Assassin's Heart

by Sarah Ahiers

Working as an official assassin in her kingdom's highest-ranking clan, Lea pursues a forbidden relationship with a boy from a rival clan that she believes is responsible for her parents' murders.

• ISBN10: 0062363786
• ISBN13: 9780062363787
• Publish Date: 2 February 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[pagingserenity]

Overall, I liked Assassin's Heart but I didn't really love it. I don't know, the writing is intricate and detailed and captivating. And so is the world-building. But I just didn't feel anything. And yeah, that's probably partially a "me" problem - I'm not exactly the most emotional person, but still, there are a few types of events that usually can make my heart hurt or my eyes water without fail. Many of those events, a betrayal that leads to the murder of an entire family, for example, are included in this story, and yet I felt nothing when they happened.

I wasn't sold on the romantic aspects of this book either, which is also an issue given how love is a major plot driver.

TL;DR I liked this book but it fell a bit flat. I don't think I'll be reading the sequel.

[readingwithwrin]

2.5 stars

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

Initial thoughts: At its core, I found Assassin's Heart fairly entertaining but I think I'm a little more forgiving because this had the makings of a good book, albeit somehow fell short.

Linguistically, Assassin's Heart could have done with another round of editing. The whole semantics of "Family before family" and explanations of obvious meanings that could be inferred of "clipper" and "traveller" were sorely misplaced. And really, any book that gets published with, "I released a breath I hadn't known I had been holding," and "I released my own breath, not even aware I'd been holding it," slipping through surely couldn't have been ready.

Then there were the masks. They had no rhyme or reason. Each mask was unique, making it possible to identify the wearer. Might as well have tossed them. On hindsight, could this idea have stemmed from Greek theatre and worship of gods through masks? I did get that sense but maybe more time could've been spent on explaining how masks were an act of worship towards the goddess Safraella rather than superfluously explain words.

A mild morbid curiosity carried me through the audiobook. Safraella was the goddess of death and those who followed her accepted the lawful killings executed by the clippers/assassins. This means death motivated a lot of the plot. This should've made Assassin's Heart a heart-stopping book. Alas, it wasn't. There still were a few more holes that needed to be plugged. Although, the ghosts did add to the atmosphere.

Basically, I liked the idea of religion as the driving force behind every act. Motivations differed according which god someone worshipped and how much or little regard they had for any god. The whole notion of Safraella demanding deaths but granting reincarnations or resurrections gave Assassin's Heart a sinister undertone, which I thought rather original.

Too bad Lea was so incompetent at times, I really couldn't understand why she should have the favour of the gods to survive a fire that killed everyone else in her Family. Oh, and I'm glad I listened to the audiobook rather than read the words on a page — the capitalisation of Family would've driven me nuts.

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Well, I'm more than a little disappointed. Assassin's Heart has an interesting sounding premise. A girl who comes from a family of assassins, who feels little remorse for killing people? Awesome. I was intrigued as soon as I heard about it. Unfortunately, the book let me down.

First thing's first, I have to talk about the writing style. Assassin's Heart is a debut book, and in my opinion, you can definitely tell. It doesn't seem as though the author has found her voice yet. There is nothing standout about the writing, in fact I thought it was too juvenile and bland for my tastes. It was not captivating in the slightest, which is a shame, because I think better writing could have made all the difference.

I quite like the main character, Lea. She was interesting to read about, having been born into a family of assassins and then betrayed by those she loved, and then set on a journey of revenge. I really liked and appreciated how Lea wanted to avenge her family, because if I was in her shoes I would have wanted the same thing. No regrets, no guilt, and no conscience.

There was a love story that I didn't really care for. There was no chemistry there, and while I liked both of the characters involved, I just couldn't get on board. It was boring and I didn't care for it.

While it had the potential to be a great story, Assassin's Heart is full of overdone tropes that are let down by the bland writing style. Seriously, every time another trope came to light I was thinking that it HAD to be the last one, but nope. Things just kept popping up and I was rolling my eyes by the halfway point. It was all just so very meh.

Plus, a bunch of ghosts showed up at one point and I was kind of like WTF. I wasn't expecting paranormal in my fantasy novel, and this was very paranormal.

I wish Assassin's Heart had been better, I really do. If it had lived up to its premise, it could have been a great book. But unfortunately it was a giant letdown.

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights ReviewsOleander Saldana, Lea for short, is the daughter of the First Families who are clippers (assassins) and worship Safraella, a goddess of death and resurrection. These First Families are very respected and not to be messed with. One night Lea goes home to sleep then wakes up to find her house in flames and her family dead by the Da Vias, her suitor's family, a First Family who strayed from Safraella's path. Lea is seeking revenge and she won't stop until the Da Vias are dead.

Lea seemed an odd assassin for me seeing as in the first chapter she gets poisoned... Anyways, she is a really good fighter, she's very strong and she still honors what her family stood for. The characters she meets along the way added a nice touch to the story, especially Les, whose character added a fun tone to the book, in my opinion. While I do think there was some kind of insta-love with him, I still liked them together but to me, the romance wasn't something important in the story. Yes, it was...kind of present but the rest of the story, it had so much going on that I wasn't fully invested in the romance, which I was grateful for because I got to enjoy this book a lot.

This story had quite a few cliché moments that didn't help with my enjoyment of the story but overall, it was good. There could have been more to the ending since it was quite fast but apparently this is a series so I'm really hoping the second book is better and we get to read more about Lea's adventure and what's to come for her and her new-found family.

I received an eARC from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

I really like this story i got wrapped up in what was happening to Lea and was so devasted when her whole family is wiped out. It was like reading a romeo and juilet and i was so devasted by all the heartache and then the revenge that gets plotted out. It a great read to get yourself wrapped in.

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
Ah, the kind of book a mini-review was made for! You know the kind- spoilery stuff happens within the first like, 20% of the book making it nearly impossible to tell you anything else about the book? Yep, this is that stuff!

I wasn't sure about it at first, to be honest. The beginning was a little "meh" for me- not for very long, mind you, but the very beginning was a bit underwhelming, even with assassining. ("Assassining" should absolutely be a word by the way, and I am adding it to my dictionary.)

I was kind of nervous about the whole mafia-themed assassins storyline would be really unbelievable, but the way it was presented made it really work in the story. I accepted the premise behind it, so that was good. I can't say much (seriously, this may be the most impossible review to write ever), so I will just give you the vaguest bare minimum of things I liked a great deal:

• Lea is a fabulous protagonist. Coming from her background, you know she is going to be tough on the outside, but she grows a lot on the inside too during the book.


• There are a lot of other characters who were very well done. No matter if I loved them or hated them (and there were characters that I really hated), there were feelings involved. And, their motives made sense and fit with their characters.


• There were some fabulous themes running throughout the book. The one that was my favorite, and that I can definitely mention, is family, and how important it is.

The negative? Well, there were some points where I felt that things were getting a bit drawn out and repetitive. Like, we get it, you hate those guys. Let's move along now. But luckily it did move along, and I was pleased with the story as a whole.

Bottom Line: Definitely a win for me. I enjoyed the characters, plot, and world building, and I am very excited to see what happens in the next book in the series.