Product Description

Livak is bored. Winter in the Kellarin colony has its amusements but she's pretty much exhausted them and is eager to be doing something else. When Ryshad and Temar tell her of their plan to reclaim the southern settlement established by the original colonists, Livak reckons she may as well go along too. What she doesn't reckon on are the pirates looting the midway islands. Meanwhile In Hadrumal, the wizards are increasingly enmeshed in their own politics ...With magical storytelling, powerful characters and a richly detailed world, Juliet E. Mc Kenna concludes her wonderful Tales of Einarinn with THE ASSASSIN'S EDGE. Find out more about this title and others at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173116 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Review
'McKenna's appealing characters, double dose of magic ... and intelligent dialogue spices it up admirably - five stars' SFX 'A wonderful debut' J.V. Jones 'A well written and impressive debut' TIME OUT 'A fantasy for our times' STARBURST 'Brimful of magic and adventure' STARBURST

Synopsis
Livak is bored. Winter in the Kellarin colony has its amusements but she's pretty much exhausted them and is eager to be doing something else. When Ryshad and Temar tell her of their plan to reclaim the southern settlement established by the original colonists, Livak reckons she may as well go along too. What she doesn't reckon on are the pirates looting the midway islands. Meanwhile In Hadrumal, the wizards are increasingly enmeshed in their own politics ...With magical storytelling, powerful characters and a richly detailed world, Juliet E. Mc Kenna concludes her wonderful Tales of Einarinn with THE ASSASSIN'S EDGE. Find out more about this title and others at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

About the Author
Juliet McKenna previously worked as a bookseller but is now a full-time writer. She lives with her family in Oxfordshire.

Customer Reviews

Unfortunate
I feel really terrible giving the final book in such an original,lighthearted, and refreshing series such a poor rating... but I had to. When the last book in a series with such lovely potential utterly fails,it has to be recognized. Stated plain and simple, the ending fell flat. No real climax. No plot twists. No character revelations. I realizethat, with this type of book, one automatically expects a happy ending,but that does not mean that the ending has to be devoid of any originalityand excitement. After such intense, concentrated building of the immensepower of the Elietimm in the past four books, Livak and company triumphwith boring ease and unconcern; the characters' deep and personal loathingfor the main enemy, illustrated so pointedly by McKenna in her otherbooks, is totally unexplored, and the enemy, far from being the alarminglyall-knowing and unbeatable force he was in the first four books, becomessimply a distant figurehead waiting to be done in.
The sharp, clearheaded narration of Livak found in past books is alsosadly lacking. Far from her active position in the first and third books,she remains somewhat in the background, contributing little to the plot. And McKenna seems unable to further develop two of her most fascinatingand complex characters, Sorgren and Sorgrad, which is a real pity.
Assassin's Edge is not at all the climax that the first four books solidlybuilt up to, but a clumsy and half-hearted attempt by McKenna to bring herstory to an end; one wonders how much she really cared. It would almosthave been better had she stopped at the fourth book and not written thisone; warm anticipation would have been easier to live with than theunfortunate disappointment that this dud leaves the reader with.

Assassin's Edge
I have always considered the two covers of a book to be the region wherein a best friend lived: never more so than with the Einarinn series, and never with so many friends. If I were to go on an adventure I would want Livak by my side, sharing wine and a game of runes, with Halice as my commanding general, Sorgrad and Sorgren leading my undercover missions, with Shiv controlling the enchantments. I, of course, would be jealous that Ryshad was lover to Livak, but I would learn to accept that. She would still be my constant and faithful companion.
This series was intelligent, complex, and magical: filled with trust and betrayal, love and hate, friendship and animosity, kindness and cruelty. As I read the last one hundred pages of the fifth volume I kept thinking, ‘Ahh, that is how that figures.’ All the threads that Juliet McKenna put in place in the first four volumes were brilliantly sewn together constructing a beautiful tapestry. The tapestry was ultimately, a story of magic, love, and adventure: all the elements that make for great fantasy reading. Thank you, Juliet. Although I am loath to leave Livak and her friends, I am glad to have met them, and know that I can revisit them at anytime. I recommend that you do as well.
I don’t want to give away any details of the book, I do recommend that you read this series, start with The Thief’s Gamble and continue until Assassin’s Edge. Do as I did: get yourself a glass of wine, put your feet up and enjoy. This though is not a simple story told in simple sentences: it is complex, with many characters; many subplots; many places. Make that wine a nice robust red.

Best yet, conclusion of a great series
This is the excellent conclusion of the Einarrin series. In Gamblers Fortune, Livak gained a large reward of gold; at the end of Warriors Bond, she and Ryshad settled in the island colony in the southern seas. Now, in the following Spring she finds that her money is next to useless - all the colonists trade services rather than spend money and she hates gardening and housework. Worse still, few people will gamble with her, so she is monumentally bored.
Then she has the bright idea of setting up as a wine merchant, importing wine from the main continent to the north. Unfortunately, the eagerly awaited first trading ship of Spring is captured by pirates and the colonist learn that they have a serious problem on their hands. Without trade with their mainland the colony will fail, so the pirates must be beaten, but before they can even start to deal with the pirates there are complex politics to consider. There would be no point in seeking help that cost the colony its independence. This is just one of the crises, there are plenty more to come!
This book brings together all the characters from the series, including my favourites - Livak the gambler, Shiv and Usara the mages, Sorgrad and Sorgren the mad mountain men and Planir the Archmage. There are big fights, skirmishes, complex politics and some spectacular magic. On a personal level people mature, break up, stay together and start dating - despite all the crises life goes on. Among Juliet McKenna's great strengths are her believable universe and likeable people - this book is the best yet.