Wow, this book was very full on and full of action. Its great for people who like the Song of Ice and Fire series, with death, assassins, corrupt governments and seriously badass characters.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis:
In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.
Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.
Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.
Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?
Review:
This book is definitely suited at a NA audience rather than YA, despite Mia being sixteen (which I really forgot whilst reading – she seemed a lot older and mature) There is a lot of violence and graphic scenes as well as a few sex scenes and strong language, if you’re generally okay with reading this sort of content, then this book may be for you.
Mia, the main protagonist reminds me of a Manon Blackbeak crossed with Lila Bard sort of character. She has a thick past and is constantly haunted by it – it is her ammunition for her life choices concerning being an assassin.
I liked the writing style, it was quite lyrical and used a lot of imagery. But the one thing I did have a little trouble with was the use of footnoting which I did like, but it was in excess in my opinion, it disturbed the flow of reading for me. Saying that, it did thin out as the story progressed, so became less of a problem.
Mia is training to be an assassin at The Red Church – a secret assassiny place. There she learns many thing like alchemy, seduction, sword work and other very valuable skills, I’m sure. But all of this is so that Mia can avenge her family and to be ready to do it.
She has a shadow cat called Mister Kindly which feeds off of her fear and keeps certain nightmares away.
Her past is integrated as flashbacks in the novel and leaves you needing more backstory to try to understand her. She is honestly one of the strongest characters and flawed as well. The other acolytes were very well developed too, especially that there was so many of them – all of which being three dimensional. (My favourite being Tric.)
This was also full of crazy plot twists (I predicted one of them – the betrayal) This book was generally quite humourous, but it was also riddled with seriousness and I think it was a really satisfying balance.
The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell.
This book was generally really good, but I think it was a little slow to begin with, but as soon the book started to improve pace-wise, then it was very difficult to put down.
I didn’t think I would enjoy this book, but I really did, and I will admit that it did take me a little while to read the whole thing – but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Until next time,
morganbooks
morganbooksblog.wordpress.com 