I have such mixed feelings about this book. I really did enjoy it, it was a great read and I thought the world was interesting and I loved Amastan as a character!

I think where it didn’t click for me, was that I wanted the world-building to be a little better rounded out, and more assassiny (that’s not a word but I’m just rolling with it!). That’s not to say that the world building wasn’t good, because it was, I mean. A city in the desert on stilts… yes please! But I just wanted it to be a little more detailed. I did enjoy how well the history tied into the plot, and how the world-building presented all revolved around that, but otherwise, I found myself not really connecting with the world.

This is a mystery at it’s core, unfortunately, I found it a little predictable, and was sad when I guessed who-dunnit. It was still interesting to learn why and to see how Amastan would deal with this, but in the end it didn’t really hold me to the book. Where I did get invested was in Amastan. I thought he was a great character, and his vulnerability and insecurity definitely drew me to him (okay, but yeah, that’s pretty much how to get me to love a character).

Anyway, despite the book not quite clicking for the right way with me, I am definitely eager for the next one, and can’t wait to read more from this author.

I’d recommend this book if you’re looking for an assassin filled mystery top off with some excellent races across rooftops on a city on stilts. Okay that was needlessly specific, but you get me. High fantasy, mixed with mystery plus action.

I can’t stress enough how much I liked this book.
I’ll start with saying that at first I was a little skeptical about this novel. I didn’t know if the genre would work for me- I usually prefer urban fantasy over high fantasy- and if I would bond with the main character. Still, I decided to give it a shot, since the premise of an assassin having to solve crimes was pretty cool.
Well, I wasn’t disappointed. This book made me like mystery and I hate mysteries.
Yes, this is how much I’ve enjoyed this book.

Amastan is a historian in the daylight and an assassin when nobody’s looking.
He’s not the usual assassin though: he’s trained his whole life to become a member of the Family, a group of assassins that brings justice in Ghadid, the desert city where they live, to protect it from criminals.
Amastan never really wanted to kill but everything changes the night he finds himself on a crime scene. He’d rather spend his nights writing on scrolls for the archive of the city instead of having to investigate the case of the murder of one of the most important people in Ghadid.
That’s just the first of a series of unexplainable murders that Amastan has been commissioned to solve.
To complicate things there are Jaan, the spirits of the dead and they’re usually scary as it is, but these murders are setting free way too many Jaan in Ghadid and meeting one of these spirits might result in madness, best-case scenario.

Let’s talk about the setting and the world building a little bit.
Ghadid is a desert city with the peculiarity that it’s built on a platform on top of the sands, that people can reach through a transport system of cables and carriages, sort of like cableways.
The city wasn’t hard to imagine, it was well described. Although in certain scenes I was a little confused about the surroundings, the setting was still very vividly narrated.

The writing style was fluid and descriptive. I’d say that the story was very introspective and it focused on Amastan’s thoughts, which is something I really appreciated, especially because from the way he overanalyses every situation he’s in we get to know him better (also, to me it was extremely relatable).
The main character was well fleshed out, as well as other secondary characters.

[Sort of spoiler? This paragraph is about the representation in this novel, if you want you can skip to the next paragraph] Something that needs to be addressed was the representation!! Amastan never really states he is asexual but he says he’s never really been interested in anything regarding relationships. [SPOILER ALERT: I loved seeing Amastan and Asaf’s complicated relationship, somehow in my heart I’m still hoping they’ll be close again]

I’ll admit I’m more than glad to have tried something slightly out of my comfort zone, because this book was beautiful and I can’t really wait to read the second instalment from this trilogy, The Chronicles of Ghadid.

This book was pretty entertaining for an assassin novel. I am hoping that there is a sequel or a companion novel because I did like Doores writing and would like to see it as it grows.

I liked The Perfect Assassin and I thought it was a pretty strong debut, despite kind of dragging in the middle. Still, I did enjoy what I've read and I thought there's some pretty cool lore and world-building here.

The Perfect Assassin is set in the city of Ghadid, a city in the desert where walls keep the citizens safe from the jaan or spirits of dead. It's Middle-Eastern inspired and I suspect that it's also partly inspired by the historical Assassins who first appeared during the Crusades. Here, Amastan is a novice assassin who has just been recently finished his training. Almost immediately, he gets caught up in things his training did not prepare him for.

Right off the bat, this story starts a bit in media res as we get introduced to Amastan while he is being tested to be a full-fledged assassin. Amastan is an interesting character as he's clearly devoted to the family of assassins he belongs to and yet, there are secrets hidden from him he wishes to uncover and truths he may not be ready for. In the book, he befriends (and later forms a relationship) with Yufit from whom he conceals his true nature and who, we later on discover, is keeping secrets of his own.

I liked The Perfect Assassin, although I docked 1.5 stars because it dragged a lot in the middle and it could get a little bit hard to follow. Still, it's pretty enjoyable and I'm rounding it up to 4 stars on Goodreads because it is a good murder mystery set in a fantasy world. It's not really very high fantasy, or not as high fantasy as I expected it to be after the first few chapters. The bulk of the story focuses on the murders happening and how it ties in to the internal politics of the city. Still, the murder mystery did keep me guessing and I did not figure out who did it until the murderer was revealed.

Overall, I can recommend The Perfect Assassin to anyone who likes a high fantasy story without any epic-scale stakes and is okay with smaller-scale stories like murder mysteries. Honestly, I'm of the opinion that I would love to read more stories set in a high fantasy world without any world-changing events.

A decent debut, The Perfect Assassin impressed me most with its fascinating worldbuilding.

It is refreshing to see more and more fantasy releases of late not relying on the more traditional Europe-centric medieval setting for its worldbuilding. In The Perfect Assassin, the setting was decidedly Middle Eastern with an interesting twist. Ghadid was a city built hundreds of feet above sand dunes, made up of numerous connected platforms balanced on top of pylons. As the spirits of the deceased roam the sand dunes seeking for new bodies, such construction of the city was meant as a form of protection. The possession of such spirits can render a person mad, and sometimes even kill. My favourite element in the worldbuilding was the currency of water, which fit well into the desert scenario. The commodity was not only precious for sustaining life, it also powered miraculous healing and the magic needed to control the deadly spirits. As such, the deliberate act of wasting water can bring about a death sentence.

The story is primarly centred around a murder mystery. One which was tasked to a freshly ‘graduated’ assassin to solve. Amastan was not your usual assassin. While he was delighted to pass his final test, he was also relieved that learn that there was a ban on assassin contracts because he wasn’t certain that he can kill. A senior official, termed as a drum chief, was found dead when contracts were supposed to be non-existent. And Amastan had to find out who did it, or his entire family of assassins would take the fall for the murder.

I love mysteries in my stories. It can overshadow the assassin aspect and I’d still be fine with it, so long as I also cared about the characters. This was where the book fell short for me. The writing was easy to read. The setting was atmospheric. Some of the action scenes were exciting. However, I was just not fully invested in Amastan, the main protagonist. I wouldn’t call the character development disengaging as we do get to be in Amastan’s head pretty much all the time. Somehow or rather, the character development didn’t resonate with me all that much. For those who are looking for diversity and inclusiveness in their reads, you would get LGBT representation in this book. And for the record please, the gay romance had absolutely no bearing on how I felt about the characterisation.

The handling of the plot and pacing also felt a bit clumsy at times. Fortunately, it did not extend to the ending which I found satisfactory. The title of the book can be deceiving as well, as it did not in any way allude to a story about a superlative assassin with loads of badass action. It did, nonetheless, make sense right at the end.

The cover blurb calls The Perfect Assassin a "breakout high fantasy" and leads you to expect "nonstop excitement," but what we get instead is a detective story in a fantasy setting. I kept waiting for K.A. Doore to get beyond the mystery and into the action, but eventually had to accept that the mystery was meant to be the main attraction . . . except it's not really a fair mystery. There are no suspects to tease us, no red herrings to confound us, and no alibis to be deconstructed. The appeal of a murder mystery is in playing detective, in trying to solve the puzzle, but here we're just waiting for the ultimate reveal.

As for the jaani, I was intrigued by the concept, especially with the opening chapter building so much fear and dread around encountering them in the sands, but I felt that potential was squandered within the city. Rather than being terrifying, I found them to be frustrating, and I just kept asking questions like 'how' and 'why' without good answers.

As for the fantasy elements, I really struggled with the world building. There's not enough of it in some areas (geography and mythology in particular), and it doesn't make sense in others (the role and nature of the assassins more than anything). Assassins who train, yet who cannot be hired to assassinate, seems like a cheat. There are so many great questions of ethics and morality raised in the character of Amastan, but they are denied any sort of scope or significance beyond him. The whole thing just felt tentative, as if the story lost its nerve somewhere between conception and execution.

Lastly, and this was the killing blow for me, the story was just too slowly paced to hold my interest. Had I been engaged, working to solve the mystery alongside Amastan, it might have been a different story, but instead it felt like the reader was being held at arm's length, and I just kept wandering off to other books, until I finally failed to find my way back.

This was fantastic. It's a murder mystery set in a fantasy world, with queerness and assassins and secrets and scribes. It moved quickly, and I can't wait for the next book.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher.

The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore is a fun fantasy read set in a non-western secondary world. This book is actually less assassin and more murder mystery. The main character, Amastan, is well crafted and the pacing keeps things moving nicely.

One of the best things about The Perfect Assassin is the setting. Doore does a good job of not only developing a diverse non-western setting, but throwing in small touches that help to make the setting feel real. For instance, everyone wears a face cover. This means that in conversation, emotion is conveyed through the eyes, or through small motions of the eyebrows or nose that are visible when wearing those coverings. To see emotion described primarily in terms of small eye movements or the like was certainly unique and lent an air of authenticity to the setting that I appreciated. I also need to praise the pacing. There was very little down time in the novel. Doore kept things moving briskly, without feeling like every chapter contained some sort of high stakes cliffhanger.

While the setting was unique and interesting, there were some elements that I felt were treated in rather vague terms. The religious system, while playing a role in the story, is never explained. It’s monotheistic (I think), and there are spirits, but beyond that its given a very vague treatment, which was disappointing. The city of Ghadid itself is also, because of its location, a bit isolated, so we don’t learn much about the political side of the world. This is forgivable because it doesn’t play much of a role in the story. A larger issue is that I was never quite certain whether Ghadid was supposed to be a large city, or a series of very small neighborhoods that combined into a small town. Are there 5,000 people in Ghadid or 100,000? We’re never really given a hint, and I think that keeps the setting for being as exceptional as it might have been. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the novel was that—partially because the setting never expands to feel like there are a lot of people in it—the plot ended up becoming fairly predictable. Things play out more or less as you’d expect, almost from the very beginning. As a result, the plot lacks impact, and what could be some cool character building moments ended up falling completely flat for me.

There’s a lot of potential here that I don’t think the novel completely lived up to. There are certainly fun elements, and for those looking specifically for fantasy in a murder mystery vein, they may find a lot to like. In the end, this isn’t a bad read, but it also isn’t one that really stood out to me.

3/5 stars

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing

When I started reading The Perfect Assassin I was reminded of a trilogy of books that is one of my absolute favorites. The Rebel of the Sands trilogy by Alwyn Hamilton introduced me to dangerous shapeshifters and legendary djinn, all of which must be decrypted and understood before goals could be reached. Another such series is the An Ember in the Ashes line by Sabaa Tahir. Through both of these series I have discovered a love of the stories and mythology from the middle east and desert realms.

This particular series begins with the final entrance exam for a school of assassins. We follow the main character Amastan as he sweats through his worst fears and completes a physically strenuous trial to join all his classmates as freshly minted assassins in the city of Ghalid. The problem is that the drum chiefs that run all the neighborhoods put an end to assassin’s contracts a long time ago, with no indication they will be issued again anytime soon. So the young assassins are told to bide their time and stay sharp in case contracts start up again.

One of the rules of being an assassin is that when they kill they have to do it so the body will be easily discovered, because if they aren’t then the special priests who quiet jaani (souls?) won’t be able to get there in time and the jaani becomes an angry ghost that floats around trying to possess people. These jaani start showing up and attacking Amastan, and he and his assassin cousins start discovering bodies on the rooftops, meaning that there are more and more unquieted jaani preying on the people in Ghadid. It’s up to Amastan and his friends to uncover the murderer and restore peace to Ghadid.

My only complaint was that the ending doesn’t make me salivate for the next installation in the series (chronicles). Everything is nicely tied up and everyone seems to be where they should be. Usually when I finish the first book of a series I am on Twitter demanding the next one post haste, but here it felt more like a standalone tome.

I did not expect to love this book, but oh my goodness do I apparently love me some desert mysticism and stabby murder. I couldn’t stop reading, I had to know what happened next. Even though most of the elements were fantasy, this book is a mystery/thriller in its own right too. I strongly recommend giving this one a go.

I am a sucker for assassin/thief books. These types of characters always draw me in and this book was not a disappointment. I found the plot to be fast-paced and intriguing. The characters weren't exceptionally unique but I had a lot of fun reading it. The worldbuilding was done very well and it made me want to read more books developed in this setting. I didn't care for the mystery aspect to it, but it didn't deter my rating.

THIS BOOK IS TOO HIGH QUALITY FOR THIS WORLD.

I'm sure for many of us, no matter how many books you read, there will always be that one book that can never be replaced. That one book that got you into all of this. yeah, other books may come and go, but you will always come back to that one book. The one that will always hold a special place in your heart. well, this series is it for me. I'M HERE AND I AM STAYING!

This is a legit compelling novel about assassins. No inbetween like a lot of ones you see at book stores today calling themselves these sneaky murderous characters. Now picture a harsh desert landscape so lush you can practically feel the sand between your toes. NOW IMAGINE DIVERSE CHARACTERS THAT I NOW CALL MY CHILDREN. Each one is so different from the other. Each one is a different race, different background, and has so many layers. Each one has a handful of amazing different aspects, and things about them that will constantly surprise you.

Even if the characters would have faltered (they don't) it wouldn't have mattered because the plot and world building are so solid. Every part of this book is flawless and demands your respect. There wasn't a moment I wasn't on the edge on my seat. Doore gives you all these twist and turns without leaving you guessing on what your surroundings look like. She's built a world with so many stunning features. The Perfect Assassin is go go go, nonstop action novel that won't let you up for air. It is a roller-coaster ride of emotions and Wtf just happened moments. My jaw was on the floor for 99% of this book.

This review was a lot longer than I ever imagine it would be. It is filled with cut off and run on sentences... I don't care either. I just had to get my jumbled thoughts down. This book is epic and everything. I already want to re-read it and I could quote it all day long.

It’s a fantasy, with solid visual and vibrant world building—one of the most richly detailed I've read. Perhaps this relies on Doore's artful skill in giving the reader enough detail to start us down the path of imagination, but not so much description that we can only see the writer's vision. There was a death scene that was so unusual, visual, and fresh that I had to step back and admire it.

While this book is officially fantasy, it really transcends genre. It's a murder mystery with an undercurrent of romance. It's about courage and trust and betrayal.

One thing particularly noteworthy is the equality between genders—strong female characters work cooperatively with strong male characters, not in opposition to them. The male-female power struggle has been eliminated form this society. So, too, is any heteronormative bias—gay people just people. Some are heroes, some are villains. It's not about acceptance any more than we say "I accept the sky is blue or water is wet." People are gay because they are, no biggie.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

From the blurb, "A novice assassin is on the hunt for someone killing their own..." this pretty much sums it up nicely. I was pleased with this debut effort from K.A. Doore, who may very well be an author to keep an eye on.

Great worldbuilding and lots of action highlight this one, and though some of the twists and turns aren't totally surprising, the novel was very well written and engaging all the way through.

I understand that this will be a series, but this book would work as a standalone for those leery of starting yet another open series. It left me plenty satisfied, yet interested in more if and when it comes to light.

3 1/2 stars, rounded up.

[this review will be up on my blog, acquadimore.wordpress.com, on March 11, 2019]

The Perfect Assassin is the first book in the high fantasy series Chronicles of Ghadid, which follows a family of assassins in a desert city. I found it a solid, imaginative and very gay debut - but don't go into it expecting a romance.
This first book follows Amastan, an unusually reluctant assassin, as he has to find and kill a mysterious murderer on the run and survive the attacks of angered jaani.

The first thing that stood out to me about this book was the worldbuilding: Ghadid has now become one of my favorite fantasy cities and it's been a while since I read a book whose world I loved so much.

Let's talk about Ghadid: it's a city in the desert, and of course I love atmospheric desert fantasy, but it's also a city built in the sky where people run and fight on rooftops. It's built over pylons, which would have made it one of the most interesting settings ever even if the characters hadn't risked to get attacked by angry undeads spirits every day. Another thing I loved was the way the magic system was tied to the setting and to the economy. I always appreciate when that happens - the last time I saw it was in Jade City, I think - because it makes the world feel more real. In Ghadid, water is magic, water is wealth, water is money - which makes sense in a place where dying of thirst is not so uncommon after all.

I have read many fantasy books that followed groups of assassins, gangs, and guilds, but I had never read anything about a family whose role was to kill dangerous people - like spies or water-wasters - in a way that didn't further damage the city. The Perfect Assassin talks about assassins and morality, because at its heart, this book is about whether killing can ever be just. It doesn't give you an answer, it gives you the elements to draw your own conclusions, which I really appreciated.
What it said about "what makes a perfect assassin" was also really interesting to read, especially for the way it was tied to the main character's development.

I could describe this book as a fantasy mystery, because that's what it was about, but as the mystery aspect was somewhat disappointing and really predictable - I found the foreshadowing to be clumsy and very heavy-handed at times - I'm not sure I would recommend it for that. I'd rather say that it's perfect for those who want something with the atmosphere of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass and Tasha Shuri's Empire of Sand but with tighter pacing and far more queer characters. The main character likes men, is implied to be asexual, and also read as demiromantic to me (but I'm not sure that's canon), there is a prominent female side character who is in a relationship with a woman, and multiple other queer side characters.

A day might come when it's not worth mentioning that a book is full of people who aren't white, and features characters who aren't straight, but it sure isn't here yet, so I'm still going to say that it was wonderful to dive into a fully formed, fantastic world without a white face in sight. The characters are morally grey and fully developed, and the story builds at a gradual-yet-inexorable pace. Yes, the big twist could been seen coming from hundreds of miles away, but it doesn't really matter -- the anticipation was fun, and the climax of the story remained very effective.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC!

[review will be posted at the below URL closer to publication date]

Received an ARC form Net Galley. A family of assassins, queer characters, paranormal elements and a moral battle. Great first book and I am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Ghadid is a desert city that is built on an economy of trade and water. Neighborhoods ruled by drum chiefs battle for power, yet peace has ruled for several years. So much so that assassinations had been banned during that time because they were not needed to end conflicts. But a drum chief has been murdered, and then one of the members of the family of assassins... their angry souls (jaani) are let loose, and the remaining counsel chiefs turn to those they outlawed to save the city.

The Perfect Assassin is a good combination of stealth, city and family politics, and bit of coming of age. Amastan is a young man who is newly trained in the art of the kill. He questions his willingness to take a life, but is quickly tasked with doing the legwork to find the killer.

For the most part, Doore utilizes a good measure of what to include and what to leave out. For example, I was surprised at how good the mystery thread was, maybe 'surprised' is not the best word to use, but it was great how Amastan used his existing historian/ scribe skills to track down the killer. Yet, when the reveal came, it was less a "wow" and more of an "yep, I knew it."

The book does thrive in worldbuilding and character development, particularly in Amastan's emergence as a contributing part of his family and the gathering feelings he experiences as a gay man. The city of Ghadid is a place that I would like to visit: a series of platforms connecting buildings high above the dangerous sands.

The pieces are there for a solid novel, yet they may not be connected in the best way. The Perfect Assassin in a nutshell: great world and character development, but several holes in the plot. I'm definitely willing to give the second book a try. 

3.5 out of 5 stars

Amastan has trained to be an assassin. After completing his final test, he learns there are no contracts and he feels relieved. His relief is short lived when he discovers the body of one of Ghadid's leaders, a drum chief. Amastan finds himself ordered to solve the murder of the drum chief soon or he and his assassin family will pay the consequences. On top of all that the spirit of the deceased is roaming free seeking a new body.

The Perfect Assassin is a murder mystery with slightly different surroundings. Rather than a straight forward detective, a novice assassin is tasked to find out who done it. The book also features very active souls called jaani's that must be quieted or else they will go wild driving people mad and possibly even worse.

I personally was expecting much more assassin action and much less detective investigation. That would have been fine if the investigation aspects were better. The hard part of the investigation for me is the world wasn't developed enough to make it clear who the killer could be. Amastan is chasing a nameless faceless individual with little more than the standard family, employees, and enemies as suspects. Even that doesn't really get developed and there was only one flimsily attached potential suspect. After not introducing strong suspects the book practically tells you who the killer is in an unsatisfying way.

All that being said I did come to like Amastan. He's methodical and careful. Probably too careful. He wants to help everyone and doesn't seem much like an assassin throughout.

The Perfect Assassin was a decent mystery even though the mystery was underdeveloped.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

the perfect assassin (K.A. Doore)

Title: the perfect assassin

Author: K.A. Doore

Publisher: Macmillian-Tor/Forge

Publication Date: TODAY!! (paperback/e-book)

ISBN: 978-0765398550

Source: NetGalley



Now obviously the title and cover are what grabbed me attention for this one.  I love me some assassins so I had to read this author's debut novel.  This story follows Amastan who is training to be an assassin.  However, he is unsure if he will be able to kill when the time comes.  Life becomes difficult when he stumbles across the body of a clan leader that has been murdered.  Then other assassins start being murdered.  The uneasy spirits of the dead begin to gather in the city and are intent on harm.  Amastan has to find the murderer before the fabric holding the city together breaks.

I thought overall that this was a solid book.  It did feel like a YA title even though it doesn't seem to be marketed as such.  I felt that the world building was the best part of the book.  The city is set on a platform above a desert and water is scarce.  I enjoyed the currency set around water.  I enjoyed that women hold high positions in society.  I liked the LGBTQ relationships.  I thought the set-up of the murders was rather nice and intriguing.  I also liked the jaani who are malevolent spirits of the dead.

In the end however, I did not like many of the plot points.  Most of this stems from the identity of the killer which I saw from far away while hoping that I was wrong.  I wasn't.  So very sad and rather cliche.  The murder mystery plot ended up being shoddy in terms of how it was solved.  I also wished that the jaani played a more awesome role.  How that problem was wrapped up was also lackluster.

I am glad I finished the book and I did enjoy it.  Apparently there is a second book in the series even though this book reads as a standalone.  The next book may be from a different point of view.  I am not sure if the world building is strong enough for me to want to read it.  That said, I am interested in the author's future work based on the solid foundation of this tale.  Arrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Divine justice is written in blood.

Or so Amastan has been taught. As a new assassin in the Basbowen family, he’s already having second thoughts about taking a life. A scarcity of contracts ends up being just what he needs.

Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

Every life has its price, but when the tables are turned, Amastan must find this perfect assassin or be their next target.

To visit the author’s website go to:

K.A. Doore - Author

To buy the novel go to:

the perfect assassin - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

K A Doore has built a beautiful fantasy in The Perfect Assassin. Filled with rich world building and a found family this book was everything I love. The one thing that annoyed me a bit, and I realize it personal preference, is the repetitive nature of some parts where the reader is told something and then a few paragraphs later is told the same thing again. However, it is not something I can fault the book nor the author for as some people love this and ultimately it did not detract from the overall exquisiteness of the book.