Assassin's Heart

On the face of it, Sarah Ahiers' ASSASSIN'S HEART is a classic vengeance story: Lea (Oleander) Saldana belongs to the first family of clippers in Lovero--highly trained assassin's whose work is in service of the dark goddess who protects their kingdom. Her privileged life is only complicated by a secret romance with a rival Da Via--until she comes home one night to find her family murdered by the Da Vias. Lea vows vengeance, promising not to rest until the Da Vias (including the boy who loved and betrayed her) are dead.

But the story is much more than just a revenge plot. Ahiers' world is rich and complex. The cities of Lovero have some of the rich and vibrant feel of Italy, but this is a world of fascinating gods and angry ghosts that haunt the dead plains between walled cities. Lea's quest for vengeance forces her to confront the limits of her abilities, her heart, and her faith.

I loved the immersive world Ahiers' wrote (though I think I'd be terrified to actually visit it). I loved the surprises and twists she threw into the story, I loved Lea's growing relationship with Les, and I was sad to leave the world as the story ended.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters (also a bit of Pitch Wars)

So, yeah, I get that I haven't posted in almost two weeks.

Part of that is because I was savoring Laini Taylor's Dreams of Gods and Monsters, which took me longer to get through than most of the books I read.

Also, I've been buried up to my eye-balls in Pitch Wars revisions. The revision has been a pretty big overhaul--my MS has gone from 90,000 words back up to 96,000 and down to 87,000--but in between all that I've cut almost 28,000 words and written 25,000--in three weeks. But I'm pretty excited about the way things are shaping up. I think I've fixed some of the major pacing problems in the story.

Ahem.

On to the review.

I've been a fan of Laini Taylor since her Fairies of Dreamdark series. But I didn't love Daughter of Smoke and Bone as much as I've loved her two most recent books. That's rare in a trilogy, for the later books to wow me more than the original one.

In this conclusion, Karou (a chimera) and Akiva (seraphim) struggle to reconcile their warring people, prevent Jael from acquiring nuclear weapons on earth, and put an end to his cruel rule (how's that for an awkwardly half-rhymed sentence?). As if that weren't enough, Taylor also introduces a new set of characters, PhD student Eliza who has (she thinks) put her family's crazy cultish history behind her, and a race of seraphim whose duty it is to protect Eretz from some unnamed threat.

As always, the stakes are high. And Taylor's prose is breath-taking. Heart-breaking.

I thought she did a terrific job of working together several very complex plotlines and keeping the pace moving forward. I was confused for a little while in the middle, but I was invested in the characters and kept reading anyway.

And if the end seemed a little drawn out and indulgent, well, Akiva and Karou earned it.