Fantastic start to a book! I have just finished the sampler with the first couple of chapters and I must say, I am intrigued! I like where the storyline seems to be going. I will have to pick up a copy of this for myself so I can see how the story unfolds!

From my sampler, “The Queen’s Assassin” details an ambitious girl named Shadow who aims to join the Guild despite her aunts. While exploring, she comes upon Caledon Holt, the Queen’s Assassin. Like his father, he is obligated to discover the missing Deian Scrolls.

While I do love the premise of this book, I did not enjoy the “information dump” that came my way in the prologue explaining Renovia and the Aphrasians. I found it difficult to follow because of the names’ unfamiliarity, so I had to constantly reread passages. As for Shadow, I admired her bravery but would prefer more character depth into her history and aspirations for the rest of the novel. I also noticed that there was a lot more “tell” than “show” to describe her emotions and feelings in the narration. Overall, a good read!

I was only give the first few chapters to read from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review so I'll try as best I can.

The things I did like? The whole beginning. The Queen in trouble alone because the King is dead and she's afraid for her child so she makes a magic promise to her assassin? I love that. I wish the whole book had been that and continued from there instead of jumping ahead.

I felt like Violla was stale and boring the bit I got to read of her. She didn't do much but seemed to know everything in order for me to catch up to the jump ahead in years. The whole 'living in the woods away from Queen mom because of the evil people coming to get me' is very overdone in my opinion.

I don't think I'll look for more of this one.

I loved the preview of this book! I was sucked in and now I can't wait to read the whole book! The story line sounds great and I can't wait to find out what adventures are to come!

Okay so I had low expectations for this book. I wasn’t fully sure what it was about and hadn’t heard about it much before. And wow did it exceed every expectation I had. Let’s start off with the female main character rescuing the male....I mean what more could I ask for? Oh wait the TWO LOVE INTERESTS AND ONE BED!! ~sexual tension~
Altogether the banter, romance, and storyline were great and I can’t wait to read the next book!

The Queen's Assassin - 4 Stars

One of my go-to types of novels is anything that has to be with royalty, and when I saw this title - I knew I had to try it out. I'm upset that the entire book isn't out as the sample had a lot of information that I feel would be very important to remember for the rest of the book. Starting with the history of the world and moving towards the king's death during a battle, we meet Queen Lillian, who asks Kings Assasin if he will make a vow to her. Over 18 years later, Shadow is introduced who wants to be apart of the guild after being taught by her aunts while her mom was on the queen's court. Caldon, now the queen's assassin, starts a journey to find the Deian Scrolls, find the magical history, along with Shadow. and then the sample ended. I will be added this one to TBR.

I was provided this sample of The Queen's Assassin for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Books for this sample.

AHHHH

Oh my gosh!!! This sampler was soooooo good!!!!! Even though it was only a few chapters, it engaged me so much and made me want to read the actual book when it comes out. I've read and heard of a few other books by this author so I was very intrigued. After reading this, I can't wait till February Second and I can't wait to learn more about this world and the characters. (I loved the characters so much as well)

I can tell that this is going to turn out to be a fantastic series.

I mean, the title!! THE TITLE!! I love books with assassins, haha.

Anyway, once this book comes out, I highly recommend it. (at least from what I've read in the sampler :)

Even though this was only just a sample... it has left me craving more!!

I have read the Blue Blood series by this author before years ago, and I can already tell that this book is most likely going to be so much better!!

I can not wait until the book is released so I can read the entirety of it!

I appreciated that this book starts with a background for the kingdom and the history which helps the reader quickly understand the situation. Although just a few chapters in this sample, I feel that I already know the potential 'twist' which may be in place, however, enjoyed the writing style and characters so far so will likely pick up the full version when I'm looking for some escapism.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the chance to read this sample ahead of publication for an honest review.

I understand it was a sample and I may be willing to give the full book a chance in the future, but from what I read this just isn’t my type of fantasy.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book though I shouldn’t have been since Melissa de la Cruz always writes amazing, unique stories.

This preview was everything. I am so excited to read the rest of this book! If this is anything to go by, I am sure it will be amazing!

Thank you to the publisher, and Netgalley for this 42 page sneak peek!

I'm very intrigued by snippet! It was quite the info dump at the beginning, but I understand we needed that back story to be able to get into the story so I pushed through it. I do feel it was hard to keep the names and places straight though.

I wish there had been a second person in these first scenes with Shadow, to have some dialogue to break it up after the info heavy introduction.

I am excited to see where Shadow's story goes and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for when this releases!

I only had the chance to read an excerpt of this book, and what I read intrigued me. I want to know more about Shadow, I think that there is a lot more to her than what I’ve seen so far. Caledon is another character that has a lot more to him than what is seen in this excerpt. This excerpt caught my attention enough to make me want to get my hands on the whole book to see what will happen to Shadow and Cal.a

The sampler was a bit hard to follow since it was just an intro into the book. I have read from this author before and have liked her writing.

I have to approach this review in two parts: the front matter, then chapter one and onward.

Were I not actually evaluating this, I would have put it down long before getting to chapter one. I have no problems with front matter or prologues, I read them all the time. But I found the history and prologue sections of the book nearly unreadable. Every page was packed with new names and places, making it just impossible for me to juggle all at once - not only that, but the writing style feels completely different from what you get in chapter one.

All that said, I was able to retain almost nothing from the front matter, and yet the book still made sense from chapter one. Which is problematic, because the thing that was written in such an off-putting way wasn't even necessary at all. Starting from chapter one I would say it's a decent start to a book, and while it didn't captivate me in a deep way, I would have pushed onward through at least another couple of chapters.

My rating is for chapter one onward, since I would have put it down otherwise.

First things first: this was a hundred times better than blue bloods. What a beautiful roller coaster this was. I loved the secrets, the chaos, the twists and turns. WHEN CAN I HAVE THE SEQUEL

I got to read the sampler for this book, and it left me wanting to know more! I can already tell that the main character, Shadow, is going to make things quite interesting with her rebellious side. Since it is only a “sampler” I have so many questions starting with Caledon Holt. He saved Shadows life while she was exploring in the woods far from her home. I’m left to wonder what he was doing out in the woods? Or was he the person/thing following her the whole time? Because I didn’t get to read further, I’m wondering if she is the possible heir he was sworn to protect and that is why he was following her through the woods? The last question I have is why do we only know her nickname and not her actual name? I have so many theories I’m going to have to find a way to get my hands on this book quick!

This is definitely an interesting start. I want to know more f the world history and how everything plays out.

You know a book is going to be good when the introduction has you hanging on the edge of your seat. I'm hooked and need to know what happens to Shadow!