Review of The Assassin's Curse

Goodreads Summary: "Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be."

The Assassin's Curse started off a bit on the slow side for me; I felt like I was dragging through the first couple of chapters and could put it down at any point, it hadn't yet become an addictive read. I pressed on however because I had gotten rave reviews from friends and fellow bloggers, along with the comparison to Tamora Pierce who, as you may already know, is one of my absolute favorite fantasy authors and the author who got me into the genre of fantasy in the first place.

I'm so glad I didn't give up on it!

This novel combines a few of my favorite things, go to novel features that will automatically endear a book to me and land it on my must read list: pirates, assassins, and magic. So if you're a fan of any of those individually or combined you will definitely be wanting to grab a copy of this for yourself!

Ananna, oh, Ananna. [Why must you have such a difficult name for me? Seriously, you guys, I had to keep glancing up at the summary above in order to type it just now. Copy and paste probably would have served me well. FYI, the letter "n" and I have issues. Just sayin'.] ANYWAY. Ananna is the sort of rough and tumble heroine that thrills me. She isn't overly educated, as you might insinuate from her speech and background, but she's clever and has a good head on her shoulders. And can think on her feet. And is more than a match for those around her, though they do tend to underestimate her which in all honesty just brings on more fun. Do NOT underestimate this girl if you don't want to get outdone. I just adored her character. And she does grow. She's eager to learn and to figure people out and to develop and...I just really enjoyed reading about her.

This will likely come as no surprise to most of you, but I think I may be in love with Naji. He is exactly my type. I don't even have the words, or at least I don't think I do, to tell you guys how much I loved his character. I mean. For one thing he is an assassin, don't think you can get much more "bad boy" than that and you guys know I love the darker guy characters. He is definitely dark. Tall, dark, and not necessarily handsome as you'll likely find out but there is something inherently likeable about his character. I guess you guys will just have to give it a read for yourselves to find out what that is exactly.

Though it is a hefty volume at over four hundred pages you will be astonished at how fast it flies by. Sure I found the beginning a bit slow, but that was only the initial beginning; as soon as I got passed that I was clicking that button [the Kindle equivalent to flipping pages] like a mad woman. I'm beyond glad that I was lucky enough to be accepted for a review copy of this on Netgalley from the publisher. The Assassin's Curse is one of those rare galleys that thrill me to no end and have me placing it at the top of my buying priority list and wishlist, I absolutely positively have to have this novel on my shelf with the rest of my favorite fantasies.

And, though you will have heard me complain often enough about being buried in series with no hopes for a standalone, I am so VERY glad that this is part of a series and that there is more to come. The Assassin's Curse is one of those rare novels that make you want more, crave more, and I hope it delivers on its promise of continued amazing fantasy.