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A review by renuked
The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
2.0
That was mildly disappointing. I was hoping for...well, better. As a story set in a different world, usually I enjoy the fantasy and magic of another realm. But not really this time. Plus the romance was a failure, and the plot was...bland. It was just boring.
I went into this looking for a quick short read before starting a larger book. And it was a short read, but it was still too long by my standard because it was really uneventful. After our heroine Ananna saves the life of her would be assassin, literally nothing else happens. They just leave to go on a journey to break the curse. And this journey is really slapped together. They cross a desert. The main guy almost dies. They end up at the house of his ex-lover (boo). They end up going on a sea voyage. They end up stranded on some magic islands. Yay....not really. It just took off in random directions, none of it connected and the magic wasn't even that good. Blood magic should be a lot more interesting. Some of the terms and places? They were just tossed in like a salad. The Otherworld? The Mists? The Isles of the Sky? The Confederation? The Order? The Jadorr'a? The Impossible Curse? I need more to back this stuff up! Where is the world-building!
The romance? *shudders* It was awful. Naji is one of the worst male figures I have had the misfortune to meet. He's whiny, self-interested, and cannot see past his own face. He can't even realize the lovely Ananna is in love with him. Instead he remains hung up on his ex, a superficial hag. He was weak, constantly getting sick, having Ananna rescue him. For an intense assassin, I expected someone with a much deeper past. He was constantly negative and kind of nasty and condescending. Well, I hated him.
That brings me to the one redeeming factor. Ananna. She was funny, she was bright and she was smart. She knew what she wanted, and she plans to take it even if she's being dragged along by a whiny, terrible assassin. She wasn't just a great fighter and pirate, she also wanted to learn mathematics and navigation. She wasn't shallow and honestly loves Naji for who he is. If only he wasn't too dense to see it. She might be the only potential reason I read the next book.
So, we have a brilliant main character, but a terribly vague world and an unfortunate male interest. Sigh. This usually doesn't happen. I'll probably give the next book a try in the hopes that we learn a little more and that Naji gets his stuff together. But maybe not, since now we have the utterly cliché 3 Impossible Tasks to complete and an Impossible Curse to break. *yawn*
I went into this looking for a quick short read before starting a larger book. And it was a short read, but it was still too long by my standard because it was really uneventful. After our heroine Ananna saves the life of her would be assassin, literally nothing else happens. They just leave to go on a journey to break the curse. And this journey is really slapped together. They cross a desert. The main guy almost dies. They end up at the house of his ex-lover (boo). They end up going on a sea voyage. They end up stranded on some magic islands. Yay....not really. It just took off in random directions, none of it connected and the magic wasn't even that good. Blood magic should be a lot more interesting. Some of the terms and places? They were just tossed in like a salad. The Otherworld? The Mists? The Isles of the Sky? The Confederation? The Order? The Jadorr'a? The Impossible Curse? I need more to back this stuff up! Where is the world-building!
The romance? *shudders* It was awful. Naji is one of the worst male figures I have had the misfortune to meet. He's whiny, self-interested, and cannot see past his own face. He can't even realize the lovely Ananna is in love with him. Instead he remains hung up on his ex, a superficial hag. He was weak, constantly getting sick, having Ananna rescue him. For an intense assassin, I expected someone with a much deeper past. He was constantly negative and kind of nasty and condescending. Well, I hated him.
That brings me to the one redeeming factor. Ananna. She was funny, she was bright and she was smart. She knew what she wanted, and she plans to take it even if she's being dragged along by a whiny, terrible assassin. She wasn't just a great fighter and pirate, she also wanted to learn mathematics and navigation. She wasn't shallow and honestly loves Naji for who he is. If only he wasn't too dense to see it. She might be the only potential reason I read the next book.
So, we have a brilliant main character, but a terribly vague world and an unfortunate male interest. Sigh. This usually doesn't happen. I'll probably give the next book a try in the hopes that we learn a little more and that Naji gets his stuff together. But maybe not, since now we have the utterly cliché 3 Impossible Tasks to complete and an Impossible Curse to break. *yawn*