The Assassins of Tamurin

This is not your typical fantasy book. There are no elves or dragons, lost heirs to a throne, or magical artifacts. Here is a thrilling tale about a spy who journeys deep into enemy territory and discovers that the world may not be as she first believed. As a reader you are pulled along on her adventure, sharing in her covert discoveries, hard-won triumphs, and puzzling revelations. You thrill along with her at the fear of discovery, and speculate as she does on her dawning new awakening.The author has her character speak in a first person narrative which very effectively draws the reader in and makes you feel like you are sharing in the secrets and discoveries that she imparts as the tale unfolds. There is a certain amount of foreshadowing and implied doom which builds suspense and makes this book a real page-turner. Lale is a likeable, believable character - blunt, brave, and sometimes arrogant, but never once does she come across as stereotypical or contrived like some "strong" heroines can.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and consider it a definite keeper on my bookshelf.

A great book! This is a spy novel with a fantasy setting. Not surprising, since the author writes spy stories under another name. It is filled with treachery, betrayal and intrigue; with a touch of romance. I was hoping the author would write more books with this main character, but that seems unlikely with the epilogue in the book. The one thing I hate is when the cover art clearly shows that the artist never bothered to open the book. The cover shows a scene that did happen in the book, the main character sneaking into a tent to kill. It shows the character as a dark haired girl with dark almond shaped eyes. The main character is described a number of times in the book, the first of which is on page two. She has long auburn hair, green eyes and a pale creamy complexion. Not even close, as if the artist was told "female assassin dressed in black sneaking into a tent" and thought must be Asian. I think that when the cover art doesn't match the description in the book it throws off the visualization of the character, especially when it is so far of the mark. To the reviewer tha said there was not much detail on her school friends, how much do you remember of nonbest friends years after the fact. She was telling this story looking back. She did tell the weapons they trained her in; Dagger, throwing weapons, staff, hand tridents(sounds like sai to me), spears, bows. You must have missed that, huh? The school seemed ninja like.

The Assassins of Tamurin is a fantasy novel about politics and love. More than twenty-four centuries ago, the "Durdana came in ships from a snowy land far across the sea and sailed far up the Pearl River until we found the place appointed for us ... There we built our first villages in what was to become ... our realm, Durdane." Thirteen centuries ago, the Founder established the chief city, Seyhan the Luminous. Then, a century ago, the Exiles came through Jugen Pass, fought for a warring Emperor, and then turned against him to conquer half of Durdana. The remainder is split into an imperial successor state, Bethiya, and ten Despotates. When the leader of the Exiles died, the conquered part of Durdana is divided into six Exile kingdoms.Bethiya is ruled by the Sun Lords. Several years previously, the two great bloodlines in Bethiya, the Danjians and the Tanyelis, fought at the Water Terrace of the Sun Lord's palace and killed off most of the males in both families. The Chancellor at that time, Halis Geray, persuaded the Council of Ministers to select someone from another bloodline as Sun Lord. Terem Rathai was choosen because he was from a distinguished military family which had dwindled to a very few; in order to reduce favoritism, one condition for receiving the throne was that all his relatives, except his mother, would be banned from Kurjain, the capital city.In this novel, Lale is an eleven year old orphaned girl living with foster parents in Riversong, a small village at the end of the road. One day, she is sent with the communal sewing needles to the Bee Goddess's priestess, but loses them crossing a creek. When she returns, she is almost killed by her foster parents and neighbors before the village priest can stop the beating. They sentence her to Negation -- i.e., everyone acts as if she does not exist -- but food and water is left out for her use. At first she enjoys the rest and freedom, but later she begins to feel lonely and disassociated from village life and realizes that she must leave or die. She announces her intentions and needs to the village and they just happen to leave a few supplies lying around for her to take.On the road to elsewhere, she briefly encounters Master Lim, who is a traveling bard, and renews their acquaintance, but he is killed by bandits. After they steal almost everything and leave, she lays out Master Lim and continues on her way. She soon meets a party of soldiers escorting a woman and three girls. The woman is Makina Seval, the Despotana of Tamurin, and she invites Lale to join her school for orphans in Chiran. There the Despotana adopts her, gives her the surname Navari, and assigns her a birthday, as she has done for each orphan in the school. Moreover, she assigns a tutor to teach her to read and then places her in classes.Part of her training has been the history of Durdana, taught by the Despotana, with emphasis on the death of the Despotana's child at the Water Terrace. She expl

No spoiling the story here!This novel is excellent. It is not only well written, it is also exciting and rich in its details. For the first half of the book, I was able to savor it slowly, absorbing information as it was given, and tantalized by the hints that all was not as it seemed (as the book is narrated by a future Lale who knows the true meaning of things). The second half of the book I read a breakneck speed as all the things that had been hinted at and suggested began to make sense, and the pace of events sped faster and faster. It was a great sweeping ending all the more so for the depth of the development that had preceded it. I would have liked a map, and at times was tempted to try and draw my own to keep the different countries/provinces straight, but otherwise an excellent book.This is a book that would be appropriate for an advanced younger teen reader or mid-teens and beyond, there is violence, scary monsters, and no explicit sexual scenes.

i am 15 and i read s.d towers book... i loved the sun lord's character and the heroine , Lale. all my friends are reading it because it's so good!