The Perfect Assassin
2019 • 350 pages

Ratings4

Average rating3.6

15

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.

July 11, 2020Report this review