Assassin's Apprentice

Oathbreaker #1

by S.R. Vaught, J.B. Redmond

Enter a world where honour means everything . . . unless you have nothing to lose

In Eyrie - a world of two moons, shapeshifters, and powerful magic - Aron of Brailing knows he owes loyalty to his guild, obedience to the code of the land, and his life to his closest companions, but it is his own family he holds closest to his heart.Kidnapped and forced to become an assassin, Aron must learn to control and harness his own fearsome talents even as he grieves for the family he knows is lost forever. But when he is tempted to put everything aside everything he has learned in order to avenge his family's killers, will Aron make unforgivable mistakes?Assassin's Apprentice unveils an intriguing cast of characters whose sense of honour, strength, and history binds them together, and whose incredible talents of mind and body set them apart.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Fiction, High Fantasy, Supernatural, Teen

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2009

About the author

S.R. Vaught also writes as Susan Vaught.

Reviews

[Camly Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every time when someone asks, I tell them that I like fantasy books until I read something like this...

Start off with a peaceful family of farmers. Then there's like this Harvest season happening where assassin guilds come and recruit some newbies out of their will for no logical reason. They pick Aron and he happens to be so fuckin powerful because his powers are almost as strong as his Fae ancestors. Damn. *rolls eyes* They meet this girl named Dari that joins them to fight some dead spirits. They make a shit load of oaths even though Dari and the guys are supposed to be enemies because their races are at war. Shit happens, yet nothing big comes up. They get to the guild and train and don't really know how it ended because I just didn't care anymore at this point.

Main reasons of dissatisfaction:there's no problem to solve (I take that back. There is one, but it's not resolved. You have to read the next book, but that ain't gonna happen coz fack dis), lack of excitement, thought Stormbreaker was an old dude until he awkwardly "flirted" with Dari which is like in the middle of the god dammed book, Aron practically single handedly fought off a shit ton of Spirits and he still acts like a kid that doesn't know jack shit about defending himself, Aron knows the dangers of pushing the Veil yet he still does it because he's a special kind of STOOPEED.

Time to go on the nope train!

NEXT!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eyrie is a nation lead by families that are descended from the Fae. Although time has diluted the magic this blood possessed at one time, across the land there are people born with very strong gifts. One such, is Aron of Brailing, a fourteen year old farm boy. Taken against his will from his family by the Stone guild to become an apprentice to a high master assassin, Aron soon learns that alli is not how it seems.

We learn much about Eyrie as Aron does. Sheltered from the real world in many ways because of his life on his family’s distant farm, he is ignorant of many things. As the story progresses and Aron’s eye are opened to how life really works, we learn along side him. The world created is fascinating. Rich with magic and monsters. There are many things that Aron must overcome, not least of which is himself.

Highly recommended. Can’t wait to start the second in the series and see what happens next!

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is classic fantasy with all the elements checked off. I liked it a lot though.
Aron of Brailing has been raised to think he is without graal- a magical talent- when in fact he is so endowed the leader of Brailing has noticed Aron and marked him for death. Instead, he is taken from his family in the nick of time and brought to the Stone, where the assassins and judges of the land of Eyrie are trained and reside. Apprenticed to Stormbreaker, specifically to learn to control the unusually strong magic coursing through him. Aron's hands are full with his inner turmoil and the rigorous training each candidate endures.
This is the first volume of a tale of Aron's development from boyhood to initiation to the brotherhood of Stone.
A parallel story of Nic, heir to Eyrie's throne who is presumed dead after an assassination attempt introduced in this volume with seemingly more to come when the second volume is published-
Could you hurry that up please? I want to know what happens to Aron and Galvin on their quest into the Ruined Keep, what happens with Stormbreaker and Dari and of course Nic and Tiamat.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally I finished reading this, and I'm disappointed to kick this review off by saying that I feel like giving three stars to it is being slightly generous, because I had really wanted to like this.

I'd first seen this book in the library almost 8 years ago now, and had thumbed through it after reading the summary. It didn't necessarily capture my attention at the time apart from the fact the cover was striking and when I read the small blurbs about the authors at the back of the book, I was intrigued by them in particular. The authors are a mother-and-son team, and the son has overcome complications and struggles with cerebral palsy in order to record the story of this book on tape so his mother could assist him in writing it. That fact especially caught my attention and it stuck with me throughout the years, because later I vaguely remembered the book by the cover art and the description of the authors, even if I couldn't remember the authors' names or the book's title. [I went to Name That Book for assistance in looking it up, and the lovely people there helped me find it by title again.] I purchased both books in the duology from Amazon and I was so super excited to give this a chance.

Here's the thing: I think this story has an interesting premise and a lot of potential as far as world-building goes, but it's so character driven that I believe that is what stalls the narrative and the plot from really progressing.

We follow our protagonist, Aron, from the moment he's taken from his family in this sort of ritual called the Harvest, wherein children are assessed and taken by one of the two major guilds (Stone, the assassins, or Thorn, the...whatever they are, scholars or magicians or something that puts on stuffy superior airs) to be raised among their ranks. He doesn't want to go and his family doesn't want him to go, but legally nobody is allowed to defy the guilds their right to select Harvest prizes, and when Aron's taken by the Stone guild, much to his and his family's dismay, there's not really anything to be done for it. To go into more detail than that will be spoilers, so I'll tag the majority of my review accordingly.

Aron's taken by the assassins, who also have with them another apprentice in tow as well as some girl they've picked up at random, Dari, who is more than she seems. Early early into the story, we learn there are different dynasty lines of these people, who are called the Fae and Aron is of the Brailing line. Dari a Fury or a Stregan or a Ross or something, good lord it's confusing, but basically she's Not Fae, and the book opened with some set of sayings in which it talks about how Fae shouldn't intermix with Non-Fae in order to avoid breeding disasters and a bunch of other things, blah blah blah. And Dari, with her personal powers to go through the Veil (which in itself is only vaguely explained,) finds out that Aron's family was executed by Lord Brailing's guard only shortly after Aron was taken by the Stone assassins. From that point, the book primarily focuses on Aron's anger and thirst for vengeance and his overall mixed emotions regarding everything that has happened in his life.

In that regard, I'm glad that the whirlwind of crap he goes through isn't just shoved to the side or forgotten because he starts crushing on Dari or because he does his best to accept and embrace the new life he'll have as he trains to become an assassin. The murder of his family becomes a huge driving force for his character, and when he and his assassin master pledge themselves in loyalty to Dari to keep her secret and aid in her mission, helping find Dari's missing sister additionally becomes a big driving motivation for him.

But as a result, I felt as though those dominating facts sort of did stall the plot. Clearly there's a lot going on with the political climate between all the dynast factions and shady things the Thorn guild's been up to, but much of that tends to get glossed over when we're following things from Aron's or Dari's perspectives. Aron's too focused on the here and now and the few things that motivate him, where Dari is focused on the goal of finding her sister, assisting Aron in controlling and learning about his power he didn't know he had, and her...weird...lustful schoolgirl crush on Aron's master, Stormbreaker, that kind of came out of left field. I don't consider either of these characters to be reliable or even interesting narrators that I can really get emotionally invested in, and again, I feel like the narrative and the pacing and plot suffer as a result. The most interesting chapters for me were the few from the perspective of Nic.

Now, Nic is kind of kept off to the side of the main focus, though the narrative makes it pretty clear how important he is to the plot. He is a prince and a cripple, and has watched all of his other siblings die. During his mourning of his sister dying, an attempt is made on his own life, and he is picked up by Stormbreaker's sister while she and her traveling companions were out for Harvest. Most of the insight regarding the political climate comes from those few chapters we see from Nic's perspective, when he's not in a state of unnatural sleep in which his mind and spirit wander and come into contact with Aron. Stormbreaker's sister, Tia Snakekiller, tends to Nic and the two of them have more than one discussion regarding his fate and everything that is happening as tension between the dynast lords comes to a head.

But again, those chapters are few and far between. The majority of the book focuses on Aron (and Dari,) and the first 3/4ths of the book focus on everything that happens while they're on their way to the Stone Guild. The last quarter focuses on Aron first getting to the guild, making an enemy of one of the other assassin apprentices, a little bit of his training (most of it is usually glossed over,) some supernatural weirdness surrounding areas within the guild (which don't get explained,) and...then it just kind of ends on a cliffhanger as Aron and rival/enemy apprentice, Galvin, are sent out on a dangerous journey to the guild's abandoned, ruined keep to check on supplies there, as a punishment and exercise in getting over their hard feelings towards one another.

This book doesn't really have much of a climax, falling action, or conclusion. Perhaps some of that could be attributed to the fact that the second book seems to be more of a "next half" of the first. Opening the second book, it starts with "chapter 34" where this one ended on "chapter 33". I think that this book, like Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel was initially intended to be a single book but for whatever reason, was separated into two and it shouldn't have been. I think the story would have benefited more from being kept into a single novel that was just longer than average. There is rising action in Oathbreaker: Assassin's Apprentice certainly, but that's about all there is. Again, there's no climactic moments, there's no falling action, and there's no conclusion. There seems to be attempts at world-building, and while I appreciate that there are no major infodumps used and the characters typically try to explain aspects of the world, the world-building itself feels very...clumsy and haphazard, if not rushed altogether. I have doubled back and re-read entire sections of this book just to try to understand the dynasts, the racial differences, etc. and I still cannot tell you pretty much anything beyond there are Fae and then there are Not Fae, and also Thorn Guild Is Shady and Can Suck An Egg. I feel like I'm leaving this book more confused than I was going in, and I think I'll still be confused when I start the second half, no matter when I may start it. I also just can't really connect with or like any of the characters that dominate the spotlight in this book; I only really am interested in Nic and Snakekiller at this point, and I fear the possibility of going through the second book and not liking them by the end of it.

All in all, I won't say that I'm not glad I read this, because I am. I wanted to read this and I'm happy to have gotten a copy and done so, but at this point, it was so hard for me to get into the story to begin with and it took me so long to get through this book, I'm just relieved I'm finished with it for now. I don't know when I'll pick up the second half, Oathbreaker: A Prince Among Killers, because I don't know if I have the patience for it right now.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one - a world of Faerie with different races of magic folk hiding and fighting and moving through the Veil. The story is a young boy's journey as he is taken from his family to become a justice serving executioner, but then a civil war breaks loose. His companions and his talent mean he will not have a normal life, which is the only thing he really wants. Book 2 should be just as interesting.

[ivana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have officially made a new shelf, simply because of this book: WTF.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can find this book and you enjoy fantasy(hint hint...cole...) then you have got to read this book!!!!!!!

[Liam Postlethwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay book, I find it hard to understand but after the first half it got easier and slightly better. I liked the characters butthought it could have explained what was going on a bit better.

[Julie Drucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's funny how fate will place a book in my hands at the right time. I found this book at a garage sale, I already had book 2 in my library. I knew as soon as I started to read this book and it's companion as well, that I would fall in love with this series. I became so engrossed in Aron, Dari, Nick and Stormbreaker's story that time stood still for me. As the hours flew by the story just sang to my soul. From the love and redemption to the sword battles and medieval times depicted within it's pages I became a part of this story. These two books will forever grace my library shelves and every time I loving caress the spine's this story in all it's glory will fill my heart and mind with all that it gave to me. Bravo to S.R. Vaught and her son J.B. Redmond for putting this story on paper. If you are a fan of fantasy and medieval times you will truly love this book and it's companion: A Prince Among Killers!

[Alison]

DNF at page 88. This book is weird. The language is confusing, the whole Veil is not explained well. And help me, I can't stand when the MC is in a bad way and can suddenly do more magically than ever before without trying, training or understanding how. Like, how did he suddenly see the WHOLE country.. like wtf. Oh and the lightning creature is clearly his mentor (kidnapper?) This book had potential (as I guess could be said of all of them) but nothing is explained in a way that makes me want to keep reading. I had been so excited for a male MC ... hes so far too much of a wuss for me to care.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars

Aron is a simple farmers boy and has been his whole life, until Harvest season come and he is whisked away to become a Stone brother - a trained assassin. He is first resentful and longs to escape but as war brims and his family is murdered, Aron has no choice but to accept his fate and train his mind and new found power so he can avenge his family.


I did enjoy this book. From the start I was very hesitant because I felt we could have been introduced to the world a bit gentler, if that makes sense. I was very lost at the start and felt the worldbuilding could've been a little better throughout the book. But apart from that I did really like Dari and Stormbreakers characters. Aron was ok but I didn't really connect with him.

There are many unique aspects to this book which did make it enjoyable and interesting including the world, magic system and political set up. I also loved all the creatures and monsters that were created. I will say that while this book might've lacked a little in worldbuilding, it was still very descriptive and was very easy to picture the actions of the characters.

I think that the authors did do a great job of writing this book and I am very excited to see what happens next, especially in Dari's story and to see Nic's a little bit more expanded as I was not sure what was going on with him - but I am interested to see what will happen when Nic and Aron meet.

~ Abby

[Schuyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid read. This is set in a world where there is a legacy of Fae magic, some groups with differing ideals on the brink of war, and other magical creatures roaming the wilds. The main character (Aron) is a little generic - an unsuspecting farm boy with a strong legacy of magic that he must harness and use well to help the future of the world. He is taken from his farm and thrown into the Stone (assassin's) Guild and his training is started. The book follows a few other POVs, Aron's companions Dari and Stormbreaker and another character - Nic who is a noble heir who is thrown from a tower at the beginning of the book.

My biggest qualm with this book is it is part of a duology and the author did nothing to wrap up this book - no climax or event that culminates, and the second book reads like it is the next chapter from this book. I almost question why the author split it into 2 books rather than having a single book. Other than that is a good read and follows some common fantasy tropes, but that doesn't reduce the appeal too much.

[Chloe Circenis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read all year!
This book was packed full of action, emotion and was written so well the end snuck up on me. All the characters are loveable and somewhat relatable to.
The main character, Aron, has experienced losing his whole family, and as someone who has also experienced grief, his reactions and the advice given to him are spot on to what one feel after death, and how to resolve these feelings. This book brought me to tears in multiple places, and left me yearning yo start the next. 10/10 recommend.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable. There is too much time taken explaining things that to the reader are self-explanatory; I felt as though I was an adult in a kindergarten class. Too centred on the numerous one-sided romances within the novel. A disappointment, as I generally adore the fantasy genre, especially this apprenticed-boy-with-astonishing-skill subsection.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

too pleased with their own world-building.

[Alan Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story

Please give it a try, this is a book i been looking all over the place for, and hope others find it too

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a two part series.

The story revolves around three characters whos adventures end up becoming interwined together. The world of Eyrie is made up of different areas controlled by different rulers. The inhabitants of Eyrie are those that have magic powers or shapeshifters or those that have neither, deemed as silent. First, we are introduced to Aron Brailing, a boy from a farmer's family living on the outskirts of Dyn Brailing. Dyn Brailing is one of different areas controlled by rulers. Every few years, there is a Harvest. The Harvest is when members from the two guids, Stone and Thorn. Stone is the guild where they train assassins and Thorn the place where they train scholars and healers. The guilds harvest children that have some indication of fae blood in them, essentially those that magic powers in them. Aron is one of the children and is kidnapped from his family taken as a Harvest Prize. While being kidnapped by the Stone Guild, Aron meets another child. Her name is Dari and unbenowest to all, she belongs to a group of people that are shapeshifters thought to be extinct in the last great war. When she accidentally reveals herself to save Aron and a Stone Guild member, Stormbreaker (who actually is nicer then one would think an assassin would be) the three swear an oath to keep the secret. Dari also reveals that she is looking for her twin sister, who ran away from their home and is mentally ill and could become a powerful weapon in the impending war. The third character in this book is named Nic Mab. He is the last heir to the throne of Mab since all of his previous brothers, sisters and father have died before him. After his sister's death, Nic rises as the heir but is soon betrayed by those close to him and pushed off a tower. There he is found by a Stone assassin who treats him, knowing of his orgins. Along the way, Aron and Nic share short conversations with one another, having no idea who the other is or where they are, through the use of their magic. Later on, it is also revealed that as the war draws closer, Lord Brailing started to turn on his own people and Aron`s family is one of those that were killed. Now Aron has no choice but to become an assassin and have the chance to avenge his family when he is strong enough but when the oppurtunity arises, will Aron avenge his family even though he would be commiting an unforgivable mistake in the process?

Assassin's Apprentice follows Aron Brailing more then any of the other characters.

The book is often told in different perspectives by one of the three characters.

This story was surprisingly quite interesting.

At the beginning, the many names and often terms made me confused but the more you read, the easier it becomes at understanding them.

This book definitely showed that for every action there is more then one perspective. Reading different narratives really shows the feelings of one character that another would not know at all. The character development was very well in this book. Each character has their own distinct personality that is created over the entire book. You start to understand who is the sympathetic person or who is the person that would often scowl or laugh.

The plot in this series is also pretty solid. It is unclear though which is the main plot which leads me to conclude that there are two, Aron's goal to avenge his family and Dari's, to find her sister.

This book completely drew me in and i couldn't stop until i had finished the entire book. The beginning is sort of slow because they introduce each character and you're just getting used to each of them but later on in the book when there is a better understaind of each character, the story and the action and adventure in this book become much more exciting to read and to follow.

If you're a fan of adventure, fantasy and action, you should definitely try this book!
www.teabookslove.blogspot.ca

[Linnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in my town's library looking for something to read and I come across this book. What appealed to me was the title. I thought it sounded cool so I picked it up and read the description and I immediately was hooked. I borrowed it as well as the sequel. It sounded like it would be really good 'cause it has assassins in it. When I started reading the book I got real into it. The main character, Aron is a farm boy and has plans for his career. However, this event called Harvest comes where the two main guilds Thorn and Stone come and take kids and force them to join the guilds. And this is perfectly legal. The guild that takes Aron is Stone, who are a guild of assassins. His family was forced to disown him which honestly made me feel a little sorry for him. Then Stormbreaker, the guy who Aron will be the apprentice of, takes him to Stone. Stormbreaker angered me at first but then he got better and became a mentor figure. Aron learns that he has these powers which are as strong as his Fae ancestors before the Fae decided to mix with other races to make themselves even more powerful. This resulted in the powers known as graals to diminish to the point where they were weakened. Aron, on the other hand, is super powerful more so than his dynast lord. Why after so many years the graal power would come back after many generations is not really explained. The world is run by these areas called dynasts but I couldn't really understand them well. Lord Brailing, leader of the dynast Aron comes from, orders the death of Aron's family since their powers are obviously a threat to him. Aron doesn't die because he is taken away before this occurs. Then we meet Dari, who is at first introduced as another Harvest prize but we then find out she is the member of a race known as the Stregans and is looking for her sister Kate. The Stregans were forced into hiding so she has to conceal what she is. On the journey to Stone, which takes up most of the book, Aron encounters his dead family as spirits and has to confront them. I don't really know how Aron feels about this since this scene is told from Dari's POV. Dari has the same powers as Aron so she will teach him how to use said power. There are things called manes and I'm not 100% sure what they are. There is a third POV from Nic but in this book he appears only twice. Nic's father and siblings are all dead, his mother is presented as a crazy woman who is paranoid and blames the other dynast lords for those deaths. Nic is thrown off a tower and somehow doesn't die. After spending most of the book traveling they get to Stone. The leader basically tells Aron, he can't use his powers since that would be unfair to the other members of Stone. There is a war brewing in the background but it isn't explained well and the focus is instead on Aron's training and Dari's sister and Aron's rivalry with another apprentice, and on romance. Aron spends much of the book thinking about revenge and I get it since his life had been ruined and he is only 14 years old. He trains with Dari to control the powers he can't use or else he'll die ( i think). He also trains everyday to prepare for a trial that will give Aron membership in Stone. The apprentice, Galvin or whatever, bullies Aron everyday and no matter what can't get Galvin to stop. Stormbreaker tells them they have to work it out 'cause they'll be brothers at some point. Then at the end Aron and Galvin have to go this keep as punishment and work together to survive. 'cause what's gonna work, Teamwork!! ( couldn't help myself there) Overall, I liked the book. It wasn't the best book I've read but it wasn't horrible. I found a lot of things about the world were unexplained which annoyed me a bit. The character's were pretty good but I prefer reading a good or even decent plot over characters anyway. I might've forgotten other things even though I read this this past summer. Would I read this again, very unlikely.

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of the fantasy genre. And assassins. Assassins rule. But I have to admit that I was seriously disappointed with this book. Sure, there are some things that I liked about it, but overall, it was pretty meh.
The good: I really liked the superpowers in this book. The power to control how another person perceives reality is so cool, but I found it hard to believe that Aron didn't know about his power until someone told him. One would think that a power you're born with would come naturally to you, but whatever. The characters also had a lot of potential, but I didn't really care for them. Aron is just your boring, bland male protagonist. He was nothing special, but he wasn't necessarily terrible. Dari, on the other hand, I couldn't stand. She's just a racist, self-righteous jerk. Yeah, the Fae almost drove your people to extinction. That sucks, but you don't have to be a jerk to everyone you meet, and you don't have to constantly point out how much stronger and more skilled you are than them. I liked Stormbreaker enough. He was pretty cool. My favorite, though, was Zed, mostly because he tackled a rock cat.
The bad: The world-building in this book is TERRIBLE. As soon as I started reading, it felt like I was reading the second book in a series. The author just throws in all of these things that the characters are familiar with, but are completely alien to the readers. Like the talons, for example. I went through the first eight or so chapters thinking that the talons were big birds because birds have talons, after all. But no, they're lizards! Giant lizards with wings! The author doesn't mention this until the fight with the rock cats. Another thing that the author doesn't explain until the fight with the rock cats is what the manes are. She says that they drain your blood or whatever, but she never mentions that they're ghosts until the characters are face-to-face with one. The author does this all. The. Time. Chevilles are mentioned constantly, but I had no idea what they were. It means ankles in French, but that still doesn't explain what they are. I just assumed that they were some kind of magical stone ankle bracelet until the author explained what they were.
Another thing that confused me was why everyone hated Stone. I can understand why somebody wouldn't want to kill for a living, but they're not so much assassins as they are social workers or police officers. They rescue abused children and innocents, they judge the wicked, and they keep the peace. Somebody has to do those things, even if those things are sometimes icky and bloody and not that pretty. Not everyone can be a pansy scholar.
The world of Eyrie is completely under-developed. There are dynasts, which are like kingdoms (which is what they should've been called because this world is vaguely Scotland-based, and Scotland had kingdoms, and I think that the author is confused about what dynasties are). Apparently, each dynast has its own mind-powers that have been all but bred out when the Fae (who I'm assuming are kinda like the Altmer in Skyrim) started doing it with their human slaves. That's all very nice, but that's not enough to make a world. Even if it's just one continent, there should be different languages, different religions, myths, legends, races, ethnicities. That's something that has always bothered me about fantasy and sci-fi worlds. They'll have one race, a god or a bunch of gods that they worship, and one language. That's not a world, that's a small region. Even within a country in our world, there are different dialects and different gods. The Greeks didn't all follow one religion, they worshiped hundreds of gods and had varying beliefs about who those gods actually were.

[Lissibith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The parts of this book that were good were very good - engaging and entertaining. Unfortunately, the parts that weren't good, led by some pacing problems and a lot of really obvious plot decisions that sucked the tension out of many scenes for me, were enough to really drop the bottom out of my enjoyment of the book overall.

Starting with the good, the parts of the world that are fleshed out are largely unique and interesting, and when the characters and plot click, it can be an incredible read. I thought one of the strongest bits was the part at the end when Aron is getting used to life with Stone and gets himself an enemy of sorts within the ranks of the apprentices. His friendship with zed and the emnity they face and then way the bullying escalates was natural and well-paced and at the same time really interesting.

On the other hand... the bad. The start of the book is pretty good, but then the first major conflict is introduced and so begins the parade of plot devices that broadcast themselves. As soon as we hear about Stone coming and Aron's fears, we know he'll be chosen and that he won't see his family again, probably because they'll be dead because that's what happens in fantasy. And when the first non-related woman shows up, my first thought was "love interest?" And so it was, but the romance comes pretty much out of left field and develops into another fantasy cliche, the love triangle that's not really a triangle because the pivot is only really interested in one of them. I couldn't really get interested in any of the main characters because they felt like stand-ins for fantasy tropes - the farmboy with a hidden power and great destiny, the wise and kind mentor, and the capable and beautiful love interest. Would that the plot were as creative as the world.

Then there's the strange POV choices. As a perfect example, there's a moment where Aron, newly taken from his family, is essentially confronted with their ghosts intent on killing him. Yet the narrative chooses to show this from the pov of a completely different character, robbing the scene of a good amount of emotion it might otherwise have had.

Another small but bothersome point that really threw me out of the story - Aron is utterly confused that people would think he's special, but he is being hunted by the lord of his land, who may have marked him for death years earlier; he has a massively powerful ability, not seen in this potency for a long time, which essentially lets him do whatever he wants to anyone or anything if he develops it; and he was chosen as the apprentice of a leader among Stone, which means also that he's likely expected to follow that master's footsteps into that position of power. Despite all this, his confusion is not couched heavily either in terms of minimizing his powers or of denial. The result makes Aron seem stupider than most of his other dialogue would suggest.

Also, there's the pacing - after a really promising start outside the telegraphed plot points, the book pulls the drag chute for a stretch of about 100 pages, settling into an extended training montage which seems to tread water more than it moves forward.

All in all, this could have been an incredible book and just wound up leaving me feeling... meh. I kept waiting for a plot moment to go some way other than exactly how I expected, and it kept disappointing me. I liked several of the characters at points and will probably pick up the second at some point, but despite the massive cliffhanger at the end of the book, I'm in no real hurry.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of Assassin's Apprentice (Oathbreaker #1) when the blog Pixel of Ink alerted me that it was free for Amazon Kindle. I don't have a Kindle, but I do have the Kindle reading app on my media player, so I downloaded it and ...

... was hooked!

This is the epic fantasy coming of age tale of a young boy named Aron Weylyn nee Braylin who lives in a land known as Eyrie. This land is filled with all of the supernatural specters that are prevalent in Irish folk ideas, such as the siddhe, Fae, Mab, Furies, etc. If you aren't familiar with this background, then this tale loses something. If you are familiar, then this tale is a delightful re-imagining of the modern life of such fantastical creatures.

Aron is conscripted to work for one of the two guilds: Stone. Stone is a guild that deals with justice and punishment for injustice; in particular, they carry out death sentences that have been given to the deserving. I'm not terribly sure that this work could be considered assassination, but that where the "assassin" reference comes from in the title. More specifically, Aron is the executioner's apprentice. So if you came to this novel looking for illegal assassination attempts, I'm afraid that you are going to have to search elsewhere.

This novel deals with Aron's forceable conscription and removal from his family on the eve of war, and the journey to the home of the Stone guild as Aron comes to terms with his new status as a conscripted apprentice and the land of Eyrie begins its war around them. The book continues with Aron having to find his place among the apprentices at the Stone guild, one of whom takes an instant bullying disliking to Aron, and ends with Aron and that boy as an unhappily paired team to face down serious threats.

The world building in this book is amazingly rich. The emotional life of Aron is vivid and gripping, and you feel his anger and pain even as he experiences it. The politics are present, but not overwhelmingly complex with only a few layers of intrigue plots to be had. The battle descriptions are riveting.

Much like the hallowed "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, the chapters of this novel switch viewpoints, and much like the hallowed series, the chapters are named after the character you will follow for that chapter. Being a fan of George R. R. Martin's writing, I had no trouble with this format, though if you aren't used to it, it might take some getting used to.

One thing I should remark on is that the world building is done in a style I actually enjoy. First, the foreign word is used in context, several times. Only when you think you have figured the thing out due to contextual clues do the authors actually go ahead and explain what the thing is. I found this to be great fun, but other reviewers might - and do - feel otherwise.

Be warned, there is a cliffhanger at the end and you will want to go out and immediately get the next novel in the series. Luckily, it already exists.

[Nicole C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now, when this book was recommended to me on my kindle back in March, I thought I was in for a treat. A young cast of characters in an extraordinary world. But oh how I was wrong.

Things were going smoothly until about... a third of the way through the book, when I realized: huh, our main character is EXTREMELY unlikable. Which is a problem in itself, but I've seen how unlikable main characters can RUIN a book, even if the world building is beautiful. The groveling and self-pity isn't pleasant to have to listen to for a 375 page book and sequel (which I read as well... I have no idea why).

The unlikableness increases to the point that in the 2nd book, I laughed when one of our main characters died. I laughed. And maybe I'm someone who's easily amused, but still, you can take a hint that a book is bad when a reader laughs during an "emotional and shocking" death.

The plot is boring and predictable. The humor (if you can find it) is drier than sand. The writers also have a tendency to make horrible decisions that makes no sense. And this happens frequently in both books.

The romance subplot is potentially the worst part of the book. Somehow, it managed to make even less sense than the rest of the bad decisions made by our wonderful authors. It's very forced and one sided, and in both cases there is a moderate age difference. The world building doesn't help in this situation, because as soon as the one female meets the man in which she has a "prophecy" with (uniting the land, bearing a pure child etc.) she ditches both previous romantic interests and marries this new man the 2nd day they've known each other. What the bloody hell.

To summarize all of these very horrible reasons; Don't waste your time or money on this book. I had good expectations since the world building is very nice and it initially gave me very high hopes. But... just no. I would have burned this if I had an actual copy instead of reading it on Kindle. Worst 8 dollars I've ever spent.

[Ithlilian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across Assassin's Apprentice in the library and picked it up without even reading the jacket. Some assassin-in-training books that I've read have been good, others have been horrible. I was expecting this book to be mostly training and eventually, well, assassination. Now I know I shouldn't have judged this book based on my previous experience. Assassin's Apprentice is just my cup of tea. The author does not explain every little detail to the reader right away. You actually have to pay attention, read between the lines, and think a bit. Nor does the author give the back story of every character. Events in each character's pasts are hinted upon, but never explained. Nothing makes me want to eat a book up more than great characters with mysterious pasts. In addition, Assassin's Apprentice has a great plot. I am very interested in the Thorn and Stone guilds as well as the ruling houses, and that is something I hardly ever experience when reading fantasy books. As mentioned previously, the characters are strong. They are multidimensional and flawed. You will find no perfect heroes here, and I love it. I can't wait for the next installment in this series. When I first saw the reviews I thought they may be biased, but they are spot on. This book really is good. My only complaint would be that the second part of the novel drags a bit. My interest peaked in the first part and fell off a bit on parts two and three. That doesn't change the fact that I really enjoyed the book and would read the second installment in a heartbeat.

Be warned there is a massive cliffhanger ending. Don't expect anything to be resolved in this installment.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover was really eye-catching, the title had 'assassin' in it, and I love my fantasy.

Still, I was a little disappointed.

It had a good style, the characters were interesting.

Still, I was a little disappointed.

Trying to pinpoint my problems with this book, I came to the conclusion that I just did not like the way it cut from one character to another. I don't like jumping forwards and backwards sporadically, when you really want one storyline (because really, there were two very independent, would do well on its own independently of the other, storylines) but you got two. You could tell they would meet eventually, and I know there's a second book (where I hope to GOSH it happens), but you want it to happen in the first, 'cause it makes for easier reading.

So this separation of storylines is definitely to do with the fact that two people wrote this book, but it's not really an excuse to do it anyway, and I lost a little interest because of it. It's something of a pet peeve of mine.

On the other hand, the book had excellent elements of fantasy and I enjoyed that. Though I would have liked to see more action. There was a lot of 'in-between the action' scenes, and the book and the world created within the book, would have supported some awesome action scenes, which fell by the wayside a little.

I think I'll read the second book eventually, but I'm not in a rush to get my hands on it, which makes me a tad sad.

Three stars I think, all things considered, is rather more than fair.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assassin’s Apprentice is a good story, the plot makes sense and the author writes in a way that we can understand the characters and what they are feeling. There it ends, the story was a hard book for me to read, and if I wasn’t fully focused I would miss something and have to reread it. Aaron grew up not knowing he was gifted, extremely so. But when he gets taken by Assassins to go to the Stone Guild and train to become an Assassin, his good life turns around. He fights shape shifters, learns of his extensive powers and trains to become an assassin. I would always read an assassin story or anything to do with fighting and superpowers because I just really enjoy them. In the beginning of the story, I usually love the beginning and learning all about the place where he lives and how it works, but this world was just really complicated. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the plot, but it was hard for me to completely understand everything and not to get lost. The story was really good though; there was just too much background information that I had no idea what it was about. I recommend this story for anyone who likes a little bit of horror, but also magic and a whole new world. Just a warning, pay close attention to what you’re reading, I didn’t and it messed up the rest of the book until I went back and reread it.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading. I generally love anything involving magical abilities and training sequences, so I was curious to see where this would head; my main concern was whether it would end up being too simple or cheesy. Thankfully, that was not the case - the story starts out with some complicated, but intriguing, world-building, and as previous reviewers have noted, the authors don't give you all the answers from the start. It was fun and interesting to get hints to the goings-on, but not be given all the details - and not know when, or even if, they'll eventually be given. I loved the character of Stormbreaker, and if Aron got on my nerves a little, it was only because he was real, and flawed, and making mistakes I'm sure I would also be making, if I wasn't in the position of the observer. Overall, I found this book enthralling - I read it in a day or two, and thankfully already had the second book, because I immediately jumped into it when I finished this one. It may not be a perfect book, but it's extremely enjoyable, with good world building, a fast pace, and plenty of mythology (some traditional, some created for the story) to entertain any fantasy lover.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aron is forcibly taken from his family to become an apprentice to the Stone Guild. Yet being taken saves his life, because hours later the clan lord attacks his people and massacres hundreds including Aron’s family. Aron decides to use his time at the Stone Guild to train for avenging the murder of his family. In another clan, the last heir to the throne is pushed from the roof and left for dead. He is saved by another member of the Stone Guild. Stone will help them train their undiscovered abilities and put their world back together. [return][return]This was a fantastic book. I couldn’t put it down. The world building is strong and rich and I was invested in the story really quickly. The viewpoint switches between a few different characters, which took a little getting used to, but each character is so engaging that I didn’t mind. Everyone’s motivations were realistic and compelling. I loved the twist that even though Stone has a bad reputation, they are honorable and will probably be pivotal in saving the world. Be prepared that the story is a cliffhanger, but fortunately the second book is already available.

[Chelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had all makings of a good story but it falls short in a few major ways.

The good: character ideas had potential, the world had potential, the plot might have potential if it ever figures out what it wants. In short, the book has potential - it just never lives up to it.

I could not find myself caring about any of the characters or the outcomes of things, and everything came off as forced. Even the world-building comes through poorly. While Eyrie's past has a few events its sorely missing myths and legends that might have helped the world come alive.

On top of all the unmet potential the writing style for 3/4 of the book is awful. It reads like an role playing board more than a novel. Never have I had to go back so much and reread passages. I was confused a lot of the time because the writing style made what was going on extremely unclear.

Oh and by the way, assassin should be taken lightly. They are more like glorified social workers and executioners then assassins.

I'm really not interested in the next book and I suggest that if you pick up this book you might want to take it with a grain of salt - and some alcohol.

[Denae Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

One neat thing was that the magical folks are so strict. The main character nearly does something horrible, and he is punished quite thoroughly. The magic system was intriguing. The world was rich and interesting, with many different factions and conflicts and a history I'd be ready to dive into.
Character development might have been the worst. There were hints at a romance triangle developing, and I didn't agree with either angle. Then I read spoilers for the second book and find out the middle character goes for someone completely different. Heh, go figure. And the main character dwelt too much on vengeance. And, despite everyone claiming he has great magical powers, we only get to see them a couple times.
The plot doesn't stop, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere either. A lot of circles that will make more sense later, I assume. I suppose that's the problem of having only the first half of the story.
So, really good book, but I probably won't read the second, not with the reviews I've read about it, since it sounds like it's slower and more about romance than kingdom-saving and magic.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Joan Stradling for TeensReadToo.com

Aron of Brailing dreams of raising animals, but his dreams are shattered when he is "harvested" by the Stone Guild and forced to become an assassin's apprentice. Unfortunately, someone would rather see Aron dead.

Forced to train with his strange new master, Stormbreaker, and an even stranger young woman named Dari, Aron must learn to control his powerful legacy or meet certain death. Aron isn't sure what lies ahead, but he's determined to face it with all the strength and determination he possesses.

Hopefully, it will be enough to keep him alive long enough to complete his training.

The characters and world are compelling and thrilling as all good fantasy should be. It was easy to connect with the characters and the pacing was perfect, with enough action and adventure to keep me turning pages as fast as my eyes could take them in.

I loved reading ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE and am very much looking forward to volume two, A PRINCE AMONG KILLERS. Especially since volume one has an amazing cliffhanger ending.