Healing or killing: how would you save the world? | Dark Triumph & Scent of Magic

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by Robin LaFevers

Published: April 2nd 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Genre: young adult, historical, fantasy

Goodreads summary: When Sybella arrived at the doorstep of St Mortain half mad with grief and despair the convent were only too happy to offer her refuge - but at a price. The sisters of this convent serve Death, and with Sybella naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, she could become one of their most dangerous weapons.

But her assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to the life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. But when Sybella discovers an unexpected ally she discovers that a daughter of Death may find something other than vengeance to live for...

REVIEW

Like the author said in her note, this story was more personal than political, which I totally felt while reading, but I still love both books equally. Indeed, the spirit of the story stayed the same, because at first, Sybella was on an assignment, but then it became much more than that. If I was thrown away into the world right again, I found it to be slower to pick up.

I really liked learning about Sybella’s backstory, even though it was so awful, because I really got to know her. Still, it was a situation that felt realistic for this era. But I couldn’t really connect with her, with all the masks she put on her face, she felt like an actress most of the time, it was more towards the end of the book that I really cared about her. I enjoyed her relationship with Beast, I found that it grew naturally and I actually shipped them, they were quite alike.

Plot-wise, Dark Triumph went farther into the timeline, I thought it would follow the same one than in Grave Mercy, so I was quite pleased by that. The plot was thrilling and I really enjoyed following it, it also expanded the world a bit, because the characters went to different cities, the author also included the charbonnerie and other convents like Saint Mer. The characters felt closer to the people, while in Grave Mercy, they were closer to the court.

Other:

• Review of Grave Mercy 

Scent of Magic (Healer #2) by Maria V. Snyder

Published: December 20th 2012 by MIRA

Genre: fantasy

Goodreads summary: The army of the dead are coming…

Avry of Kazan, the last Healer of the mystical Fifteen Realms, has a power that can’t be matched. But in the minds of her friends and foe alike, Avry no longer exists. Now, as the psychotic King Tohon builds an army mightier than any that has been seen before—a league of undead soldiers—Avry must face her toughest, most terrifying battle alone. Fighting to be reunited with her family and her lover Kerrick, Avry must infiltrate Tohon’s troops. But does she have the power, the rare magic; to do what legend says is impossible?

REVIEW

Sadly, I didn’t like Scent of Magic as much as Touch of Power, I had a hard time getting through it and had to push myself to read it. In this one, the author chose to have two points of view, which made sense because the characters were separated, but I wasn’t really looking forward to read his chapters, they quite bored me. Moreover, Avry’s point of view was written in first person and Kerrick’s in third person, which always threw me off. Still, I liked the development about the healers.

I found the plot to be slow-moving, because for two thirds of the book, the characters were just preparing for war. I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, but there were some twists I didn’t expect, that still made me happy. I was surprised by the ending, though, so that’s a good thing.

I really liked the secondary characters introduced in Scent of Magic, especially the ones from the camp, because some characters we met in the first one weren’t there, it was refreshing. I really, really didn’t like Tohon, just like in the first one, but it’s not really a surprise. Some of his actions were childish, for example he just wants to own Avry to piss Kerrick. Moreover, it was a good thing that Avry and Kerrick were separated during the whole book, because it kind of ‘stopped’ the romance for a while, which meant no drama (for once). I hope I’ll like the third book more than this one. 

Other:

• Review of Scent of Magic

Have you read any of these books/series? What did you think of them? Would YOU be an assassin or a healer?

Have you met the god of Death? | Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers

Published: April 3rd 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: young adult, historical, fantasy

Goodreads summary: Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

REVIEW

I've been hesitant for such a long time to read this series, you have no idea. I first heard about it in 2013, when I started watching BookTube and joined Goodreads. I was pretty excited about it, then saw a couple of negative reviews and gave up on it. Finally, after seeing people reading the series in my Goodreads feed in March, I decided to finally pick the first book up, which was a good decision, except from my sleeping time.

I didn't know a lot about this book, except it was about assassins nuns, serving a god of death, Mortain. I had no idea it was set in Brittany in the late 15th century, which meant centring around the future duchess Anne of Brittany. I was surprised at how accurate the history part was - I studied it two years ago - which I immensely enjoyed. I loved the concept of Saint Mortain's convent, that he was an ancient god of Brittany, it was pretty interesting. Even though Ismae had been raised to follow the convent, I enjoyed that during the novel, she questioned her assignments and chose her own paths.

I have to admit the pacing was pretty slow, but I didn't mind that much because it meant fully immersing myself into the story. It focused a lot on court politics and it's true that I would have liked more action, since Ismae was an assassin. It was also a mystery, because Ismae was looking for a traitor at Anne's side. 

Ismae was a great character, I liked having her backstory at the beginning of the book, because I could fully understand her and her evolution during the first chapters. Moreover, when she was in the convent, she worked a lot on poisons, which I found weirdly fascinating. The secondary characters didn't get a lot of screen time, but I found them realistic and relevant to the story, because Ismae and Duval couldn't do everything just together. The romance was built-up nicely, it was a total game of cat and mouse since the whole court believed Ismae was Duval's mistress. The author managed to write a believable tension and I was just waiting for the characters to finally do something about it.

The ending was pretty fast-paced, I couldn't stop reading and got to bed pretty late. However, when Ismae thought she had figured out the traitor, it was still early in the book, in my opinion, no one believed her and I was so sure there would be a final plot twist… But sadly no, so the revelation wasn't as shocking, since the main character suspected it but had no clues. This series will be centred around a different girl each time, the author introduced the two others during Grave Mercy and we got enough glimpses on their lives to make me interested in reading their stories. 

Overall, this book had a compelling and accurate setting which I'm craving, I'll definitely read Dark Triumph next month. The premise was so interesting, I liked the idea of the convent. The characters were enjoyable to read about and I was so excited for the main ones to get together. Yes, the plot was a bit slow-paced and I wanted more murders, but I loved the investigation and the politics in this book. The ending got me reading way too late into the night, but I didn't regret it at all.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? If you've read the whole series, which girl was your favourite? Which book?

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?