The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Fantasy

From Goodreads:

"Ananna of the Tanarau is the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family in the loose assortment of cutthroats and thieves in the Pirate's Confederation. When she runs away from the marriage her parents have arranged for her, they hire Naji the assassin to murder her.


When a mysterious woman in a dress shop offers her magical assistance for dealing with the assassin, Ananna accepts. She never went in much for magic herself -- she lacks the talent for it -- but she's not quite ready to die yet, either. Unfortunately, the woman's magic fails.


Fortunately, Ananna inadvertently saves the assassin's life in the skirmish, thus activating a curse that had been placed on him a few years earlier. Now, whenever her life is in danger, he must protect her -- or else he experiences tremendous physical pain. Neither Ananna nor the assassin, Naji, are pleased about this development.


Follow Ananna and Naji as they sail across the globe, visiting such mysterious places as the Court of Salt and Waves, in their desperate effort to lift the curse. Soon they will discover that only by completing three impossible tasks will they be able to set themselves free."

The Assassins’s Curse is a great start to a new series.

Characters:  The two main characters in The Assassin's Curse are Ananna and Naji.  Both have their problems and the problems define who they are.  Both are well-developed although I found Ananna is the better developed of the two.  Naji is just to uptight and as a result does not give off the clues that Ananna does.  I loved how independent Ananna is and how Naji just does not always get her.

Worldbuilding:  I did find the world building a little thin.  However that did not interfere with my enjoyment of the story.Ananna and Naji talk about the different parts of the world but there is still a lot to learn.  I did like that most of the clues to the world were given in a active voice through dialog.  The story kept moving even as the hints about the world were dropped.

Plot:  It is very well plotted.  Everything develops from Ananna running away and it flows smoothly to the end of the book.  As the story ends there is a solution that could solve Ananna and Naji’s problem.  That solution is complicated and it will take the rest of the series to see if it works.

Writing:  The characters, the world building and the plot all come together in a very well written book.  I like the fact that it was written in an active voice.  That kept the action moving and lead to a book I did not want to put down.

I liked The Assassin’s Curse  and will be waiting for the next book the series (The Pirates’s Wish)  to be released in 2013.

Angry Robot published The Assassin’s Curse in 2012.

I received a free ARC of The Assassin’s Curse from NetGalley.  The release date for The Assassin's Curse is October 2, 2012.