A boy who is trained in the art of death, sent to kill the enemies of the Queen of the Kingdom and a girl who appears as nothing more than a country girl but has been training to become apart of the Guild for years. They embark on a journey to save their kingdom from another magical war and on the way encounter friendship, deception, love betrayal and that's just between the two of them.
➽ Cal - The Queen's Assassin due to a blood oath passed from his father to him. He serves the Queen well and is accomplished in the Guild. One fatal error lands him in hot water with the general public though and he is sent to Deeria prison on a top secret mission. The kingdom of Montrice is thought to be aiding the Aphrasian uprising and it's up to him to figure out who. The stakes are high and if caught the Queen will not come to his aid.
➽ Shadow - A country girl who lives in the outskirts of the kingdom with her adoptive aunts who are Guild members like her mother, who she rarely sees due to her work at the palace. She wants nothing more than to be a Guild member, a top assassin like Caldon Holt, but her mother has other plans for her at court. While out exploring the Aphrasian Abbey one day she discovers they are once more at large and is witness to Cal's crime against the kingdom. He is sent to the top prison for his actions, which Shadow deems cruel since he was only saving her. To repay his actions and make her own dreams come true, she sets out to Deersia to help Cal escape and become his apprentice.
The Queen's Assassin was odd for lack of a better term. It felt like an attempt at a debut novel, someone just getting into writing (no offense to debut authors I've read some of the best novels from debut authors). The book is told in a dual-POV, which I usually love because it's nice to know how both characters feel or what they're thinking. That being said Shadow's POV is in first person while Cal's is in third person? It kind of felt like two different books. It was jarring and made it very hard to get into the book.
I've seen multiple reviews where the pacing was described as an issue, but I didn't have any problems with it. There were action scenes where there needed to be and there were quite a few slow moments, but they're on a top secret mission, there is bound to be a ton of reconnaissance. The information they found did seem to fall right into their laps though. I'd say it was more spy than assassin. There was a lack of killing and blood shed for an assassin novel. The romance had the priority here, which is fine but it should have been marketed as a romance then versus an assassin fantasy novel.
The romance was front and center for the entirety of this novel. There is no hate to love trope here, but instead Cal always admires Shadow and her skills which I appreciated. It was a bit of insta-love, but I thought they had good chemistry. They were constantly teasing one another, both stubborn as hell with how they felt. They each had their own missions that held no room for love, which just caused more tension. They had some steamy moments, but it was a lot of innocent and jealous moments as well. I found Cal and Shadow endearing, I stayed for the romance plot and their interactions which I thoroughly enjoyed. The romance plot was strong while the rest of the story seemed to fall apart.
The main plot of The Queen's Assassin is supposedly the Aphrasian uprising, a group of people with extra special magic hidden away from the rest of the world. They are out to kill the Queen and Princess, the why is unknown, and have a foothold in the Queens' home kingdom of Montrice. The Aphrasians need to be stopped before they rise again and start another war. We really don't know anything about the magic they wield, how it is different than that which Shadow wields, or what the scrolls they hide contain. The magic system is not explained at all. No clue how it works. There's also some super special family line that is important but I'm unsure why. Also, were the Aphrasians bad people? Did they hurt people beyond killing the King in a war he declared? Unknown. Maybe that will be the focus of the second book, but I felt like, beyond the info-dump journal entries which sucked to get through and were the only parts that explained anything important, it should have been more of a focus.
There was a plot twist at the end that I saw coming from miles away, but it still managed to trip me up. I'd guessed it within the first few pages on the novel, a secret about Shadow, that I was unsure if she knew or not. Cruz did a good job making a predictable twist not so predictable if that makes sense. I don't want to give spoilers or anything though so I'm cutting myself off there.
Overall while I was unimpressed with a lot of the book, I enjoyed the romance along with the twist and really liked Cal and Shadow. There is a second book, since this is a duology, but I think the romance portion was sufficiently wrapped up at the end of this book and I'm happy leaving it where it ended. I don't think I'll pick it up unless the rest of the plot is overhauled and either first or third perspective is used throughout the whole book.
➽ Cal - The Queen's Assassin due to a blood oath passed from his father to him. He serves the Queen well and is accomplished in the Guild. One fatal error lands him in hot water with the general public though and he is sent to Deeria prison on a top secret mission. The kingdom of Montrice is thought to be aiding the Aphrasian uprising and it's up to him to figure out who. The stakes are high and if caught the Queen will not come to his aid.
➽ Shadow - A country girl who lives in the outskirts of the kingdom with her adoptive aunts who are Guild members like her mother, who she rarely sees due to her work at the palace. She wants nothing more than to be a Guild member, a top assassin like Caldon Holt, but her mother has other plans for her at court. While out exploring the Aphrasian Abbey one day she discovers they are once more at large and is witness to Cal's crime against the kingdom. He is sent to the top prison for his actions, which Shadow deems cruel since he was only saving her. To repay his actions and make her own dreams come true, she sets out to Deersia to help Cal escape and become his apprentice.
The Queen's Assassin was odd for lack of a better term. It felt like an attempt at a debut novel, someone just getting into writing (no offense to debut authors I've read some of the best novels from debut authors). The book is told in a dual-POV, which I usually love because it's nice to know how both characters feel or what they're thinking. That being said Shadow's POV is in first person while Cal's is in third person? It kind of felt like two different books. It was jarring and made it very hard to get into the book.
I've seen multiple reviews where the pacing was described as an issue, but I didn't have any problems with it. There were action scenes where there needed to be and there were quite a few slow moments, but they're on a top secret mission, there is bound to be a ton of reconnaissance. The information they found did seem to fall right into their laps though. I'd say it was more spy than assassin. There was a lack of killing and blood shed for an assassin novel. The romance had the priority here, which is fine but it should have been marketed as a romance then versus an assassin fantasy novel.
The romance was front and center for the entirety of this novel. There is no hate to love trope here, but instead Cal always admires Shadow and her skills which I appreciated. It was a bit of insta-love, but I thought they had good chemistry. They were constantly teasing one another, both stubborn as hell with how they felt. They each had their own missions that held no room for love, which just caused more tension. They had some steamy moments, but it was a lot of innocent and jealous moments as well. I found Cal and Shadow endearing, I stayed for the romance plot and their interactions which I thoroughly enjoyed. The romance plot was strong while the rest of the story seemed to fall apart.
The main plot of The Queen's Assassin is supposedly the Aphrasian uprising, a group of people with extra special magic hidden away from the rest of the world. They are out to kill the Queen and Princess, the why is unknown, and have a foothold in the Queens' home kingdom of Montrice. The Aphrasians need to be stopped before they rise again and start another war. We really don't know anything about the magic they wield, how it is different than that which Shadow wields, or what the scrolls they hide contain. The magic system is not explained at all. No clue how it works. There's also some super special family line that is important but I'm unsure why. Also, were the Aphrasians bad people? Did they hurt people beyond killing the King in a war he declared? Unknown. Maybe that will be the focus of the second book, but I felt like, beyond the info-dump journal entries which sucked to get through and were the only parts that explained anything important, it should have been more of a focus.
There was a plot twist at the end that I saw coming from miles away, but it still managed to trip me up. I'd guessed it within the first few pages on the novel, a secret about Shadow, that I was unsure if she knew or not. Cruz did a good job making a predictable twist not so predictable if that makes sense. I don't want to give spoilers or anything though so I'm cutting myself off there.
Overall while I was unimpressed with a lot of the book, I enjoyed the romance along with the twist and really liked Cal and Shadow. There is a second book, since this is a duology, but I think the romance portion was sufficiently wrapped up at the end of this book and I'm happy leaving it where it ended. I don't think I'll pick it up unless the rest of the plot is overhauled and either first or third perspective is used throughout the whole book.