Part of me thinks if I hadn't just finished Brent Week's "Night Angel" trilogy I would have been less pre-disposed to say 'Another super special assassin!' and played the compare game between Kylar (of Night Angel) and Caim (of Shadow's Son). I'm a creature of habitual likes so this isn't a problem for me--I have more super special assassin books in my fantasy collection then almost any other trope.

In truth that's the only similarities between the two, well technically there's another, but its a spoiler in both cases so I can't mention it here, but suffice to say Kylar and Caim both indulge in royal politics. Caim is self-assured, resourceful and intelligent. When handed a too easy job he's immediately suspicious and questioning. When told a convenient sounding lie he mulls it over and deciphers the meaning. He is very disciplined. In short he was a little dry for my tastes. Its not that he was boring or stuffy, he didn't do anything that gave him joy.

True, he was an assassin and killed people for a living, but that was the totality of who he was for much of the mission given to him by Mathias. Sometimes he bantered with Kit and he certainly grew impatient with Josey more than once, but he didn't relax very often.

I found myself more interested in Kit and what exactly she was and her role in Caim's life. She was some kind of spirit, who only Caim could see and interact with and could not really effect the physical world. Who and what she is evolves as the plot thickens and Caim realizes that who he is matters to the schemes at hand more than he could have guessed. I liked that she gave Caim attitude, but was dedicated to his protection as well.

Josey took a little while for me to like, she seemed like a spoiled kid with a permanent petulant attitude. Her ability to grasp the bigger threat was deficient and I wanted to smack her. Just scream at her and say 'Don't you see? Can't you understand?' She had a good heart though and as the book went on it became apparent that she also was very perceptive and quick on her feet when she did understand.

The world building is a little more shallow then I was used to and Sprunk had this fixation on making us care for a character (good or ill) and then many horrible things would occur. It made me wary of investing in any character, a little paranoid that as soon as I came to a conclusion in regards to them everything would change. ( )

I honestly didn't think this sort of fantasy got published any more - the pedestrian, cliche-loaded, mediocre-tolkien/mythology-aspirant sort. At least the plot moves fast, though I suspect it has to or otherwise you'd be able to see daylight through the holes that turn into lace. Characters made of thin cardboard in utterly familiar shapes, a brutal dichotomy of good and evil, and a setting that's both generic and wildly anachronistic in its influences. Sort of like in was written from an unholy melange of the notes from Dan Brown's newest novel, and the notes from a teenage GM's newest campaign. At least I finished it; it's that bearable. ( )

This was a quick, fun read. It doesn't bother with a lot of world building or filler nor do I think it really needs to. It's a pretty straight-forward story with a little bit of mystery thrown in, but nothing to dwell on after it's over. I'm interested enough in Caim's backstory to keep going. ( )

You know, whenever I pick up a book that's brand-new, I have an unreasonable expectation that it will live up to the standards of the day. Unfortunately, this book barely lives up to the standards of the 70's, when some of the elements found in this mediocre fantasy novel were still a bit fresh.
Not that it wouldn't be possible for me to enjoy a predictable romp about a good-hearted assassin with mysterious magic powers who finds himself rescuing a damsel in distress who is secretly an heiress from an evil sorcerer bent on revenge and a plot against the Rightful Royalty.... but it would have to be better written.
One of the things that really bugs me is when pseudo-historical settings are sprinkled with anachronistic and/or colloquial terms... people in some kind of 16th-century (?) type setting don't talk about "bad vibes" or when they were "just a kid." Add to that some cheezy descriptive passages and generally unconvincing characterization and motivations... blah.

If you are into this sort of book, and are tempted to get it... go read Sarah Monette instead. ( )

Interesting plot and main character. Crappy romance. The author seems to rely on action instead of characterization to tell the story. ( )