The Queen's Assassin

This was my first time reading a book by this author and I’m really glad that I did! I loved the concept of this book as it focuses on a female character who presents as willful, brave, determined, and appropriately flawed. She is definitely not a sympathetic character, as is the queen’s assassin, who initially presents as a bit of a rigid, unhumorous trope. However, the author continues to develop and flesh out both characters fully and makes this story heavily character-driven, which is really the type of story I can sink my teeth into best. And yet, the story is also fast-paced with enough external obstacles and twists to keep the reader engaged in the story’s plot. I highly recommend this book and author and can’t wait to read more of her work!

A boy who is trained in the art of death, sent to kill the enemies of the Queen of the Kingdom and a girl who appears as nothing more than a country girl but has been training to become apart of the Guild for years. They embark on a journey to save their kingdom from another magical war and on the way encounter friendship, deception, love betrayal and that's just between the two of them. ➽ Cal - The Queen's Assassin due to a blood oath passed from his father to him. He serves the Queen well and is accomplished in the Guild. One fatal error lands him in hot water with the general public though and he is sent to Deeria prison on a top secret mission. The kingdom of Montrice is thought to be aiding the Aphrasian uprising and it's up to him to figure out who. The stakes are high and if caught the Queen will not come to his aid. ➽ Shadow - A country girl who lives in the outskirts of the kingdom with her adoptive aunts who are Guild members like her mother, who she rarely sees due to her work at the palace. She wants nothing more than to be a Guild member, a top assassin like Caldon Holt, but her mother has other plans for her at court. While out exploring the Aphrasian Abbey one day she discovers they are once more at large and is witness to Cal's crime against the kingdom. He is sent to the top prison for his actions, which Shadow deems cruel since he was only saving her. To repay his actions and make her own dreams come true, she sets out to Deersia to help Cal escape and become his apprentice. The Queen's Assassin was odd for lack of a better term. It felt like an attempt at a debut novel, someone just getting into writing (no offense to debut authors I've read some of the best novels from debut authors). The book is told in a dual-POV, which I usually love because it's nice to know how both characters feel or what they're thinking. That being said Shadow's POV is in first person while Cal's is in third person? It kind of felt like two different books. It was jarring and made it very hard to get into the book. I've seen multiple reviews where the pacing was described as an issue, but I didn't have any problems with it. There were action scenes where there needed to be and there were quite a few slow moments, but they're on a top secret mission, there is bound to be a ton of reconnaissance. The information they found did seem to fall right into their laps though. I'd say it was more spy than assassin. There was a lack of killing and blood shed for an assassin novel. The romance had the priority here, which is fine but it should have been marketed as a romance then versus an assassin fantasy novel. The romance was front and center for the entirety of this novel. There is no hate to love trope here, but instead Cal always admires Shadow and her skills which I appreciated. It was a bit of insta-love, but I thought they had good chemistry. They were constantly teasing one another, both stubborn as hell with how they felt. They each had their own missions that held no room for love, which just caused more tension. They had some steamy moments, but it was a lot of innocent and jealous moments as well. I found Cal and Shadow endearing, I stayed for the romance plot and their interactions which I thoroughly enjoyed. The romance plot was strong while the rest of the story seemed to fall apart. Overall while I was unimpressed with a lot of the book, I enjoyed the romance along with the twist and really liked Cal and Shadow. There is a second book, since this is a duology, but I think the romance portion was sufficiently wrapped up at the end of this book and I'm happy leaving it where it ended. I don't think I'll pick it up unless the rest of the plot is overhauled and either first or third perspective is used throughout the whole book.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review. *All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.* Content Warning: Death of an animal and people, Bullying, War, Assassination, Premarital Sex, Imprisonment "He accepted it, willing himself not to hesitate, and drank of her royal blood. With that, he was bound. As was his son." The Queen's Assassin will certainly catch the eye of readers who love political maneuverings. With a rich and detailed history of how this world has come into being, revealed as the story progresses, many will love this world building. There is a lot of historical information given throughout, giving a further glimpse back in time that set up the events of the present, and what makes them important. At times, The Queen's Assassin teeters on the edge of info-dumping. Yet, all of the information given is necessary. The Kingdoms of Avantine have seen much turmoil throughout history. Before division occurred, Avantine was united under the goddess Deia. Countering her greatness was the cousin of the king of the Dellafiore dynasty—Phras. Envious of his cousin who possessed stronger magical powers, he slew him and took the throne for himself. His lust for power and magic only grew, eventually leading to his title of the Tyrant King. He confiscated any magical text found which were made into scrolls of dark magic named the Deian Scrolls. Only those appointed by the king, the Aphrasian monks, could use magic as it was otherwise forbidden in the land. Some managed to oppose the evil king. A group of witches amassed and became known as the Hearthstone Guild. They saved all the magic that they could, and dedicated themselves to keeping as much knowledge about magic as possible. When the king finally died, the land divided into Renovia, Montrice, Argonia, and Stavin. The monks, dedicated to magic only, became too powerful and began overrunning their nation's leader. At this point, the assumed-deceased line of the Dellafiores rose to power, and fought to free Renovia from the clutches of war. When he died in battle, the crown of authority was passed to his wife, along with his most trusted ally—his assassin. The Queen's Assassin starts out years after the king's passing. The son of the previous assassin is now the assigned assassin to Queen Lilianna. Caledan Holt has long ago scarified his life of normalcy. Being the best of the Guild, and bound to the Queen's bidding by his father's blood oath, he has no other choice. Caledon now must find the lost Deian Scrolls to forever eliminate the threat that the Aphrasians pose toward their kingdom since is father was unable to locate them before passing. One less distinguished, but just as passionate in the Guild, is Shadow. Although she's been brought up to be prepared for court life, she's only ever wanted to become one of the Guild. Having some magical powers of her own, Shadow has been learning to hone her skills to be useful, along with training to become an assassin—just like Caledon Holt. In a way, Shadow gets her wish, when one day she has an unlikely encounter with Caledon and he saves her from being killed. He's a hero to her, but becomes a traitor to the crown when he kills her attacker who turns out to be a prince. Caledon his carted off to an infamous prison to wait for further orders from his Queen, but things are looking grim. Shadow recognizes Caledon on his way out of town, and decides to embark on a rescue mission of her own. Shadow succeeded in ferrying Caledon out of prison, but the two are attacked on the road. Caledon realizes that Shadow is much more resourceful than he assumed, and they become a team, of sorts. The two learn along the way that there are numerous forces at play between the nations, and one in particular, incredibly sinister. However, as they spend more time with one another, an inevitable relationship buds between the assass