Age of Assassins

This was an incredibly enjoyable read from start to finish. Well-written, excellently paced, and full of twists and turns I didn't see coming. I think more work is needed to add depth to characters, namely more of a backstory, but I still found myself cheering for and cursing them along the way. World-building is solid, but could be fleshed out a bit more. Everything I read was interesting but I spent much of the book wishing I knew more about this world, its history, its magic-system, its politics and geography. But these are things we get from well-established authors of fantasy... and given this is an earlier book, it absolutely blows me away. I've read Barker before, but the solidness of this series just added him to my list of show more "always read his books."

Definitely read it. show less

Fun debut. I love fantasy books about people being trained in their craft, especially martial combat. It's a genre of fantasy that I really enjoy, as its far more pleasant than reliving my own high school memories. Age of Assassins doesn't quite fit the genre because by the time the protagonist arrives in his training, he's already been trained as an assassin for years and is just pretending to be a squire-student, but it has the same feel.

This is a coming-of-age story about Girton Club-foot, apprentice assassin. Girton's a likable character and I enjoyed reading the story as seen, and experienced, through his eyes. However...
The story told in this book--and others I've read recently--relies upon supporting characters, and even Girton himself, acting in a manner that is not particularly normal. Girton's written in the vein of a Modesitt character, by which I mean, everybody else knows what's going on except poor ol' Girton, Club-foot king of the clueless. All the characters around him know things and are surprised when Girton doesn't, despite the fact that these characters never take the opportunity to mention/discuss the things causing the surprises with Girton at any show more point in time. It's all rather hard to explain if you haven't read the book (or books, if you haven't read any Modesitt stories, either).
Anyway, it wasn't bad, and I'll probably read the next in the series, but I just tire of these types of stories with their characters who are somewhat selectively intelligent in furtherance of the plot.
I give the book show less

Mystery

If you take away the fantasy aspect and the magic, you're left with a classic murder mystery, kind of like Agatha Christie. (In fact, there's a Q and A at the end of the book and the author says this.) It's even a kind of locked room mystery, where the suspected assassin is presumed to be already inside the heavily-guarded castle.

An assassin and her apprentice are hired by the queen to find out who wants to kill her son, the heir to the throne. So our assassins are trying to catch another assassin. They would be the best for the job, right?

In all of this, there are lots of politics at play, and a religious regime that prohibits magic. There were sorcerers that basically killed parts of the land, turning it into a wasteland. So show more anyone who is suspected of magic is killed by the religion police at these wastelands in hope of making these areas arable again. There is a caste system as well. There are the upper class, the working class, and the servant / slave caste.

The mystery is good, with a lot of twists and revelations. The main characters are interesting, and I'm curious to see what comes next. show less

Book 1 of Wounded Kingdom. "Follows Girton Clubfoot, a young apprentice assassin, who must uncover a plot against the heir to the Tired Lands while undercover in a castle. Together with his master, Merela Karn, Girton navigates political intrigue and dangers to protect the prince, ultimately uncovering truths that force him to mature and question his world." Girton faces bullying while posing as a spy. Liked his intelligence and capabilities as an assassin and I think the plot to uncover the mystery was alright. Liked the friendship with Rufra. Felt like the setting was very bleak.

It took me such a long time to get through this.

But the story. Ugh. It has everything I like. Is it perfect? No but to me the best stories aren't. They are amazing despite the flaws or even because of the flaws. I just really enjoyed this and even the audiobook is amazing. In the end I'm glad I got to experience both.

Ugh so good. So good.

I finished this on second attempt, but it involved much clenching of teeth and sighing. Don't get me wrong - this isn't a terrible book, it's just not for me. I was bored, I didn't enjoy the narrative voice and I resented some of the plot choices. I can see why plenty of others love it, but it left me wondering if I should just avoid books about assassins (as I rarely seem to respond well to them).