Caledon Holt is the Kingdom of Renovia's deadliest weapon. No one alive can best him in brawn or brains, which is why he's the Guild's most dangerous member and the Queen's one and only assassin. He's also bound to the Queen by an impossible vow--to find the missing Deian Scrolls, the fount of all magical history and knowledge, stolen years ago by a nefarious sect called the Aphrasians.
Shadow has been training all her life to follow in the footsteps of her mother and aunts--to become skilled enough to join the ranks of the Guild. Though magic has been forbidden since the Aphrasian uprising, Shadow has been learning to control her powers in secret, hoping that one day she'll become an assassin as feared and revered as Caledon Holt.
When a surprise attack brings Shadow and Cal together, they're forced to team up as assassin and apprentice to hunt down a new sinister threat to Renovia. But as Cal and Shadow grow closer, they'll uncover a shocking web of lies and secrets that may destroy everything they hold dear. With war on the horizon and true love at risk, they'll stop at nothing to protect each other and their kingdom in this stunning first novel in the Queen's Secret series.
Flo's Review
This has been on my TBR for awhile, so I was super excited to win a copy from Bookish First. I thought it would make a good travel companion, so it came along with me over the holidays.
Here's the thing...it was alright. Like, all of it. Was fine. But just fine.
The world and the world building I could tell was well thought out. But maybe almost too well thought out? I felt like I was constantly forgetting what place was where, and which people wanted what. I feel like if I was really focusing I could have gotten everything, but I wasn't in the mood to really focus. I just wanted to be entertained. Thankfully, and a strength of the book, is that even with me not fully understanding the political dynamics of the world, I could still enjoy the story.
The characters...were alright. Caledon is fine. Shadow is fine. They're fine together. But there was nothing about either one of them, or about them together, that really made them stand out for me.
Same with the story. It was interesting. It was fine. Again, well thought out, but it just didn't stand out for me.
Here's my question for you guys...do you think part of this could be because I'm having Fantasy Fatigue? (I just made that term up, but I'm meaning it here like I've read so many fantasy novels lately that they're all starting to blend together into one nondescript blob.) Like, maybe I would have had a stronger reaction to this story if I hadn't been on a such a fantasy kick lately. Maybe I've burned out.
What do you think?
The Queen's Assassin publishes February 2020 from Penguin Teen. Thank you again to Bookish First for the advance reader's copy.
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