Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers
Series: Assassin's Heart #1
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: 2nd February 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
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In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

Well, I’m more than a little disappointed. Assassin’s Heart has an interesting sounding premise. A girl who comes from a family of assassins, who feels little remorse for killing people? Awesome. I was intrigued as soon as I heard about it. Unfortunately, the book let me down.

First thing’s first, I have to talk about the writing style. Assassin’s Heart is a debut book, and in my opinion, you can definitely tell. It doesn’t seem as though the author has found her voice yet. There is nothing standout about the writing, in fact I thought it was too juvenile and bland for my tastes. It was not captivating in the slightest, which is a shame, because I think better writing could have made all the difference.

I quite like the main character, Lea. She was interesting to read about, having been born into a family of assassins and then betrayed by those she loved, and then set on a journey of revenge. I really liked and appreciated how Lea wanted to avenge her family, because if I was in her shoes I would have wanted the same thing. No regrets, no guilt, and no conscience.

There was a love story that I didn’t really care for. There was no chemistry there, and while I liked both of the characters involved, I just couldn’t get on board. It was boring and I didn’t care for it.

While it had the potential to be a great story, Assassin’s Heart is full of overdone tropes that are let down by the bland writing style. Seriously, every time another trope came to light I was thinking that it HAD to be the last one, but nope. Things just kept popping up and I was rolling my eyes by the halfway point. It was all just so very meh.

Plus, a bunch of ghosts showed up at one point and I was kind of like WTF. I wasn’t expecting paranormal in my fantasy novel, and this was very paranormal.

I wish Assassin’s Heart had been better, I really do. If it had lived up to its premise, it could have been a great book. But unfortunately it was a giant letdown.