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Space Assassins 1 & 2: A Space Assassin Bundle

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Lately I am really in the mood for a good SciFi story. Coming from reading a lot of Fantasy I was able to find quiet a few fun Space Operas, but nothing that really screamed Science Fiction Fantasy that I loved. In book 1 Hozark had to complete a mission, and for that, he required a legendary Vespus Blade, and that was basically the plot of book 1, him hunting down and getting the blade and completing his mission.

I have not listened to anything by Eric Bryan Moore previously, but he did a great job with the Narration. He was clear and concise, so it was easy to understand and listen to him. He has a great range of voices, both Male and Female, and the main characters voice, Hozark, is exceptionally well done for this particular character. You can pretty well distinguish who is talking most of the time, but there are times it can be a bit hard to tell which character is speaking. In Book 1, we were introduced to Master Hozark and the Wampeh Ghalian, the Guild of Assassins that are somewhat unique, clever and creative creature for use as an Assassin in a Space Opera setting. The instructions you are given in (363) will get you killed if you follow them during the floor tile puzzle at (332).The Interstellar Slayer: Space Assassins 1 by Scott Baron is a novel I considered to be a blend of fantasy and science fiction genres which would be something akin to science fantasy. If you enjoy coup d'é·tat stories and power struggles and sword and sorcery action in a slightly space-y setting, this book definitely is for you. However, Moore does an amazing job of conveying the emotional range of his characters, so you really understand what they are feeling, from happy to sad, angry to joyful, you get a good understanding of all of this. In Book 1, Hozark discovered that a former Ghalian, once considered dead, is actually alive, and has turned rogue, working for an organisation called ‘The Council of Twenty’. The Council is the ruling body for the Sector, and is meant to be an unbiased group, that looks out for the best interests of all those in the Sector, whether that be trade, planetary issues, people’s rights. However, they are totally corrupt, using their positions to gain money, power, and magic. Every member is either a Visla or an Emmik, one of the two privileged positions of power in the Sector, and the two that can hold significant magical power. A sci-fantasy adventure across space, with magic, starships, sword battles, treachery, deadly beasts, and, of course, a healthy dose of snark and sarcasm.

There is nothing wrong with shorter length fantasy/sci-fi, as long as it is done right. One notable example is Martha Wells Murderbot series. Each book is short and sweet but the character’s voice is so strong throughout and everything is told from their perspective. Unfortunately, this was not the case in this story. It's a very interesting formula, to match sci-fi and fantasy in a story and even though I feel that there's a lot to evolve, there's also a lot to explore, my rating here represents the potencial for the story to continue and get better because it has that potencial!! The setting in which this story takes place is space but the spaceships are powered by magic and the people with the most magic to power ships are used as slaves for that purpose. The only creatures that don't need spaceships are some kind of space dragon but unfortunately we don't encounter one in this book. The setting is complex, involving many races. The plot is fast and action filled. There are some twists and turns in the plot, all well handled. In most stories the hero is a good person or at least someone who is trying to be good. The main character in this book, Hozark, at first seems to be a bad person. He's an assassin and one the five top assassins of some shadowy evil assassin guild that everybody knows about and is terrified of. Also he's like a vampire-assassin because he can drain the magic from his target. That's pretty evil. And he must get a sword from some master craftsman and this sword can be powered by the stolen magic. Sounds even more evil! The repetition of words and phrases (“circuitous”, “myriad”, “for all intents and purposes”, “when all was said and done”) screamed aloud in an audiobook and someone just needed to take to it with a red pen for the lazy editing (eg “…for the purpose it was intended for” and “for the poor child that was something that the poor child could really use about now.”This story is a slow burn. It took all five books for the character arcs to really play out and for them to become more likable as we went along. Ultimately, I think it is worth hanging in there for the full series to explore and enjoy the world building, the interesting lives and culture of the space assassins, and some of the plot complexities. But it’s far from a perfect series and here’s why… The Wampeh Ghalian do not take sides in confrontation or war, although several times it is referenced that due to the Councils overwhelming corruption, the Ghalian’s have been known to act against the Council, work for less etc, to disrupt Council plans, as they see the Council as a corrupt entity that should not exist. In the first edition of Sorcery! 3 ( The Seven Serpents), the book was not listed as a forthcoming release, although two books that were never published were ( Dragon Master and The Lord of Shadow Keep). It seems likely that after The Lord of Shadow Keep was published by a different publisher, Space Assassin took its place. It is a real shame because I loved the world Scott Baron created but this is a really basic thing to get right when writing a story.

There was far more at play than was apparent on the surface and Hozark would require all of his wits and skill to get to the bottom of it. And he most surely intended to do just that, no matter how high the body count. He just hoped to do so before more of his kin fell victim to the nefarious plot. The magic in this world was very fascinating. It made me curious to know more and more about it, but at the same time it seemed to be more than what the story required at this point which made it a little bit confusing. Downside?? Well there were, supposedly space dragons and we saw none, that was a major downside.... Just kidding, but I hope to see space dragons next!!

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The narrator was pretty good overall, with the exception of two major annoyances. Firstly, he pronounced "didn't" as "dinnint." I found it incredibly unprofessional. If it had been done in character, I wouldn't have minded, but he said it every time, as the narrator. Not cool. The other strange quirk he exhibited was a weird lengthening of sibilants. For instance, the word "strode" (which came up a lot - characters strode or were striding everywhere) sounded like "schtrode." It was very distracting. Otherwise he had a pleasant voice that was well-modulated, capable of a wide range for different voices (though I did feel some interpretations should have been reconsidered).

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