A fun fantasy

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The Queen's Assassin follows Shadow, a girl with the desire to become an assassin for the Hearthstone Guild, and the boy who she's always desired to teach her how to become one: Caledon Holt, the Queen's personal assassin. The two face countless dangers together and go undercover to figure out how to bring down the Aphrasians, long-time enemies to the crown, and save their kingdom Renovia from more war and turmoil. Along the way, they develop feelings for one another and discover secrets that change both of their lives forever.

The Queen's Assassin starts off really strong. It's engaging from the first few pages. However, after the initial few chapters it does slow down, so much so that it was a slog for a while. I will say that it does successfully pick back up and I was really happy with the results once it did. I thought the writing was good and I was fully engaged in the story once it picked up speed again. I really enjoy both Shadow and Cal's characters, but I was put off by the constant shifts in point of view. The story is told from their alternating perspectives, but Shadow's is from the first person and Cal's is from the third. This really disrupts the flow of the story and doesn't place you inside Cal's mind the way it does Shadow's. It's something that I hope is reconsidered in the sequel.

There was also a pretty major plot twist that I was able to figure out within the first few pages, so it didn't come as much of a surprise. I also had questions about the decisions that Cal and Shadow were making in their critical roles to keep Renovia safe. They had the jobs of real adults, but oftentimes behave like petulant children, which didn't sit too well with me given the amount of responsibility they both have. I know that it's real life, I just feel like Cal can't be as good at his job as the kingdom hails him to be with some of the really basic and amateur mistakes he makes along the way.

The story definitely has a plot and direction, and while I think that plot suffered occasionally because of the struggle to get some world building in, I was invested in Shadow and Cal's fate and how everything would turn out in the end. I find the ending deeply unsatisfying and hope that the second book will rectify some things.

All in all, I thought it was a decent fantasy novel with compelling characters and a believable romance. There was room for improvement, but I look forward to seeing how many things will be resolved in the next book.