The Assassin’s CurseCassandra Rose Clarke
Description (from Goodreads)
Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.

To break the spell, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks--all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic...and the growing romantic tension between them.


My Review
Um. This book. I am seriously fangirling right now. I pick this book up on a whim at the bookstore because I’ve been obsessed with fantasy right now and the cover was just so pretty(I judge sometimes, sue me). And then I read the blurb and it seemed kind of interesting, but I ended up putting it down.
I snagged it on my way out, though. I swear to God it was that cover.
I have to say right now that this book made quite an impression right from the beginning. The heroine, Ananna, is the daughter of a pirate lord, and the story opens with her being sold off married to another pirate lord’s son.
You can imagine that Ananna isn’t too happy about it. I’m pretty sure I’d be right there with her if I were in a situation like that. But what really surprised me was Ananna’s speech. It’s actually—wait for it—that of a pirate! Shocking, I know!

It was a little jarring at first, I’ll admit, but hello, she’s a pirate. She shouldn’t speak like a courtier. And believe me, her dialect in NO way reflects her intelligence. So I rolled with it.
Another thing I liked about Ananna was that she made decisions and was fully aware and accepting of the consequences. I feel like I don’t see a lot of that these days. For instance, she ran away from the marriage, knowing fully well that it would cause the husband’s family to set an assassin after her. Ananna knew this, but did it anyway because she believed being married to the pirate was worse than, well, death.
But in all seriousness, I’m totally glad she ran away because it introduced Naji, the assassin, who, as you might guess WAS SENT TO KILL HER. Of course, this being the beginning of the story Ananna can’t actually die, because she’s the narrator.
Instead, she ends up saving Naji’s life from a SNAKE—nonononono I hate snakes—which, since he was meant to assassinate her, is mega-awkward. And it creates a curse that forces Naji to protect Ananna. Otherwise he experiences grievous pain.


This. I like this.
Naji’s a weird one, though. He’s got that whole silent and mysterious thing going on, which is usually pretty hot, but in this book it’s even better because Clarke doesn’t even really let the reader figure out what he’s up to. You know what I mean? Usually by the writing you can tell what the character is like, but Clarke really doesn’t do that. This is SO refreshing. All I know is that Naji isn’t cruel, so that’s enough for me. I like him.
Ohhhhh and the setting. I liked that as well. It had a definite Middle Eastern flare to it, like the book came out of Arabian Nights. I’d like to read more books with these settings. European ones are always cool, but I do like variety.
And pirates. More pirates, please.

I suppose the story did lag in some places. There were times when I was like, “Please get on with it.” But you see, it’s hard to know if that actually is a weakness of this book or the result of us expecting non-stop action in today’s society of violent videogames and mega-blockbusters. It’s hard to tell. Shouldn’t a book have some downtime?
And it was waaaaay too short. Seriously. More pages.
This book is kind of odd, genre-wise. I’m not sure it’s for everyone, but if you like it I suspect you’ll really like it. I would suggest reading a couple chapters on the kindle sample or something.
5/5