The Wizard's Promise (Hanna Duology #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Paul's Pre-Reading

*I received this book as an eARC from Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: The Wizard's Promise (Hanna Duology #1)
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Cover Art: Sarah J. Coleman

Publication Date: May 6, 2014 (US/CAN) 1 May 2014 (UK)

Ashley's The Assassin's Curse Review
Ashley's The Pirate's Wish Review
Ashley's The Witch's Betrayal Review
Ashley's The Automaton's Treasure Review
Ashley's The Wizard's Promise Pre-Reading

Paul's The Assassin's Curse Review
Paul's The Pirate's Wish Review
Paul's The Witch's Betrayal Review

Synopsis: All Hanna Euli wants is to become a proper witch – but unfortunately, she’s stuck as an apprentice to a grumpy fisherman. When their boat gets caught up in a mysterious storm and blown wildly off course, Hanna finds herself further away from home than she’s ever been before.

As she tries to get back, she learns there may be more to her apprentice master than she realized, especially when a mysterious, beautiful, and very non-human boy begins following her through the ocean, claiming that he needs Hanna’s help.

Why?: I really enjoyed The Assassin's Curse and its sequel. I have read one of the short stories as well and I liked that too. My favorite part of that series is the world building. It is such a fantastically large and epic world! This book takes place in that same world so I am very excited to return to such a great place. 

Expectations: I'm expecting to learn even more about this world and travel to locations we may have only heard of in the prior series. It sounds like there will be more magic in this novel. I'm excited to see the magic system more established.  

Judging a book by its cover: I really liked the covers of the first series and this cover matches it in tone. It has a colder feel to it, so maybe we will be heading far North. The antler and skeletal face are creepy and intriguing.  


--Paul

The Witch's Betrayal (The Assassin's Curse #0.6) by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Paul's Review

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Title: The Witch's Betrayal
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Year Published: 2013

My REVIEW of The Assassin's Curse
Ashley's REVIEW of The Witch's Betrayal
Ashley's REVIEW of The Assassin's Curse

Synopsis: An e-book original short story set before The Assassin's Curse.

You've read The Assassin’s Curse. You've met Naji. Now go back in time and see Naji in his earlier years, as he seeks a target and ends up clashing with Leila, the river witch.


Review: This is the story of how the assassin Naji acquired his scarred appearance. It was nice to see this world from his perspective although we only saw one city. I'd like to see more about the Order. 

I liked seeing his blood magic from his own perspective, inside his head. It was also cool to see him slipping into the shadows. 

I give this short story a 4/5 and think you should definitely read it if you like the series. I wouldn't suggest reading this short story first though.


-PAUL

The Automaton's Treasure (The Assassin's Curse #0.6) by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Ashley's Review

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Title: The Automaton's Treasure
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Year Published: 2013

The Witch's Betrayal Review
The Assassin's Curse Review
The Pirate's Wish Review

Synopsis: A tale exploring Marjani's first steps beyond Qilar, when she is dismissed from her home for scandalous behaviour.

Marjani's ship is stolen by pirates and, in order to save her own life, she pretends to know the location of great treasure.

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Review: I am a huge fan of The Assassin's Curse series, and I was super excited to find out that there would be another short story set before Naji and Annana meet. Even more so when I learned it was about Marjani! And I was not disappointed at all. 

Like The Witch's Betrayal, this story offers a glimpse into the life of one of the characters before we meet them. If you've read The Pirate's Wish, you already know some of Marjani's secrets, including why she's being sent away. What we didn't know, however, is what happens to her between being sent away and becoming a pirate. This story, aside from showing us one of Marjani's adventures, also helps mold her into a dynamic character and allows us to better understand what motivates her to do the things she does. I love when minor characters get their own short stories. 

I also really loved the automaton. I mean, who wouldn't want a bejewled little robot crocodile? And all the poor little thing wants to do is get back to his great treasure. I loved the way that he was portrayed, and the way he talks about his great treasure. Especially after learning what this treasure was. It also gave us a chance to learn a little bit more about this world, I think, since we're introduced to even more creatures and places.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has read and enjoyed any of the books and/or stories in the Assassin's Curse series. This is a nice, quick read that will allow readers to get to know one of the more mysterious characters from the books, and will take them on a completely different adventure than we've previously seen in the series. I would give this a 4/5, and suggest that if you haven't read any of the Assassin's Curse books, you go do that ASAP!

--Ashley

The Witch's Betrayal by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Ashley's Review

Title: The Witch's Betrayal
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Year Published: 2013

Synopsis: An e-book original short story set before The Assassin's Curse.

You've read The Assassin’s Curse. You've met Naji. Now go back in time and see Naji in his earlier years, as he seeks a target and ends up clashing with Leila, the river witch.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

I really liked The Assassin's Curse, and I really liked Naji. And this story really just made me like him even more. Clark does a really excellent job of portraying Naji as an assassin with a conscience, which I can't imagine is very easy to do.

In The Assassin's Curse, I was really interested in the history between Leila and Naji, and this short story pretty much answered all of the questions I had there! Plus, you get to learn how his face becomes scarred. I thought it was actually very noble, and I did not like Leila's reaction (although I kind of expected it).  It's really interesting to learn so much about her even though she's only present for a few pages. It will be really interesting to see if she makes another appearance in the rest of the series, since I think she's just as intriguing as Naji and Ananna, and I'm glad we got to see more of her.

The world building is also excellent, even though this was just a short story. Anyone who has read The Assassin's Curse is already familiar with Naji's world, but I think this story adds quite a bit more depth to it. Seeing Naji use his magic, and travel in the shadows, is pretty cool. 

I can't wait for The Pirate's Wish, and I really hope it includes some chapters from Naji's point of view! I would definitely recommend this story to any fans of The Assassin's Curse. And if you haven't read that book yet... If you like pirates, magic, desert-like fantasy lands, assassins, mystery, or any combination of these things, you should definitely pick up both! A strong 4/5 here. 


--Ashley