I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book in exchange for being able to discuss and recommend it to customers as a bookseller. I wasn't paid nor required to give it a good review.
This novel takes place in a high fantasy world in a kingdom where murder is illegal (like usual) unless one of the nine assassin families initiate the murder. The kingdom worships a goddess of death, one that promises to resurrect you into a better, healthier, happier life - especially if you're killed by one of the nine families - her disciples. The world is much grander than just this, and it's all revealed as you read the book, and I liked that certain aspects of the world are shown to you instead of having to read through long explanations.
What surprised me, though, is that the rest of the writing isn't like that. I found myself being told unnecessary things about Lea's life as an assassin that seemed obvious to me.
The biggest selling point in the novel, is the romeo-and-juliet-like romance between Lea and Val (val is one of the other nine families, the families are not supposed to compete but do anyways). I don't want to spoil the book, so I can't say much about it. I like the way the author writes romance, but I really wish it wasn't such a big thing for the novel. There are so many other important things going on, but I feel like the novel succumbed to the idea that you need romance to drive a plot forward. This would have been much less predictable if there wasn't so much romance in it.
I was hoping for an action-packed, fun, new high fantasy series to read, and unfortunately, while I enjoyed a lot of themes surrounding the novel, I think these themes were brushed to the side to make room for angst and romance. Even so, where there was character development, it felt too sharp, it didn't feel natural.
For it being a series, it wrapped up pretty well. I'm not sure that I'll continue the series. I may wait to see reviews of the next books first.
I'd recommend this for something looking for a new fantasy read with a kick, and doesn't mind the debut writing. I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a bad-ass assassin story, unfortunately.