Early Review - The Pirate’s Wish (The Assassin's Curse, Book 2) by Cassandra Rose Clarke (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 320 pages
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Date: June 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-1908844286
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Assassin’s Curse Duology
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the second book in the Assassin’s Curse duology. I absolutely adored The Assassin’s Curse and also really loved Clarke’s adult novel, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter. This book was just as wonderful as the first book in this series. It’s full of magic and adventure with some romance. You definitely need to read Assassin’s Curse first (originally this was going to be one book, but was then broken into two books because of length). Clarke is planning on writing two more books that take place in this world but feature different characters.

Ananna and Naji are trapped in a mysterious island of the North. When the resident wizard dies, they meet a strange an unlikely ally. Eventually Marjani comes to their rescue and they are able to continue their quest to break the curse on Naji. Along the way they will have to fight pirates and even journey below the ocean waves.

This was a spectacular read. The world-building is wonderfully done, it’s such a magical world and well detailed. It’s the type of world I would love to go and visit. The plot is well done too. It’s got this whole questing feel to it because of the three things Ananna and Naji have to do to break his curse; it ends up being more complicated than just that. Still I loved the classic fantasy questing feel the story had to it.

Ananna is an incredibly prickly and highly strung heroine; she’s like a firework always on the edge of exploding. She is a ferocious fighter but is incredibly sensitive about pretty much everything. I kept wanting to shake her and tell her to just calm down and let Naji talk. She is still highly entertaining just a bit flawed as well.

Naji isn’t the most expressive male lead, but I still thought his patience with Ananna was admirable considering how touchy she is. He is a strong male lead and a very interesting and mysterious character. We get to learn a lot more about him and his past in this story.

Marjani also plays a huge role in this story; we learn a ton about her past and the reason she has taken up pirating. She was probably the most mature character of the novel and I enjoyed how her level-headedness balanced out Naji and Ananna.

There are wonderful and spectacular things that happen in this story. There are pirate battles, magical creatures, evil wizards, beautiful kingdoms, and underwater worlds that are explored. It is a breathtaking and wondrous adventure. There is some humor throughout as well, which keeps things fun.

The pacing is very good and keeps the reader engaged from the beginning to the end. The story wraps things up in a way that is realistic and very well done.

Overall an absolutely fantastic read. I enjoyed the world, the plot, and the characters a lot. The story is very engaging and the world is absolutely magical. This is an excellent fantasy read. Highly recommended to fans of The Assassin’s Curse and fans of quest based fantasy. I love this book and can’t wait to read Clarke’s future novels.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- YA/MG Fantasy Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: January 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0857662651
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars


I got an eCopy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. Thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. Previously I had read Clarke’s young adult fantasy, The Assassin’s Curse, and loved it. This book is very, very different from The Assassin’s Curse; but I still loved a lot.

This is the story of a girl named Cat and her relationship with an Android named Finn. While the story explores the whole concept of android rights, and questions about whether or not an Android can have emotions and feelings, that is really not the focus of the story. The story focuses on Cat and covers a long period of time. It starts when she is a young girl and Finn is her tutor and follows her into her adult years.

The pace of the story is deliberate, but it is no less riveting for that pace. As I said this is very different from the Assassin’s Curse. It is definitely an adult story (there are sex scenes and swearing). It is more of a science fiction story with a theme of self-exploration. The pacing to the story reminded me a lot of The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Cat is a troubled woman and leads a rather crazy and tumultuous life. Her life seems more defined by her ability to float through life without really making any decisions. For large portions of the book she doesn’t really seem engaged and it makes her situation all the more painful and sad to read about. Cat has loved Finn from a young age and is convinced something is wrong with her since she’s fallen in love with something that’s not human.

Finn is an absolutely stunning character. He is completely respectful and loving to Cat, but the whole time a question is hovering...is Finn really like this or is he just programmed this way? Finn has a lot of dimension as a character and learning about him and his origins was fascinating as the book progressed.

There is a lot of emotional turmoil in this book. Cat struggles to become what her mother wanted her to be and constantly fights her instincts to be an artist. She is constantly at odds with who she thinks she should be and who she is happy being. Cat and Finn dance circles around each other. Cat wants Finn to be human and Finn knows he’s not. There are some truly heartbreaking moments in this book and it is a pretty heavy read at points.

The world is also interesting. The book is set on Earth in a future time following some massive war that almost wiped out humanity. This history comes into play when Android politics are discussed, but isn’t the focus of the book.

The book is incredibly engaging, beautifully written, and haunting. Clarke does an excellent job of describing the surroundings and the characters. The book really comes alive and is also incredibly hard to put down. You are just constantly driven to wonder: what will happen to Cat? What will happen to Finn? What will happen to Androids as a whole?

Overall I just absolutely loved this book. The characters are spot on, the writing is beautiful, the pacing is deliberate but still absolutely engaging. This isn’t an action packed book, but is more that story of girl who grows into a woman and finds herself struggling with society’s expectations both of love and of her life. There is also a lot of discussion about Androids and whether or not they can feel emotions. Although not completely original, it was still a very creative book that was beautifully written. Recommended to those who enjoy science fiction coupled with a life story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenge:
- 150+ Reading Challenge