A non-European fantasy about a reluctant assassin who has to solve a murder that he didnt commit before his family is blammed and he becomes the next target.

This book had an interesting premise, but I think what was missing for me was any real stakes, emotion or anything profound. It felt very normal and base-level, though overall a good book.

I was intrigued by the synopsis and I wasn't disappointed! It was very fun to read and I recommend it for any mystery and fantasy lovers.

Reading « school of assassins » has a magical effect on me: I’ll pick the book right up! That’s what happened with this one. I was super curious de discover Amastan, this new assassin who has been trained and is his family secret weapon… but who doesn’t really want to kill in the end! We follow him while he is first relieved that he has no one to murder…. until someone else starts killing people and he has to save his family’s reputation and find the mysterious assassin. A hunt starts then for Amastan, all across the city, to find who and why murders are happening, but also a hunt into the past, to uncover past secrets that could very well have sparkled the killing spree happening now!

In parallel to this investigation, we discover Ghadid, a city ruled by the desert, that rose above the sand and where water is the most precious resource. It was super interesting to discover this world-building, and the legends attached to it, such as the jaan, the untethered souls of the departed. Amastan is terrified of them and what they could do to him. And poor boy, he is gonna meet some on his adventure, as the deads multiply!

Amanstan won’t only meet vengeful spirits though, but also a young man who starts as a lead to his investigation and end up as a romantic interest! It is always nice to have a main character who is queer, and in a world where it is seen as normal, I’m ALL for that!

Now, all of that sounds super good right? Unfortunately, maybe because I read it after the Way of Kings, I could not fully get into the story and immerse myself in the universe. I also guessed most of the plot pretty quickly (that’s my curse lol), which didn’t help keep my interest.

In a few words

An interesting world-building a character that keeps himself out of stereotypes… I think this fantasy novel could please readers who are maybe newer to the genre and looking for a light escape!

Pros: good worldbuilding, interesting setting and characters

Cons: opening felt a bit slow

When the newly trained assassin Amastan discovers a drum chief’s body hidden on a rooftop, he’s tasked with proving that his clan of assassins wasn’t responsible. But the unknown killer isn’t the only danger, as the unquieted jaani (souls) of the murdered are restless, not dissipating as they ought, and trying to possess new bodies. With few leads Amastan’s time is running out, even as he befriends the servant of the first victim and begins to feel love for the first time.

It took me a while to warm to Amastan. The first few chapters show how undecided and hesitant he is, trying to plan things to perfection. As his relationship with various characters grew, I started to like him a lot more. It was interesting seeing the assassin clan portrayed as merely helping the city get rid of bad people. It makes the concept and characters easier to sympathize with.

I was surprised Tamella, his trainer and head assassin, left him to solve the murder without any advice or consultation. I can understand that she couldn’t investigate things herself, but she had knowledge that would have aided Amastan. Instead she simply blamed him for not solving it fast enough despite his having no training in detective work.

The worldbuilding was really good. I did like that Amastan and the other assassin trainees had real jobs to pay bills and keep occupied around their secondary craft. I also liked that they actually worked at those jobs. Menna’s work with the elders, quieting jaani was interesting. The jaani themselves were cool and terrifying. I also liked seeing the healers dependent on water for their work, and how towards the end of the season that’s problematic as the desert city must ration it. Reading characters running across rooftops and down narrow alleys was entertaining.

While I figured out who the killer was fairly early, it was still interesting seeing the story unfold.

It was a fun, quick read.

I'm always down for a book about assassins, especially a family of them. I enjoyed this story and the moral dilemma the main character Amastan faced through the book. There's great world building in Ghadid and it's nice to read a book based on a different culture. Doore kept me wondering until the end how they would get rid of the janni and, though I had it figured out (which didn't bother me), she also put together a good mystery.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this novel.

DNF @ 25%

This is a classic case of "it's me, not you". I totally get why people adore this book, unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. The world-building was confusing to me and I found the plot boring and slow. I've tried reading this on multiple occasions now but I can't seem to get past the 25% mark, so I have decided to call it a day.

I had high hopes for this book, it’s about a family of assassins after all. I love me some assassin. Stealth kills. Yes, please.

This story, kicking off the first in a series, doesn’t really have much killing. It’s more mystery than fantasy. There is magic, and spirits where the dead if not gotten to in time, their spirits, or jaan, become enraged looking for the life they had and cause havoc and damage, even kill.

It was a bit slow going at the start, and didn’t get good until almost halfway in. There is a bit of male with male romance, but it’s very subtle as our main character, Amastan, is still trying to understand what he feels. I was a little sad to see how this romance works out for Amastan, but that would give away the ending and I’m not about to do that.

In the beginning, Amastan is learning to be an assassin only to find the leaders have outlawed assassinations. He is somewhat relieved at this as he didn’t know if he would be able to take a life if it actually came down to it. But then he finds a body, which turns out to be one of the family. Trying to keep things quiet, he is left with the responsibility of finding who did it and turning them over. This is where things are slow as plot and characters are developed for the reader. If you stick with it, I do think you are rewarded.

Overall, I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads, and do recommend this. I think I would recommend it more for the mystery lover though as I said earlier, the fantasy elements are a bit light.

Love assassins? Desert settings? Awkward first love? Terrifying sand spirits? Well, have I got the book for you!

If you’re looking for a rollicking fantasy romp that feels fresh and unique while keeping that classic magical feel, then you need to read The Perfect Assassin! Young assassin Amastan, who isn’t entirely sure that killing is his passion, gets caught up in a murder mystery with a magical side – and if he can’t solve it, then the dead man’s spirit will terrorise his home. It’s the perfect mix between coming-of-age fantasy and action-packed thriller, with brilliant world-building and compelling characters, and I absolutely raced through it.

I loved the setting so much – it provides so many facets for the characters and worldbuilding to shine. The worldbuilding is so unlike the basic European medieval setting, and the details are fantastically well done. I found the concept of water as currency fascinating, and the way that assassins, with their mafia-esque family, fitted into society was also really interesting. Also, anyone who knows me knows I love a good rooftop chase scene or assassin training test, and this book has both in bucket loads. The City of Ghadid is built on platforms high above the desert, to protect its inhabitants from the dangerous jaani below, which are terrifying spirits seeking bodies to possess. The opening scene, which has Amastan and his fellow trainee assassins scrambling across the sands below to test their mettle, really sets the tone for the action side of this book – it’s just so much fun!

That doesn’t mean that this is in any way lacking in the quieter, more character driven side of things. I fell head over heels for our awkward hero as he navigates the murder investigation, his reluctance to kill, and a budding relationship that he is in NO way prepared for. The romance really took me by surprise as it is so sweet and well-written, and I’ve never read a fantasy book with an explicitly asexual protagonist before, so I was really excited to see that, and the romance is m/m. The scenes between Amastan and his love interest are just so realistically awkward and cute that it’s easy to really root for them (which may be a problem later on… but no spoilers!). The side characters, too, are well-drawn and fun to read, and you get the sense that they all have stuff going on that Amastan isn’t paying attention to, which is always the sign of a well-thought-out world.

Essentially, The Perfect Assassin is a huge amount of fun wrapped around a thoughtful, intricate world, and I loved it! Five out of five stars!

4 stars: Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

If you like: high fantasy, assassin, anti-heros and spectacular world-building, this book is for you.

The Perfect Assassin is the first book in a high fantasy series called the Chronicles of Ghadid. This book follows a family of assassins in a city called Ghadid which is a city built in the desert where people live - and fight - on the rooftops in order to avoid the evil spirits living on the ground.

The world was my favourite part of the story. The magic system is based on water - not surprising in a desert city - and the setting itself is very atmospheric. There is a mystery in the story which is not as well written in my opinion as it was a little too predictable however, the world and the characters made up for it as far as I am concerned.

I had to abandon the book after about 15-20% because I wasn’t feeling any interest. The desert based setting and world building was fascinating enough but the pacing was very slow and I felt like nothing was happening.

It was not my kind of story but it might interest others readers who like a slower pace.

I absolutely LOVED this mystery whodunnit fantasy, placed in a desert with platform cities where water is the most precious commodity and the souls are restless after death. The plot was engrossing, the world was vivid without using to many pages for description and with a strong ruling culture saturating the social interactions. Loved for example how the characters used their wraps to communicate different things. The magic system was fascinating and the characters were unique and diverse. The storytelling was very subtle in some parts, letting my mind fill in some blanks and it only enhanced the atmosphere of the story. If you love traditional fantasy, you'll love this one!

An intriguing story about a young assassin who would rather be decrypting scrolls or holding hands with the boy he likes.

What I enjoyed most about The Perfect Assassin is its sensory prose, the world in which Amastan lives brought to life in an almost tangible fashion through vivid description that makes environments clear and easy to imagine, the return to reality almost a jarring one. Perhaps it's an odd thing to note, but one thing - among others - I believe Doore does particularly well is bring the actual motion of characters to life, a rhythm to the structure of sentences and composition of paragraphs that makes it seem natural, aided by the fact that physical movement and brief thoughts are often presented side by side, when it seems to be becoming more common to keep them separate in expository paragraphs that often make things rather muddled.

Of the world itself, the magic system and culture surrounding the healers is something that I particularly enjoyed and would have loved to have seen more of. I loved the idea of water being essential to the healing in a different sense to clean water being a key component of physical healing, and the matter of water shortages added another layer of complexity in the form of ethics and necessity.

One thing I'm not sure can be a real detraction or a feature of the proof: reading G-d instead of God was rather jarring, though I do understand the reasons for this choice if it is the same in the final copy.

There's a lot to love about this book, from its relationships to its worldbuilding and a main protagonist who is endearing and easy to care about, with a compelling journey. In my opinion, it's an excellently written read, and one with a beautiful and natural cadence to its words.

When I started The Perfect Assassin, I was expecting an action-filled fantasy about assassins and their kills. While there is some action, this book is very much a mystery novel. Because of that, the pace was a lot slower than I was expecting.

Doore did a fantastic job with the world-building, which had a decidedly Middle-Eastern feel. I'm always happy to see a non-Western fantasy world, particularly when it's as brilliantly imagined as this one. Ghadid is a city that was built on hundreds of interconnected platforms above the desert in order to protect its people from the wild jaan that roam the sands. The main currency is water, which can also be used for magical healing. I also liked how intricate the death ceremonies were and how the reader was shown the importance of each step.

However, I struggled to connect with Amastan, he just never felt fully formed to me. He was incredibly uncertain of his choices and, until the very end, didn't really have much of a character arc. I did love the romance, it was actually one of my favorite things about this book. I still wanted a bit more depth there though. Additionally, perhaps because I struggled to connect with Amastan, I never really felt engaged with the plot. The mystery itself was somewhat drawn-out and lacking in tension. I did like the ending but I felt the build-up to that event could have been shortened without loosing much of the backstory.

Overall, The Perfect Assassin wasn't what I was expecting it to be. It was a decent mystery with some fantastic world-building. If you go in expecting that, I think you'll enjoy it more than I did!

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Many times when an author chooses to write a novel set in a fantasy world, they take their inspiration from European style sources. Doore’s decision to use Middle Eastern style influences for her characters and setting give The Perfect Assassin a refreshing feel. The city of Ghadid is one of sand and stone, where water is oftentimes scarce. Where magic and belief play a influence on every person’s day to day life and in a unique twist, it is the men who cover their faces and not the women.

The main character, Amastan, is easy to relate to. He is a young man just starting his journey in life, and while he has spent years training to be an assassin, he still has his doubts about being able to actually do the job. For many who are just leaving school/college, this is a feeling they will likely understand all too well. Amastan can be brash at times but as the book goes on he learns to trust his instincts, even if things don’t end quite in the way he wants.

Other secondary characters are also introduced. They are Amastan’s “cousins”, individuals related to him (though distantly) who have received the same training as he has and are part of the Basbowen family. The second book focuses on one of these secondary characters, and it is my hope that future books will feature others as well.

I feel I must make mention of the homosexual romance that is a small thread in the overall tapestry of The Perfect Assassin. I know the majority of my readers will be like me and not care over the fact that Amastan falls for another man, but there are some who might take offence and so I give this tiny mention. Personally, I thought the blooming romance between Amastan and Yufit was rather sweet and well done. In my opinion, it was very cute.

My only complaint in regards to the book is how the word God is handled. Any time a character says the word, it is written as “G-d”. Now whether this is a choice of the author’s or of the publisher, I can’t say. What I can say is that I found it irritating and it immediately pulled me out of the story every time I came across it. I do not understand why some authors do this, but I believe if they wish to use this particular name they should either spell it out wholly or come up with another moniker.

In conclusion, I enjoyed reading The Perfect Assassin. There was a good deal of action without too much gratuitous violence and Doore’s fluid writing really helped to move the story along. I see there is a second book in the series coming out later this year and I am already looking forward to it.

I may be a sucker for words like “Assassin” or “Thief”, so if you put one of those in your title I would want to read your book. It is as easy as that. And I had great expectations from this book, because not only we have a book about assassins, duh, but we have an interesting and Middle Eastern setting, that was sooo calling to me!

But… well, things didn’t get as planned. Let me tell you from now that this is not a really bad book, it has some good points and if we keep in mind that this is a debut we may close one eye on something but for me, this book was a no, even if I finished it and enjoyed some part of it. What is for sure is that I won’t continue this series. I wish the best to the author, but our adventure together ends here.

On one hand, we have the world building, that was interesting and original but not enough. The idea behind it is good, I am not complaining, and I liked a lot Gahdid, the city in which the water is the most precious and needed possession and the angry spirits of the deads come back to haunt and hunt the living, but I was craving for more. It’s true that our MC doesn’t know a lot about the rest of the world so we won’t have help coming from him, and that’s ok, but for me, the ensemble was a little bit… lacking.
And, on the other hand, we have a story that is good, quite intriguing and with some action in it but… with not so much as a plot twist. I mean, nothing so unexpected about it. Nothing really surprising. So, again, good but not enough. Even with a lot going on, and even with an intriguing setting, sometimes I found myself bored while reading. And boredom was not what I was expecting from this book.

And then we have the biggest problem, from my point of view. The characters. Because even if I can close an eye on the world-building, that is a little bit green, if I can say so, and even if I can close an eye on the story, that is not the most compelling or intriguing or original ever, well… I have finished the eyes I can close! The point is that not all the characters are bad, that’s not true. But they are not so good. All of them. I can’t empathize much with the MC, and that’s not a big problem when you find at least another character to latch on, but… guess what? I couldn’t find any. And then we reach the sorest point of all the book, and nope, is not Amastan, even if he could have been so much more. He really has a ton of potentialities, because he’s original, intriguing and he could have been a good main lead but he’s lacking something, sadly. Anyway, nope, I am not referring to him. I am speaking about… drumroll, please… Tamella. For me, she’s the only remarkable character, but she’s remarkable for the wrong reasons.
When we meet her, she’s the trope of the mentor for the young hero. She was a great assassin, the one who is the most feared, and she’s the one who trains our little new assassins. She’s stern and inflexible, but she’s fair. But then things happen and she, and I want to underline that she’ s the adult in the story, changes. She completely changes. And there is not a real reason behind it. I mean, yes, something happens. And it is something really unpleasant, that’s true. But she changes personality. And that’s not normal. And from this point on… well, for me all went to hell.

And the thing is that she gives a chore, sort of, to Amastan. She chooses him to investigate on one mysterious death because she cannot take part in the investigation. And that’s ok, but she, an adult and really expert woman, tasks a young boy that has just passed his trial to become an assassin, so he’s just the rookiest of the rookies, with an almost impossible job.
And that’s that. She doesn’t help him in any way. and I don’t mean in the open, because she can’t, okay, but she doesn’t even try! She washes her hands of all of it, even if this is a thing that has great relevance for her, too, and call it a day. She doesn’t help him, and she hides some precious information from him, but when he doesn’t solve the mystery fast enough and the things went south, because we pass from one death to two or three, she blames him for all, because for her the new deaths are to blame on the poor boy. And that annoyed me, a lot! I was so pissed off with her (and with the author, because the things become less credible for me from this point on, and I stopped to enjoy the story altogether from here on).
I mean, this mentor-figure task a boy with an almost impossible task, he is the most inexperienced because he just passed his tests, and she doesn’t help him, and to be honest, she gave him an impossible task because she has trained him to become an assassin, not a detective! And this was the big WTF of the book. She is the best assassin ever, who train some new puppies as new assassins, and then she pretends that they became great detectives when they are wet behind their hears? Why? Where is the logic in that? It doesn’t make sense! At all!

So for me, Tamella was the big NOPE of all the book. I think that the author tried but didn’t manage to handle this character in the right way, and for me, all the story came crashing down from this. It was a shame.

So, yes, I gave this book a rating of 3, but it was just because I was feeling good and this is a debut because if I am really honest this is more a 2.75 than a real 3.

I'm conflicted about this book. Did I enjoy it? Yes, it was an entertaining read. Will I read the rest? Don't think so.

Why?

Things I liked:

- Writing: The writing style made it very easy to read and stay engaged which is always a plus.
- Characters: They were all likeable and the ones that needed to be hated on were hated on with gusto. The growth that our MC goes through was great.
- The premise: The the idea behind the whole plot was interesting and it started out well enough, but I felt like it ended up just fizzing out in the end? Or maybe I was expecting too much.

Things I didn't like:

- World building: and as a fantasy book this would be huge. It wasn't that I didn't like it at all, it was that I did and there was no where near enough of it. Maybe it'll be expounded on later on in the series but it the minimum bare bones here and it was just disappointing. I live for the world building!
- Plot: Or I guess how it actually turned out. It was too obvious, too predictable and too bland?

I liked it well enough, but I needed just more from this and unfortunately it didn't deliver and there wasn't anything else that was good enough to carry it along for me.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.