Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Viper and the Urchin series. Right now there are six books in this series. I borrowed this book for Kindle through Kindle Unlimited.

Story (3/5): This story starts out pretty slow, things don’t actually get moving until about 50% through the story and then the action is non-stop. This is about an assassin named the Viper and a young urchin named Rory. When Rory helps out the Viper, she finds out his most embarrassing secret. Rory ends up blackmailing the Viper; if he will train her in combat, then she will keep his secret. Things start to go sideways and Rory and the Viper end up in a plot to save the ruler of Damsport.

As I said the story started slow, but it sounded like it was going to be a bit different from your typical fantasy story. As it continued it picked up pace but turned into a more typical “save the kingdom from destruction” type of story.

Characters (3/5): I actually really disliked Rory and the Viper at the beginning of the story. Rory made some really stupid decisions that hurt her a lot. The Viper was just overly silly. As the story went on I grew to like them a bit more. Rory and the Viper are starting to develop a better working relationship by the end of the story as well. I am guessing as the series continues these characters will grow and become a bit more likable. However, for now I could have taken or left them.

Setting (4/5): The story takes place in Damsport, a pretty typical fantasy-like city with some steampunk vibes. There is a little effort made to place Damsport in the broader world and give it some history. I enjoyed the city and the steampunk overtones, but hope the rest of the world is built out better in future books.

Writing Style (3/5): The writing here is okay. It’s easy to read and fairly engaging but the pacing could use some work. I almost stopped reading it because the beginning was so slow, then a ton of things happened in the last half of the book. Hopefully, Jeanjean learned from this book and makes the pacing more consistent in later books in the series.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an okay steampunk fantasy read. I thought the first part was boring and didn’t really like the characters, but as things progressed the characters started to grow on me and I got more interested in the world. I am unsure right now if I will continue with this series. I have some other series I want to read first, but if I start thinking about this one again I might go pick up the 2nd book later. ( )

The Viper and the Urchin is a rollicking good tale which grabs you by the collar and sweeps you through the grimy streets of Damsport with humour and nail-biting danger. Its heroine, Rory, is a small scrawny urchin, scraping a living by theft and deception, who makes an unlikely alliance with the elegant Viper, an assassin who uses only poison on his victims and takes pride in his art.

When Longinus, the Viper, questions Rory’s behaviour, “You are coarse, you swear, and worse, you are grammatically incorrect,” she responds correctly, “Well I’m supposed to be, aint I? You’re the laconic assassin. I’m the cheeky urchin. That’s how it works.”

There are several other vibrant characters too, such as Cruikshank, the engineer who has designed a large mechanical spider to transport them up walls & over roofs, the Old Girl or Marchioness of Damsport who rules the state and the Scarred Woman, a mysterious swordswoman whom Rory wishes to emulate.

The city environment is vividly described, dirty and crowded with Banyan trees sprouting out of cracks in the radiating streets. I could visualise the Varanguards, costumed in the style of Varan, a dancer who hid knives in her hair, wearing horsehair ponytails as part of their helmets. And I would love to board Crazy Willy, the wild beast of a steam coach which races through the streets each night.

This exciting story contains all the essential ingredients of a fantastic steam-punk adventure, including a tough but vulnerable heroine, an intriguing companion, an evil foe and even a vague suggestion of a romantic interest. It is the first book of The Bloodless Assassin Mysteries and I am very much looking forward to the publication of the next one.
( )

Imagine: a steampunk world with tidy Victorian houses and parlours. Ladies in elegant dresses with matching parasols. And gloomy secrets lurking in the hearts of brooding, handsome, downright charming rascals, who are maybe screwed bounty killer.
Have you envision it?
Fine. This is not that story.

There is an assassin, a skilful, deadly assassin, but be assured Longinus is far from what you’re thinking. He is so socially inadequate he is endearing. But there are secrets in his past he’s unwilling to share with anyone, even with the reader. Dark things we only just glimpse… and sure left me wanting more.
And what about his forced companion, Rory? An elegant lady? Far from it. She’s a street devil who’s blackmailing him in order to force him to teach her swordplay.
Er.. yes, I’m afraid Rory isn’t quite the lady.

And the city of Damsport? Not your average London-like city either. This is a tropical steampunk city, where coaches go dump in the night and monkeys ask you for the fair.

In this unlikely place, this ill-assorted pair gets caught up in a political plot that is clearly more complex than the story lets through at this point. There are secrets to be discovered and dealt with and a political intrigue that boils under the surface, ready to explode. And I truly loved the sense of history in there, the sensation that this place an people came to this predicament because things had happened in the past and are still happening.

Read it! It’s fun. ( )

Let me just say that I pretty much fell in love with Longinus from the synopsis alone. An assassin who’s afraid of blood? I knew from that moment that this was a book I needed to read.

Well, Longinus, and the book, did not disappoint. In fact, I’d say they both exceeded my expectations. Right from the opening pages, I was sitting there grinning like a fool as Longinus performs one of his famed assassinations–with all its unexpected flair. He is a man with a muse, and when the muse speaks, one must always listen, even while offing hapless victims, it seems.

He is also a man of refinement, and of unabashed self-importance who’s not afraid to show open contempt for those whom he deems beneath him, which, incidentally, is almost everyone. That kind of snobbery is incredibly entertaining, and so the bulk of my reading experience was me lounging around, giggling and grinning and thoroughly enjoying pretty much every minute of this novel.

Yet Longinus isn’t the only protagonist of the story—he shares that honor with Rory, a scrappy young urchin gal who’s got about as much refinement as a mud-clad goat. Story magic happens when these two characters are thrown together to create a dynamic that’s both entertaining as well as touching. Because beneath Longinus’ bluster and Rory’s sarcastic sass are two characters with great big hearts, who are just trying to survive in a rather cruel world as best they can.

I feel like a subtitle for this book should be “Rise of the Underdogs” or something like that, because that’s pretty much what this story is. It’s a story of two downtrodden characters and their struggle in life—both against their own personal demons as well as against all the crap the world throws at them. And in a city like Damsport, there’s definitely a lot of crap being flung around (figuratively, of course, though I’d not be surprised if it also happened literally—Damsport just seems like that kind of place).

Now, I’m not always a fan of city settings, and perhaps less so of tropical ones, so that was probably my biggest reservation when I started reading this book. But it works. And I think it works partially from the imaginative steampunk elements (Crazy Willy was just brilliant), as well as the evocative descriptions that anchor you in the story. Whether it was running along the rooftops with Rory, or struggling to navigate through a crowded market—I felt like I was there, and it was a city I’d never seen before, and that’s pretty magical.

All in all, a very enjoyable book. It’s funny, it’s endearing, and it’s well worth a read.

**I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.** ( )