Review copy provided by the publisher. Also, the author is a friend of mine, and we share the same agent.
This is the sequel to The Perfect Assassin. It's not as crucial as some series to read the first one first, but there's a lot of chewy worldbuilding grounding going on, so there's a lot to be gained from reading them in order, and the first one is still perfectly well in print, so why not?
What it is not, however, is a series where you follow the same protagonist throughout. Frankly, I love that about it. I love having a different perspective, a completely different protagonist--although Amastan is still a character in this one, he's no longer center stage. His cousin Thana is trying to make and keep her own reputation as an assassin in Ghadid. She's fond of Amastan but sometimes frustrated with him, and always full of her own concerns, her own ideas--her own love life.
And Thana's problems only start in the city of Ghadid. They take her into the desert, on caravan trips, into empires, and beyond. Ghadid is Thana's heart, but the larger world is her canvas. She and acerbic healer Mo are sometimes working together, sometimes at cross purposes, but with a far larger stage than either of them ever expected--and knowing Ghadid well from the first book helps make the rest of it feel even more vivid and urgent. I had so much fun with this, and I highly recommend it.

I picked up The Impossible Contract shortly after reading and enjoying the previous book set in this universe, The Perfect Assassin - I suppose it was a little too much to expect lightning to strike twice as, while I enjoyed this book in the most part, it didn't quite work for me as well.

We start this book a few years after the events of the previous one - the protagonist of that book, Amastan, is mingling with guests at a party having been given the order to assassinate one of them. His partner in this is Thana, who we met as a supporting character in The Perfect Assassin, working undercover in the household of their mark for months in order to get things in motion. Their plot goes wrong, forcing them to improvise later and for Thana to take a life for the first time on her own. Remember we're dealing with societally-mandated assassinations here, in this case for someone who's a powerful man accused of sexual assault against women who have no other recourse.

Thana is then approached to take on a contract of her own, to assassinate the ambassador of the powerful Empire which has tried to overrun Ghadid in the past. She's heartened to discover that he's a powerful but ethically-challenged sorceror and enlists Amastan to help her - again, due to circumstances outside her control, things go wrong and Amastan is badly injured, forcing Thana to continue the contract alone. This will force her to leave Ghadid for the first time, travelling to the Empire's capital city and discovering that she has to make a choice between her contract and the future of her people. There's a bigger threat at play here and her mark seems to be the only person who can help her save Ghadid.

As with the previous book, there's a lot to like in The Impossible Contract, not least the dilemma in which Thana finds herself. She's honour-bound to kill the man whose powers she needs to protect her people against a major threat - Heru doesn't help by being pretty callous about what he does, including killing in the name of science, so he's not exactly helping her decision making a lot of the time.

What didn't quite work for me was the romance sub-plot. Thana and Heru are travelling with a healer called Mo, who Thana falls into insta-love with on first meeting her and who she lies to relentlessly throughout a good chunk of the book. Heru is supposed to need Mo and her powers but to be honest, a few hours after finishing the book I can't quite remember what the logic behind it was. In exchange for not telling Mo he's a mass-murdering sorcerer with powers over the dead, Heru agrees not to blab that Thana is an assassin. The truth comes out, of course, and equally unsurprisingly Mo forgives Thana a hell of a lot faster than is probably realistic. Except that Mo is more of a plot device than a character here, being a bit two-dimensional for my tastes.

Anyway, overall I enjoyed more about the book than I disliked and happily give it 4 stars. I'm not sure I care enough about Thana to read anything else in which she's the main character though, I guess I didn't really feel like I knew her at all by the end of the book.

The Impossible Contract is a wild ride! Thana is an assassin, the daughter of the Serpent of Ghadid who is the most infamous assassin, and she has spent much of her life trying to be worthy of her mother’s legacy. When she gets a contract to assassinate an en-marabi (evil priest necromancer, essentially) named Heru, it begins a cascade of events that lead her from Ghadid to the empire’s capital of Na Tay Khet and deep into the desert in an effort to stop an ancient en-marabi from releasing a sajaami, a spirit that G-d bound into a mountain.

I really enjoyed this and I adore the world building. Thana is such a disaster lesbian at times because she is so easily distracted by a beautiful woman, but at the end of the day she’s also a fierce assassin who do what she deems necessary. I loved the developer between Mo and Thana, especially as it added elements of softness and light to an otherwise dark, stressful adventure. Heru is a grumpy old man, but he grows on you a bit and I liked that he still had nuance, though he’s never what one would consider a good guy.

This was a really good book and I loved the story of Thana, Heru, and Mo. This is more an adventure-journey story than The Perfect Assassin is, but it adds to the world seeing more locations and some different cultures than Ghadid. Definitely recommend if you want a queer fantasy where an assassin and a healer fall in love while trying to stop magical catastrophe from befalling the world.

I haven’t read the first book The Perfect Assassin but I found this worked extremely well as a stand-alone. Thana is a young assassin out to prove herself and finally gets her very first contract but there’s a catch ! Her target has magic, knowledge and just happens to be more than ready for Thana. Still she’s not giving up easily but what if she needs him alive ?
I quite liked Thana as she’s resourceful and determined but boy is she out of her depth ! Her target Heru is arrogant, annoying and actually rather racist so it’s quite easy to dislike him but the author finds ways to make him funny at times which was a lovely surprise. The third character who stands out is Mo the healer who is dedicated, peace loving and quite a revelation as this story progressed. I wasn’t overly impressed by the attempt at romance here but that’s only a slight niggle .
The world building mainly consisted to give the reader a sense of the space within the desert with the tribes that lived there and the Empire that ruled over them. Speaking of which I particularly enjoyed the way Thana rose to the challenge once she entered the palace but my lips are sealed.
So an assassin who takes on much more than she bargained for. A magical system that stymied me at first but I think if I’d read the previous book I would have understood how important water was to all. The only thing that let this slightly down was the pace because it felt like a slow buildup and then everything just hurtled along towards a big finish. A very satisfying conclusion and I look forward to reading more from this author.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

Thana is the main character of book two. We saw her first book, often mentioned and seen here and there, but the focus was on Amastan as we saw him do his final trial and become an assassin, then stumble across a murder mystery. Here, the roles are reversed; Amastan is now often mentioned and seen here and there, but Thana, daughter of the most infamous assassin Ghadid has ever known, is the star of the show.

Now old enough to be an assassin in her own right, big things are expected of The Serpents' daughter. Kept hidden for most of her life (acting as though her uncle was in fact her immediate family, so those who are aware The Serpent is more than a scary story don't take out any past grievances on her) Thana is finally given her first contract. She immediately turns to Amastan to partner for such an important job, and from there they start what they're best at. Gaining intel, sneaking into places in the dark, and wielding their lethal skills.

Only the mark is an incredibly powerful (and magical) right-hand man of the Empress - we didn't see much of her in the first book, but we soon learn she believes that she rules over Ghadid. Usually her palace is too far away from Ghadid for her rule to really matter; it's just the occasional stirrings over who thinks they own what part of sandy map; and... initially, that's why Thana has been given this job, she thinks. To send a powerful message to the Empress. War is said to be coming soon anyway... it may as well be on Ghadid's own terms.

Usually I hate a character POV change; I get attached to a character over the passage of a whole book, and if it isn't obvious that it's going to happen I get really cranky that I have to leave a favourite behind. Only Doore does this really, really well, and pulls it off flawlessly. We see enough of Amastan at the start and get to see him from another POV who cares about him like a brother that it's just as good to see him. Then, we get to care for Thana more and more, and don't miss Amastan as much as I'd expect when the plot naturally focuses on Thana and mentions of Amastan, though still constant, are less.

Kudos to Doore; very few have managed to pull that one off so well on me (and I realise there's never anything wrong with a character POV change from book to book... it's just my own preference), I just want to nail it down how well Doore pulls this off.

Also, thank you for giving us a gay main character again, and how this doesn't matter in the slightest. Nor a mention or grimace to be seen. It's simply attraction.

Our other main characters are Heru; the mark, and Mo; a healer who heals Thana after something goes awry and then sticks around through her own set of steadfast morals and belief in her G-d given powers that she is to play a part in the protection of Ghadid and their people. And this explores much of what it means to rely on water, waste water, and a whole lot about power, the rights of animals, honouring the dead, and countless others.

Doore's study of both political and power weighing too far or too little to either side, character study in how you can take such an annoying character and both show what drives them and how they come to make their decisions (trying not to give too much away here, but it's not Thana... Thana is a little blind to her own limits at times but gosh is her heart in the right place!)

Both books stand alone, really; but they're so good you want to read them all. I can't wait for the third one, The Unconquered City. Possibly coming out in June 2020 currently.

While I initially started this series in the hopes of following Amastan’s story in the future books, I still read this one regardless— and knowing full well it centered on other characters. Thana was just a side character in The Perfect Assassin, but he she takes center stage. Her story is broader in scope, but still fairly interesting. I wish it had been more contained, though. I’m not a big f/f reader, but I do appreciate the amazing rep that continues to go on here in this series. I honestly just wanted more Amastan, really, so I’m a bit disappointed.

I've been itching to pick up Doore's new novel, the continuation to the high fantasy adventure series the Chronicles of Ghadid. Its storytelling is suffused with grace, dazzle and heart—not to mention a sharp, saw-toothed edge of darkness. Telegraphed in clipped prose and dialogue that's as taut as ship ropes and anchored in an ever-present undercurrent of tension that occasionally bursts into tiffs, The Impossible Contract (mostly) maintains an impeccable pace.

Doore also uses her setting to great effect and allows bursts of humor and camaraderie to shoot through the moral murk of the story, but it is the way she channels, with vivacious flourish, the triumphs and tribulations of real historical figures into a unique, engrossing and thought-provoking work of fiction that will last long after her conclusion is reached. It's what makes this book a bold and innovative twist on the genre that proves that fantasy does not have to confine itself to its more durable tropes and settings.

I am immensely excited to read more of Doore's work as she has quickly become a top rated author in my book.

The first book of the series, "The perfect assassin" was one of my best last reads, and I was rather sure to love the sequel as much.
Alas it wasn't the case...
The world building is always as interesting and well conveying all the sensations, in a coherent and credible atmosphere. The writing, for most parts, is still very good. But my problem was with the characters.
If the unpleasant one, Heru, is interesting and rather endearing in a Rogue kind of way, the heroine, Thana, isn't. She's a two dimensional character, boring and not very clever, without any appealing flaws to made for it. She's young, obsessed with her calling (being an assassin, she has none of the intelligent and wise doubts that Amastan had in the first book) and doesn't evolve much. The third main character, Mo, isn't more interesting. She's a kind and thoughtful healer, and sexy to Thana's eyes, that all we're going to get. As a result the romance is flat and dull, not touching at all.
I tried to read on for the story itself, but I had to give up and about 75 %, realising that if I wasn't excited by the story's developments at this point, the book wasn't just for me.

A shame, but if you liked "The perfect assassin", you should absolutely try and read this one, as I seem to be the only disgruntled by the characters' psychology or, more accurately, the lack off it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor publishing for providing me with copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Impossible Contract is a new exciting sapphic fantasy featuring: a complex-unique magic system, kickass assassins, soft healers, Grumpy magicians and even some undead!

I went into this book fully expecting an assassin story and while we do get our assassins we also get so MUCH MORE. The Impossible Contract was a whirlwind that had me on the edge of my seat with so many twist and turns- right down to guessing the villain!

This book is told from the POV of Thana; an assassin also known as the “serpents daughter” who is working tirelessly to make a name for herself and get out from under her mother’s shadow. Thana was such a fantastic protagonist. While she’s determined, loyal and deadly; she’s also protective, sweet and loving. I adored her close family friendship with Armastan and her, hate-to-I suppose-you’re-okay, friendship with Heru.

Let’s talk about the sapphic romance and how it had my heart soaring!! The assassin falling in love with a healer is a trope I didn’t even know I needed. Mo and Thana were adorable; they were a bright light when the book started to get darker. Also did I mention it was slow burn with some good ole pinning.

“The desert fell away and all Thana knew was Mo’s soft palm against her cheek, Mo’s warm dark eyes, Mo’s cunning pink lips.”

While an exquisite read I felt Heru’s racist remarks let this book down. He repeatedly speaks down to the people in Ghadid, mocks Thana’s culture and calls the Azali- who live and travel through the desert- “sand fleas”. These comments infuriated me.

Overall; I really enjoyed The Impossible Contract. It was an exciting, entertaining read. Even though this is the sequel to The Perfect Assassin, it can be read as a stand-alone. I’ve never read TPA and I had no problem following along with the story.

Takes place a few years after The Perfect Assassin. It focuses on the adventures of Thana, who takes an easy contract that becomes very difficult to fulfill. There is magic, disguises, road trips, falling in love, and really gruesome and disturbing zombies.

An exciting fantasy adventure! The second installment in the Chronicles of Ghadid expands the world, taking the conflict out of the city and into the sands. Thana’s persistence and ingenuity are admirable, and it’s of course wonderful to read a fantasy novel featuring a f/f romance. This book takes turns that are both thrilling and horrifying, certainly enough to keep you turning the pages long after bedtime.

The second instalment in the Chronicles of Ghadid, The Impossible Contract is a fantastic blend of magic, adventure and undead camels. Thana, having grown up as the daughter of the Serpent of Ghadid, is determined to carve out her own legacy. So when she is offered a contract to kill Heru, a en-marabi to the Empress, she takes the contract despite knowing the danger involved. After all Heru’s work is blasphemous and his crimes must be punished but as Thana’s contract leads her further from home than she’s every been, she finds there might be something much more sinister than one en-marabi.

“She was Thana Basbowen and she was more than just the Serpent’s daughter.”

I loved The Perfect Assassin and The Impossible Contract is just as brilliant. Doore has crafted an incredible world in the form of Ghadid. The setting rises from the page and engulfs you until it leaves you longing to visit the city that sours high above the sands. The Impossible Contract expands the world beyond on Ghadid, we are taken on a journey to the seat of the Empire’s power and to the desolation of the wastes. Just like Ghadid these places are brought to life by Doore’s incredible world-building and skill.

The three main characters are an absolute delight to watch. From assassin, target and exasperated healer to reluctant allies and more as the book progresses, there’s no end to the shenanigans and danger Thana, Mo and Heru find themselves in. I’ll be honest, Heru annoyed me at first. He’s something of an arrogant ass, who’s not exactly concerned with the opinions of others but he grows on you until you’re fondly shaking your head at his antics.

I loved watching Thana and Mo’s relationship unfold. The yearning was on point. Mo had her own perceptions on the assassins as a healer and Thana hid that part of her for most of the time they were together. I liked that although it did create tension, it wasn’t overblown for dramas sake. They both had things to work through, they did and they came together and even in the tense moments it never felt doomed.

There was a brief moment in the middle of the book that I felt like the pacing dropped a little and I was worried that maybe I wasn’t going to like this as much as I did The Perfect Assassin but it picked up and the last third was intense and gripping leaving you flying through the pages desperate to know what happens.

Something I love about these books is that whilst there is murder and high stakes and evil undead, there’s something cosy about them. They feel like coming home. They’re soft. This is probably an odd way to describe books about assassins but it’s the only way I can think of to describe them – soul-nourishing content.

Both The Perfect Assassin and The Impossible Contract (and book three) should be on your tbr. Queer assassins, undead camels, truly unique world-building and characters you can’t help but love!

Sometimes a family can be an assassin, her girlfriend, an annoying magical nerd and three dead camels and I think that's beautiful.

Yes I'm leaving that tagline because it's more accurate than anything else I could possibly write in this review.

Anyway, this book is the second in The Chronicles of Ghadid series and while it follows different main characters than The Perfect Assassin, you shouldn't jump directly into this one if you haven't read that first, because you will miss important information and context that makes this world so interesting.

And speaking of the world, after reading TPA I knew I loved it, but this second book solidified my appreciation for it (and it made me realize that it's perfectly possible to get attached to a fictional city, and oh how I am attached to Ghadid).

While TPA was more focused on the city, giving a cozy introductions to the world and its rules, The Impossible Contract expands our horizon and shows us what's beyond Ghadid, bringing us to the sands below and to the Empire's capital. I loved seeing the different rules and customs, I loved the different stakes that this book's characters faced, and the fact that magic played a much bigger role than in book one. It's also simultaneously rather darker than TPA and funnier, and a little more hopeful. Also, camels. 🐪

TIC follows Thana, Amastan's cousin, who has a contract to kill Heru, the Empress's en-marabi (sort of a necromancer) and a man whose work many people consider blasphemous. When she doesn't succeed on her first try, she finds that there's so much more going on, and the stakes are higher than she could have ever imagined. Also it doesn't hurt that her healer is really cute. What follows is a rather action-packed adventure among zombies, guuls, sand, magic, sand, and more sand. And have I mentioned camels? 🐪

Thana, Mo and Heru are one of the best and most fun travelling trio I've ever met in fiction. Heru is exactly the type of character I can't help falling in love with, with his deadpan, accidental humor. He's a first class nerd, a Ravenclaw who does everything he does for the sake of expanding the horizons of knowledge. Someone please keep him away from camels.

Thana is a wonderful MC. She wants to prove herself not just as the daughter of a famous assassin, she wants to built her own name and to do so she ends up having to cross the desert with unlikely allies. My heart ached for and with her more than once, and I just wanted her to get her happy ending.

Mo is the other side of the nerd coin, she and Heru have very different principles but rely on similar strengths. Usually it's the MC that has to see their beliefs challenged during their character arc, but here Mo takes on that role and it works so well. I love her (and so does Thana).

I'm sure I could say much more (and come up with more camel jokes), but I'll finish by saying that this was such a joyful experience for me, and this series is so much fun to read and to talk about with my friends who've also read it. Even though I've already read the ARC I think I will listen to the audiobook when it comes out because that's how I read TPA and it was so nice.

So, if you're looking for a well-crafted world, a cute f/f romance set in a scary desert, well-rounded characters and an adventure that's above all fun, definitely get your hands on this book. And don't forget to read The Perfect Assassin first for soft gay ace assassins and murder mysteries.

TWs: blood, gore, blood magic, violence, slavery, vomiting, injury, magical healing, animal deaths, eye horror, minor character deaths, zombies, mind control

[this review will be posted on my blog, acquadimore.wordpress.com, on October 24, 2019]

4.5 stars

When I heard that The Perfect Assassin was going to get a companion sequel that was also about assassins but with a main f/f romance, The Impossible Contract instantly became one of my most anticipated books of the year. And it didn't disappoint.

While reviewing a sequel, one of the first things I think about is how the sequel is in comparison to the first book. And in this case, I can say that I've never read two books in the same series that had such different strengths. Where The Perfect Assassin was a slow-burn mystery all set in the same city, The Impossible Contract is a fast-paced journey book involving necromancy. It's darker and bloodier - and, in a way, also messier than the first book, not as clear in its direction or themes, but way funnier at the same time.
I can't tell you if it's better or worse, but what I can tell you it's that it's different, and that I enjoyed it a lot more.

This is the story of Thana, the daughter of the famous assassin known as "the Serpent of Ghadid". Thana has always wanted to prove herself, to be seen as something more than "the daughter of someone famous". She wants to be a legend herself, and this new assassination contract seems to be her chance... except it's impossible, and she ends entangled into a web of political and magical machinations that reach as far as the capital of the empire.

And help her meet a cute healer girl. I loved Mo so much, and her relationship with Thana. They are people with very different values and strengths and... they made it work anyway, but it wasn't easy and seamless. Thana, who learns that she doesn't have to be a copy of her mother; Mo, who learns to not deal in moral absolutes. And it's so interesting to see how the romance storyline is a foil to the one in the first book.
(Also, Mo deserves the world and a hug.)

I can't not mention the third relevant character, Heru, the man Thana has been hired to kill. He is a powerful en-marabi, a necromancer, and a really self-important, irritating man obsessed with researching magic. He ended up being the funniest character in the book - not by his intention - and ended up having all the best lines.
Also, he's the reason me and Silvia keep making zombie camel jokes.

While I can't talk about the villain without spoilers, I will say that for a character who got relatively little page time, they were really fascinating.

I talked about the worldbuilding in this series before, but can I just repeat how... not obvious and yet so logical it is to have a water-based magic system and economy in a desert fantasy book? And the repercussions that has on a world in which there's also blood-based necromancy? This is how you do worldbuilding.

The only thing that didn't work for me that much was the pacing. Journey books often have pacing problems, but in some places here it was clear that a scene had been cut and then summed up, so that sometimes we're only told about things I would have liked to see - but that's a minor complaint, and overall I really liked this.

When I read The Perfect Assassin, what really struck me first was the worldbuilding. Because that is absolutely KA Doore's strength, the way she described the city of Ghadid, the unique system of dependence on water, the politics of the place, the myths and lores that govern society. So the fact that the sequel builds on that and expands it to the Empire? More please. Also anyone who knows me knows I love stories with a good bit of hungry ghosts and necromancy, and The Impossible Contract delivers in spades.

The other delightful thing about this book are the characters. I adored Mo, who is grumpy and salty about people being idiots with their own bodies, which is one of the most accurate portrayals of healers I have ever read. I love how she and Thana are foils of each other, and how they fit. Even [spoiler character] managed to grow on me over the course of the book, despite being one of the most irritating characters I have EVER read, which is a tribute to KA Doore's skills.

All in all, this is a great sequel to The Perfect Assassin, perhaps even better in some aspects. You can see KA Doore has really grown as a writer. I cannot wait for more from this world.

I usually don't read these types of stories. But I'm getting more into the sci-fi genre of late. And in 2019 there are so many epic tales to discover. This book is a sci fi adventure that doesn't miss a beat. Nonstop action with great characters and world building. K. A. Doore takes you on a mission to carry out a killing that seems impossible.

This was so wonderful and epic and action packed. I had such a blast reading it!
The only downside is that I feel retroactively underwhelmed by the perfect assassin, which was great in its own right but no where near as interesting as the impossible contract.
The world was so much larger and the story felt so much deeper, more detailed and unrestrained! There were so many various types of undead beings! (I loved the necromancy and magic) The world building was so much more fleshed out and explored.
Of my two theories in the beginning only one of them was right (tbf the other one was pretty crackpot) but I'm pretty satisfied with what happened and the twisty turn run of events.
I love Thana and Mo and Heru so much.
Heru was such a bastard which was perfection, so much fun to read about.
I can't wait for the next book in the series!!

This is a review that took me a week to write. Because how am I supposed to review a book I loved a whole lot. I have not much more to say than I love this I love this I love this.

The Impossible Contract follows Thana as she and Amastan take on a contract for an unknown benefactor. But their target is a lot harder to kill than it seems, and suddenly there are living dead coming after them, and Thana has no choice but to follow Heru (the target) and try find out what’s going on.

Some favourite things about this book:

* We’re taken out of Ghadid and get to see more of the world K. A. Doore has created and it’s wonderful. Something I mentioned in my review of The Perfect Assassin was that you don’t get to see a lot outside of Ghadid, it feels a little isolated. But here, you find out a bit more about it (although it’s still a fantasy centered on the city, not one of those massively expansive stories).

* There’s an f/f romance. Yeah. Who wouldn’t love that.

* I loved Thana and Heru’s relationship a lot. There were points in the book when I laughed out loud because of it. Heru went from being a character I really didn’t like to a character who I reluctantly liked to a character I loved. And the way his and Thana’s relationship developed? Beautiful.

* Mo! Imagine thinking I wouldn’t die for her (but so would Thana, so that’s covered really, isn’t it?)

* I didn’t see the plot twists coming. Sure, I kinda if you squinted guessed one of them but otherwise they came out of the blue and were just so good.

So what are you waiting for*? Read this book!

*November. We’re waiting for November, Charlotte.