Yasmin Angoe

'Her Name Is Knight' starts with an Author's Note that reads:

"Please note this novel depicts issues of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse; parental death; human trafficking; and both physical and sexual violence. The descriptions of violence are vivid, and I have worked to approach these topics with the utmost sensitivity and respect; I wanted you to be aware in case any of the content is triggering. Please use the resources below if you need any support. One other thing:

This novel is show more about one fictional woman’s story, told concurrently during two different times of her life. During her childhood her story is in first person present tense so that you see the world and her journey through her eyes. As an adult, her story is in third person past tense to give you a panoramic view and scope of what this kick-ass assassin can do."

I read it, shrugged and moved on. mostly because I wanted to be entertained by seeing "...what this kick-ass assassin can do".

The opening chapter is labelled AFTER and features Nena as an experienced assassin on a mission to kill. It was slick, fast, loaded with violence and with nasty people doing nasty things. It showed me what Nena could do. The third-person account kept things at a distance that allowed me to watch the violence with a little dispassion. The action visuals were all in High Def but the emotional soundtrack was intentionally muted. Even so, there was enough reflection from Nena to show that she was suppressing her emotions by letting herself be Echo, a crucial member of a skilled team, rather than Nena Knight. I was impressed.

Things changed in Chapter Four, the first BEFORE chapter. It opens like this:

"Before I became Echo, before I was Nena, I was Aninyeh. And this is my story, my recounting.

Of who I was.

Of how I came to be."

You can hear how sombre that is: confessional, regretful, unforgiving but unapologetic. I knew then that this was going to be a tougher read than I'd expected but it was well-written and I wanted to hear Aninyeh's voice so I read on, visiting with with fourteen-year-old Aninyeh in her small village in Ghana, knowing that something bad was coming.

The next few chapters alternated between BEFORE and AFTER with each visit to BEFORE becoming darker and harder to take. The AFTER chapters were also not pain-free. There was no 'Mission Impossible' gloss, just killers killing people that they'd never met but who seemed to deserve to die.

I set the book aside part way through Chapter 12, the fifth BEFORE chapter, when I realised that I should have given more weight to the trigger warnings in the Author's Note. I'd selected 'Her Name Is Knight' so I could distract myself with an entertaining thriller. Now I had waded through a brutal massacre and was about to read a graphic description of child rape. I could see that these things were not included gratuitously. I knew that the cruelty and violence being described were borrowed from reality ratherthan being a product of the author's imagination. Even so, I didn't want those images in my head.

So, to my own surprise, although the book was well-written, had an elegant stoytelling structure. a solid plot and a main character with depth and complexity, I set 'Her Name Is Knight' aside. show less

In the next to last chapter of Yasmin Angoe's debut novel, Her Name is Knight, one of the characters comments that "this is just like a f"�king movie."

Indeed. The entire novel is begging to be made into a movie and, in fact, is well-suited for just such a venue.

There's action, there's adventure, there's love, there's hate. But mostly there's revenge and the central character, Nena (AKA Aninyeh and Echo), an assassin for the Tribe, is just the bad-ass woman to serve it cold.

Not only are show more the story and characters well-worth the reader's attention, the structure of the novel, the chapter titles, the author's warning about triggers and her brief, although telling, explanation of her use of past and present tense verbs speaks to those of us who read between the lines as we search for the author's approach to her craft.

While this reviewer loved Angoe's novel and can't [XBR] wait for the second installment (yes, installment), this book and its story is not for every reader. show less

It Ends With Knight by Yasmin Angoe brings her Aninyeh/Nena/Echo trilogy to an end (or so it seems). And a fine trilogy it has been.

The story is brilliant, spanning nearly two decades, and numerous countries both of which add to the story's texture. While classified as an adult novel, this is one that might easily appeal to the Young Adult (YA) crowd who may even prove to be a more receptive audience. Of special note is the method the author uses to tell Nena's backstory and, thus, bring the show more reader up-to-date.

The central characters are multilayered and fully realized. Even the hero has feet of clay as she struggles to satisfy her role in the Tribe's Dispatch (assassin) while dealing with her demons. In fact, the darkest spirit of all poses an especially challenging conundrum for Nena as she struggles to put her weapon away in favor of developing her [XBR] political chops.

Perhaps the only nay saying this reviewer has about book three in the trilogy is that Nena's internal turmoil, while important to both the story and her depth of character, lingers too long and is too repetitive. Readers may find themselves growing impatient for Nena to take action if only to move the narrative along. show less

The writing felt very sterile and technical. I didn't connect much to Nena's narrative though there was always something interesting or horrifying going on.

The story is told through dual timelines, before Nena became a killer and after. In the before, it's through first pov, so we witness her trauma through her own words. The after is through third person pov, so there's more distance between us and Nena.

The world isn't kind to women, so there is abuse upon abuse heaped upon the page. A show more shining example is when a brother, under gun point, is asked to rape his sister. Not for the weak of heart.

There's really nothing enjoyable about this story, and I didn't feel a sense of satisfaction when Nena hardened into a killer after all the intense trauma. The before is more engaging than the after, but it's of course hard to read. I think my lack of enjoyment stems from lack of characterization. I kept being "told" things, but I didn't see it.

On that same note, I wish Nena had more bonding time with Cortland. They barely said a few words to each other, but this is the catalyst that encouraged her doubt in the Tribe? A single dad who blinked twice? They needed way more scenes together. Not gonna lie Keigel and Nena had way more chemistry. I thought Nena and Georgia's connection was handled better. show less