The Assassin (U.N. Covenant Book 1)

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Laughable, to be honest. Surely at times the book felt a bit boring, but probably because I already knew every little detail that was going to happen. Unlike AC Renaissance which read like a video game with missions and all, this did not read like a movie. I truly believe that if someone did not watch the movie he would wholeheartedly enjoy this book.

Final note, I liked the extras at the end with the stories of each 'subject' and their ancestors. They were really interesting and entertaining. Loved Nathan's story the most out of them. Feb 12, Dani rated it liked it. Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember nothing is true. Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember everything is permitted. We work in the Dark to serve the Light. I've been a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed franchise for a long time. I can tell you that I own every sin "The past is behind us but the choices we make live with us forever.

I can tell you that I own every single game that was released and obviously I was excited to see one of my favourite games on the big screen. I'm glad that they decided to introduce a new Assassin to the stories; it was nice to meet Aguilar and I can say that that was the most interesting part of the story.

However, the regressions where the only thing that made me read this book; the past was interesting, rich, entertaining and that was the only thing I really enjoyed in the whole book. Now I must start by saying I am a big fan of anything Assassin Creed and was delighted it was being turned into a film, so I just had to read the book before I watched the film. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this one even Now I must start by saying I am a big fan of anything Assassin Creed and was delighted it was being turned into a film, so I just had to read the book before I watched the film.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this one even though it took me a while to finish which is why I awarded four stars. I must admit I do love the cover though showing the two personalities of an assassin. This is written by a different author than those written in the series which is also why it felt a bit different. And with this book I'm officially out of the AC universe.. This book is the novelization of the movie which I liked so much and I was so excited to read it.. I wanted to see more of how Cal was thinking but there was only Dr. Aug 29, Sona rated it really liked it.

For over a year or perhaps longer, I checked every bit of new information about the movie as soon as it was released. Moreover, it would mean a new installment in the book series would be released. However, since the story would follow that of the movie, I did not buy it when it came out and ruin the surprise. This new writer caused a sense of scepticism and I decided to wait with the purchase.

When the film finally hit the screens, I immediately went to see it in the cinema. Friends and family were surprised and found it quite odd I was going alone, but I simply love going to the movies by myself. Do not get me wrong, it was amazing to see the games being turned into this motion picture, but it lacked in some aspects. Especially when it came to the motivations of the characters. Although content with the result, I have played every AC except for the first one and Rogue and am a big fan of the series, I left the theatre feeling a bit disappointed.

My friend and I have this new tradition with which we give each other a book, that we requested, for our birthdays. People often say that the book is better than the film. In this case I could not agree more with them, but even this book has it flaws. Sometimes games are better left untouched. Penguin Books, Rating: The story is about Callum Lynch, a delinquent who is about to be executed, but saved from death for unknown reasons and brought to the Abstergo Research Facility in Madrid. It is here that he discovers his Assassin heritage via his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, and the ancient war between Templars and the members of the Brotherhood.

Nevertheless, as Callum discovers his roots, he himself changes as well. With the gathered knowledge and skills, he will continue the Assassin fight in the present day. The main story was quite short, about pages, but a pleasant read notwithstanding. The pace overall was good and never hastened. Where the movie had its faults, the book made up for them by portraying the motivations each character had for certain actions and especially the relations between them.

This, in turn, made the ending of the film more understandable and explained why Sofia is feeling what she does for Cal. I am sorry if that does sound very vague, but I want to keep this spoiler-free. These short narratives tell you more about the side characters Moussa, Emir, Nathan and Lin, who are also subjects at the research facility. Each tale couples back to the games, connecting the movie with the original franchise. First off we have Nathan, whose ancestor is Duncan Walpole.

We get to see why Walpole turned against the Creed, joined the Templars and came to the Caribbean. His account is about his youth in Constantinople, long before he met Ezio, and how he became a part of the Brotherhood. After his passing she joined the Chinese Brotherhood, from which its Assassins saved her.

The characters do take some getting to know, which is a good thing when it comes to books, because there is room to form them. Callum Lynch transforms from a vengeful delinquent that is haunted by his past into an Assassin who is at peace with his history and brings the Brotherhood back in the modern era. Moussa is one of the subjects at the research facility. At first he is very suspicious of Callum, but helps him nonetheless when they take over the Abstergo Research Facility and slowly begins to see him as an ally. Nathan does not like Lynch at all and tries to kill him when the mutiny happens, in spite of the plan to get Callum to join the Assassins.

Emir is a very neutral person and not much is known about him. Lin is distrustful of anyone and has a love for dancing with ribbons, which stems from her ancestor, Shao Jun. Sofia Rikkin starts out on the side of the Templars, but she is a scientist first before truly one of them. Yet, after the death of her father, she has lost both parents to the Assassins. He is manipulative, even towards his daughter, whom he wants to stand with him in everything he does, and an advocate of genocide on the Assassins. The only thing he wants, is to acquire the Apple of Eden and bring glory to the Templars once more and he will not let anything get in the way of this.

This is the aspect where this work of fiction has the most flaws. More than once things are misspelled. Sloppy, is all I can say about it. Aside from this and already given above as an example, grammar and tenses are sometimes faultily used. I do not know who edited the manuscript, but that person should have paid more attention to detail. The writer herself should also have been more aware of the mistakes that were made. The saying that the book is better than the movie certainly applies once again in this scenario.

However, in my opinion, the games remain better than this big production, simply because the story is often better told than they were able to do in the motion picture.

It contains way less mistakes and the tale is being told more properly and does the franchise more justice. You do not even have to have played the games to immerse yourself in the universe. Just be mindful of the storytelling and only pick the ones up by mentor Bowden, because the novice Golden still has a long way to go before she can perfectly describe the leap of faith.

Feb 07, Kara rated it really liked it. As a novice to the Assassins Creed franchise only recently becoming addicted to gaming I had little prior knowledge of Abstergo industries. Assassins Creed Syndicate offers little backstory and due to this I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Cal was a charming character, a true anti-hero. His dark nature made him endearing. All this surrounding by an intriguing storyline and epic battles. Yes, it isn't the best written book, but the plot and characters mean it didn't really matter. Well worth the buy. Albeit, Assassins Creed is all about the bigger picture, the Templars verses Assassins, and although this ends it's not the end of the story.

Sep 07, Brian Wilkerson rated it it was amazing. I watched the Assassin's Creed film shortly after it came out last year. Amazed, I bought other Assassin's Creed media, such as the first game and the first movie's novelization. After reading the latter, I'm off the opinion that the movie is an adaptation of the book instead of the other way around because it provides the kind of context and character information that is typically excluded from movies that are made from books by nature of the medium. Whether this is a good point on the book or I watched the Assassin's Creed film shortly after it came out last year.

Whether this is a good point on the book or a bad point on the movie I'm not sure. In any case, this is a great book. It provides a great deal of backstory to the characters that would have been difficult to put in the movie for reasons of pacing and length. Sofia Rikkin, for instance, is apparently a Friend To All Living Things as she has flashbacks to how she adopted an utterly filthy and flea-ridden stray dog and takes great care of it and also tried to befriend a squirrel by sitting outside with nuts in her hand for a prolonged period of time. This feds into and validates the compassion she shows to the "patients" at the Abstergo Rehabilitation Facility; she sincerely believes that they are patients and not "prisoners".

She is not the only one to get this treatment and this adds a good deal of emotional heft to the storyline. I typically don't like this technique because it leads to a bloated narrative and less development, but in this case it works. Because everyone is in the same location and everyone is viewing the same events. This has a concentrating effect. It also helps to flesh out other characters because they get the sympathetic POV and internal narration. Moussa, for instance, has this scene where he messes with a guard using a shell game that provides info on him and the state of the proto-Assassin Cell inside the Abstergo Facility, and what he intends to do about the new "pioneer".

Another thing that I like about this novelization is that it fills a vexing narrative hole that the film doesn't address. While it doesn't provide many details, it confirms how many allies and resources Cal has going into the final scene which implies why he took the action he does. Also, there are bonus chapters at the end of the book. Each one focuses on one of the other Assassins and their ancestor, framed as one of their Animus regressions that took place before Cal arrived. All of them fill in information from characters that were introduced in the games. For instance, Nathan's ancestor is Ducan Wapole, an Assassin turncoat from "Black Flag" and it shows the moment where he decided to become a turncoat.

It is a nice treat. Die Assassinen kamen aber keinesfalls zu kurz. Cal fand ich als Charakter sehr interessant und auch die anderen "Subjekte" waren mir sehr sympathisch. Ich bin jetzt jedenfalls gespannt auf den Film, den ich mir bald anschauen werde. Jul 22, DebLoveBooks rated it it was amazing. English-Italiano I literally loved this book!

This is the first book about this serie that I read and I'm looking forward to reading the next one! The writing style is easy and not too hard. I really like how the author use the right combination between description and dialogue. This is one of those stories that you can't stop to reading until you are at the end of the book. So, for these reasons, I gave him five stars.

Ho letteralmente amato questo libro! Quindi, per queste ragioni, gli ho dato cinque stelline. Jun 20, Nkandu Mukabe rated it it was ok. I wanted so much to like this book. I loved the games. They were thrilling, interesting, exciting, sometimes scary cos I'm such a noob. This book was none of that. The characters had zero depth to them, and the book only had a few moments when I could really feel engaged and empathetic. It was like it was barely edited at all. I could maybe forgive everything else, but not the punctuation and spelling mistakes I sta I wanted so much to like this book.

I could maybe forgive everything else, but not the punctuation and spelling mistakes I started to believe his name really was Agular and not Aguilar from all the times it was misspelt. Still, the book was better than I thought it would be, and I rate it higher knowing it was based off a movie which I haven't watched, but am predisposed to believing was terrible.

Apr 02, Hobbes rated it liked it. I really am a fan of novelizations, I like getting just a bit more to the story. As I am also an Assassin's Creed fan, this was just delightful. It does follow the movie closely: Cal, after his death is faked, is taken by Abstergo to a secret facility. Once there they put him into the Animus to force him to relive his ancestor Aguliar's life to find the Apple of Eden.

And here we have the basic background of the games. Unlike the game more of the story is in modern time rather than in the past. One of the things I liked was getting Cal's perspective on the process of learning where he comes from and how he reconciles the Brotherhood. Also, for those who have enjoyed the various games there are nods to secondary characters. Hardcover , pages. Published May 8th by Harper Voyager first published April 5th The Firemane Saga 1.

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about King of Ashes , please sign up. Is this book being released in ? Or is it not until ? Hopefully this will a fresh story? Looking forward to it. Terry Brooks last 2 books were very unreadable. Mighty I found the story of the book fresh and interesting disclaimer in that I have not read any other books by the author. See all 3 questions about King of Ashes…. Lists with This Book. I received an advance reader copy of King of Ashes in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Raymond E. Feist and Harper Voyager. For many generations, the five great Kingdom's had enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. Each realm had its own Monarch and the story begins with a great battle and the betrayal of Steveren Langene, the King of Ithrace. He is known as Firemane because of his bright red hair and his Kingdom was a place of arts, culture, and merriment. His former allies I received an advance reader copy of King of Ashes in exchange for an honest review.

His former allies are looking to execute him, his family not excluding the women and children , and leave his city and legacy in ashes. After the Firemane house's inevitable demise and when the conflict has concluded the powerful Baron Daylon Dumarch finds a mysterious young child in his war tent just before his army is about the return to his freehold of Marquensas. As a former close acquaintance of Firemane's, he believes that this baby is the last of the late King's children and has somehow escaped the rest of his families fate.

Following the prologue, King of Ashes picks up the action 16 years later. Hatu, a very angry and often confused fiery haired individual who has been training at a school for a hidden organisation known as the unseen army of Coaltachin. This school trains its members in many criminal activities including spying, robbery, and assassination.

The second main perspective is that of Declan, a year-old blacksmith who resides in a sleepy town in an area known as The Narrows. He's looking to progress to be the youngest ever Master Blacksmith. He is reminiscent of Gendry from Game of Thrones. Feist has created a world that shows real quality and depth that's full to the brim with histories, different races and cults, many religions although all but one is currently vilified , and political intrigue.

My favourite aspect of the narrative was discovering more about Hatu and his two closest friends at the assassin school. Unlike some popular fantasy tales such as The Name of the Wind and A Wizard of Earthsea, most of the education provided to these students isn't classroom-based. It mainly consists of these apprentices being set tasks and objectives out in the streets under the watchful eye of Masters and criminal gang leaders to earn their skills and reputations.

The cult is complex with certain codes of ethics and secret statements that say one thing but imply something completely different.

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These segments were an absolute joy to read. Another major positive for Kings of Ashes is the well-realised amazing characters. It presents slow burning character development excellence. I really enjoyed reading about Baron Daylon Dumarch and his bastard half-brother whose, although seemingly decent individuals, we never really grasp and understand their motives throughout.

King of Ashes is a pretty brilliant first step in what will no doubt be an excellent fantasy trilogy and it seems that only the mere surface of the depth and possibilities have been revealed so far. Especially with reference to magic. I don't like comparing novels to other big names in the genre as it's often a lazy shortcut or an easy sell for a blurb. On this occasion; however, I think King of Ashes deserves to be heralded in the current fantasy scene alongside heavyweights such as A Game of Thrones, The Name of the Wind, and The Lies of Locke Lamora and fans of those aforementioned works will find much to enjoy here.

It doesn't conclude with a huge battle or insanely intense set-pieces. It sets future events up well though but as a potential reader, I'd say do not expect any real form of closure as the first book in The Firemane Saga concludes. There are enough intriguing events at the book's climax and potential avenues the future story arcs could traverse that I will definitely be picking up book 2 as soon as I can.

King of Ashes is Epic Fantasy written by one of the masters of the genre and mixes political intrigue, secret assassin cults, and a hidden heir to one of the Kingdoms, whilst always presenting excellent world-building and sublime character development. View all 14 comments. I received an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Feist is back in form as the King of Ashes establishes a promising and solid foundation for a completely new saga away from the massive Riftwar Cycles multi-series. Five kingdoms used to co-exist in Garn, spread across the two continents of North and South Tembria. The Kingdom of Flames was destroyed by an act of betrayal and the ruling line of Firemanes completely wiped out, or so it was thought. As different as the setting and I received an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

As different as the setting and world of the Firemane Saga can be, there are nonetheless echoes of Magician: Apprentice in this first book of the new trilogy, mainly from the slow-burn character development, minimal plot progression and extensive worldbuilding. The story predominantly focuses on the characterisation of the main protagonists - Hatushaly and Declan - two young men who are more than they appear to be. Hatushaly, a fiery-haired boy with rage issues, was brought up in the mysterious nation of Coaltachin and trained by the Quelli Nascoti, a legendary group of the world's best spies, infiltrators, saboteurs and assassins.

Instead of commencing on Hatu's coming-of-age story from very young, he was already on the verge of becoming a man when we first get his POV, and most of the requisite 'classroom' training had been completed. At this stage of their training, students get assigned on-the-job with crew captains and at times with one of the Masters. Admittedly, learning about the inner workings of the Quelli Nascoti has to be the most compelling part of Hatu's chapters as the growth of Hatu's character can be said to be predictable as was the revelation of his true identity. What that identity portends, however, was not expected and that gave me the promise of exciting things to come.

The other main character, Declan, was a young and talented smith, who witnessed the further collapse of the Covenant as mercenaries traversed the land to press capable men into service for the covetous King of Sandura. In my opinion, Declan's POV is the less interesting of the two main characters. There is also a third POV, who has only a few chapters to her name - Hava, a close friend of Hatu's, and the best female fighter amongst the students in his school.

While Hatu is perhaps a little less so, the other two seem to be fairly cookie-cutter characters. Feist once again demonstrated his skill of creating a world with depth and detail. There is a lot of travelling and sailing involved in the narrative which was used to great effect in regaling to the reader the vivid descriptions of the towns, ports, cities and landscapes; how these then impact the economics and commerce of the area depending on its strategic location.

We have the cultures of the different people and of course, loads of political intrigue between monarchies, the Church and the independent nobility. One thing I note in particular was the great detail and realism present in Hatu's seafaring adventures and Declan's blacksmithing. I appreciated that Feist stayed away from the standard magical elements such as wizards, elves and dwarves, even though I enjoyed these very much when I read Riftwar.

Moreover, we also get a significant amount of narrative around sex in this book, and I am still unsure as to where that stands with me right now. Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with sex in my books, but it just seemed too much like a direction Feist felt he needed to take to stay relevant in the genre. As a foundational book to set the stage for a larger story to come, King of Ashes did a great job in introducing the readers to the main characters and the world of Garn and its people.

Even though the story and characters feel familiar, the pages somehow turn effortlessly as I find myself getting quite absorbed at times. We also do not get any climactic endings of major battles nor are there plot wrap-ups of any sort to be had. I had a feeling that if I had not read Magician in its re-released omnibus edition, I might find myself feeling as unresolved at the end of Magician: Apprentice as I do now at the end of King of Ashes.

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Hence, I will give Feist the benefit of the doubt to fully take the plot forward in the sequel, as the last few chapters evoked the anticipation of much more to come. This review can also be found at Booknest View all 19 comments. May 18, Gavin rated it liked it Shelves: I was a big fan of Feist's Riftwar books back in my younger days but lost track of the series more than a decade back.

I was hoping that reading this brand new fantasy series of Feist's would inspire me to go back and try a full reread of the much more intimidatingly sized Riftwar series. Did King of Ashes achieve that goal? Probably not as this was not a fantastic fantasy story but it was a readable one despite its flaws! I think King of Ashes was Feist's attempt to jump on the popular grimdark I was a big fan of Feist's Riftwar books back in my younger days but lost track of the series more than a decade back.

I think King of Ashes was Feist's attempt to jump on the popular grimdark bandwagon. No doubt he was just trying to keep up with the times but I felt like the result was a story that felt like a bit of both worlds grimdark and Feist's regular fantasy style and that left the story with a slightly confused feeling tone. The fantasy world was a gritty one with plenty of death and treachery and stuffed full of morally grey characters but did include a few likeable enough characters. The grim tone was a problem in the early stages as it ended up being difficult to invest emotionally in any of the characters who had the more interesting story arcs.

The other issue early was that the one easy to like character ended up with a dull introduction to the story. I stuck it out and that proved worthwhile as the story settled down and I ended up becoming more invested in the characters and the happenings. I do feel like the premise of the story was interesting enough.

The world of Garn once boasted five great kingdoms, until the King of Ithrace was betrayed by the other four kingdoms and every member of the royal family of Ithrace executed. Well, nearly everyone as a baby heir was smuggled out of the country! Years later a new religion has gained prominence and war is looming again as the remaining kings look to seize even more power for themselves.

The story kicked off with a prologue that explained the political situation of the world and introduced us to a few key figures before the story time jumped and focused on a few younger characters. The POV's were mostly split between Hatu, an exiled prince in hiding and training as an assassin, and Declan, a blacksmith's apprentice. We did get a few other POV's that helped enhance the story but those two were the main ones. I actually struggled a bit with Hatu as a character in the early parts of the book but he did grow on me as the story progressed and he did have the most interesting story arc.

I liked Declan well enough from the start but found his story a bit boring. The second half of the book had more happening in Declan's story so that definitely helped me to enjoy it more. All in all I felt like this was an OK new fantasy from Feist. Nothing special but it settled down to be readable enough after a sluggish start and I'll probably read the sequel when it comes along. I was not a giant fan of David Thorpe's performance of this one. He was a bit monotonous sounding in his delivery and he chose some awful accents for the characters.

View all 8 comments. It was fantastic to read a new Feist book. It confirmed yet again that he is one of my favorite authors! This book felt like the start of a great story but really like a start, hence 4 stars. In the end it was really picking up and I can't wait for the next installment! May 16, Chad rated it liked it Shelves: Starts off in the middle of a battle with some Song of Ice and Fire like intrigue and nastiness. Four kingdoms of the land gang up on the fifth and wealthiest one and destroy it.

Firemane's infant son is secretly spirited away. Then we flash-forward 17 years to when the boy, Hatu, has grown up. He's been raised in an island country that raises its children to be spies and assassins. We alternate chapters mainly between Hatu and Declan, an orphaned blacksmith beginning to make his way through the Starts off in the middle of a battle with some Song of Ice and Fire like intrigue and nastiness. We alternate chapters mainly between Hatu and Declan, an orphaned blacksmith beginning to make his way through the world.

A found myself thoroughly bored for the first third of the book. Given that I'm a massive Feist fan that's read every one of his books, I stuck with it and things do pick up nicely once you are through the setup. You can definitely tell that Feist comes from a roleplaying background as some of the adventures feel like quests from a night of roleplaying.

One thing I didn't really care for is how much time Feist spent with his young characters trying to figure out their sexual feelings towards the opposite sex. Yes, it is something everything has went through. However, that doesn't mean I want to read about it in exhaustive detail. The entire book is mainly setup for the next book, ending with a killer finale that really had me wishing book 2 was available now!

May 01, Roy rated it liked it. Its interesting that the release date for this was a few weeks before in Australia vs the USA. I have always been a massive Feist fan, and grew up reading about Pug.

It was probably one of my first ever fantasy reads which I became obsessed with. This has all the hallmarks of a Feist fantasy from that time period. We have assassins, political intrigue, young heroes growing into their own and a little romance.

Feist has also added a touch of the more recent grimdark fantasy elements to compliment Its interesting that the release date for this was a few weeks before in Australia vs the USA. Feist has also added a touch of the more recent grimdark fantasy elements to compliment his old school style. Its nowhere near people like Abercrombie or Lawrence, but its definitely a little darker than all his previous work. The plotting is solid, a king has been overthrown, his family supposedly all disposed, however Hatu may just hold the key to this lineage.

We also follow another main character Declan who becomes a Smith. He managed to forge something with and old "skill" and his story develops from here. It makes sense that with these 2 story arcs being played out side by side, that somewhere along the line the characters will meet and the storys become 1. The story is fun, very easy to read and Feist at the top of his game. To be honest I really cant fault the storytelling, or the characters although I would have enjoyed a little more characterisation of some.

The romance is an element that we dont see existing in alot of grimdark these days and could have been handled a little less cliched. However, if youre a massive fantasy reader and want a fun guilty pleasure fantasy read then this is the thing just dont expect something that will redefine his career or the genre.

If youve never read fantasy before, I'd say give this a shot as I believe you'll love it, and if this doesnt excite you, give his earlier works a go, Magician, which I consider one of my favourite novels from my childhood. View all 9 comments. May 01, Bob Milne added it Shelves: I had high hopes for this, but it just fell flat. I've been picking away at the digital ARC for the better part of two months now, and it's finally time to shift it into the DNF pile.

More than anything, this reminded me of how bland Feist's work can be without a solid cast of characters to carry the story. It reads like one his Riftwar side-sagas, which turned me off his books for a long time I honestly wondered if they were ghost-written , before the final trilogy won me back. The writing itself is solid if a little dry and dense in places , and the dialogue is serviceable, but the characters have no personality. I never engaged with them, and I really struggled to care about their journey.

As for the plot, it's all too familiar, full of tropes and cliches, but without the sense of wonder and magic that drove the early adventures of Pug and Tomas. Finally, the book suffers from serious pacing issues, with far too much time spent waiting for something to happen - and I'm only assuming it does happen, since I never got that far myself. View all 5 comments. Ellen Zelcer Bland and boring - a huge disappointment Jun 30, Lizzy Good thing you stopped, nothing actually does end up happening in this book!

Dec 10, And my copy came with a book marker. Apr 03, Robin Carter rated it it was amazing. A new Feist, not only a new Feist but a new series, this has been a book i have waited for with some anticipation. Raymond Feist created a unique voice and style and a world that has wowed fantasy readers for over 30 years. Apr 08, Scott rated it it was amazing Shelves: I received an ARC of this book and here is my honest review. After 30 books in the Riftwar world which include 10 separate series Raymond Feist is back with a brand new series in a brand new world and it is amazing!

The prologue is about 50 pages and sets the stage Five kingdoms rule the twin continents until a great betrayal leads to the extermination of one of the kingdoms Ithrace by the other four. The book follow the early lives of our two main heroes. The rightful heir to Ithrace: An immensely talented swordsmith. Will these two young heroes have fates that intertwine? I didn't want to put it down and when I had to put it down I was thinking about the book and looking forward to when I could pick it up again.

It it similar to Brandon Sanderson's book The Way of Kings in that most of the book is setting up the rest of the series and dealing with character development but I found King of Ashes to be a much more satisfying book then The Way of Kings.

The Assassin: A U.N. Covenant Novel (#1)

It had great characters that I enjoyed watching their growth unfold. It had tension and intrigue and I felt the plot unfolding at just the right pace. I have read all 30 books in the Riftwar series and I don't think Feist has been this good since The Serpent War Saga which was my favorite of the Riftwar series. This goes right on to my Favorites shelf. If you've ever liked Feist's writing then this is some of the best.

Jul 29, Zoe Stewart yerabooknerdzoe rated it it was amazing Shelves: This was the first Feist book I've read, and I'm impressed! I'm definitely going to have to read his other stuff now after this book. I loved his world-building, and the characters were so well done. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that some things were repeated a few times.

The one that sticks out the most was the phrase "first among equals" when Master Zusara was mentioned. There were a couple more like this throughout, but it wasn't enough for me to rate the book any lower. It just seemed like he found a phrase he liked for a character and stuck with it, a little too much sometimes. There were a few plot twists I wasn't expecting, which is always a bonus.

A few I could see coming a mile away, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment at all. It ended on the perfect cliffhanger one that I was hoping for , and I can't wait for the next book! I must preface this review with a confession: I had never read Raymond E. Feist before picking up King of Ashes, so I was going in with a completely blank slate and no pre-conceived notions of the author or the novel. What followed was a satisfying read, if a bit mundane and old hat at times. It seems to me that over the years, the genre has moved on from a lot of the ideas featured in this story.

King of Ashes

Nevertheless, I think i 3. The book opens on a bloody scene as Baron Daylon Dumarch, a Free Lord, watches the execution of every single family member of the royal family of Ithrace. The monarch of what was once one of the five great kingdoms of North and South Tembria had just been betrayed by the other four kings in a brutal and decisive battle, signaling an end to the ancient covenant that had protected the peace and balance for centuries.

Now King Lodavico of Sandura, the man at the head of the takeover, is determined to completely destroy the line of King Steveren of Ithrace, putting everyone with Firemane blood to the sword. But in the chaos, a child was overlooked—a baby boy who was spirited away to safety in the confusion of battle.

Daylon, who was close friends with Steveren, returns to his pavilion to rest after the executions, feeling sick for the part he played in the betrayal, even though he was forced to do it for the sake of his people. All this happens in the prologue, which is then followed by the beginning of the tale in earnest, picking up approximately sixteen years later. The Firemane baby has grown to become a hot-headed young man named Hatu, whose foreign physical traits have made him something of an outcast growing up in the south among other students at the school on Coaltachin.

About half the story is told from his perspective, unfolding like a coming-of-age narrative about growing up, mastering his studies, and discovering the physical and emotional changes that come with adolescence. More and more, Hatu is also starting to notice his good friend Hava, who is the best fighter in her class, even though any romance between students is forbidden. Readers get to meet Declan just as he has achieved master status, and circumstances have forced him to strike out on his own much sooner than he expected.

While there is a smattering of other POVs peppered throughout the novel, King of Ashes is mainly told through the eyes of these two young men—Hatu and Declan. For the most part, they are very archetypal characters, i. And yet, Feist prevents them from feeling too stale by keeping his story moving at an energetic pace. In fact, I found that Feist could be downright frank in his writing style, cutting straight to the matter while leaving no room for subtlety. However, at times it made his characters feel flat and difficult to connect with, a prime example being Hatu when he was just becoming aware of his attraction to Hava.

Characters like Daylon Dumarch are especially intriguing, since he is playing a long game. Feist will take things in the sequel. Andi I read the first two books in his Magician's Apprentice books. While I did enjoy them, I found the women very overlooked and given little to nothing t I read the first two books in his Magician's Apprentice books. While I did enjoy them, I found the women very overlooked and given little to nothing to do.

It also followed familiar tropes. Reading your summary it seems that it reminds me of those books. If you continue I'll see how book two does for you. Jul 10, Joe Krakovsky rated it it was amazing. I regret that it took me this long to finish it, but I was busy. So now I would like to post my review.

Years ago in Japan, the ninjas were a force to be reckoned with. They were not only skilled assassins, who knew how to use all available weapons, but they were also masters of espionage. Both boys and girls were taught the various arts from childhood. They learned not only how to blend in to the population by "King of Ashes" was the last book in my pile of winnings from the Goodreads drawings.

They learned not only how to blend in to the population by performing the various trades of the day, but some even set up families in different towns under assumed names. When called upon for a mission, they would risk death to succeed, much like the kamikaze pilots of a later war. Their loyalty was often due merely to who paid them.

The reason for this explanation will shortly become apparent. King of Ashes" is set in some mystical world of five kingdoms. The story begins where King Lodavico has just won a bloody battle due to the treasonous acts of certain kings and nobles. Assisting him are the evil followers of the Church of the One God, which suspiciously sounds like the Christian Church following the Apostasy, where 'heretics' are burned at the stake. As the last of the prisoner executions are taking place, one of the treasonous nobles finds a baby in his tent.

He hides the man child and then makes arraignments to send it far away.

See a Problem?

As he negotiates the payment, he stipulates that the child is not to be abused or harmed, and to be returned at a certain date. What happens is that the baby is to be raised by the 'Hidden Warriors' in the 'Kingdom of the Night. Thievery accounts for much of their income as does payment for assassinations and espionage. The child, by the name of Hatu, advances through the various stages of the school.

He comes to realize that he is different through his treatment. Unlike other children, who may be crippled or killed, he is never put in true harms way. As he progresses, he becomes friends with two others: Donte's grandfather is one of the masters who rule their organization, while Hava is just one badass girl who can take it as well as dish it out. Though the children often bath together as they grew, Hatu one day got a rise out of seeing Hava naked and realized amidst his embarrassment how much he was growing to care for her.

Other characters are important and I will mention only a few. Each character is in a different setting but as the story progresses you can see that their paths are destined to meet. And that should be very interesting. Daylon is the treasonous noble who found the baby. The reason for his treachery becomes apparent toward the end of the book. He is a generous and fair ruler who has made his lands prosperous.

Balven is Daylon's bastard brother and his most loyal follower. Rodrigo is another noble, who is more interested in bedding wenches than doing the stuff that nobles do, yet he appears to be one of Daylon's confederates. Declan is one of the youngest master blacksmiths ever, who has learned the secret art of forging King's Steel. A sword made of such material easily cuts through armor and other sword blades. Gwen is the innkeeper's daughter who falls for Declan.

She is devastated by tragedy but I have a feeling she is going to come out of this stronger than ever. Jusan is Declan's apprentice, and I think he is there for a reason. The Copper Hills is probably the place where the final showdown will one day be. This story reads much like 'The Game of Thrones' without the vulgar sex. As I got close to the end of this book, and saw how few pages were left, I kept thinking in the back of my mind how much I hate cliffhangers. But I will give you credit, Raymond Feist, you tied up just enough loose ends perfectly.

Now I am going to have to look for books Two and Three also! View all 6 comments. Mar 27, Melliane rated it really liked it. Feist a long time ago and when I heard about this new series, I was once again intrigued. It must be said that the synopsis, full of mysteries, made me really want to know more! We discover in parallel two stories, the one of Hatu, young heir to a destroyed kingdom and who grew up learning to defend himself, far from home in the ignorance of his origins. On the other side, we follow the story of Declan, a young blacksmith who manag 4.

On the other side, we follow the story of Declan, a young blacksmith who managed to quickly handle a little-known art that could change the game with his weapons. I really loved this story! I let myself be carried away by the characters, to see what the events were going to bring and I was impatient to discover what the author reserved for us.

Hatu particularly interested me and I was curious each time to return to this character to see what he would discover, to understand what he was hiding and especially to see how he would react to his revealed past. Besides, I loved to see him with his friends Ava and Donte, they temporize and show him that in a difficult setting, friendship is still important. Moreover, we understand that this boy hides more than he thinks, and if we discover the first evidences here, and there is much more to learn!

This novel is a very good first volume with a rich and intriguing universe and I can not wait to discover more!

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