This was a book that I had really hoped to love. I was so badly mistaken. Because it ended up being a book I almost hated for so long. Which makes me so sad, as this sounded so very good and looks gorgeous. But looks are not everything. Which is very true with this book. Sigh. Two stars, which even feels kind of me.
It sounds like an exciting story with a deadly assassin and them trying to save the world. Ha. It was so not this at all. It was a silly love story that didn't really make sense. I did not ship them. The book was full of drama. The assassin was a weak person with no focus, he who was supposed to be so deadly. Ugh. So not good.
I have so much I wish to share about this book. And I know I will most likely forget to mention most of it. Ha. But oh, I must share as much as I can. And this review will sadly not be positive at all. I will share a few good things, why it is not a one star. But yes. I have so much bad to share about this. Which hurts my heart, but yeah. This was not a good book. And I fully regret reading it. But I did it. And it is done with. Now you must all suffer with me. Ha. First I will say that the writing was a mess. First person and third person, I think. Both done so badly. Was hard to focus on this story. It was even harder to care for the characters. They were truly bland and boring and I just did not like them much. Sigh. This story could have been fully good. Instead it failed so horribly.
It began pretty good, though. The world seemed exciting with a little bit of magic included. It even seemed like I would like the main girl. But this passed fastly. This tells the story of Shadow and Caledon. He is the deadliest weapon in the kingdom, the Queen's assassin, age nineteen. Which was kind of laughable. He kills maybe a handful of people in this book. It happened so quickly. Instead he spends the entire time of this book being in love with Shadow and being such a whiny person. Both of them were. It was so stupid.
Anyway. Not going to write about that yet. It is so obvious from the first page that Shadow is the Queen's daughter, that she has lived with two women since she was a baby, seeing her mother a few times over the years. To keep her safe from the other three kingdoms, as some want her dead. Well, I thought it was beyond obvious, as it was written so badly, yet Cal never suspected it, ha. And it seems like there was a reveal at the end of the book. What. I'm confused. Like it was a big secret that we did not know. Hahaha.
Yeah. I tried to like Shadow and Cal. I really did. She run away from her aunts the day she was supposed to live with her mother again. Cal is in prison for a murder, although the Queen is supposed to have him escape to go to another place to find some kind of spy. Instead Shadow travels to free him, as she want him to teach her to be an assassin. Haha. She was so full of herself. She cut her hair and dressed as a boy to get to the prison. No one saw through her. Which was weird, as it was so not written good enough.
Then she is able to free him after just a couple of days in there. And it was very easy to get him out of the highest tower in this prison, without anyone seeing them. Yeah. Very believable. Then they are travelling together. And she is trying to control every single thing. Like she is the expert and he is the novice. Which was so not the case at all. He let her boss him around, after a few insults thrown both ways. It was just so silly and weird, to be honest. She was not good enough on this mission to be taking control of everything.
Then they arrive in the town where they are to infiltrate the royalty to look for the spy. Which of course go smoothly from the very beginning. They get a place to stay. With the woman of the house flirting with Cal at every moment. And Shadow getting jealous. The last half at least of this book was all about jealousy. And so much drama. It was ridiculous. And made me so angry and so upset. This was so not any kind of cute drama. They were both jealous and seemingly madly in love with each other without ever saying so.
Then they share a few kisses. And they are perfect together, oh my god. Can you believe it. Sigh. I am sorry. I just did not believe in this relationship at all. This book was not what I thought it would be at all. It was all about the almost romance and their drama. It was so bad. Then, spoilers. It is revealed at the end that she has to marry the King of another kingdom. And she does. And their hearts are breaking. Yet they sleep together night before the wedding. Months after, wedding is not consummated, and Cal is her lover.
I just could not with this book. It was so not good. And there is to be a second one. Uuugh. But of course, none of the plot was resolved in this story. The bad guy is still out there. And he is a demon, hundreds of years old. Of course. So this second book will likely be about her starting to have feelings for her husband too, to make it into a real love triangle, hahaha. Just you wait and see. I'm positive this will happen. Ugh. As if there weren't enough silly drama already. Sigh. I just could not deal with this book. It was not for me.
And now I have written way too much. Yet not enough at all. I would so not recommend this for anyone. Still giving it two stars, though. As I have read worse books. But yeah. The Queen's Assassin was not a good book. At all. And it hurts my heart that I had to suffer through it. Ha. But I made it. And I will not be reading book two. So curious to see other reviews, though. Huge thank you to PRH International #partner for sending me this gorgeous free ARC to read and review. I'm sorry I hated the book so much. Well, not.
