The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Reading Level: Ages 14 and up
Paperback: 320 Pages
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Genre: Fantasy/Pirates

The Assassin's Curse Series
Book One: The Assassin's Curse
Book Two: The Pirate's Wish (6/4/13)

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Amazon Summary:

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

My Review:

I was a little skeptical as to whether I would like this book or not, because A. I've never read a book about pirates before and B. I'm really picky about accents. But since The Assassin's Curse was in the, "Customers who bought this item also bought" box for one of my favorite books of all time, Throne of Glass, I thought that I would give it a chance.

The Assassin's Curse was a mediocre read for me. Since, I've never read any other book that was based on on a pirate storyline before, I didn't have many expectations. It was a test trial of sorts to see if I would enjoy this theme as much as I've enjoyed stories about vampires and werewolves. Sadly, it was more of a mehhh read. Here's why.

The protagonist, Ananna, was everything you would expect a daughter of a feared and well known pirate to be. She was headstrong, skilled with knives, and knew how to pilfer without raising the slightest suspicion. However, as I said in the intro paragraph I have a huge problem with accents. I mean, I don't mind a unique phrasing of words or some slang, but Ananna's pirate accent took away from my overall enjoyment of the novel. In the beginning, it was very noticeable and I had to reread things over, because I was paying way too much attention to the phrasing of words, rather then the actual content. But as the story progressed, it became less noticeable and I could barely tell the difference in the end! However, if you have a major problem with accents, this book might not be suited for you. Anyways back to the protagonist, I liked her for most of the time. She was reckless and was more of a make do and winging it type of person, then a think things through kind of gal. There were a couple times throughout the novel, that she made some stupid decisions. Like when Naji specifically told her not to do something, she would do it anyways. Overall, she was an alright character. Not amazing, but not facepalm worthy either.

Naji wasn't exactly what I was expecting him to be. I presumed that he was some sort of dark, broody, bad boy who didn't care about the rules. In the beginning, he fit all my expectations. He made quite an entrance when he first appeared in the book, and I immediately wanted to know more about the world of Assassins and who they really were. However, as the novel progressed, I made him out to be more self conscious than I originally thought he was. If you've read the book you would know that he has a disfigurement, and throughout the whole book he constantly tries to hide it. Alot of times he's just some lovesick boy, and even more of the time he's the one that needs Ananna's protection. Not the other way around.

Now that I just rambled a boatload about the main characters, let's move onto the romance. If your a romance lover who thinks this is some sort of star crossed lovers story, your wrong. There's almost no romance at all in this book, barely even the beginnings of a friendship really. And the romance that was there felt one sided, like the other person didn't reciprocate his/her feelings. I didn't believe the connection that they supposedly had either. One character in particular made it very clear at times, that all they wanted to do was break the curse and get rid of the other.

The main part I was most excited for in The Assassin's Curse, was the worldbuilding and the legends behind the Assassins and the Curse. The worldbuilding was fairly decent. It didn't give too much information, but I still knew what the scene looked like. I enjoyed learning about the desert, and the setting reminded me alot of Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst. However, even though I liked the worldbuilding, the stories behind the Assassins and the Curse itself, didn't satisfy me. She left alot of questions unanswered, and we never even found out where the Curse originated from, until the last 20% of the novel.

The action was pretty well paced. Every time I started to get bored, something new and exciting drew my attention. I mean, the beginning scene starts off with Ananna making a quick getaway on a camel. Can't get much better then that. xD

Overall, if you enjoy good worldbuilding and don't mind accents much, then I encourage you to pick up this novel today! :)

Heroine- 3/5
Comedy- 2/5
Action- 4/5
Overall- 3/5