The Assassin's Curse

Silk gowns and pirate boots!

This is a gem of a novel with all the desired accoutrements.
A strong, coltish female lead, a disfigured deadly stranger of the shadows, deep running magical plots, self-centered attractive women of ethereal slenderness and magical mayhem, and attendant invasive worlds. Great!
Our star is Ananna a pirate captain’s daughter who absconds rather than make a marriage of alliance with the son of a rival pirate clan.
Strangely thoughtful, Ananna has all of a young adult’s attendant awkwardness as she strives to workout her destiny.
I loved the description of her in her silk marriage dress and clunky pirate boots fleeing the wedding proposal with requisite camel.
Her refusal to the marriage means death by assassin. show more
‘Oh really!’ seems to be Ananna’s response.
She is a thief and a fighter who leaps from one situation to another, that she might later regret.
Throughout the story we are treated to her internal dialogue, liberally sprinkled with her pirate captain father’s advice and memory of her water magic mother’s abilities.
Ananna of course had no magic of her own.
So we have a wealth of situations, interesting characters, camels, deserts, magical islands and oh so much more.
Totally enjoying and now I’m craving the next installment!

A Netgalley ARC show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: An amazing world filled with pirates, a secret society of assassin’s, and magic beyond your imagination.

Opening Sentence: I ain’t never been one to trust beautiful people, and Tarrin of the Hariri was the most beautiful man I ever saw.

The Review:

There are many fantasy books out there, each claiming to be an adventure worth the read. Folks, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke is one of those books. Clarke is a debut author for 2012 and she has done a fantastic job. The Assassin’s Curse is a spectacular story about pirates and assassins. When I started to read this, I was in the middle of a reading funk, and boy did Clarke bring me out of that instantaneously. Within the show more first few pages, I was hooked.

Ananna of the Tanarau belongs to a famous family, daughter of a pirate lord rich beyond his years. For Ananna, her dreams extend to the future adventures of becoming a captain of her own ship, feeling the wind and sailing the seven seas. Her father, on the other hand, has different plans. Ananna is arranged to be married to Tarrin, a boy of another famous pirate family, the Hariri. Definitely not one to be swayed by her dreams and goals, Ananna escapes and runs away from her impending (doom of a) marriage.

Ananna is on the run, from the Hariri family, and now from Naji, an assassin hired by the Hariri. Shame will not tarnish the Hariri name, and they have pulled dark favors for the assassin society to come after Ananna. Fortunately for Ananna, a strange predicament has put Naji in a partnership with Ananna, honoring something older them both. They must learn to trust each other, as well as protect each other, before a curse catches up to them both.

Ananna is the star of this show, no question. Her voice, her morals, and her personality is what drew me in. Ananna is a feisty heroine, showing strength and bravado at every page. She is courageous and tenacious, and has smarts and wit to match. Ananna is young and a bit reckless, but makes up for it with her loud personality. I mean, she stands up to an assassin! Who does that?

Naji is amazing. He is the balance to Ananna’s loud personality. Where she is feisty and reckless, he is filled with calm and tranquility. His upbringing has taught him well, even for an assassin. He is filled with mystery and can be described as enigmatic, but that doesn’t stop Ananna from seeing into his soul. Naji’s impossible curse is what brings out his character. Enduring such a thing and still following what he believes in. He is much more than just an assassin.

Clarke’s world is fantastic. I cannot fangirl enough over the amount of detail that she put in The Assassin’s Curse. She has gone above and beyond creating a story with a strong heroine and a male protagonist. She has allowed the reader to fully immerse themselves into the world of magical curses, enigmatic assassins, and vivacious pirates. The dialogue flows like the water Clarke talks about, and the writing, perfect.

There is a kinship and a friendship that develops, whether out of survival means or something else, but it’s subtle. There isn’t much that I didn’t like about this story, and Clarke has made me into an instant fan. There are funny moments that had me laughing out loud and moments where I couldn’t stop crying. I was fully invested into the lives of Ananna and Naji, and I think it says a lot about Clarke’s amazing skill.

Notable Scene:

First thing I saw was the crew clambering down a sleek metal folding ladder, brandishing their swords and their pistols – ‘cause of course a fancy clan like the Harris would have gotten their greedy hands on some hand cannons. Sh**.

Second thing I saw was Naji, screaming words I didn’t understand, his eyes like two stars.

Third thing was Naji’s twin, a man in a cloak and carved armor, galloping through the smoke on a horse as black as night.

Those three things, they were all I needed to see. I lifted up my sword and screamed words of my own, all my rage and fear and shame at having killed Tarrin.

Then I ran into the fight.

FTC Advisory: Strange Chemistry provided me with a copy of The Assassin’s Curse. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke is the author's debut novel, out on October 2nd from Strange Chemistry, the new YA imprint of Angry Robot Books. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this novel from the publisher for review purposes.

The (slightly truncated because spoilers) blurb from the publisher:

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together. 

First things first: this is a great book. The blurb ticks a lot of boxes of awesome (pirates, assassins, show more hilarious curses) and the book itself did not disappoint.

Annana is a 17 year old pirate, born and raised by her parents on a pirate ship. When she runs away from a marriage to a stupid pretty boy, her plan is to eventually get herself a ship (or a place on one to start) and return to her normal life. Instead, she's stuck with Naji, an assassin, protecting her when she can look after herself well enough. If she wanders too far from him or gets into any danger, even the sort she can no trouble getting out of, he feels physical pain.

The interplay between the two characters was very interesting. They both end up protecting each other. Naji, particularly, needs more help from Annana than one might expect from a member of a secret order of magical assassins. Annana is mostly happy to fend for herself but is stuck with Naji and doesn't actually wish him harm since he's stopped trying to assassinate her. I liked that Annana can fight with a sword or knife competently and that this makes perfect sense (because she's a pirate).

One thing in this book that really made me happy was Annana wanting to be captain of her own ship one day. I mean, on the face of it, it's not unusual, but in the story world it is unusual for a woman to captain a ship. Better yet, she is keen to learn navigation and maths and she's competent at these things when she learns them and enjoys them and this made me squee. Far too often, especially in non-SF books, characters (and, quite frankly, real people) say things like "oh, I don't like/understand/know maths!" without considering the implications. Maths is useful and important and, as delightfully emphasised by Clarke, essential to certain tasks, like navigating a ship across the sea/ocean. <3

The Assassin's Curse is set in a fantasy land, partly in a sort of deserty Arabian area, partly on a ship and partly on a northern island. The settings are broad and given the context, I was glad to see that the people were mostly shades of brown (as opposed to white people in the desert for no logical reason).

The only thing that I didn't love about this book was that it took a little while for Annana's voice to feel natural. Written in first person, there were a few times near the start where it felt a little bit awkward, but not for any definite reason I could put my finger on. She talks like a pirate (think Mal from Firefly or Jack Sparrow with less "Yarr!") and by about half way through, I felt like her voice had settled into a rhythm and I didn't notice it anymore. In any case, it definitely didn't detract from the story itself.

This is an excellent debut and a great YA novel. I recommend it to all lovers of fantasy, YA and adult. Although it's on the short side for an adult book, I still feel adult fantasy readers would enjoy it. It's also a good place to start if you're looking for a less conventional setting.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads. show less

Not the book I expected, though still fun.

When I read the first five pages online, I thought this was going to be a book about a canny pirate girl trying to negotiate what she wanted out of her life and marriage and plans. I should've read six pages, because on the sixth page, she bolts from all of that. (And, to be honest, that was a problem for me, because her sudden fleeing from her life didn't really have enough justification to be a thing I was cheering for, rather than a brattish fit of temper.)

The first-person narration was a highlight of this book; the heroine has a strong voice with just enough flavour, and an excellent line in showing, not telling, how she was really feeling. The plot trips along nicely, and I found the show more relationship with The Boy to be believable and charming and interesting.

But to be honest, there's nothing that really leaps out as amazing about this book. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think it will linger in the memory. show less

Short but sweet. A real pleasure to read, with a heroine that stole my heart and ran away with it. It's not a perfect book - I suspect a better editor could have really bumped it up to the next level - but it's fun and charming and sparkles with personality.

The heroine, Ananna, is quintessentially puckish. She's a firecracker, a rapscallion, a troublemaker, an imp. She's a pirate's daughter, with a pirate's skills - thieving and fighting and trickery, and that's about it. When her parents decide to marry her off to a perfectly nice boy with a ship of his own, Ananna decides she'll have none of it and she takes off. Normally this would irritate me, because it's a thoughtless thing to do. Even if Ananna is scrappy enough to stay alive on show more the streets, she's cutting herself off from the sea and then, to make things worse, the jilted Hariris send an assassin after her.

But Ananna is impulsive and she doesn't care about rules, so even if ditching her fiancé wasn't the smartest thing to do, it was absolutely in character. When the assassin sent to kill her attacks, she ends up saving his life instead (this scene didn't strike me as particularly believable, but I didn't care - I was along for the ride). Turns out that this assassin, Naji, has been cursed to eternally protect the next person to save his life, which is inconvenient for both of them.

Almost from the moment Naji appears on the scene, he and Ananna drop everything to go searching for a cure to this curse. This kind of plot can go awry pretty easily, as it consists almost entirely of batting the characters around like the balls in a pinball machine - go here for the answer, no, go there, no, somewhere else, with the characters rushing around in a way that grows increasingly dissatisfying to moi, the reader.

And I admit, there's a little of that going on here. But I didn't care. I just wanted to spend more time with Ananna and Naji, to see them bicker, to chart their growing trust in one another, to enjoy the world - it's a fun place to explore, with a pirate state and magical islands and a towering Empire somewhere in the distance. Or maybe it's only fun when seen from Ananna's point of view, because she manages to make dirty hotel rooms and cold nights on damp beaches sound entertaining, or at least tolerable. Can you tell I just love this girl? If she were real, I'd invite her out for a drink.

While the book doesn't end on a cliffhanger, neither does it offer a whole lot of closure. THE ASSASSIN'S CURSE is clearly the beginning of a series & I, for one, will be thrilled to read the next installment. show less

Well considering my condition lately, I'd say this book must be pretty special if I was able to read it in two days. Granted it was smallish, only about 270 pages, but the book was small, too, but really it was the story. I loved the characters and when you love the characters, for me, you love the story. You jump right in with both feet into the heart of the trouble, Ananna (hated that I could never figure out how to pronounce her name) is in the middle of being handed over to be married off in a deal between two pirate clans. She's 17 and yeah, the guy is cute, but Ananna is INDEPENDENT! She wants her own ship and this guy is not gonna let her be INDEPENDENT or even independent. So what does Ananna do? What any self respecting pirate show more does, she steals a camel and high tails it out of there!

Of course, that's when the real trouble starts. The Hariri clan, the clan she was supposed to marry into, is pissed off and they send an assassin after her. Some magic happens in unexpected places and all the sudden she and the assassin Naji are bound to each other. Or rather, he's bound to her. The rest of the story is their adventure to find a cure to his "curse".

Now Naji is a bit of an enigma. Sometimes you get a glimpse of the boy he must have been before he became a Jadorr'a, joined the Order. He seems good and as if he might even like Ananna. But then his mask goes back on, figuratively speaking and he's this hardened assassin who practices blood magic and who everyone but Ananna is scared of. But that doesn't mean she's immune to his mercurial moods. As soon as he drops his guard and she sees that kinder side, she warms to him. Then quick as a snake strike, he wounds her with his words again. It's painful sometimes. I hope we get to hear the story from his side in the next book. He is much more refined than Ananna, but he isn't the big hero you'd expect. He has his butt saved many times by Ananna which I loved! He never gets macho about it though and I like that about him.

And then there's Ananna, Ms. Independent. Her language is coarse. She's a pirate, born and raised on a pirate ship. She has a very little of water magic in her being mostly practical, but those are the skills that keep her and Naji alive. She can wield a sword, make a fire, catch and clean fish, find water, and build shelter. Oh and she's the best thief in the Empire! She also can talk her way in or out of just about anything. Except this curse. She is undereducated in comparison to Naji when it comes to University, but she more than compensates for it in practical matters. I love how she saves Naji over and over and takes care of him, but she never thinks the lesser of him for it. I totally love her character!

I think this is a really fantastic debut! These are some of the best characters I've seen in YA fiction this year. Completely flawed yet totally lovable. Strong, guarded, stubborn, independent. All these words could fit both characters. And then the various adventures they go on are icing on the cake. Yes, this is definitely a series. But it's not a cliffhanger ending. Still, I can't wait for the next one to come out. You definitely want to read this one!

I received an ARC of this novel from Strange Chemistry for an honest review. I received no compensations for my review. All opinions in this review are my own. show less

The Assassin's Curse is not your typical young adult fantasy novel. First of all, it's set in a distinctly non-European world and features multiple people of color - no whitewashing! In fact, the white northerners are described as savage barbarians; I'm not sure if this is progress exactly, but at least it's different. The worldbuilding is rich and evocative, though there's still quite a bit of mystery surrounding the Otherworld - a strange, magical, alternate realm.

In addition, The Assassin's Curse stands out because of the relationship between the main characters, Ananna and Naji. In most young adult fantasy novels I've read, the heroine is overflowing with romantic attention. Here, Ananna's unrequited feelings came as an unexpected show more and refreshing surprise. I'm interested to finally read a story where the heroine has to win over the hero instead of vice versa.

But the real reason why I enjoyed The Assassin's Curse so much is Ananna herself. Though she struck me impulsive and irresponsible at first, I soon came to love her confidence and strength of will. Ananna doesn't take any crap, and she ends up rescuing Naji just as many times as he rescues her. I also love that Ananna isn't pretty. In contrast to the thousands of novels written about beautiful people, this story is about a girl who knows she's not beautiful and does whatever the f*** she wants anyway. In contrast to Naji's crippling insecurity about his appearance, Ananna accepts herself just the way she is.

Even so, Ananna still has plenty of flaws. In particular, she unfairly stereotypes beautiful people as stuck-up and spoiled, a viewpoint that is understandable from her perspective and adds layers to her characterization. The problem I have with this is that the stereotype is reinforced in the novel by the evil ex-girlfriend Leila, and Ananna's presumption that all beautiful people are selfish and shallow is totally confirmed. The treatment of beautiful people in the novel is similar to the way racial stereotypes have been reversed; it's effective in helping us recognize the disparities in our own culture, but it's also simplistic. By merely reversing which group of people is looked down on, it feels like an opportunity has been missed to overcome prejudice and confront these issues in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Despite my minor disappointments, I found The Assassin's Curse surprisingly entertaining and different. Even though the plot is mostly spent traveling, it moves along at a decent pace, and the imaginative setting drew me in from the start. But, ultimately, it's the characters that kept me glued to the page. I fell in love with Ananna and can't help rooting for her to succeed. I'm definitely going to pick up The Pirate's Wish to see how the story concludes. show less