The Exiled Blade (The Assassini)
this is the final book in the Assassini trilogy. What a pretty awesome finish!! Jon Courtney Grimwood did a pretty great job.Here is what amazon says: A violent attack on Lady Giulietta's son forces Tycho from his new-found happiness and back into the treacherous intrigue of the court. For Giulietta's sake he would go to the world's end to track down those responsible.
As Venice teeters on the brink of civil war, its warring families prepare to discover who is a player and who a pawn in the coming struggle for power.
It was non stop action. Characters acting and reacting the the political turmoil that continues in this book. The politics between Duchess Alex and Prince Alonzo is stepped up a notch in this last book and I loved the conclusion to this plot thread. Tycho our friendly 'whatever he is' leaves a trail of blood wherever he goes and it is always interesting to indirectly participate in his inner turmoil as he tears people apart (gosh that sounds odd doesn't it?).
The best thing about this book was the ending, both of this book and the series. Full of twists and turns and things I did not see coming. The characters grow and change and readers can see a real difference from the start of the series. Plot lines are tied up and yet more new and interesting things about this world are shown to us. Grimwood stuck a great balance between new information and the tying up of the lose ends, it is something that rarely happens in books these days. Grimwood used three books to tell his story and tell it well and I respect that, the less the author fluffs about with random crap the more I love the book!
The worst thing was that the ending tore out my heart a little, and that as your realise, is a good thing. I can't say any more with out spoiling it, but the ending of the series did not go the way I thought it would. I certainly did not see it coming. This is a testament to how well Grimwood wrote his characters and there are a few main ones. I think he needs to be acknowledged for that as he writes in 3rd person and doesn't use character segments.
Wondering if you should read this series? I will give you a few things to consider.
1. Grimwood draws heavily on the old Venice to create his world. It dragged on a bit in the first book and was all but gone in the third. so if you dig a world rooted in historical context ...
2. The characterisation starts off a little flimsy but gets better and better as the series goes on. (Think Week's Night Angel trilogy)
3. The series as a whole is pretty action packed and there is plenty of cloak and dagger action, tempered with interesting politics.
To sum up the series is light and sort. Interesting main characters and the journey and growth was really fun to read about. Action packed and lots of fighting with a few wars thrown in, not the focus however.
4/5 young ones wondering what the hell to do
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