This was okay. I just couldn’t enjoy this one. It was tough to finish. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this, but I will not be putting it on my shelves.

This is very much my kind of book and I was very excited to read it. Mostly it did not disappoint but I did have a few issues with it along the way.

The good stuff first. I absolutely loved the setting of this book both physically and historically. There are not enough books out there that focus on middle eastern history and culture and it was really wonderful to walk around that world when reading this book. It was also great to have a non anglo main character. Zayn is marvellous in every way. I loved her vitality and strength. She is exactly the kind of female lead I like to see in YA fiction. I loved the action scenes but there were not enough of them.

On to some of the stuff I didn't love about this book. Firstly I had an issue with the rape. This is a personal problem. I am very aware rape happens and I applaud authors for having the courage to write about it in an adult non gratuitous way as Jean has done here. I just don't like to read about it. I also think this book would have been a lot more interesting if there was no 'magic' involved. This is an amazing period in our history. It was enough to carry this book. I just think it didn't need it.

In a time when Eurocentric fantasies and assassin stories reigned supreme, this story was a breath of fresh air. Zayn was so badass, and I loved the way politics was infused in the world building.

I am not really too sure what or how I feel about this book. On one hand it was pretty freaking cool. I haven't read too many books about a female assassin who is just as fearless and kick-arse as her male counterparts. However, the kick-arse part just wasn't enough to save this book for me. Which is so sad, because I had really high hopes for this one. After reading the blurb I was dying to read this book, but unfortunately the story and the characters just didn't really grab me.

The story was all rather confusing. Zayn has powers in which people want to use and abuse. Of course these people are power hungry. And when her mother is slain for her powers Zayn runs and ends up training as an assassin, where she works tirelessly so that she can seek revenge on the man that forever changed her world. I get that part, I understand it, but there is a lot of flashbacks throughout the telling of the story that I feel didn't really help fill the story. They helped me learn of this character Earic, but unfortunately you don't really meet him until much later in the book. And by the time he graced the pages I was already sort of over the whole thing.

Flashbacks aside, in the beginning of the book we really don't get to see much of Zayn's powers leaving me wondering exactly what her powers were. The things she could do seemed sort of mundane and simple. It wasn't really until the end where we got to see Zayn really use her power. And once we did it was freaking awesome!

I would say I loved the last third of Knight Assassin and if the entire book had been as action packed and exciting as the last third then this would have been one hell of a book. It just took too long to get there. Despite my love of Earic and my desire to see a kick-arse female I just got bored. I didn't really have a connection to the characters or the story that I love to get when I read a book.

The truth is I didn't get lost in this story. I did find some great parts, really great parts, but they were not enough to save this book for me.