An Assassin's Blade: The Complete Trilogy

I wish I could get my money back! This book was extremely vulgar for no apparent reason. It was as if the author thought the vulgarity could make up for his extremely bad writing. Read at your own peril.

Started reading the first book and within the first few pages was SO frustrated I wanted to crap in my pants. That would have been the better experience!
Turning from one page to the next, sometimes half of the previous page is repeated. Then on the next page looks like a few pages are missing! Thank you and F u for stealing my money!

I didn't finish this series unfortunately as I couldn't get into it. The pros and cons were a bit lopsided but I write the below without any spoilers.
Pros:
It had a gritty writing style which I enjoyed. While other reviewers said there was too much cursing, the story is about assassins and a militaries initiating a coup. They typically don't sip tea with their pinky extended. So I considered it more fitting and added a degree of realism

Cons:
The story came off as having gaps or voids in the storytelling. It felt like it was developed off a storyboard with the key points but that's ALL the book addressed. The backstory for the characters, locations, politics, and organizations was lacking and underdeveloped.
Characters weren't fleshed out enough. I think a lot of assumptions stayed in the authors head but sadly didn't make it into the book. This added to the disjointed feel.
I agreed with others that said for a master assassin feared around the world, he seemed a bit too blah. For the king of assassins I'd expect a trail of bodies as opposed to starting out with a sloppy kill and not having any tricks up his sleeve as the story progressed.

I am giving this series 2 stars...mainly because I did not feel it was fair to give the trilogy a one star since I only read the first half of the first book. It is interesting that the review I just read...a five star review...pointed out one of the main reasons I found the book unreadable.

I am not a book snob...I can look past typos and even some poor grammar and still enjoy a book if it is a good story with engaging characters. The review I alluded too states something to the effect that the main character he could relate to since there was nothing special that makes him better than the rest.

I have a huge problem with this. This guy is supposedly the Shepherd of a renowned band of Assassins...and yet...he has no special skill with a weapon...no above average dexterity...he is constantly finding himself in situations where he gets taken and then is helpless. He is supposedly this awesome Assassin and yet he can't overcome a single poorly trained guard in single combat and instead waits around for an enchantress to come and kick his butt for a second time.

I like my heros to have special skills..Drizzt Do'urden...Mitch Rapp...Jack Reacher...In the first 16 chapters the protagonist has been captured twice and been on the wrong side of encounters numerous time. I just can't get into a story where the hero seems to be lucking along to advance things. I read the first two chapters in Book Two just to see if there was some magical transformation that occurs later in book one but nope...chapter one he is taken unawares and almost dies while riding in the back of a wagon filled with corpses.

The story seemed interesting and I kept hoping the hero would get better and more in line with what I think a master of assassins should be but alas I personally could not handle it. I will include one line from Chapter 13 of book one to illustrate my point, while reminiscing after his latest capture, "Well, lookie here mother. I finally found a routine: being knocked unconscious and then coming to in a place rats keep their distance from." This is true...this 'master' of assassins keeps getting his butt handed to him...one really wonders how on earth he ever rose to the position...apparently dexterity, agility, and skill with a weapon were not prerequisites.

While I am not a prude, I found the vulgarity of the first book to be way beyond necessary. Seems as if the author felt this was needed for some sick reason. That being said, the book was rambling, with no clear motive. The main character was an idiot, pretending to be an assassin. Needless to say I only read 10 chapters before I decided there was no reason to continue subjecting my brain to this brainless series. However, if you wish to try it for yourself, and appreciate the F*** word, as well as other vulgar descriptions numerous times per page, by all means knock yourself out.

I would give this 3.5 stars because I didn’t like the first book, but the other two were pretty good. In this case, the majority wins. I didn’t like the first book much, but I’m glad I kept reading, even if it was only because it was a boxed set. The author improved greatly by book two, which is always what you want to see. In the first book, the authorial voice was too smooth in an oily kind of way. It put me on the edge of not liking it. The writing was too cocky, if that makes sense. On a purely whimsical note, I’m not sure if he knows the meaning of the word “immaculate” since he keeps using it so weirdly. The sheer amount of descriptive phrases & similes bogged the thing down. The plot really wanted to be Game of Thrones.
The second book was much better. He toned down the florid phrases some and wrote a more interesting plot, less political fantasy and more straight-up fantasy. Astul is less egotistical & more sympathetic. Lysa is a very charismatic character. I did have a little trouble understanding the mechanics of the world, though.
The third book seems to be more prone to proofing errors. DePaoli’s also fallen in love with the word “sedulous” in this book. I enjoyed the plot, although Astul doesn’t quite seem to have finished the job he set for himself.
All in all, an enjoyable series if not an exceptional one.

I'm halfway into the first book and finding it very difficult to continue reading the series. I really do like the story and I do like the way that it's played out and thought out. Problem is there's a metaphor about every third sentence. It makes the story very difficult to read. I feel like the author is stretching for content by using metaphors to describe the environment or condition as opposed to literal description and visualization. A search turned up 1544 instances of the word "like". Granted probably 20% are in statements and standard content but there are so many it's distracting. I didn't bother searching for "as" (it seams he uses these two constantly in his metaphor heavy writing style.)

I Will continue to read the series but being only halfway through the first book with this frame of mind makes it difficult to focus on the story rather than the authors writing style and being frustrated with constantly evaluating metaphor instead of story.

This is a story of an abused child who turns into an juvenile delinquent/drug addict who then schooled into becoming the top Assassin just because everyone doubted him. This series was very Entertaining very Sad very Funny and very Hard to put down. It was like a train wreak you could not look away from to save your life. This is a very entertaining fast paced action packed story that is hard to put down and a major cause of sleeplessness which I didn't mind one bit that filled my soul with happiness. This Master Story weaves a great ball of Yarn.

I really enjoyed this series. There were many twists and turns and the author showed great imagination with an alternative version of the world of the dead. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fast paced, plot twisting science fiction

I rather enjoyed this series overall. A good character development thru out the series.
My only dislike, is the language. It was enough, where I almost put the book down more than once. It would keep me from reading more from the author, if they are like this series.

I was immediately thrown off by the language used in the first couple sentences. But the author knows how to create a character and really flesh them out. By the end of book one, I felt like I knew Astul and cared for him, flaws and all. I enjoyed the journey he took in becoming a better person. Overall, a unique story in a unique world.

I wanted to like this series.. Unfortunately the protagonist and the writing style given us by the author are less than stellar. The main protagonist experiences no real growth starting and finishing the series as a selfish sad sack.

An amazing job of telling a story. I was at first shocked at the adult content, but Justin pulls it off well ! I for one think this would translate. well to a movie. The characters are dynamic and well rounded.

I love the characters in this book much more than the actual story. I would have stopped reading near the end of book 2 if this was not the case.
I very much recommend anyone that has a bit of time to enjoy the charisma of these characters.

The trilogy moves at a good pace, first star.⭐
Characters are easy to keep straight and interesting.⭐⭐
Subplots are well designed and help the overall plots.⭐⭐⭐⭐
Easy to read marathon style or in relays.⭐⭐⭐⭐
Grammar and mechanics are excellent.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I usually don't write reviews, for those of you who enjoy the blatant use of offensive words this book is for you. I couldn't go two sentences without the author using the f word or something equally offensive. It does nothing but destroys the book! This could've been a great book without the offensive use of curse words every other sentence.