FROM SYNC: Sallot Leon, a thief, steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand—the volunteers who function as the queen’s assassins. Sal goes to the auditions, hoping to be able to join the group—but not to become an assassin. Sal wants revenge. Narrator Deryn Edwards credibly depicts Sal and the characters they encounter. A gender-fluid character, Sal has had to be tough his whole life because of their horrible past. Edwards conveys the brutality of this novel in her narration but subtly projects Sal’s vulnerability as well. This compelling story will pull listeners into its world and keep them wondering what will happen next.

I went into this with pretty high hopes but they were quickly dashed. I didn't find much of anything that happened interesting and I kept wishing that the action would pick up and the main character would stop whining. The story being told in first person didn't help. Some authors can make it work but I was so tired of being in Sal's head that I found myself zoning out many times. I'd give it a 1.5 according to Goodreads since I'm stuck between I didn't like it and it was ok but rounding up because it I didn't totally not like it. Just mostly.

I was hoping for a new fantasy author to follow but unless I hear something compelling from a trusted book-friend, I'll pass on the sequel.

I received the book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

Review to come! ( )

teen fantasy fiction, book 1 of series (battle of assassins, action-adventure with protagonist who happens to be genderfluid).
I found the gory bits (lots more gore than I'm used to--there's not usually anybody being flayed alive, much less the idea of multiple people) potentially traumatizing, but I thought the action-action-action-with-maybe-a-little-romance writing to be pretty slick. It did drag in the last 50 or so pages at the end when the outcome of all the battles was made clear and the author had to set up some political stuff for the sequels (perhaps I was just tired because I'd read the first 4/5 of the book in one sitting and was ready to go to bed), but other than that it's a solid debut from a promising new author.
I liked that the protagonist was genderfluid (and also a total bad-ass) and the discussion of pronoun usage is always nice to see, since so many of us need to gain perspective

audiosync free title 2023 (digital audio9h20m narrated by ( )

Promising start though I ran out of time on this one, may return if I see a review of further novels in the series showing improvement. ( )