But what happens next?

What a fantastic read! I just sat down and couldn't tear myself away from this one.

Elen-ai is a fabulous heroine, with a strong attitude and a set of amazing skills. She is also an assassin, asked (in a kind of reverse logic) to protect a prince from would be murderers.

The story unfolds as she and the Prince get to know each other better and find out more about the Seven Families who hold the balance of power in the Second Country. Both Elen-ai and Gidyon are well drawn characters and they work together well together. As we meet more people in the book and journey through the countryside the descriptions are detailed and vivid. I really enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot and the action kept me glued to the book.

A fantastic first work from this author. I look forward to reading more.

Recommended.

I really enjoyed this book, the synopsis drew me in with the female lead who has to challenge herself in order to keep the prince alive. I loved the deviation from he usual profession as an assassin. I read this book quickly, I just had to know what happened next. The premise of this book is fairly simple, two characters searching for answers and I loved that. Elen-ai and Gidyon's relationship was very believable, and the anticipation of will they, won't they was tantalising. I'm not sure if there will be a romantic theme between these two characters but I hope there will be in future books.
The way in which A B Endacott has built this world is fascinating, and to me seen unique. The magic of the old god's is something that I'd like to see more of. The power plays between the seven families struggling to gain the upper hand in the second country where the queen is neutral to avoid such struggles is, I think, a great twist. The end of this installment just made me want to read on and I cannot wait to see what this author does in the future.

I read an ARC of this book. I tend to really enjoy this epic story telling style. I found this to be somewhat predictable but still enjoyable. I really liked the religion and magic model in the book.

I will likely read the next book in the series to see what happens.

As a note: the ARC I read had a lack of simple editing. I did stop reading this book for about a week before continuing on. I don't know if that left a bad impression on me or not.

Pretty interesting - this genre seems to blur together for me, but this was different enough to be memorable.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was fast paced with a fresh/different plot than the norm, and the world building was well executed. The characters were well-written and likable, yet still had chemistry.

I can't wait to read the next book!

this b0ok was ok in parts with a few a twists and turns and i would read books by this author again.