Customer Reviews

The Assassins of Tamurin

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Assassins of Tamurin is a fantasy novel about politics and love. More than twenty-four centuries ago, the "Durdana came in ships from a snowy land far across the sea and sailed far up the Pearl River until we found the place appointed for us ... There we built our first villages in what was to become ... our realm, Durdane." Thirteen centuries ago, the Founder established the chief city, Seyhan the Luminous. Then, a century ago, the Exiles came through Jugen Pass, fought for a warring Emperor, and then turned against him to conquer half of Durdana. The remainder is split into an imperial successor state, Bethiya, and ten Despotates. When the leader of the Exiles died, the conquered part of Durdana is divided into six Exile kingdoms.

Bethiya is ruled by the Sun Lords. Several years previously, the two great bloodlines in Bethiya, the Danjians and the Tanyelis, fought at the Water Terrace of the Sun Lord's palace and killed off most of the males in both families. The Chancellor at that time, Halis Geray, persuaded the Council of Ministers to select someone from another bloodline as Sun Lord. Terem Rathai was choosen because he was from a distinguished military family which had dwindled to a very few; in order to reduce favoritism, one condition for receiving the throne was that all his relatives, except his mother, would be banned from Kurjain, the capital city.

In this novel, Lale is an eleven year old orphaned girl living with foster parents in Riversong, a small village at the end of the road. One day, she is sent with the communal sewing needles to the Bee Goddess's priestess, but loses them crossing a creek. When she returns, she is almost killed by her foster parents and neighbors before the village priest can stop the beating. They sentence her to Negation -- i.e., everyone acts as if she does not exist -- but food and water is left out for her use. At first she enjoys the rest and freedom, but later she begins to feel lonely and disassociated from village life and realizes that she must leave or die. She announces her intentions and needs to the village and they just happen to leave a few supplies lying around for her to take.

On the road to elsewhere, she briefly encounters Master Lim, who is a traveling bard, and renews their acquaintance, but he is killed by bandits. After they steal almost everything and leave, she lays out Master Lim and continues on her way. She soon meets a party of soldiers escorting a woman and three girls. The woman is Makina Seval, the Despotana of Tamurin, and she invites Lale to join her school for orphans in Chiran. There the Despotana adopts her, gives her the surname Navari, and assigns her a birthday, as she has done for each orphan in the school. Moreover, she assigns a tutor to teach her to read and then places her in classes.

Part of her training has been the history of Durdana, taught by the Despotana, with emphasis on the death of the Despotana's child at the Water Terrace. She explains to the girls that the wicked Chancellor encouraged the evil Tanyelis to butcher her husband's family and her child, the future Sun Lord. She also points out that the current Sun Lord is a usurper. She encourages them to hate the Chancellor and the current Sun Lord, but ensures that they will never to tell anyone else how she and they feel.

Six years later, Lale completes her schooling and, even though exempted as a girl, takes the Universal Examination, on which she does very well. After the school completion ceremony, the Despotana gives each girl a choice of careers, but Lale has to choose between apprenticing with the Tradition Tutoress or serving the Moon Lady at Three Springs. Moreover, she cannot remain with her best friend, Dilara, if she studies to replace the Tradition Tutoress. Both resignly choose Three Springs, but find out after they arrive that it is really a school for spies and assassins.

After years of training at Three Springs, Lale is sent to Master Luasin's acting school in Istana. Months later, Lale travels as an apprentice with the Elder Company to Kurjain, where she has been ordered to gain the attention of the Sun Lord. She closely resembles his newly dead wife, so she makes the resemblance a matter of general gossip. Terem sends for her after hearing reports of her appearance. They spend a hour or two every few days just discussing a wide range of topics and gradually they fall in love. Eventually she becomes his Inamorata, less than a wife and more that a mistress.

In their discussions, Terem describes his plans to restore the former lands and unity of the old Empire. With her training in political affairs, she realizes that he may be the only one who can accomplish this and, without such unity, Durdana is doomed to either fade away or fall to the Exile kingdoms. Her love for her homeland is conflicting with her love for the Despotana. Then she discovers who her family had been.

This novel strongly resembles a classical Chinese tale of the Time of Troubles and the invasion of the nomad hordes, but it also reflects the landscapes and urban scenes of Renaissance Venice and the Netherlands. It is a tale of exotic places, with strange sounding names. It is a romance that doesn't dwell upon love, yet the various loves in Lale's life -- Durdana itself, the Despotana, and Terem -- produce her turmoil of conflicting emotions.

The story flows well, with most plot twists hinted well ahead of time. Even the actions of Nilang, the Despotana's sorceress, are consistent throughout the tale. The story is also filled with descriptions of sights and smells, so that the reader can easily imagine the surroundings. It is apparent that the authors are not rank amateurs at writing fantasy. I certainly hope that they continue writing in this field.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys tales of foreign climes, desperate adventures, and divided loyalties.

No spoiling the story here!

This novel is excellent. It is not only well written, it is also exciting and rich in its details. For the first half of the book, I was able to savor it slowly, absorbing information as it was given, and tantalized by the hints that all was not as it seemed (as the book is narrated by a future Lale who knows the true meaning of things). The second half of the book I read a breakneck speed as all the things that had been hinted at and suggested began to make sense, and the pace of events sped faster and faster. It was a great sweeping ending all the more so for the depth of the development that had preceded it. I would have liked a map, and at times was tempted to try and draw my own to keep the different countries/provinces straight, but otherwise an excellent book.

This is a book that would be appropriate for an advanced younger teen reader or mid-teens and beyond, there is violence, scary monsters, and no explicit sexual scenes.

This is not your typical fantasy book. There are no elves or dragons, lost heirs to a throne, or magical artifacts. Here is a thrilling tale about a spy who journeys deep into enemy territory and discovers that the world may not be as she first believed. As a reader you are pulled along on her adventure, sharing in her covert discoveries, hard-won triumphs, and puzzling revelations. You thrill along with her at the fear of discovery, and speculate as she does on her dawning new awakening.

The author has her character speak in a first person narrative which very effectively draws the reader in and makes you feel like you are sharing in the secrets and discoveries that she imparts as the tale unfolds. There is a certain amount of foreshadowing and implied doom which builds suspense and makes this book a real page-turner. Lale is a likeable, believable character - blunt, brave, and sometimes arrogant, but never once does she come across as stereotypical or contrived like some "strong" heroines can.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and consider it a definite keeper on my bookshelf.

If there were ever a book that had "movie adaptation" written all over it, this would be the one. It positivley smacks of hollywood and film rights...but that is a good thing. This book is very visual and you find yourself picturing the places and people represented within its pages with great detail. Not that the book gets overly descriptive, but the author has found a subtle balance between too much information and too little. Much is left to the imagination, and that is a good thing as well; it allows for a very personal feel to the novel. For me, I pictured the book taking place in a setting very much like the one represented in "Croutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
S.D. Tower has given us a remarkable, if predictable, debut novel. That would be the only place where the book falters...the plot twist will be seen in the early stages of the story, but I suppose that knowing what will happen is only half the fun...the other half is the journey to the end. And what a journey it is! We are treated to a lush and vivid world that mimicks the very history of our own. Places seem to carry a somewhat familiar feel and the feeling of history is so real that at times I was tempted to look things up in an encyclopedia...only to remember that I was reading a work of fiction.
This novel is so visual and powerful that I really cannot praise it enough. When you immerse yourself in this book, you will be transported to a land of love, mystery, magic and political machinations. I am deeply impressed by the political jousting that goes on behind the scenes and the tantalizing bits of back-story that are thrown your way.
The novel meanders at a lesiurley pace, seldom breaking into a run until the very end...and then BOOM! it takes off and you are left breathless with revelations and an awesomely, if predictable, handling of the end. The book opens with a quiet and unassuming beginning, and the close of the novel is handled just as wonderfully. One I put this book back onto my bookshelf, I felt satisfied and entertained...a feeling that seems to have escaped many books as of late. Although this book is somewhat predictable and a little transparent, it is still a great effort and a worthy addition to any library...be it personal or professional.

This book was great! I loved it! I read the other reviews written for this book, and some of them mentioned that the plot takes place in ancient China. I seriously didn't know that, so that was a surprise to me. Anyways, this is a wonderfully descriptive book and I think S.D. Tower is very talented.

I thought this novel was excellent, and rather well told. It begins slowly, but as you read on, events pick up their pace, and you find yourself on the edge of your seat, reading your eyes out. S.D. Tower provides the reader with wonderful full lucious descriptions of Lale's World, and it is so rich in history and political intrigues that, if you pause your reading from this book to, say get a glass of water, you find yourself slightly disorientated. The characters in this book was also wonderfully described, their motives, their personalities, one could relate, and empathize with them. The assassins of Tamurin could very well be one of the best fantasies I have ever read, and I look eagerly for more books by this very talented and up-coming author.

A great book! This is a spy novel with a fantasy setting. Not surprising, since the author writes spy stories under another name. It is filled with treachery, betrayal and intrigue; with a touch of romance. I was hoping the author would write more books with this main character, but that seems unlikely with the epilogue in the book. The one thing I hate is when the cover art clearly shows that the artist never bothered to open the book. The cover shows a scene that did happen in the book, the main character sneaking into a tent to kill. It shows the character as a dark haired girl with dark almond shaped eyes. The main character is described a number of times in the book, the first of which is on page two. She has long auburn hair, green eyes and a pale creamy complexion. Not even close, as if the artist was told "female assassin dressed in black sneaking into a tent" and thought must be Asian. I think that when the cover art doesn't match the description in the book it throws off the visualization of the character, especially when it is so far of the mark. To the reviewer tha said there was not much detail on her school friends, how much do you remember of nonbest friends years after the fact. She was telling this story looking back. She did tell the weapons they trained her in; Dagger, throwing weapons, staff, hand tridents(sounds like sai to me), spears, bows. You must have missed that, huh? The school seemed ninja like.

i am 15 and i read s.d towers book... i loved the sun lord's character and the heroine , Lale. all my friends are reading it because it's so good!

From S.D. Tower is a story full of suspense, twists and turns, romance, tragedy, the bondage of friendship, the gratitude and love of a daughter to a mother, betrayal, justice, bitter revenge and much much more. I was so drawn to this novel, I could not put it down until I had read it to the end, and eagerly did I read each chapter. I found the landscape and world in which this story took place, so vividly described, and each character and their own stories seemed rich and real. Altogether, this novel is now sitting on my bookshelve, waiting to be read again, and I definitly suggest you read it, and be ensorceled by this wonderful tale.

Instead of waiting its turn patiently on my "to be read" pile of books, this novel set up a hue and cry that was not to be ignored. However, after recently finishing the new Thieves' World novel, I was uncertain as to whether or not my view would be colored where further fantasy novels were concerned. Thankfully, I was not disappointed with S.D.'s efforts. This is a tale that will launch a strong career for this author.
When I was reading this I thought it was too good to be a first effort, the story flows along effortlessly, drawing you further and further in. Much like a good espionage thriller, although the elements are somewhat different as it is a fantasy setting. A very believable world was created, and is the perfect setting for this epic masterpiece. From beginning to end it flows like the very river that carried a babe to safety, starting her on a new path in life.

Lale, whose name means "lucky" grew up anything but. Found in the company of a corpse in a boat that floundered ashore, the tiny foundling was given a home by the superstitious river folk. They believed that since the river god saved her, it would be blasphemy not to offer her shelter. Sadly, that is all that they gave her. Lale grew up as the epitome of an abused child. Her life was loveless, emotionless, and filled with impatience and beatings, an existence that really might have been better not to have.

That all changed one dark and fateful day. Lale lost the valued possession of the women, she lost the silver needles needed for sewing. This caused her to be cast forth from the hearts and eyes of the village. She didn't exist in their eyes, no shelter was given, no food, and no contact at all. Lale dealt well with this at first, after all, it wasn't so bad, nobody was beating on her anymore. In short time, she turned her sight to far places and a chance for happiness, a one-time grab at the gold ring.

This could have had disaster written all over it, but fortune indeed smiled kindly upon this young woman, and guided her footsteps to safety. It didn't hurt that she had one of the most powerful women in all of Durdane searching for her, the Despotana Makina Seval, also known as Mother Midnight to her students. Makina has one thing on her mind, vengeance against those who slew her infant son, the son who was to be the next ruler. A long time has she woven her web, patience is one of her many gifts, and it is about to pay off.

Lale is the unwitting tool of Mother Midnight, an assassin who will be put to the utmost test of her loyalty and her skills. Will the arts of assassination that she learned at Three Springs school be called upon to kill the man who has given her life a new meaning and focus? Must she sacrifice current happiness to repay the women who offered her love and a home? Lale is deeply embedded within a web of lies, and time is running out as she fights to discover the truth.

This is a great read, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from Canada's mysterious S.D. Tower!

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