The Queen's Assassin

The Queen's Assassin #1

by Melissa de la Cruz

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 Delan 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 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 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.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Magic, Audiobook

374 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2020

About the author

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

Reviews

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

just like every other YA fantasy that has the phrase ‘the queens X’ in the title, this story feels recycled. its not terrible by any means, its just nothing new. this is perfect for those who really love this kind of story but, for me personally, its a bit old.

this also has a very juvenile feel to it. yes, this is YA, but YA can mature and complex. just because the target audience is teens does not mean a book needs simplistic storytelling, especially when the story is about an assassin! there is literally only one scene where we see cal the assassin at work - his profession is completely glanced over/played down. and the overall tone of this is light and innocent - it completely contradicts what the story is about. i dont need tons of bloodshed, but more details about the life of an assassin isnt an unreasonable thing to want.

that being said, i did enjoy this. its a quick and easy read and i found myself rooting for the characters. for someone new to the genre and/or this kind of story, i think its perfect. but for someone like me, who has read countless of similar and more detailed books, it definitely on the mediocre side of things.

↠ 3 stars

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers and swearing follow.

It has been a while since a book has earned a not-so-coveted position on my "wtf is this shit" shelf. However, this book earned it by around page 30. In fact, the only reason I didn't DNF this book was train wreck syndrome. A part of me kept hoping that it would get better. de la Cruz is such a prolific writer that this book can't be this bad is what I kept telling myself. Oh, my friends, it is that bad. I ended up skipping about 60 pages in this book (trying to spare my sanity), AND I MISSED NOTHING. Literally. I was able to figure out everything that I had skipped in about 10 pages.

Let's talk about why this book is horrible, shall we?

1) It has ridiculously inconsistent characterization. Shadow acts one way for half the book, then she magically changes into like an entirely different person. No rhyme, no reason. Her personality just changes on whims. Cal, on the other hand, has zero personality. Even in the chapters he narrates, there's nothing. You could replace the character with a piece of wood and no one would notice the difference.

2) So, this book is told in alternating perspectives. Which I love. I love knowing how both (or multiple) characters are feeling or what they are thinking. What doesn't work is the fact that Shadow's chapters are told from first person POV and Cal's chapters are told from third person POV. It is very jarring to immerse yourself in one character's thoughts or feelings and then to turn the digital page and suddenly be referring to the character de chapitre by their damn name. Every time it happened, I was thrown out of my reading headspace and had to re-acclimate myself. And it happened a lot.

3) The huge plot twist at the end of the novel? Isn't a plot twist for anyone who's read a YA fantasy in the last 5 years. Also, comparing this book to Maas' work is an insult of the highest caliber.

4) The love story between Shadow and Cal just doesn't work. They have zero chemistry together. Honestly, the story would have been a lot better it not be included and let these two be epic bffs or something.

5) There's just something off about the entire novel. The pacing is super weird; ridiculously fast in some spots and then maddeningly slow in others. There's random inserts of history and stories about Renovia in the middle of the novel that really throw off the pace (really, de la Cruz, you couldn't have figured out a better way to work those in?).

This book just doesn't work. I know I'm one of the first negative reviews on this book as it doesn't get published for another 6 months, but I know I won't be the last. Look, I love cheesy YA fantasy/love stories. But there are better ones out there. Save yourself the headache and stay far, far away from this one.

[Ava · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few spoilers in this review, but it's probably better than taking the time to read this book...and I can't even be sorry.
Giving this book a 2 instead of a 1 for casual inclusion of LGBTQ characters in positive relationships. Otherwise, this book was something else.
I'm shocked it's being published in 2020; this kind of book should have been left in 2012, when YA was still finding its feet.

Shadow is a young noblewoman (I think? It's implied that she has to go live at Court and eventually marry someone, but it's never clearly explained), but all she wants is to be a member of the Hearth-something Guild, which I believe is a network of spies/assassins working for the Queen of Renovia (again, I think? There were a lot of big names being tossed around, it was so hard to keep track of them). When Cal Holt (between this and "Shadow" the naming system of this book confused me) is arrested and poses as a prisoner after assassinating a traitor to the throne (given that Cal is the Queen's ASSASSIN, it was very confusing as to *why* he would be punished for doing his job, especially given that this is the only time throughout the book that he actually does his job), Shadow breaks him out of prison and poses as an apprentice sent by the queen.

So, Caledon and Shadow set out to the land of Montrice (the capital of which is called Mont for reasons I cannot comprehend) to...I honestly can't remember at this point. I think they were trying to uncover a secret plot against the crown? Maybe. Here's the first problem with this book: There are TOO many things going on. There are evil monks who want magic and also want to depose of Queen Lilliana and her family, but Queen Lilliana is actually of Dellefiora (or something, and I have no idea what that's supposed to mean to me); Shadow and Cal are assassins but they spend the entire book being "spies" (quotation marks included because all they do is attend parties and hunts and the "spying" activity consists of them breaking into one (1) office); Shadow has every power under the sun, I guess; Cal is also trying to retrieve from Scrolls that were taken from the queen he serves and she needs them back so desperately that she made his father swear a blood vow that he would retrieve them, but Cal's father died so the vow passed to him? Again, this book is trying too hard to being so many things and in the end it accomplishes none of its goals.

Readers are expected to believe that Shadow is the Coolest because she is Different from other girls, and this means that she is apparently a very skilled fighter, spy, and mage, and also she isn't aware that she's beautiful and all of the boys want to dance with her. There was a time and a place for this kind of character, and I think it's safe to say we're all grateful that we left this Mary Sue trope behind for the most part. Unfortunately, this book seeks to bring that trope back. It goes a step further by declaring that Shadow is *actually* Crown Princess Lilac in addition to being a martial artist/mage/spy. It all comes across as extremely manipulative of the reader, given that Shadow spends the entire novel knowing that she's the princess, and while there are supposedly "clues," they're so quick to be brushed over that they get lost amongst the millions of plotlines that appear once before being dropped (shapeshifters, evil monks, scrolls, spying, there are witches suddenly, magic is gone but some people still have it, etc.). The twist seemed to think it was much smarter than it actually is, and I didn't see it coming from a mile away because Shadow's only redeeming feature was that she wasn't royalty.

Additionally, there was absolutely no personality for me to get attached to, nor did there appear to be any character development beyond her new love/attraction for Cal. The title implies that there would be some assassinations occurring throughout the novel, therefore opening the door to Shadow's struggle with morality, but the title is incredibly misleading because neither the Queen's Assassin NOR his apprentice actually do any assassinating.

The same can be said for Cal; I had absolutely no reason to care about him. In fact, I began to hate him, not only because of the use of third person present for his POV (I've never seen it in a book before, and I hope to never see it again, it was completely jarring), but also because of his consistent (disgusting) internal commentary about women's bodies, and how much he dislikes women (but not their bodies) unless they're Shadow, whom he frequently alludes to wanting to impregnate. He waxes poetic about Shadow (mostly her physical features, mind you), but is disgusted by the advances of the duchess, even though he reciprocates her flirtation. Both he and Shadow frequently refer to the duchess as "dumb" or "stupid," yet they spend perhaps half the book in her home.

I have NO idea why they were there in the first place, or what they were attempting to uncover, only that they eventually deduced that the duke was evil. We received a quickie explanation as to how this fits into the novel's beginning, with Cal murdering the traitorous crown prince, but not only is it an info dump that fails to clear up the 42852389 questions I still had, it doesn't explain why we spent so much of the novel being dragged through chapters and chapters of absolutely no plot. That's maybe my main gripe with the novel. The pacing is so incredibly off; mass reveals take up approximately 2 lines, but you could skip about 70 pages at a time and all you would've missed is Shadow and Cal pining for each other and lacking any semblance of communication skills, therefore sending them into the predictable (and horrible) pit of YA angst that most authors are trying to distance themselves from, on account that it's a complete snore-fest and actually insulting to teenagers (who, arguably, never know what they're doing at any given time).

The book also suffered from the perplexing addition of the laziest form of plot and world-building: journal entries from however long ago. The only time I've ever seen journal entries actually work in a manner that isn't contrived and lazy is in Claire Legrand's FURYBORN, as they're short snippets that allow for a greater understanding of the culture and tone of the world. TQA, however, plopped journal entries into the book as an introduction and, later, explanation of events that never fully connected with the plot at hand (although I never really knew what that was in the first place).

Another gripe I have: this book is fantasy romance. There is little substance beyond the romance, and even that is dry as plaster. But I am shocked by the aspect of familial romance. Cal and Shadow show up in Mont and pretend to be siblings (which is a very, very strange cover to assume when it's been clear since I read the synopsis that they're attracted to each other). This leads to a lot of awkward moments in which the court beholds a romantic moment between what they presume to be siblings, which Cal and Shadow laugh off at all times. Does it not make them uncomfortable that everyone *thinks* they're siblings, and they're acting like horny kids whose parents aren't home? The only saving grace is that Cal and Shadow aren't actually related--or so I thought. At the end of the book, Shadow/Lilac drops this piece of information: "My aunt Mesha is your mother's younger sister." ???! Do I...do I need to even comment on this? This is a completely unnecessary addition to this book, and it only makes the "romance" between Cal and Shadow more cringey. (But it gets better). At the end of the book, Lilac aka Shadow finds herself engaged to a king, but she tells Cal that he could be her consort. This is a man who, supposedly, wants nothing more than to be free of nobility and to have a family of his own. Shadow is supposed to know this because she knows him because, mind you, they're in love. Cal leaves, because he's too good to be a queen's consort, he speaks with a person who is supposed to be dead (no, we don't get an explanation about how they've come back), who informs Cal that the Big Baddy actually isn't dead. Cal and this character leave to seemingly hunt the Big Baddy.

We flash forward a few months, and Lilac is moping around her castle, having married the king (but never actually consummated the marriage, which again confuses me - the king was described as being very attracted to Lilac? Would he not want to consummate the marriage? To be consensual, would he not want to at least attempt to woo his wife? Do they not understand that as monarchs they ARE expected to have heirs for the sake of their country?), when she hears a knock on the door that was supposed to belong to her consort. It is undeniably Cal, given Lilac's reaction and her declaration that this room is to be known as "The Queen's Secret." Which begs a million more questions, all of which go unanswered. If this is supposed to be a duology, I'm confused, because even though we're left with 6436783867845 questions, the end seems very much like a cold, hard conclusion????
Ultimately, no, I will not be recommending this book to anyone

[Cesar (Inactive) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Fantasy novels come in all different types. If you've read enough, then you know which ones stand out and which ones are basic as hell with no substance. The Queen's Assasin is one of the basic ones.

From the beginning to the end, The Queen's Assassin read like a basic fantasy novel with little to no intrigue on the world, characters, and plot progression. The potential was there from the beginning to be a somewhat decent fantast novel, but the more I progressed with the story, the more it began to feel dull and uninspiring, giving the reader a pretentious fantasy novel.

The Queen's Assassin takes place in a world where magic was taken by a group who hoarded the magic of the land and caused several disputes in the kingdom. Several years later, fragments of the group are still around and have ulterior motives for the next queen. Our two protagonists, Shadow and Cal, are caught up in a whirlwind of magic and conspiracies.

All of that sounds good on paper, it's the execution of if that was done poorly. Half the time I didn't know if this wanted to be a romance story or a fantasy story. Couple that with Melissa's constant need to add extravagant moments, the plot was lost.

There is a plot that involves a lot of political conspiracy involving magic and matricide. But that is put on the backburner in favor of Shadow's and Cal's "relationship." It honestly felt like I was reading two different stories at once. One that has magic and intrigue while the other is a romance. A romance, I might add, that has no chemistry.

Shadow as a character was all over the place. One minute she's acting like this the next her emotions and thoughts are completely different than that of who she is. The constant changes in her mood and thoughts made her a rather dull and annoying character. Then there's Cal and all I can say about this guy is that he's boring as hell.

With these two boring characters comes a romance that is about as romantic as watching a fish rot in the sun. There's no chemistry between them, they spend most of the 2nd half of the book bickering.

One thing I notice in a lot of Melissa's books is that she has the need to write extravagant parties. From her Blue Blood series to The Birthday Girl, extravagance is always a reoccurring thing in her books. She can't go one book without there being an expensive party that could literally pay two years' worth of rent when I was living out of town for college. What I found irritating about this is that when Melissa writes these types of scenes, she goes so much into it that the plot is almost forgotten until something or someone brings it up. Enough with the extravagance.

There's something I should mention about the plot as well. Aside from being boring, it's also forgettable that if you were to put it down for a day, you would most likely forget what happened in the last 50 pages. I'll give you a perfect example. I've been playing Fire Emblem Three Houses for a good while and recently, a DLC was released for it and it was around that time I was reading The Queen's Assassin. I played who knows how much of FE3H that when I went back to read, I forgot what the hell happened. Thankfully I remembered, but if a book does not capture my interest long after I've read it, then there's something wrong with how the plot was presented.

Will I be continuing the series? Maybe. If I can get my hands on the audiobook of the next book, then I can try to get through it. It's only a duology so it should be easy to finish.

The Queen's Assassin is basic as hell. That's the only way to describe everything about this book. Basic.

[Feyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'll never understand that. Why can't people be satisfied with peace?"

First of all: Look at that gorgeous cover! That's what first drew me to this book and let me tell you: It's not just pretty on the outside!
The story was amazing! I don't want to give away too much but I really liked it. While the revelation at the end was pretty obvious for me from page one and the path to it was pretty painful to watch, I still enjoyed this ride immensely. I'm really looking forward to the next installment! I need to know more!

[L. | That_Bookdragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️

"Of course", Cal's father would say, "this is just a story, and stories are always a little bit true and a little bit false; we just don't know which is which."

Thank you so much to PRH International for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion!

When I read this book contained assassins and royals, I knew it would be one made for me. And it really was. This was my first book by Melissa de la Cruz and I really enjoyed reading this story although I have to admit I guessed the major plot twist really early, but then again that is something I unfortunately tend to do. It did not however take away my enjoyment for this story.

The Queen's Assassin follows Cal and Shadow using two different POV for the narration. Whereas Shadow's voice could be followed with the first person POV, Cal used the third person POV and I really liked this aspect. It brought a little bit of originality to the writing. We are introduced to Shadow, an girl thirsting for adventure who accidentally gets lost in a forbidden place. After nearly getting killed by a traitor of the crown, Shadow is saved by none other than the infamous Queen's Assassin, Caledon "Cal" Holt. Shadow runs away before he could recognize her and when she hears Cal gets imprisoned for a terrible crime, she decides she will go to his rescue and become his apprentice.

I do have one little criticism to do and it's that we are told repetitively that Cal (who quickly became one of my favorites) is the deadliest assassin in the kingdom, I thought we didn't see it enough and the book lacked hardcore action or that some of it was brushed off a little bit too fast. I would have liked to see more brawls and more assassin activities but I still have high hopes for that with the next book. That ending quite literally killed me. I need book two now!

Shadow was a very interesting character. She is reckless and her following her train of thoughts was a really fun adventure. I liked her determination to have what she wants, and trust me, she knows exactly what she wants. Cal, as I said, was my favorite in this book. The both of them have a purpose they want to achieve until they realize there may be more between them than they realized. I really liked reading their banter and seeing their evolution around each other.

Plotwise, I really liked the idea behind the whole story. I don't think I can say more than this as I could quickly enter spoiler-zone so you will have to see it for yourself. The pace was both slow and fast at times, which could be a bit disconcerting as I mentioned earlier but it did not alter my enjoyment of the book.

To conclude, if you like royals, secrets and assassins, then this is definitely one for you. There were quite a bunch of twists in this book and the relationship between the characters was truly interesting and made me root for them really hard, even more than I actually realized.

Can I have book 2 now please?

My Bookstagram

[Charity (Booktrovert Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little bad...but entertaining enough to keep going? The ending is was is compelling me to move on to the second book

This is rated pretty low. But I gave this a chance because to be honest, you don't know what you would love that everyone else hated. In rare moments, it does happen to me.

I think what really helped me enjoy this book is:

1. The ending
2. The audiobook narrators

The audiobook narrators did such an fantastic job and I probably would have DNF'd this book if it wasn't for them. So, BRAVO.

This wasn't bad, but if you go into this expecting assassin stuff, you are not going to get it. Which can be a big disappointment. But I am here to tell you, lower your expectations and just go with the flow.

With it being the title of The Queen's Assassin, I was expecting more of the adventure and assassin stuff. But mid way when it was to be Queen's Assassin, it turned to Queen's Spy, and then back to Queen's Assassin a little. Then it pivoted hard to the romance between the main characters.

You have to shift your perspective to this is a YA fantasy romance and just jump the adventure aspect of it. This isn't half bad. There is a closed door scene in this one. So I am glad this romance is a little more mature.

Most of the plot was taken up with Cal doing what he was sent to do which is to spy and figure secrets without being discovered. And Shadow being jealous about it.

Shadow does apparently become Cal's apprentice, but wasn't taught anything other than using her womanly charms to be a spy. Which to me, is stupid. Which partially why the ratings are so low on this book.

The magic system was randomly introduced in the story 1/3 of the way in. The thing is, there was no mention of magic until that moment happened and our main character apparently had magic this whole time. I wish there was more story set up for this and more demonstration of magic

What made this worth it to finish is the ending. The ending wasn't what I was expecting, which think made it worth going on to the second book just to see what happens next.

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[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Bound by fate, broken by love"

*2.5 stars*

ARC given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Summary
Shadow has been raised to follow in the footsteps of her mother and aunt and become a high ranking member of the Guild. Cal is bound by a blood vow to the Queen, and must serve as her assassin until his father's promise to return the Deain Scrolls is fulfilled. After a surprised attack, Shadow and Cal are brought together and must head out to hunt down a new threat to their kingdom of Renovia.

Review
I wanted so, so badly to love this one. It has so many elements that I typically go for - assassins, royals, the sharing one bed trope, forbidden love. But it just fell flat for me in so many ways and was really disappointing.

The writing style was jarring. When reading from Shadow's perspective, it was first person present. Then when we read from Cal's perspective, it was third person past. This really threw me off, and didn't seem to serve a purpose to the story.

Do you ever read a book and just feel like.....it's only surface level? I was reading about what was happening, but it wasn't backed up by the characters behaving in that way, or previous world building, or anything. I felt like I was just being told what happened, and there was not previous groundwork being laid to logically lead to that conclusion. For example, we were told at the end of the novel that Duchess Girt was a witch, even though she had just been flirting with Cal the whole novel and we never even got a HINT or any sort of behavior that would lead to that conclusion. The romance too just...........was insta love exemplified. There was no interactions that really led me to believe that these two characters were actually in love and willing to risk it all for each other.

In conclusion, I felt like the bones of a good novel were there, but the story was truly not fleshed out enough to make it enjoyable.

[human]

right, so a friend just warned me that there's cheating in this book.

greeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

*ugh*

i might have to write a rant for this when if i get around to reading it.

[Beverly K · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a fantasy novel as written by Mojo Jojo. It is repetitive, reinstating the same point over and over. Moreover, it is inconsistent, jumping POVs within a specific frame and not sticking to a particular point.

I tried. I wanted to like this book--assassins are, like, one of my favorite fantasy tropes ever. But I think I'll give this book a hard pass.

I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways, probably in exchange for an honest review? That's how LibraryThing's giveaways work, so I'm assuming this is the same.

[nini ♥︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 11%

[Taschima · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know what, I tried to read The Queen's Assassin because it is written by De La Cruz and I was such a fan of the Blue Bloods series; but I cannot push forward in finishing it. I had several issues with The Queen's Assassin, including:

1. Massive info dump at the beginning of the book; which felt quite unnecessary. There are a lot of fantasy books out there who incorporate whatever you need to know about the kingdom/religion/etc. into the story itself. It is manageable. I was just put off and not engaged right away which didn't bode well.

2. The main character: Shadow, felt like a petulant child with no hook--I didn't connect with her or her woes. Her POV felt very bland.

3. The other main character-Cal-felt even blander! Also, Shadow's POV is first person while Cal's POV is third person...why, exactly? Maybe because the only way to differentiate between the two dry/bland POV's was by writing them in an entirely different fashion, which then kind of threw me of.

4. After I was entirely bored by page 50 I decided that if I was going to DNF I at least had to read around the book, maybe skip to the end and see if it improved. It didn't. If anything it annoyed me even more and made the beginning of the book even that much more ridiculous. The reader is kept in the dark about something that is pretty obvious and not enough of a twist to warrant the other 300 pages worth of material.

Maybe Melissa De La Cruz' writing style does not vibe with me anymore. I think I am done trying to like her novels. We will always have Blue Bloods.

PS; I was provided a review copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks go to the publisher!

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

*** SAMPLER COPY - NOT WHOLE BOOK ***.
The beginning of this book is amazing and has left me desperate to carry on reading the rest of the book. Such a fantastic introduction to the story that had me visualising the story like a movie!
A great introduction and teaser of the characters in the book and lots of mystery and intrigue to grab your attention.
I really want to carry on reading this book as soon as it comes out!

[♠ TABI⁷ ♠]

I've been burned by this author a few times so here's just hoping she actually finishes this newest series :P

[Kelly (UnshelvedEdition) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Queen’s Assassin is a story portraying loyalty, commitment, love and what lengths one will go through to keep those values alive.This theme takes form across multiple different characters throughout the journey of the book. The plot had multiple layers, which kept me interested in the story and the main characters were likable. The book was written alternating between perspectives but kept it easy to follow. There were several twists in the plot, some were easy to predict but the big twist was quite the surprise.

One thing that i really appreciated about this book was that Cruz gave the main girl a purpose beyond fulfilling what her “role” or “duty” to her kingdom was. The girl thrives for more than just being a beautiful princess and I think that is an important message to convey to the young adult community. In the same breath, i could have used a little less of the romance component because i wanted this to be more about defying her role than anything.

This book is kicking off a new series so the ending does leave you wanting a little more, but that is to be expected.

See more reviews on instagram @UnshelvedEdition

[Yoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My expectations weren´t met, but that´s probably my fault.
I did enjoy most of the writing and story but I felt it was a bit shallow. Not enough of the dialogue, love, passion, character development or setting. It was basically just fine. I hope the second installment will bring more to the story. It sounds like I absolutely hated it which is wrong, there were some great parts, it´s well written, I couldn´t guess all the plot twists. It just wasn´t enough.

[Fanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

February 15, 2020:

The Queen's Assassin follows a duty-bound young assassin who must find the missing scrolls for the queen and a rebellious apprentice who doesn't wish to live the life decided by her birth on a path of escaping a tower prison, running to another kingdom, killing the wrong people, and facing revelations that are bound to leave anyone shocked. The swirling chemistry and romantic tropes make the journey even more interesting. A great set of action sequences and a dangerous mission can keep anyone by the edge of their seat but the intensive information dumping and a pacing that often felt bumpy, doesn't allow the story to leave a more long-lasting mark.

December 3, 2019: YA fantasy-romance? a deadly assassin? a mysterious apprentice? okay, fine, I'm ready to be swoon away by this book. Received a digital copy via Edelweiss.

[Nadhira Satria]

THAT COVER

[Nainika Gupta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Everything about this gave me the shudders...not in a good way.

[siera 🪷! (haru’s!! vers.)]

i’ve had this book for forever but idk if i wanna read it…

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”You can come back, to be by my side...”

I was under the impression that this book was going to be from the POV of the Queen’s Assassin only, and god I wish I would’ve been right. Not only was Shadow super annoying, stubborn and hard headed, but she turned out to be the MC which was a bummer. I like when the MC or main POV in books are guys, since it doesn’t happen often.

It was a bit confusing that Shadow’s POV was in first person but Cal’s was in third person? I’m not sure why that is but it bothered me in the beginning.

The main issue in this book for me was Shadow. She’s pretending to be Cals apprentice but she’s tried calling all the shots and got them into danger more than once. He was the QUEEN’S ASSASSIN! He knew what he was doing but she argued and got offended every time he tried to tell her the smarter option. And no this wasn’t a case of men trying to control women, this was a skilled assassin/fighter trying to tell her the smartest way to survive, with her constantly arguing with him. It was exhausting for even the reader!

Other than that I enjoyed this story. I was intrigued from the moment Cal saved Shadow in the forest and if shadow wasn’t so annoying in this book, this would’ve been a book I’d be unable to put down. The romance happened kind of fast (although not instant) and I enjoyed it. I actually thought they were cute together. I was a little confused by the ending honestly but that’s even more reason to wait for the second book, haha.

Overall I enjoyed most of the book and the ending was exciting and actually has me excited for the second book.

3.5/5 🌟’s

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so happy that I finally got to dive into this!!

The Queen's Assassin has been on my radar ever since I saw this beautiful cover. Once I found the time to dive into it, I was beyond excited and ready. In it, you will meet Shadow and Cal. Their relationship was honestly something that got me hooked. You could clearly see the tension and sparks between them but you also felt something missing. Like, maybe someone was hiding something from the other.

Now this book is all told from both of their POV's which I very much enjoyed. For some reason though I assumed it would all be from Cal's. Since he is actually the Queen's assassin. That being said, still enjoyed the heck out of this book and would definitely recommend the audiobook version!

In the end, that damn cliffhanger got me hooked. No idea when the next one will be out but I'm hoping it was him knocking at the door. I want these two to be happy.

[Sheila G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm excited to be a part of THE QUEEN'S ASSASSIN blog tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club, from February 4th - 10th, 2020!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Content Warning: Death of an animal and people, Bullying, War, Assassination, Premarital Sex, Imprisonment

He accepted it, willing himself not to hesitate, and drank of her royal blood.
With that, he was bound. As was his son.

The Queen's Assassin will certainly catch the eye of readers who love political maneuverings. With a rich and detailed history of how this world has come into being, revealed as the story progresses, many will love this world building. There is a lot of historical information given throughout, giving a further glimpse back in time that set up the events of the present, and what makes them important. At times, The Queen's Assassin teeters on the edge of info-dumping. Yet, all of the information given is necessary.

The Kingdoms of Avantine have seen much turmoil throughout history. Before division occurred, Avantine was united under the goddess Deia. Countering her greatness was the cousin of the king of the Dellafiore dynasty—Phras. Envious of his cousin who possessed stronger magical powers, he slew him and took the throne for himself. His lust for power and magic only grew, eventually leading to his title of the Tyrant King. He confiscated any magical text found which were made into scrolls of dark magic named the Deian Scrolls. Only those appointed by the king, the Aphrasian monks, could use magic as it was otherwise forbidden in the land.

Some managed to oppose the evil king. A group of witches amassed and became known as the Hearthstone Guild. They saved all the magic that they could, and dedicated themselves to keeping as much knowledge about magic as possible. When the king finally died, the land divided into Renovia, Montrice, Argonia, and Stavin. The monks, dedicated to magic only, became too powerful and began overrunning their nation's leader. At this point, the assumed-deceased line of the Dellafiores rose to power, and fought to free Renovia from the clutches of war. When he died in battle, the crown of authority was passed to his wife, along with his most trusted ally—his assassin.

The Queen's Assassin starts out years after the king's passing. The son of the previous assassin is now the assigned assassin to Queen Lilianna. Caledan Holt has long ago scarified his life of normalcy. Being the best of the Guild, and bound to the Queen's bidding by his father's blood oath, he has no other choice. Caledon now must find the lost Deian Scrolls to forever eliminate the threat that the Aphrasians pose toward their kingdom since is father was unable to locate them before passing.

One less distinguished, but just as passionate in the Guild, is Shadow. Although she's been brought up to be prepared for court life, she's only ever wanted to become one of the Guild. Having some magical powers of her own, Shadow has been learning to hone her skills to be useful, along with training to become an assassin—just like Caledon Holt. In a way, Shadow gets her wish, when one day she has an unlikely encounter with Caledon and he saves her from being killed. He's a hero to her, but becomes a traitor to the crown when he kills her attacker who turns out to be a prince.

Caledon his carted off to an infamous prison to wait for further orders from his Queen, but things are looking grim. Shadow recognizes Caledon on his way out of town, and decides to embark on a rescue mission of her own. Shadow succeeded in ferrying Caledon out of prison, but the two are attacked on the road. Caledon realizes that Shadow is much more resourceful than he assumed, and they become a team, of sorts. The two learn along the way that there are numerous forces at play between the nations, and one in particular, incredibly sinister. However, as they spend more time with one another, an inevitable relationship buds between the assassin and his "apprentice."

The Queen's Assassin certainly has many twists, turns, shocking reveals, as well as some common tropes. I thought that these tropes were well-placed, and flowed naturally into the main plot-line. Despite this story being focused around Caledon and Shadow, I found myself much more drawn to the history and politics of Avantine. Some of the subplots with the characters fell to the wayside, and just didn't catch my interest.

I wish that there would have been much more description of Avantine to accompany the history built into the story. It was difficult to distinguish the realms from one another. Customs, culture, landscapes, climate, etc were muddy and not nearly as defined as I would have liked. I think ingraining these differences would make some of the history more memorable. If historical events cannot be attached to current attributes, they become lost and forgotten. Even so, I appreciated that there was a great deal of a backstory given to set the stage. It gave The Queen's Assassin depth and focus, and I'm curious to see where this story will go.

Vulgarity: Minimal.
Sexual content: Some insinuative behavior and one scene of intimacy without graphic detail.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★1/2

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[ATheReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did I enjoy this book during the first 150 or so pages? Yes. Did I also really despise this book? Yes. So that is what I am starting this review with.

The thing about this book is that it is utterly generic but I am so addicted to royal-centered books that I will probably find some sort of enjoyment in 99% of royal literature. Which gives the question: Would I recommend it to any of my Goodreads friends? Well, that depends. For a quality read? No. For a generic, forgettable read that feels like it had smut scenes but they were taken out for the YA rating? Why, yes I would!

!!!!ALERT!!!! SPOILERS MARKED IN THIS EMOJI: 👽👽 AND CONCLUDED AGAIN WITH IT 👽👽

ahhahah I'm feeling kind of... bold today. Here is a summary of all the bad things I found in this book after I passed the halfway mark and realized I wasn't enjoying it so much anymore:

👽👽On page 274 Cal (the male MC) finally tells Shadow (the female MC) about his mother's death and how that led to his current predicament. Shadow responds to that with: "Cal- you're more of a prince than any I've ever met." She precedes to try to read his emotions, hoping that he wants to kiss her. I- honey, he just told you how his mother DIED and you're concerned about his urge to kiss you over THAT line? I think that a sliver of my dying soul permanently disappeared while reliving that line. I also think that if I don't get this out of my mind I WILL die.

For another example of the types of interactions between the main characters here is dialogue from page 267:

(Talking about him kissing another woman for the success of their spy mission 🤩)
"'Good thing it wasn't the duchess. I don't think I could handle such a vulgar display a second time,' she says archly.

'And how did you think I felt? I'm the one who had to do it.' He expects her to laugh or make a snide comment back, but Shadow is silent. 'Would it make you feel better if I kissed you too?' he teases. 'Then you won't feel left out.'

'Don't patronize me,' she says, a hurt tone in her voice.

'I'm sorry. The fact is, sometimes part of being a spy is making someone believe you want them when you don't.'

-END SCENE- And then, of course, they make out and she flees the scene thinking that it was just for the sake of espionage. (important tidbit- Shadow is 18 and Cal is 19.. meaning that they are adults. Just let that sink in for a while.) 👽👽

For the sanity of us both, I will now have a section without quotes where I complain about two commonly used words in this book.

Sweet and Soft (with the occasional mention of "kind"):
I didn't know that I could despise these words so much. I am currently sitting on my couch resisting the urge to scream. Truly.

Do you want to know what these words described in this book??

EVERY
SINGLE
WOMAN
EVER


Apparently, Melissa felt that women could all be described as sweet and soft but the men could be classified with different adjectives. Not that surprising considering the fact that most of the characters had no hint of a personality and the two MCs (the only slight personality holders) lost all of their characteristics because of lurve (aka love).

I JUST-
I ranted about this while washing the dishes today. That is how much it bothered me. If I hear a woman being described as "soft" ONE MORE TIME I WILL SHOW YOU A "soft" SLAP TO THE FACE. I mean a woman could murder 100s of people and she would still describe them as soft and kind.

*Pulls my flashcard out again.*
👽👽I am going to just hand over the quotes I noted now to prevent further suffering on my part:

"A golden sash is tied around her tiny waist, and he makes a silent offer of gratitude to Montrician aristocrats for their preference for incredibly low necklines" (276). *barfs*

"'She is mine,' he thinks, before he can stop it"(278). I BET that you can work harder than that to stop it. Just please for the love of sanity stop it.

OH and this absolute treasure:
"'You are full of compliments tonight'

'Is that a bad thing?'

'No, it's just...you've never noticed before. How I look.'

How could I not? Every man in here does.'

Excuse me while I rinse out my eyeballs. They are both bleeding and completely desert-dry from reading their dialogue. (IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN I REMEMBERED!)

I just love that Cal makes sure we know that he “is a man of restraint” (283) when he wants to kiss Shadow but is in the middle of pretending to be her brother so he doesn't. I mean it must be so hard right? Not like there are the lives of thousands of people that are relying on your ability to do your job.

Warning: You MIGHT have to resist the urge to fake puke.

"Our bodies joined as our hearts, we soar to the skies. We are free' (364). 👽👽

Excuse me while I erase that from my memory. Or just my entire memory, I'm not picky.

It is just astonishing that Melissa has written, as Goodreads says, 112 distinct works and still has the vocabulary of a child. I just can’t believe that she has published so many books and is a New York Times Bestseller when this is the work that she produces. The more I think about this book the more and more I hate it. The only reason it is more than 1 star is I had slight enjoyment for a few chapters.

The writing style was boring and unengaging. The two POVs were written using different POV styles (1st and 3rd person) which caused the book to be clunky and inconsistent. The characters were a snooze fest and their connections felt as fake as friendship bracelets.

Sure, there was a nice amount of diversity in this book, but everyone felt like the same character so it didn’t really count for much.

If I met Melissa de la Cruz (which I sincerely hope I don’t) I am guessing that she will be as bland as a stale saltine cracker. Someone with even a smidge of personality could write characters that have more intelligent dialogue than the tin man from The Wizard of Oz.

And that, people of Goodreads, concludes my review. Thank you, Melissa de la Cruz, for such an amazing work of art.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof.

The whole way through this book, I was waiting and waiting for it to get better — thinking that I would probably get attached to the characters or plot at some point — but instead, I just found my mental star rating decreasing and decreasing the further I went. I was also prepared to cut the author some slack and generously round this up to 2 stars, because I thought it was probably a rocky debut and rife with the usual debut sloppiness… only to learn that the author’s first novel was published in 1998! welp!

I’m bummed, because I was really rooting for this one. Fantasy YA written by a Filipina writer! And the tropes seem like they should’ve been my everything: Bodyguard and assassin! Fighter/mage! Squabbling banter! Survival together in the wilderness! Sleuthing and going undercover together and hiding their relationship behind pretending to be siblings! Dancing lessons! THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED.

But instead, this seemed like it was ticking all the rote checkboxes, while never actually… being good. I hated — hated — these two main characters and their dynamic. They keep whiplashing back and forth, and also leap far too quickly to falling in love and suddenly deciding they are head-over-heels, forsake-their-lifelong-vows smitten with each other, without having earned it along the way… and then they also spent so much of their time arguing, in ways that weren’t cute and bantery at all. More than anything, their dynamic reminded me of that infuriating obligatory portion in romance novels where the love interests aggressively misunderstand each other and so spend a portion of time angry at/doubting each other — but rather than being one phase, that was every. single. scene. It was Cal and Shadow’s entire dynamic! They would go from angry, to playful and flirty, to angry, to openly professing love for each other, to suddenly backtracking and thinking they’d imagined everything, then back to playful.

Shadow’s mood swings were infuriating and impossible to follow; she would, literally, storm out of a room in a fury at the end of one chapter and then be cheerful and flirtatious at the start of the next. And they were fighting over the most asinine things which also kept continually risking their cover and their mission! They kept leaping to the stupidest assumptions about each other, and then throwing childish tantrums or sulking pettily over the smallest imagined sleight! TRULY I CANNOT STRESS HOW MUCH I DISLIKED THESE CHARACTERS

More generally prose-wise, there was also too much telling and not showing, particularly with long tedious info dumps at the start. It’s my least favourite kind of worldbuilding, overloading you with Unfamiliar Fantasy Terminology in the form of historical records/Wikipedia articles, basically, rather than immersing you in an actual lived-in world that feels real. And then on top of that, the physical description was always so paltry: I barely had a sense of place or setting along the way, or even what exactly the main characters look like.

Also, there was a thing at the end of the book that was portrayed as a ~twist reveal~ but, uh, I pegged it from chapter two? I thought it was supposed to be a known thing about the premise of the novel??

Also also, “Shadow of the Honey Glade” is a terrible name for a YA protagonist and sounds like something a 14-year-old would have come up with.

Also also also, there was a shitty underdeveloped villain that basically shows up once to twirl and cackle and then be dispatched of within a single page. Also, Chekov’s Inexplicable Stableboy.

I just. I wanted to give this a tepid 2.5 stars, but by the end, I actually hated this. Learning that the author is so experienced just made me even madder.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had been on my radar for awhile now so I was happy to finally get to dive in. But sadly, I was a little disappointed in it. I had guessed the "twist" in the first chapter, so I'm not sure how secretive she was trying to keep it. And aside from it being predictable, I felt the beginning just dragged. Pacing was a big issue here for me and I struggled to maintain interest.

Caledon Holt's life is not his own. Because of a blood promise his father made, Caledon is bound to the Queen until a certain task is completed. But his identity as the Queen's Assassin is a secret and when he's brought up on murder charges, the Queen has no choice but to send him away on a mission. Along the way, Caledon meets Shadow, a young girl who wants to prove that she can be valuable to the Queen and to the Guild. When she sees Caledon heading for prison, she formulates a plan to get him out and work with him. Of course all doesn't go to plan and they end up with a little more than they bargained for.

As I said in the beginning, the plot was very predictable. I also wasn't a big fan of the love story. I felt no romantic connection between Caledon and Shadow so it really came out of nowhere when they both were suddenly professing their love, like okay. I just don't ship it. Another issue I had was the pacing, for most of the book they are just traveling - nothing else happens. It isn't until the last 25% or so that the pace finally picks up and the plot becomes interesting.

Overall, I wasn't very impressed. I probably will check out the sequel just to see how it ends, but I'm not super invested in the characters.

[Sophie "Beware Of The Reader" · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

I loved the Blue Blood series by Melissa De La Cruz and was thrilled when I got the opportunity to read this story!

If The Queen’s Assassin has a plot alongside the ones you can indeed find in Sarah J Maas stories like the synopsis boasts it is also very different from said stories.

It’s a fast read set in a fantasy universe where magic has become rare, sometimes even forbidden.

You have the “goods” or at least the Renovians are the ones we are rooting for as they’ve had their magic stolen and have been oppressed for centuries and the “bads”, the Aphrasian who stole the source of magic while withholding the Deian Scrolls.

You follow two heroes as the book is told from a double POV.

Caledon or Cal is young but still a gifted assassin serving the queen of Renovia, aided by the Guilde.

Shadow is a young girl of eighteen, who has been trained secretly her whole life by her aunts and her mother, hoping to become a member of the Guilde.

I don’t want to spoil the plot or anything but as the blurb says, Cal and Shadow will have to face an unexpected danger that will end up with Cal killing someone and being sent to prison for it.

Shadow has been called to assist her mother at the palace but does not want to play the beautiful doll! She wants to be a warrior! To work for the Guilde and use magic!

 

She will ally with Cal and convince him to take her as an apprentice and work for the Queen.

And as in every fantasy you’ll have a mission, ordered by the Queen, putting them both in the line of danger.

 

This read was easy and entertaining yet some aspects were nagging at me, preventing me to give it 4 or 5 stars.

 

The good first: the action, the pace who prevents you to get bored, the plot itself and the surprises.

 

Now, my personal issues (keep in mind that this is a very personal opinion and that what bothered me might very well work splendidly for you)!

The characters bicker often and if I do love a good banter and hate-to-love story, they both sounded quite arrogant and young in their arguments. Of course they are only 18 and 19 so that can be the reason and I should probably be more indulgent. For once an author does not make her young characters talk and sound like adult. But it does not mean that I enjoyed it.

It bothered me that Shadow gave “lessons” to Cal in the beginning. He was supposed to be Renovia’s greatest assassin and being the most experienced, he should have been the one in charge. Now I confess that Shadow was quite stubborn and Cal hadn’t it easy to “direct” her. Let’s not forget that she saved him too.

She was not helpless she was not without gift but she was brash and reckless. Again, she was quite young and would probably learn patience with time and some experience.

What was missing for me was to really know Cal. I wanted more about his past, his psyche, some adventures he’d had and how they changed him. I am a character driven reader so that’s my own kryptonite.

 

I would also love more details about magic and history. Some more backstory about the founders of magic, maybe even some detailed information about past kings and queens. That’s not to say that we have no clue at all, just that I am greedy for more! :-D  Maybe in the next instalment?

 

Last, something shocked me by the end. The decision Shadow made, how she intended to live her future life …did not sit well with me as it’s one of my pet peeves in books.

 

Now, once again,  these are my personal feelings and issues. Melissa de la Cruz is still a seasoned author so don’t let this deter you from giving the book a chance and making your own mind about it. 

 
Many thanks to G.P. Putnam and sons for gifting me this copy via Netgalley. It has no influence whatsoever on this review.

[Athena (OneReadingNurse) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you so much to BookishFirst and Penguin Teen for the ARC of The Queen's Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz!

I had mixed feelings about this book. It is a quick and uncomplicated read with a decent plot, and likeable enough characters. An adventurous girl wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and join a guild of assassins and magic keepers that helps to protect the Queen's line. Her family disagrees so she takes off to free the Queen's Assassin from prison - an interesting plot - and become his apprentice. So far I am all about this premise, right?

I am a little surprised that Caledon, the assassin, didn't carry the first person POV, as the book IS titled The Queen's Assassin. He ended up being the secondary character and was told from the third person POV. The characters are more comparable to SJM's assassins than, say, Weeks' - as in lovestruck and tend to not act like very good assassins. Although the reader is TOLD quite repetitively that Cal is the deadliest out there, we don't see it much. I saw more angsty teen romance than assassin-and-apprentice. Think Throne of Glass more than Mistborn if that makes sense from an assassin standpoint
🗡
My other point of contention is the villain: oh my god he could have been so interesting. The concept of the magic he was doing would have been great to read about, maybe his history, even a small hint that this creature existed would have helped make the reveal more believable... but the twist was thrown on us with no information provided prior, and only a hint at his actual power at the end of the book. There is a second book planned, so I hops for answers but I am still bummed that the book focused more on the angsty romance than the assassin or most powerful entity in the land. Why even bother dropping that bit and then hardly explore it? I felt like the big twists were just "eh"s, but 100% will read the next book because I want to know all the answers.
🗡
The last thing to always touch on in fantasy is the world building. The history given was short and concise and set the story pretty well. I felt like the customs, food, social constructs, and architecture of Montrice was really well written, but not so much for Renovia. The magic system was entirely glazed over, I can understand the natural elements but I hope we find out more about the scrolls, magic, shape shifter, and inherent powers of the Dellafiores in book 2.
🗡
I do still recommend the series though, at least for teenaged readers and those wanting an easy/intro to fantasy series. There are few clean books in that niche and I think it's a good option? Thank you again so much to Penguin Teen and Bookish first for the ARC!!

[Nila (digitalcreativepages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me two attempts to get into the story, but ultimately I was entranced by the adventure in the plot.

Cal was the Queen's Assassin and Shadow wanted to be his apprentice to learn from him. But she had a secret. Having uncovered a plot of treason but in the process, killing the crown prince, Cal was imprisoned. Shadow saved him, and together they went in search of the holy scrolls which would save their Kingdom.

This was the broad gist, but there were many subplots to it, with lies and deceptions and strange beings abounding it and of course, magic. My first book by Melissa de la Cruz, I liked the adventure section. I read the book for the pure joy of the action sequences rather than analyzing the subplots.

Both Cal and Shadow were fun, though I wondered why Cal kept telling me he was the Queen's Assassin. I remembered it when he told me the first time. But in spite of being the biggest warrior, he was quite naive. Alternately, I liked Shadow much better. She was heart and brains, and it felt her quick thinking saved the day at times.

Twists soon found their way with the last few chapters bringing the biggest one. I was not fond of the ending, but to each their own. Overall, being my first book by the author, I quite enjoyed it.

[Gwen Carl!! · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so good except the ending if this ending had a face I would punch it so hard I would break it’s nose. The romance was amazing until the stupid ending it ruined everything like I am so angry right now. The cliffhanger was a very mean thing for the author to write because there are many questions I still have. The next book better start with exactly the last sentence in this book ends with I should open the first page of the next book and it will just be the next thing to happen no time should pass in between these books. That might not have made sense but it made sense to me so I don’t care. Also one thing I didn’t like about this book was that is was dual pov I liked that part but in the girls perspective it was first person and in the guys it was third person I thought that was annoying because it would be like I did this and then in the next chapter it would be like he did this.