Review: The Assassin's Curse by Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Series: The Assassin's Curse #1
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Format: e-galley provided by publisher, Published October 2, 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Goodreads

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

My Review

Ananna of the Tanarau is the daughter of a pirate. She dreams of commanding her own ship and crew one day, not being sold off as a bride to the handsome Tarin of the Harari and she plans to do something about it. Jumping ship and running away on a camel, Ananna seriously angers her would-be future family who send an assassin after her. The assassin, Naji, has to change his orders when a curse that had been placed on him is activated as Ananna saves his life.

I adored the world building in this book. There is serious chemistry when the world of a raised-at-sea pirate ends up stuck with a magic wielding and highly trained assassin. All of these aspects of this world seamlessly weave together to make a fascinating scene that I couldn't get enough of. The two unlikely and fabulous characters of Naji and Ananna are the heart and soul of this book. Neither of them are physically beautiful people, as Ananna isn't described as pretty and Naji is facially scarred. For some reason I found this seriously refreshing and along with Ananna's well-written pirate dialect, the characters were realistic and three dimensional. There is commonality and great plot between Naji and Ananna as they are both rather cut-throat and kick-ass.

The writing in The Assassin's Curse is done really well. The dialects that could easily be awkward are used perfectly and the action is written so thrillingly. What kept me from giving this book five stars, however, is the lack of pacing consistency. At times, the book would slow down from the action-driven plot. Those who revel in character development, however, won't be disappointed.

Deserts. Sea. Adventure. Magic. Pirates. Assassins. What a perfect book to warm yourself up with this autumn if you're into that sort of thing (but who wouldn't be?). I was hooked at the summary, and I think you will be too! This adventurous book ended on a pretty sizeable cliffhanger, so I will eagerly await the next book!

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