Death Sworn

Killing is bad, and although Ileni has accepted that she is destined to die in the caves she is heading to too, she still struggles with the fact that the caves are filled with assassins. Who kill without remorse. As Ileni searches for the killer of her two predecessors, she struggles with her beliefs. With what she has always trusted as the truth, as Right. Can she hold onto her beliefs or as she comes to know these assassins, will her views change? Will she embrace the power offered to her in these caves or will she find a different path?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Ileni takes us on an adventure of mystery, love, and self-awareness. With an ending leaving you wanting to find out... what next!

Fantasy fans prepare to have your hunger sated. Death Sworn managed to hit all the high notes for me without nary a fumble!

Magic and Sorcerers and Assassins, Oh my!
In this world people are born with magic, almost as if it's a byproduct created within themselves, filling them up and just begging to be used. But in most this is something that's not permanent and completely disappears once they are past puberty. Those individuals that pass tests determining their magic to be permanent are taken from their families and placed into an isolated school environment to prepare them for life as sorcerers. Indeed it seems society in this world is split into varying different classes. The two focused on in Death Sworn are the assassins and show more sorcerers. Though they all live in the same country, ruled by the same tyrannical Empire, they couldn't be a more different sect of people. One favoring non violence and the other, well obviously are deathly violent.

A fantasy world I can't get enough of!
From the opening pages I was completely immersed in this world. Gobbling up each new tidbit about the different classes, the supposed evil empire, and the magic as well as the assassin's culture, I finished this little gem in one sitting. While plenty was revealed to get me hooked you have to keep in mind the entire book pretty much takes place in underground caves where the assassins live and train. Due to this we readers don't see much of the world other than what is described by the characters. The heroine, Ileni, is sent there to be a magic tutor for the assassins and this sets up the perfect opportunity for readers to learn things both through her students and from the things Ileni herself discovers about the assassins. Above all the driving plot points were Ileni's failing magic and discovering who it was that murdered the two previous tutors she had been sent to replace.

Tension to walk a tightrope on!
When you are in a situation where you can trust no one, and at any moment there might be an attempt on your life, you can bet your sweet cheeks you'd be as paranoid as our young heroine Ileni. Essentially cast out from the only life she has known, because it was discovered her magic was failing and would leave her forever she has become expendable. What better use to put her to then to send her to teach assassins in magic that her people really don't want them to know a thorough use of anyway? She at times despairs over the loss of her magic but never lets that completely rule her. She has a mission to complete whether she is expected to actually accomplish it or not she is determined to do all that she can, even if it costs her life. She was definitely a heroine I could totally get behind. Indeed I loved her characters. She was a stubborn, strong willed survivor.

You look deadly enough to eat!
Of course women love dangerous men, and Sorin is nothing if not that. I dare say I think danger must be synonymous with sexual charisma. Now that isn't what you'll get with Sorin. Am I disappointing you? He isn't all charisma, quite the opposite in fact. He's cold, he's aloof, yet frequently close at all times, and embodies such graceful violence yet would as soon slit your throat rather than kiss you. Doesn't that just make him all the more yummy sounding? To a teenage girl I'm sure that would. So you're thinking now, 'oh another bad boy' right? Wrong - for his people he is good, one of the best students they have. Obedient and loyal to his Master to a fault. But to Ileni, he is a wicked incarnation of all the things her people consider abhor. An exquisite recipe for tormented and forbidden love if I do say so myself.

With Magic, Mystery, oodles of death and violence, not to mention a healthy dose of tormented romance, Death Sworn has me counting the months until I can get my eyes on the next book! show less

Another impulse read, and well, it's left some very mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the text is riveting. Ileni's struggles are very real; the danger she's steeped in, very poignant. Given a task that most see as amounting to a death sentence, she manages to blunder through, not generally elegantly or subtly, but with a panic and urgency that captivates.

Plot wise, if you read the back cover, everything plays out as expected. Not many surprises there, maybe one or two.

It's this latter point, but mostly the leaden feeling left by the end of the book that questions whether to brave the sequel. Touching on a messy area of preemptive war and the ethics of assassination and calculated sacrifice, Death Sworn really drives home the bleakness show more of destruction in the dynamic between Ileni and he who is her only friend, Sorin.

Romantic fulfillment? Eh. Star-crossed lovers? Not really. Two individuals forced to sacrifice for their different paths? Perhaps a bit more like that.

Essentially, it can be a quick, yet draining read, without much emotional benefit to be reaped for the effort.

Understandably, it is a first of three books, so...things might perk up. Maybe. show less

I've been a fan of Leah Cypess's writing since her 2009 release Mistwood, and picked up Death Sworn expecting interesting world building, intrigue, a subtle romance, and a hint of magic. On most of these points, Death Sworn did not disappoint.

We follow Ileni, a sorceress who has had her life torn away from her with the loss of her magic. Resigning herself to banishment and certain death in the assassin's caves, she wavers between fatalistically accepting her fate and struggling to survive another day. Surrounded by enemies, her main companion is Sorin, the handsome assassin assigned by his master to protect her while she performs her duties. Sorin views the Assasin's Caves as his salvation from a life on the streets and is devoted to show more the master of assassins and his cause: the destruction of an evil empire. It's not surprising they have romantic chemistry.

I felt this relationship was pretty well done. Sorin does not get out much and lives in a cave: his primary contact with the outside world involved killing his assigned target. Ileni is literally the first woman he's been around in a while. Ileni is in constant fear from the threatening people all around her, with the handsome Sorin the only one who's invested in keeping her alive. They have belligerent sexual tension from the start. The interesting part is the clash of their very different world views: Ileni's pacifism versus Sorin's belief the ends justify the means.

As far as world building, Cypess avoids the pitfall of excessive exposition dump by filling in the backstory of the world in bits and pieces : Ileni reflects on the life she lost among the magical Renegai and Sorin mentions the empire as the source of their targets. This and the fact that the book is set entirely in the Assasin's Caves prevents a more extensive view of this original world and left me wanting more. The plot, while starting strong with an endangered Ileni with a murder mystery, drags towards the middle as she abandons the case to focus on hiding the rapid disappearance of her powers from the assassins surrounding her. She also checks in to her own personal pity party a couple times. This, while understandable, slows the narrative down and feels repetitive.

As far as intrigue, the ending threw a curveball that was counter to my expectations and did a lot to redeem the slowness of the middle of the book. Ileni's character develops to a point where she finally takes action, Sorin's loyalties are tested, and the next book is set up nicely, with opportunities to further explore this particular fantasy world. I'm looking forward to it. show less

If there’s one way to win this reader’s heart, it’s assassins. I do love a good clan of assassins with all their dark looks and sword play and sneakytimes. Death Sworn has all of these lovely elements but gives them a refreshing spin by looking at them through the eyes of a mistrustful outsider. Ileni has been sent to the caves to tutor the assassin sect in magic. She has also been sent to die like her predecessors, though hopefully not before revealing their killer.

READ THE FULL REVIEW AT: http://www.shaelit.com/2014/02/review-death-sworn-by-leah-cypress/

This is a tricky one, because it's structurally so good. Like, our heroine's character arc completed its elegant curve, and I actually said out loud, "Oh, well done, author." That said, maybe it's just the YA-length constraint again, but I didn't feel like it went deep enough - or maybe hard enough - on that arc to make that technically admirable structure release all its emotional punch. So while I was tipping my intellectual hat, I wasn't feeling it deep in my bones.

But intellectual hat-tips aren't to be sneezed at, and I liked our heroine - her despair, her grit, her discoveries, her development - and I liked the romance. The world was a little thin, though the magic system was pretty great. It looks like the sequel gets out and show more explores more, so I think I'll give it a go. show less

Interesting new fantasy world, in which a young sorceress is condemned to a life underground, teaching a group of deadly assassins magic, and trying to stave off the loss of her powers as she attempts to solve a mystery.

It's a little too histrionic for me, frankly, on the drama-and-romance front, but I appreciate the strong pair of protagonists and deft murder mystery.