Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin

This is a pretty good new adult steampunk fantasy novel. It was a bit slow paced which is why I gave it 4 stars.

This book follows Wendy Magalena Braca and her new life. At only twelve her mother was murdered, but she somehow was convicted of killing her mother. She was sent to Greenleaf Asylum for Troubled Girls to be forever forgotten. The asylum reminds me of a jail -- little food, living behind bars, treated unfairly. If anything goes wrong anyone can be fired for speaking out or about it. It totally sucked. Thankfully for Wendy she is saved and "taken in" by the guild. They take her in and begin to notice she may be a guild, specifically a Curse Breaker. She was saved from death and trained to work hard with the Validus Assassins, her guild. For her, she has to find her path now -- whether with the guild or "against" them.

I totally enjoyed the action and gruesome scenes. This is a new adult novel so be prepared to read about all the violence, sex and other adult portion of life. The world building was a bit complicated for me to get into at some points simply because it was a bit overly described. Wendy is the epitome of a kickass female protagonist with a dark and dreary past.

I loved the first two paragraphs and how gripping it was from the start and gory.

This is a bit more of a heavy new adult novel so if you're not into dark, gruesome stories, don’t pick this up.

This book was freaking awesome. This was the second book that I've read that included steam punk elements and I was all for it. It was fast paced and fun, but dark at the same time. The characters were interesting and they kept you hooked to the story.

Pasted directly from my blog, Gizzimomo Book Shelf (see link below), the review will be cross-posted with GoodReads and Amazon UK.

When I requested this I was hoping for a full blown steampunk novel (based on the cover alone) that's full of a deep mythology regarding magic use, demi-gods and the like as the GoodReads write-up suggests but that really isn't the book that you get. I think that the write-up you get with this book doesn't reflect the book in it's true nature. What you get is more of a science fiction book with steampunk and paranormal elements. Don't get drawn in with the thoughts of high-brow magic, gods and demi-gods as what you actually will find is a more complex.

In this world we find there are three types of people, you have the Caecus (non-magic folk), the Validus (the magic users who live in various 'guilds') and the Half-Breeds, who are what you get when Caecus and Validus mix but not what I would class as demi-gods. They live a world very different to our own where the technology to 'fold' space has been created and allows for instantaneous travel between realms, and there are an awful lot of realms out there too, some claimed by various countries, some not and classed as Outlander realms. Along with this technology people live in a world where airships fill the skies and computers exist but they are different to what we know, it's the air travel and technology like the personal computers that give the book it's steampunk edge.

Out story begins with Wendy Braca, a young girl who comes home to find her mother has been murdered. With her father also dead Wendy finds herself in the Greenleaf Asylum For Troubled Girls and it's a place that is as unpleasant as it sounds, run by a man with a taste for abuse you can imagine what a horrible life the 'inmates' live. Here Wendy remains until the day something rather extraordinary happens to her and she is rescued from the abuse and taken in by a strange guild who introduce her to the world of magic, of The Validus. While settling into her new life as a magic user she finds out that she is now part of a guild of assassin who are determined to undermine other Validus guilds, more bizarrely she find out that she is something very unique.... Wendy is 'The Curse Breaker', the most powerful and ultimately special Validus in existence.

What is there to love about this book?

I found the book to be very different from what I was expecting and I must admit that initially I wasn't expecting the book to be quite as entertaining as it was. It had an interpreting write up but it was from an unknown to me publisher and from an author who I had no knowledge of. I chose the book on the write up alone, which was a mistake, so although it sounded like it had potential I wasn't expecting too much BUT it turned out to be better than I thought it would be. I felt there was a great sense of imagery throughout the book and that I had a real sense for the world and the surroundings. I hoped for more of a steampunk edge but the science fiction aspects overruled the steampunk elements. Saying that the sci-fi elements were well explained and I got a great feel for them. Yes, there were aspects of the book that did bug me a little (more on that later) but over-all it was a great read, easy to understand and it kept me thoroughly entertained.

Was there anything not so good?

Okay, I've told you how the write-up for Guild Assassin is bit misleading as it makes you think you're getting one book when you're actually getting something quite different and I can imagine how some readers who find themselves in the same boat I did would be pretty disheartened by this discovery, it may put them off altogether but I would suggest giving the book a go though.

One of things that did bother me about the book was the slow start, I can understand why the slow start is there as it allows the book to build up tempo and give the reader the opportunity to get to know Wendy and the other members of her guild, I like it when books do this in general but personally I found the beginning a little bit to slow and in places (usually around the mythology and some of the scientific stuff) it got a little bit confusing meaning I had to re-read things several times before it sunk in.

Another thing is the whole 'Curse Breaker' thing, I wanted to know more..... exactly what is it, what does it mean for Wendy, what does it mean for the world? I finished the book feeling that I might have missed something as I felt I didn't really know what being the Curse Breaker was. I'm hoping it will be brought to the forefront more in the next book as I really want to know more.

Was it an interesting read?

I found the book to be quite interesting as it was unlike anything I've read before and the amalgamation of the steampunk, sci-fi and paranormal elements worked quite well when put together. I didn't find any particular parts of the book to be 'boring' at all as it kept me engaged and interested throughout.

Was it enjoyable to read?

It was enjoyable to read and while it may not be the kind of book that blows me away with it's brilliance its definitely worth the read as it was very engaging and held me interest from start to finish despite leaving me with a few unanswered question, that I hope will be addressed in the next book.

Was it a well written book?

I thought it well written in general although I did find the characterisations lacked a certain sparkle that made them stand out in the crowd especially Wendy who didn't feel quite as rounded as I wanted her to be, I wanted her to be a significantly bigger character than she was considering all the trials she's been through in her life and due to her being the 'Curse Breaker'. She lacked that certain pizazz that she needed although she wasn't alone in this as I wanted to have more of a connection with all of the characters that I got which disappointed me a little.

The imagery the author used to show the world and surroundings was well done and I really did get a good feel for the world the characters lived in so I had no problems there at all, all good as far as I was concerned.

The pace of the book was good and jammed packed full of action, the language the author used was good and not overly verbose with the descriptive making the book an easy read by ways of being able to completely understand what the author was trying to portray. In my eyes is was a decent debut attempt and I am quite interested to see how things progress with the next title in the series.

Would you recommend it to others?

While I don't think this book would suit everyone I do think it is worth a read but please don't be fooled by the write-up for it, it fooled me into thinking it was a different type of book than it actually was, it's still a nice entertaining read and I am keen to read the next book in the r series to see what else life has in store for poor old Wendy..... bring it on!

My thoughts:

I had this weird tug between love and frustration with this book. For the most part, I enjoyed the story a lot. I thought the worldbuilding was intriguing, I felt like the pacing on the story was reasonably good, and I was engaged with the main character. Except - and this is a biggie - she experiences severe trauma during an early section of the story, and I didn't feel as though this panned out through the rest of the novel.

So, for some reason I completely missed the science fiction/other worldly flavour in the blurb. It came as a surprise to me when the book talks about hopping between Realms - basically colonies on other planets. I loved this element - it's unusual in steampunk, and I thought it worked really well. This quite literal expansion in scope of traditional steampunk allowed the story to engage with cultures beyond the Victorian-flavoured one we know and love in this genre - and to do so with ease. This ability to travel widely was a good fit for a story that encompasses all of main character Wendy's teenage/young adult years. I liked that there was a sense of movement in space as well as in time.

The story begins with the emotional death of wendy's mother, sweeps through her years at an Asylum, then through the many years of her training to become a Guild Assassin. The pacing was pretty solid - there's lots of action to flavour the passage of time - we get more than simple snapshots of Wendy's life *and* I felt that Kerr did a good job of balancing longer periods of 'the same old' (often crossed over in a few pages or paragraphs) with the important game-changing moments of Wendy's life.

I enjoyed all the action and spy scenes. There's some great undercover stuff here, so if you like that type of story, I think you'll find lots to appeal to you in Curse Breaker.

I did think that this was solid groundwork for a series. The Curse Breaker concept that sets Wendy apart from other 'Validus' wasn't really utilized in this book. In fact, other than a small demonstration of the potential, I think it was more a concept than a practical element in the story. I expect that future books will run with the idea.

All of my frustration with this book had to do with Wendy and what I thought should be a more defining part of her life. She experiences some pretty serious abuse during a section of the story and I didn't feel like she really experienced any lingering effects from it. While it's true that everyone reacts differently in these kinds of situations, I felt like there really needed to be at least a scene discussing how she was coping with it. Every time she engaged in any kind of sexual encounter (mostly off screen, I'd rate the heat in this as mild-plus), or even just when she happily lusted after anyone, I had a moment of... "Huh. Really? She's okay with this? Okay then...." Ultimately I felt that Wendy's focus was so heavily on her mother's murder and the mystery around it that she neglected to really address the how, who, what and whys of anything that happened to her in the years immediately following the murder.

Bottom line:

I really enjoyed reading Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin, and I think it provides a great foundation for future books. I'm on board for more adventures with Wendy!

4 stars For fans of steampunk, spy/assassin stories

A wonderful read! I loved the plot and characterization and I am eager to see more from Berley Kerr.