Assassin’s Honor by Monica Burns
Review by Cynthia F. (frazerc)
Good read, action paranormal.
I found the world interesting – it uses an imaginative twist based on some Roman history. Historically speaking, the Praetorian Guard [generally considered to be the good guys, bodyguards of the Caesar du jour]. They were officially dissolved in the 4th century by the current emperor – at a guess that was NOT done as cost-cutting measure. The Sicarii were considered assassins and generally killed Romans and Roman sympathizers. Since they specialized in carrying hidden daggers under their cloaks to off their targets – they were the original cloak-and-dagger specialists…
Switch to now, both groups are still around and the groups hate each other. The Praetorians are the bad guys, fond of torturing their victims to death. The Sicarii are the good guys, still dealers of death but specializing in monsters that the legal systems couldn’t or didn’t handle – child rapists who walk when evidence is lost, serial killers, and Praetorians of course. But the kills are as quick and clean as they can manage. Both groups have special powers – the Praetorians are telepaths and the Sicarii are telekinetics.
The hero is Ares. Probably the worst thing I can say about him is he suffers from acute nobility. [I also had trouble reading the name ‘Ares’ without chuckling, but that’s probably just me.] Other than that he is bossy, hunky and knows his way around a sword.
The heroine is Emma. She is a relatively normal [not many people know about her psychometric abilities] archaeologist. Well normal if you don’t count her parents being hacked to death on a dig, and her friend and mentor meeting the same fate at the start of this book. The worst thing I can say about her is she takes a long time to get over offing one of the Praetorians. Now this Praetorian was planning to kill her, had already seriously wounded her to the point she would have died, but she’s upset she killed him. She’d have been fine with Ares killing him, however. Whining AND hypocritical – two strikes. She does get over it eventually.
The actual plot is worthy of Indiana Jones – missing sacred object, bad guys searching for the same object, enigmatic and obscure clues, locales exotic and not.
Order of the Sicari Books:
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My fate was sealed when you mentioned Indiana Jones…another on the wish list.
Thanks for a great review.