Book #16 Assassin's Apprentice

It's been a while since my last book. But I'll confess, I've fallen a couple of books behind again! Book 16 was the hardest read to date for me, and it took all my will power to keep going with it. So here goes my review!

So... Assassin's Apprentice. I was recommended this one by my friend Chloe Paylor, so going on the recommendation, I went and bought a copy from amazon, and into my 'to read' pile it went! The pile is fairly large, so it sat there for a couple of weeks whilst I ploughed through the books, and having finished Shadow of the Wind, I cracked into this one. The cover is an absolute work of art, and having read the blurb on the back, it looked to me like it would be an absolute cracker!

I struggled with it, I'm not going to lie, I really really struggled with this one. I'm not sure why, as the story had a hell of a lot of potential to be brilliant, and it was incredibly well written, but there were several times, particularly in the first 200 pages or so, where I was tempted to give up on it. But I could see the potential in the story, especially as it's part of a trilogy, so I carried on. The only way I can describe this book is like trying to get an aircraft carrier moving with just your own strength (ok that's an exaggeration but you get what I mean?!)... it's a long long slog to get going, but when it does, it moves slowly but surely before settling into its motions. Ok that was a bit rubbish i'll admit!

So the book itself. It follows the life of a royal bastard named Fitz, and his training to become an assassin for his grandfather, the king. I think what I struggled with was, whilst there is a huge amount of character development, creating well rounded characters who I could really identify with, most of the book is set inside Fitz's head and his thoughts... as such there isn't a huge amount of dialogue.

The book starts with Fitz being just 6 years old, and by the end of the book we've passed through several years, as Fitz enters his teenage years. I did enjoy seeing Fitz growing from childhood into adolescence, but again, it just seemed to take too long!

The climax of this book was brilliant though, the pace suddenly ramped up from 0-100 in the last 100 or so pages, creating one of my favourite passages, and some of the best scenes I've read. The wonderful descriptions and twists and turns had me hooked in the last part of the book, and I'm glad. It honestly saved the book for me!

Assassin's Apprentice is a place setter for the rest of the trilogy apparently, so I will go back to it, once I've chomped my way through the pile that's sat in the hallway. There is a lot to the book, and I'm glad I persevered with it. It's not my favourite book that I've read so far, but it isn't the worst.

In a world of fantasy books that is dominated by Game of Thrones and its ilk, it's nice to be able to have a series and a world that is actually complete, unlike others... If I were to compare it to the Game of Thrones series, I would probably lean towards the Assassin's Apprentice. Yes Game of Thrones is brilliant, but the book is hard, there's too many points of view, so in this aspect Assassin's Apprentice is a much nicer read.

I've given this book 3/5 on Goodreads, and I think it's about right, purely because it's a really slow burner. Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you like a very slow burn but with good character development and a story that feels like it'll be developing over the course of a few books, if you like a book that is more action packed from the start then this book really isn't for you!

Assassin's Apprentice: 3cm

Total read so far: 16 books, 44.5cm

Total left to read: 148.5cm