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MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
In those halls of darkness, where children are taken from the world and given to shadow and dust, Asher is destined for that same fate. He will become the myth. He will become the legend. He will become the whisper of Death itself.
That which he was is dead, forgotten. Now he is a blade in the dark, a weapon to be wielded by his masters. A killer.
Yet, despite all his training and years of spilling blood, there is a crack in Asher’s conditioning. Something within him is broken, unbound even. A sliver of humanity has survived and dreams of freedom. Now, standing on a knife’s edge, his mind threatens to unravel, taking him from the only path he has ever known and away from the clutches of Nightfall.
It has never been done. Exile is not a choice. It is a death sentence.
But there is another life that calls to him, a life roaming the wilds and protecting the innocent from the monsters which would prey upon them. Hunting monsters, however, is no easy task, especially when Asher himself is hunted by those who would drag him back to Nightfall. Back to the darkness.
MY REVIEW
I took a small break after tearing through the entirety of The Echoes saga last year, and I decided it was time to dive back into Verda, and what a leap it was. I’ve always enjoyed how Quaintrell spins a story that’s gripping and fun. You can technically read this series in any order since The Rangers Archives wraps up 12 days before the first Echoes trilogy takes off. Nothing in this review is spoilery, but just in case, I’d recommend reading the Echoes saga before reading this review. I’d also just recommend reading those 9 books and the final novella first anyways, they’re that good.
Asher’s back and I’m pumped about it! I’ve said before that The Echoes Saga feels like a mashup of Skyrim, Star Wars, and Batman. The Skyrim vibes are definitely in the setting, while the characters have that Star Wars and Batman energy. But in The Court of Assassins, Asher’s more like a mix of Batman, Green Arrow, and Daredevil, with a dash of Assassin’s Creed thrown in, and of course the same Skyrim-ish world, though. They are all the same, but different, and that’s what makes Asher such a cool character to root for.
“It is easy to kill a man. Men have been killing each other since the dawning of the First Age. It is said, however, that living with it can be difficult, a weight upon one’s conscience.”
One thing that bugged me from the Echoes saga was the Whispersync being off. The audio narration and the text highlight never lined up right, which drove me nuts since l use Whispersync a ton. The narration part is always good, Steven Brand’s voice is smooth, kinda reminds me of Rufus Sewell, but it’s missing a little oomph when it comes to getting into the story itself or giving characters unique voices. Most characters sound the same with the exception of Asher, every one opposite of him is practically the same, maybe a slight tweak for age and gender.
I loved seeing Asher’s journey from being an Arakesh assassin, where he had to make a life-altering decision that led to him being hunted down by them, to joining the order of Rangers. A group created to kill monsters of the Verda wild. Creatures like Scudders, Werewolves and Basiliks, oh my! You name it, they kill it. So Asher’s out there slaying creatures, dodging Arakesh stalking him in the dark and uncovering a sinister plot. It’s a blast, like every Quaintrell book l’ve read so far.
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