Imperial Assassin, Mark Robson

[dwndrgn]

Imperial Assassin by Mark Robson

Robson continues the story he began in Imperial Spy, only this time Reynik the young Legionnaire is the main character and Femke is back to being a secondary character.

This is the story of the clash between the 600 year old Guild of Assassins and the newly mantled Emperor Surabar. Surabar is trying to keep the empire together, at one time fending off the offended nobles, assassination attempts and trying to make something out of the mess of the Empire. His risky attempt to clean up the empire by abolishing the Guild of Assassins gives him much more trouble than he bargained for.

In order to limit the damage of his rash act, Surabar brings in his favorite spy and the impressive young Legionnaire who served him so well in the last adventure. Femke, still healing from her misadventures in Thrandor and Reynik, trying to fit back into the Legion after aiding Femke, must work together to discover and destroy the secrets of the Assassins’ Guild.

Once again, Mark Robson has created a fast paced tale of adventure, wit and cunning. The reader will be entertained by this enjoyable story, a couple of interesting twists, a big surprise, the well-orchestrated fight scenes and the thoughtful conjecture of what a secret conclave of killers might be like.

Robson’s fans will not be disappointed by this book, until they get to the end and realize they must wait for the next portion of the tale to be written!

dwndrgn

[Brown Rat]

Sounds good! Thanks, Dwndrgn.

[Calvyn]

It does not just sound good its brilliant calvyn

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Calvyn

It does not just sound good its brilliant calvyn

Welcome to Chronicles, Calvyn. It seems very strange to keep seeing characters from my books arriving here. I hope you'll hang around and join in some of the discussions. Can I take it that you've now read Imperial Assassin as well? If so, what did you like about it?

Thanks for the positive review, Dwndrgn. It's good to know that I'm staying true to form. I'd hate for my regular readers to find that my style had suddenly changed overnight.

[Patrick Mahon]

Review of Imperial Assassin, by Mark Robson

Verdict: 9/10 - buy it!

This is the second in the 'Imperial' series, following on from 'Imperial Spy', which came out in February. We follow the same characters - the female spy Femke, young soldier Reynik, and their nemesis, the assassin Shalidar - as the situation develops following Emperor Surabar's decision to outlaw the Guild of Assassins. Somebody needs to infiltrate the Guild, in order to find out where they are based, and who is in charge. Femke can't do it, as Shalidar knows who she is. So Reynik, a soldier, not a spy, and still less an assassin, volunteers for the job. Will he be able to deliver what the Emperor wants?

In 330 pages, Mark Robson produces more incidents and plot twists than some of us have had hot dinners. This is a great read, which pulls you on from chapter to chapter, and never lets go. I really enjoyed watching Reynik develop over the story, and the cliffhanger at the end of the book left me desperate for Mark to finish writing the series finale, 'Imperial Traitor', so I can find out what happens next!

In conclusion, this is a book I'd thoroughly recommend to anyone who is looking for a fast-paced YA fantasy novel. It's officially out tomorrow - so go and get a copy before it sells out!

Patrick.

[Mark Robson]

It's taken me a while to get around to thanking you for this review, Patrick, but I very much appreciate you taking the time to write it.

All reader reviews are appreciated. Aside from boosting my ego, ( ) it adds impetus to my desire to keep writing. I shall add something into the appropriate page of my website to see that it has a suitable link.

[Light_Warrior]

I read Imperial Assassin about a week ago at the urging of a friend.. And he doesn't read many books, so when he told me to read it, I knew it would be worth it. I didn't regret my decision.

I found Imperial Assassin hard to put down, and it was one of the few books that I could never quite predict. This coming from a 16 year old who has read way to many books for her own good... I am a huge fantasy/ sci-fi fan, and this book would definately get at least a 9.5/10 on my scale..

Thank you for writing an awesome book, and I can't wait to read Imperial Traitor... Right after my library gets Imperial Spy...

[Mark Robson]

Thanks for the feedback, Light Warrior, and welcome to Chronicles.

It's always nice to discover I've won another convert. Just treat Imperial Spy like a prequel - I'm pretty confident that you'll enjoy it. The proof readers are telling me that Imperial Traitor is the best of the series, so I guess I can say you should enjoy that too. Happy reading!

[Light_Warrior]

Its good to be on a site where you can actually talk to the authors... I think that is really cool... Heh, I can't wait too read the other books. I'm sure I will enjoy them emensly.

Um, if you don't mind, what books did you enjoy reading as a child?

[Mark Robson]

What books did I read as a child? Hmm! How far back are we going here? I was inspired to learn to read by the cover of a children's version of Beowulf. Initially I tried, but the text was too difficult, so I read loads of other things in order to improve my reading enough to return to it.

I suppose I went through all the normal progression for one of my age - Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood and Faraway Tree stories ... oh, and The Wishing Chair series, of course, followed by The Famous Five, The 'Adventure' series (Island of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure etc) - I guess I did most of Blyton's work. Then I progressed in leaps and bounds, reaching Lord of the Rings when I was about 11 or 12 and never looking back. From then onwards I explored the authors who wrote more adult stories. In fantasy this was: David Eddings, Julian May, Steven Donaldson, Michael Moorcock, Peter Morwood, David Gemmell, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks ... the list goes on.

In other genres I liked: Stephen King, Dennis Wheatley, James Herbert, Wilbur Smith, Desmond Bagley, Alistair McLean (Spelling?), Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Tom Holt and, of course, Douglas Adams.

[Joel007]

Is Terry Pratchett on your list too?

[Mark Robson]

Not really. I've never been a big fan of Mr P. I read his first two discworld novels when they first came out, but the humour left me cold. I have recently thought that I may have done him an injustice, so I tried again with Guards, Guards and one other, but I'm afraid I still find that his off-beat sense of humour does little for me. I do appreciate his keen observation and his clever stories, but I don't feel I'm ever likely to become an avid fan.

[Light_Warrior]

Enid Blyton has always been one of my favourite authors, although I have never heard of the "Adventure" series. I will keep my eyes open for it.

Some of my favourite fantasy authors are Isobelle Carmody (Just finished reading her Legendsong Trilogy for the 5th time), Cecilia Dart-Thorton (author of the Bitter-Bynd Trilogy), Eion Colfer (the very imaginative Artemis Fowl series), Garth Nix (Old Kingdom Trilogy), Tamora Pierce and ... ... I can't remember his name... But he wrote Cry of the Icemark.. And then the newest addition to my list is yourself.

The first list of authors you had, I didn't recognise any of their names, but in your other genres, I recongnise most of them. ... *sigh* there are so many books to read, and so much homework to do first...