The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

 Title: The Assassin's Curse

                                                      Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke

                                                      Pages: Ebook (320 pages) 

                                                      Published: October 2nd 2012 by Strange Chemistry

                                                      Series: Assassin's Curse book #1 

                                                      Genre: Fantasy, magical, YA 

                                                                                       Stars: 3.5/5

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.

I just firstly want to thank Net Galley for giving me this ARC. Thank you so much for yet another book! 

This is a very different book to what I am normally accustomed to. This novel contained a lot of fantasy and surreal aspects and it was an actual adventure story. However, this book didn’t really do it for me, there was something about this book that was off and it didn’t make me enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

The main character however, Annana was a real joy to read. She was really a down to earth and an independent girl. She liked to do things her own way and doesn’t shy away from arduous tasks (well it is a given since she is a pirate!).

I felt quite disappointed in the romantic department though. Despite it being nice that Annana and Naji were becoming closer and accepting each other, nothing else happened, nothing to make readers clench their book in anticipation! It seemed like all the attraction was coming from Annana, without Naji actually giving anything away. I wouldn't actually call their relationship in this book a real romance. It was more like a high school crush that Annana had on Naji, especially towards the end. 

What I was mostly let down on was the actual story itself. The plot of the book is an interesting one and nothing to be blamed upon however; it was the way it was written. I found the language itself a bore and sometimes it put me off from actually finishing the book. I understand that Cassandra was trying to make each character seem more alive by using pirate dialects, but it just did not do for me. The beginning part of the book started off a bit complicated however that was resolved quickly but the magical aspects of the book was not and it stayed quite complex throughout the whole book.

Having said that, the backdrop of the book was absolutely stunning. Each scenery piece in the book was written as if it was made to be painted on a huge canvas. The descriptions that Cassandra used was utterly brilliant and I give her props for that! 

Ultimately, if you like a fantasy/adventure book with a lot of lovely descriptive scenery  then this book might be for you. 

Notables quotes/passages:

“She moved like water, graceful and soft and lovely. Every part of me wanted to stick out my foot and trip her, just to see her stumble.”