Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.64 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for violence) Trigger warnings: Mentions of suicide. 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. (goodreads.com) This is a book that I picked up without knowing anything about it beforehand, which is something I used to do a lot (before I became a boring old grown up) and have been trying to do more of lately. Thankfully, this book was just the thing I needed to get me out of the reading slump I’ve been in (I blame social media, because, again… boring old grown up over here). There were good things and bad about this book, interesting and boring, but it kept my interest like no other book has for the past while. In the time between reading this book and The Book of Pearl, I picked up and then DNF’d about four books, which is never a good feeling, so I was glad Assassin’s Heart grabbed my attention and refused to let go. Even if the romance was a little forced and annoying. This story is told in first person perspective, which is never my favorite, but was fairly neutral here. I didn’t feel as though it enhanced the story or took much away from it, it was simply a tool that was used. But, if I’m being completely honest, when books have a lot of action like this one does, I typically prefer third person perspective just because it can get annoying to have all of the “I stabbed with my sword” or “I did a super awesome flip” or “I punched that dude so hard his teeth fell out” and the “I did this, I did that, I’m so amazing”, etc. I thought the world building for this book was interesting. It took me a while to figure out what time period had inspired this fictional world, but eventually—because of the fashion and the weaponry—I decided that it is probably inspired by 1400s Italy. This might be partially because the author and the marketing would try to make you believe that this is a Romeo and Juliet story. Or at least a story of forbidden love. And as cool as it would be to have Romeo and Juliet as assassins, that’s no what this book is about really. It is mainly focused on the revenge storyline as well as the theology of the made up gods and ghosts of the world it takes place in. I’m a little disappointed that this was not more about a shady underworld of assassins and criminals, but I was still invested in the revenge aspect of things. Much less so in the pantheon of wacky deities (the main goddess encourages murder and another god has a priest who who wears a top hat and carries a big glowstick) the characters worship, but you get what you get. The main character, Oleander “Lea” Saldana, was pretty cool. She had lots of weapons, poisons, and a hecking lot of angst (though her angst was totally valid, all things considered). I do think I would have found her more likeable if the book hadn’t been in first person POV, but that’s the case with many books I read. It is just hard for me to get attached to first person perspective characters sometimes. I liked the other main character, Alessio, well enough, but I really wish they hadn’t shortened his name to “Les” because it looks awfully similar to “Lea” and that made things kinda confusing for my poor eyes and brain. The plot didn’t go at all in the direction I was expecting, and while sometimes that was disappointing, for the most part I still enjoyed the path it took and I was left satisfied by the ending. There is a sequel/companion novel about a different character, which I am somewhat interested in, but sometimes it’s nice to just read one book and be done with the world it is set in. So, I’m not sure if I will pick up the second one or not, but if I do then I will let you know. Thanks for reading! I’m off to go polish my bone mask. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21421609-assassin-s-heart
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