her character was that she's supposed to be an amazing assassin. But she shows the contrary during the first two thirds of the book. First of, yes we see her kill in the first chapter, but through poison, so it was less badass. Then, she meets someone and he wins over her when he's half-trained? Um, no? And then she's confronted by law, and she doesn't have her weapons on her. Excuse me, but aren't you from the first Family of assassins? Because I found it hard to believe. Later on, she actually shows she's a badass, but at first she wasn't convincing. At all.

I can't say much about the rest of the characters, because:

1. Lea has a hard time asking for help so we mostly see her
2. It would be spoiler-y. But I really enjoyed the characters even if they weren't that memorable

THE ROMANCE

Because of the summary, I was scared the plot would be too romance-driven. But that didn't happen at all, consider me pleased! Actually, it went totally opposite ways, which I totally enjoyed, even if I was rooting for the ship to happen.

THE ENDING

Like I said earlier, Sarah Ahiers made choices I wasn't expecting, which made me gap and scream silently (I was in class, ha-ha). The ending was gripping, but I thought that we were expecting Lea's vengeance during the whole book, and it was just resolved in a few chapters -even if they were good. The last chapter was more of an open-ending, which is totally understandable, since it was a standalone. I've seen this book would have a companion novel, and if it features what happens next, I would love to read it.

Overall, Sarah Ahiers wrote a really good debut novel, with a unique world and a plot full of twists and turns. I would have liked to see more action in the first half of the novel and it dragged a little in the middle, but otherwise, it was a gripping read.

Are you excited about this book? Have you read it yet? Do you love books about assassins?