C-
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Theme: Enemies to Lovers
Archetype: Royalty, Spy/Assassin
Assassin’s Gambit is a gritty yet glamorous story of seduction, espionage, intrigue, and romance. It has a brainy heroine, a hero with a wooden leg, some amazing clothes, magic, and many rounds of Caturanga, a game similar to chess. It also has a lot of violence, including graphic sexual violence, so readers beware. Trigger warning for rape, blackmail, and violence during sex.
Lucien is the Kjallan emperor. He lost a leg in battle and struggles to maintain leadership in a society that prizes physical prowess above all else. In addition to threats to his rule from within his own court, he faces constant threats of rebellion from the Riorcan people whom the Kjallans subjugated many generations ago.
Vitala grew up Riorcan but faced prejudice among the Riorcans because she is half-Kjallan. While still a child, she joins the Obsidian Circle (a rebel stronghold that trains children to become assassins and spies) and begins training to be an assassin. From the age of thirteen on, she studies Lucien (his family, his interests, etc) and prepares to assassinate him. Once Vitala (who is now an adult) finally meets Lucien, she starts to fall in love with him. To further complicate matters, when a coup threatens to overthrow Lucien, Vitala realizes that if Lucien will make a deal with the Circle then he will be of more use to the Riorcans alive then dead. Now instead of killing him she has to protect him from multiple enemies and survive a civil war.
This book has a lot of plot and a lot of action. I can easily picture fantasy fans who aren’t necessarily into romance enjoying this book. At the same time, the romance is solid. Lucien and Vitala are both brilliant people who genuinely bond over their shared love for Caturanga. They are both pragmatic and ruthless. Lucien helps Vitala with issues she has based on her incredibly horrible childhood and Vitala introduces Lucien to a Riorcan craftsman who fits him with a more comfortable and versatile wooden leg. They are both good listeners and they are both comfortable trading roles as the leader in various scenarios.
The world building here is not incredibly detailed but it gives you enough information to make the world seem real, from the jeweled court to the tents of the camp followers near the battlefield. I liked Vitala’s rivalry/friendship with fellow assassin Ista and her last minute but very kickass friendship with Lucien’s young sister, Celeste. I also liked the book’s matter-of-fact treatment of physical disability and its realistic depictions of PTSD, which both Vitala and Lucien suffer from.
Alas, I did not like all the sexual violence. Vitala and Ista are trained to kill men during sexual intercourse. Why? I can see seducing the guy to get close to him, but they are supposed to wait to make the kill until the guy orgasms. I assume this is because he’s most vulnerable at this moment but it doesn’t make much sense. It is traumatic for Vitala and problematic on many levels, but also it seems incredibly inefficient. Couldn’t they stab the guy earlier in the process, like while kissing? Or throw a knife at him from across the room, since they are supposed to be such finely trained fighters? Will no one listen to Scott Evil?
I was also disturbed by how Vitala’s conception is discussed. TW for discussion of rape and coercion.
Vitala’s father (non-biological) was caught trying to escape from an occupying group of Kjallan soldiers. One of the soldiers told Vitala’s mother that he would spare her husband’s life if she became his lover during this particular platoon’s occupation of the village. The soldier is Vitala’s biological father.
To me, this is unequivocally rape. If Mom says no, then her husband dies. That’s coercion.
Vitala insists that it was not rape because it didn’t involve physical force. Because of the way Vitala was raised (she entered assassin school at a very young age) and because of the sexism prevalent in both Riorcan and Kjallan society, her attitude didn’t surprise me. However, I was aghast that this attitude goes unquestioned. To drop a “it wasn’t rape” bomb in the middle of the story and not revisit it in some way seems irresponsible and was very upsetting for me.
My reaction to the book was two-fold.
In terms of dealing with war, politics, romance, and physical and mental disabilities, the book was amazing. I’d give it a B+ at least. In terms of sexual violence, some of it seemed justified by the world and the plot but some of it seemed utterly gratuitous. I would give that aspect of the book an F. I’m going to average things out to a C- with the caveat that if sexual violence is a trigger for you, try something different by Amy Raby (maybe Archer’s Sin, which I reviewed in 2014). The writing is truly wonderful and I’d happily read anything else by the author that doesn’t have so much sexual violence and exploitation in it.
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well.
Thanks!
I can see seducing the guy to get close to him, but they are supposed to wait to make the kill until the guy orgasms.
That is…viscerally upsetting. It makes no sense, as you pointed out–what if he doesn’t orgasm at all? Some guys can’t every time, just like women. What if it takes hours? Doesn’t that make the assassins really vulnerable to being discovered? Why not just get him to jack off to porn and shoot him through a window?–but it’s also just really, really disturbing.
I guess it’s shouldn’t be considered that bad, since they are going to kill him, after all, but the idea of bringing someone to orgasm and immediately stabbing them sounds almost as traumatic for the assassin. How would that not take a serious mental toll? What a fucked-up thing to make your soldiers do.
Screwing a guy for the sole purpose of murdering him is also rapey. Here’s a quick consent quiz:
IF I TOLD THIS POTENTIAL SEX PARTNER THE TRUTH, THEY LIKELY WOULD CHOOSE NOT TO HAVE SEX WITH ME T/F
If the answer is “true,” you don’t have consent!
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that somebody deserves to be assassinated (“sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me…”), but I can’t imagine circumstances under which I’d accept the necessity of sexually violating them first.
Ugh, I love the idea of an assassin falling in love with her mark/ending up as his bodyguard, but other parts of this sound…not fun.
I’ve read all the books in this series, and would definitely recommend them for fans of fantasy romance, or people looking for alt-history. The world here reminded me a lot of Roman times (probably intentional!) and also of Tamora Pierce’s Alanna series, in that both are kind of alt-universe versions of Europe/Northern Africa.
Of this series, I think the second and third books are my favorite. There’s also a m/m novella to close out the series!
I read this some time back so my memory might not be super right but I believe the soldiers that assassins like Vitala were trained to kill have magic wards that go down only at moments when they are very distracted,eg when having an orgasm. I loved the book and completely agree with this review about the masterful treatment of disability and balance of strength between both characters. But yes it’s quite gritty – Vitala was very traumatised by her training and she did get herself into some harrowing situations which were upsetting to read. On the whole, though, I enjoyed the book and the series.
I so appreciate this detailed review. I still bought the ebook because I’m feeling pretty angry right now and this might be helpful…
I read this book when it first came out, and I LOVED IT! I confess I almost put the book down after the first scene with the distasteful sex scene….but I quickly got sucked in by the end of my kindle free sample and bought the book. Yes, the world building seemed a little thin and the whole plot about assassination during sex doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny, but I’ve never had a problem suspending my disbelief when reading a fantasy novel. I just loved this book. I wasn’t too wild on the rest of the series, but this one is worth a peek.
Those are all good points about the sexual violence, and I found myself nodding in agreement … and YET … I loved Assassin’s Gambit – and wasn’t there an earlier review when it first came out? I describe this story as a little tiny bit like Game of Thrones-light but with a happy ending, or like Rome meets magic, depending on who I’m talking to.
But yes, it is fairly violent on the romance spectrum – but not on the Game of Thrones or serial killer spectrum. I wouldn’t think it’s violent for a thriller or romantic suspense, but I guess we have a different set of expectations for fantasy romance.
Amy Raby also wrote a series (I don’t think it was finished?) set in a sort of Indus River valley-style civilization with magic, so sort of ancient India magic. The wrinkle there is the hero had bullied the heroine quite badly at magic school, and they meet again as adults. She writes really complicated characters – I love them.
So, I recommend – as long as you know what you’re getting. The writing and world-building are excellent.
(And I do know Amy in real life, but I wouldn’t have left a comment if I didn’t like the book).
Podcast 117 also discusses Assassin’s Gambit.
I’m currently reading this book, at the moment half way through, and although some aspects seem well done, I can’t help feeling the main characters don’t really fit together. Plus, the assassin’s sex trainings and what it entails feel unnecessary to me.
I hope I like the second half better.