Review: The Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower

Title: The Assassins of Tamurin
Author: S.D. Tower
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: December 30th, 2003
Edition: Paperback, 464 pages
Source: My Husband
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

She was only eleven years old and an orphan, yet the people of Lale's village hated her and drove her into the wilderness. Cast out, she followed her destiny to a place of dark and shadowy purposes, a school for foundling girls in the land of Tamurin. There Lale found affection, sisterhood, and a home...and a profession that may cost her everything she loves. Driven by the darkest sorcery, she must conceal the truth of what she truly is.

I first read this book around 2014, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the story was really unique, as I hadn't read a book like this before. It's still a really interesting book, and while the plot seems less unique now than it did then, the way the book is written is still new to me. Everything is posed as past tense as if the main character is recanting her life. It makes some of the things revealed later in the book less of a twist, so that's the downside to it for me. 

There are a lot of positives about this book, the pacing is really good, nothing really dragged. There isn't really any annoying exposition, I think that might be because everything is written in past tense. 

The negative, for me, is that the magic and religion that is eluded to is never really explained in any way to the reader. It doesn't really take a large role in the story as a whole, but then I don't see the point in creating one if it's not going to be used beyond being mentioned.

There is also a lot that is kind of glossed over, years of training and learning that we are just told happen, but we never really see. Lale joins this sisterhood/school when she's eleven and gets her assignment when she's eighteen, we don't really see her learn and grow. We're just told these things. 

This was an enjoyable book, but the twist would have been more of a twist if the author hadn't eluded to there being one early in the book.