Sarah Ahier’s Assassin’s Heart is the first book in the Assassin’s Heart series. In the kingdom of Lovero, the people worship the goddess of death and rebirth, Safraella. Divided into nine Families, clippers act has Safrella’s hands on earth, killing in her name. Despite being divine death-dealers, these clippers have their own internal politics. All nine of the Families are ranked and constantly competing for power. The two most powerful families, the Saldanas and Da Vias, have been at odds for years. In spite of the hate, two young members of the feuding Families managed to find love. Skilled and devote Lea Saldana believed in the love she shared with Val Da Via, until she watches her home burn down with her family inside. As the only surviving Saldana, Lea devotes herself to raining vengeance upon the Da Vias and exterminating them all.
There is no doubt Lea is smart and skilled. She hails from the most powerful Family and boasts impressive killing skills, but she is broken by the death of her family and the betrayal of her lover. Filled with guilt and rage, she bears the deaths of her loved ones on her shoulders, inhibiting her actions and causing her to make stupid mistakes. As she walks on her path of vengeance, she eventually realizes there may be more to her life than revenge.
Assassin’s Heart was a surprisingly good read. I went into this book with exceedingly low expectations, so this mediocre story seemed satisfying. The book had a great start. Ahier painted an alluring world of power struggles and bloodshed that was enhanced by a moving plot. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The plot slows down immensely as it continues and comes to a near standstill midway through the book. Although, there are a couple fight scenes to keep the story mildly interesting, the plot remains stagnant while Lea continues to make series of poor decisions. Lea isn’t inherently a bad character, but she isn’t given a good supporting cast. Due to the aforementioned family deaths, Lea is essentially isolated. Some characters grow in this isolation and benefit from being alone. Lea is not one of those characters. Her fixation on killing the Da Vias becomes rather irritating as she continuously thinks about it throughout the book, yet makes no real success to achieve her goal. When she did have a supporting cast, the characters were either flat or unlikeable. Another annoying factor was the romance. After being betrayed by her true love, one would think Lea is done with love, but no. She falls in love with the first boy who shows her a shred of kindness and continues to draw out a long repetitive relationship. Although the Ahier created an amazing world with gods and goddesses, the setting is overshadowed by how stagnant the plot and characters can be. I give this 420 page book 3.5 stars.
There is no doubt Lea is smart and skilled. She hails from the most powerful Family and boasts impressive killing skills, but she is broken by the death of her family and the betrayal of her lover. Filled with guilt and rage, she bears the deaths of her loved ones on her shoulders, inhibiting her actions and causing her to make stupid mistakes. As she walks on her path of vengeance, she eventually realizes there may be more to her life than revenge.
Assassin’s Heart was a surprisingly good read. I went into this book with exceedingly low expectations, so this mediocre story seemed satisfying. The book had a great start. Ahier painted an alluring world of power struggles and bloodshed that was enhanced by a moving plot. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The plot slows down immensely as it continues and comes to a near standstill midway through the book. Although, there are a couple fight scenes to keep the story mildly interesting, the plot remains stagnant while Lea continues to make series of poor decisions. Lea isn’t inherently a bad character, but she isn’t given a good supporting cast. Due to the aforementioned family deaths, Lea is essentially isolated. Some characters grow in this isolation and benefit from being alone. Lea is not one of those characters. Her fixation on killing the Da Vias becomes rather irritating as she continuously thinks about it throughout the book, yet makes no real success to achieve her goal. When she did have a supporting cast, the characters were either flat or unlikeable. Another annoying factor was the romance. After being betrayed by her true love, one would think Lea is done with love, but no. She falls in love with the first boy who shows her a shred of kindness and continues to draw out a long repetitive relationship. Although the Ahier created an amazing world with gods and goddesses, the setting is overshadowed by how stagnant the plot and characters can be. I give this 420 page book 3.5 stars.