The Perfect Assassin

There are a few of these gems, most fantasy are derived from the north american style, so an arabian influenced fantasy setting is quite refreshing!!!!

Ghadid, a city always in constant battle with the sands, water, the lifeblood of any desert civilization, the city boasts of an aquifer system that generates this most important commodity, an engineering marvel from the earlier times, the scope, materials used unknown to the latter population, a unique system that when putting a single baat(the currency used), results in a skinful of water, hoarded by its inhabitants. The city is ruled by a group called the Drum Chiefs, they enforce the law and also divide the city into neighborhoods, each governed by a drum chief, the law is simple, water is too important to be wasted, hence any form of wastage is punished, but for the more heinous crimes, the drum chiefs also has the authority to call an assassination or employ assassins(assassins belong to this unique brotherhood, an individual can train to be one, hence assassins refer to other assassins as “cousins” for they all belong to one family), but something happened that brought to a halt this practice, a mystery that Amastan and his newly vested “cousins” have the chance to solve.

Such a unique world, you have the aforementioned assassins, healers that use water to heal, and marabi, the magic-users/shaman in this culture, not all the troubles that plagued this society come from human hands, there are the spiritual also, stories of jaans, jaani, guuli abound, and a marabi is employed to placate them, for an unruly jaan can possess anyone and bring havoc to the city.

Fantasy derived from the Greek/Roman mythos have always been the norm, but there are gems such as this, that remind you there are A LOT MORE, to dragon slaying, epic quests, and so forth. To those who would try, PLEASE DO SO, it might not give you the same satisfaction, but the story by itself is wondrous, and that is just the story, you have not yet met Amastan, Menna, the Serpent, Barag and the others.

Pros: good worldbuilding, interesting setting and characters

Cons: opening felt a bit slow

When the newly trained assassin Amastan discovers a drum chief's body hidden on a rooftop, he's tasked with proving that his clan of assassins wasn't responsible. But the unknown killer isn't the only danger, as the unquieted jaani (souls) of the murdered are restless, not dissipating as they ought, and trying to possess new bodies. With few leads Amastan's time is running out, even as he befriends the servant of the first victim and begins to feel love for the first time.

It took me a while to warm to Amastan. The first few chapters show how undecided and hesitant he is, trying to plan things to perfection. As his relationship with various characters grew, I started to like him a lot more. It was interesting seeing the assassin clan portrayed as merely helping the city get rid of bad people. It makes the concept and characters easier to sympathize with.

I was surprised Tamella, his trainer and head assassin, left him to solve the murder without any advice or consultation. I can understand that she couldn't investigate things herself, but she had knowledge that would have aided Amastan. Instead she simply blamed him for not solving it fast enough despite his having no training in detective work.

The worldbuilding was really good. I did like that Amastan and the other assassin trainees had real jobs to pay bills and keep occupied around their secondary craft. I also liked that they actually worked at those jobs. Menna's work with the elders, quieting jaani was interesting. The jaani themselves were cool and terrifying. I also liked seeing the healers dependent on water for their work, and how towards the end of the season that's problematic as the desert city must ration it. Reading characters running across rooftops and down narrow alleys was entertaining.

While I figured out who the killer was fairly early, it was still interesting seeing the story unfold.

It was a fun, quick read.