Dragon Assassin: Volume 1

Dragon Assassin, Episodes 1-3

By: Arthur Slade

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

A thrilling YA fantasy novel from award-winning author Arthur Slade!

Carmen is a student at Red Assassin School. She's an expert at bladed weapons and poisons; and she's desperate to finish at the top of the class, ahead of her twin brother. The students have been trained to hunt using giant black swans, but Carmen has discovered a dragon. All she has to do is get on his back.

One problem: he's killed everyone who gets near him.

Then the Emperor declares war on assassins. And there might be a traitor among them.

Carmen wants to graduate. But the emperor wants her dead. Her classmates might, too. Graduation night is about to become the fight of her life.

In this heartstopping adventure by Arthur Slade, listeners will root for Carmen - an Assassin with a heart of gold, determined to follow her dream against all odds.

©2020 Arthur Slade (P)2020 Podium Audio

No

So, the best student in the school....is horrible at all things....maybe the school needed to be burned down.

There is way too many convenient events and inter-actions....poor plot planning.

In general the writing is ok, but the plot really needed to be scrubbed again.

A Lot of BIG Problems...

This had so much promise and it fell completely, unbelievably flat. It's been a few days since I finished reading it and I'm having a hard time recalling what happened. The premise started off so interesting, so fascinating if not a bit predictable. I liked the idea of a one-eyed assassin, having to make up for that difficulty with other skills and abilities. Maybe having to rely on others, her human friends, her dragon companions. Too bad the author seemed to take the convenient easy way out with that plot point.

I HATE the way this author writes dragons. I can understand humanizing the creatures a bit so they are a bit more relatable but the way Slade writes his dragon, it may as well just be another human. He serves almost no purpose as a dragon other than he can fly. If he was replaced with a human and they were using horses or their swans (a concept a really, really liked) for transport, the story would be absolutely no different.

I liked Carmen at first, but she slowly becomes more and more insufferable as the story goes on. Constantly whining and demanding answers clearly no one would have (which would have been fine once in a while but its so much about her character its frustrating). I also find it nearly impossible to believe she was top of her class before she loses her eye. She is a terrible, terrible assassin. It doesn't feel like she was actually trained for this.

Now this might be a bit nitpicky, but I HATE HATE HATE the chapter titles. They are extremely cringy lines taken straight from the chapters and they are just awful. (I can't remember direct names but it was along the lines of A Bad Joke - characters make puns and point out how bad some of them are. Three Hands and a Talon - characters put their hands in a pile on top of each other to show solidarity, dragon adds his talon on to the top. Not a fan AT ALL).

The narration was really good. It elevated the material a bit higher than it is by itself, but it is nowhere near enough to save the story. I will stick with this series (partially out of curiosity, partially because it was free, mostly out of spite) but after reading this and the second collection... I'm not feeling very optimistic.

Let There Be Dragons!

I truly enjoyed these books, especially the scenes involving the dragon, Brax. Bring on more, please! I'm looking forward to the next episodes in this series. Clare Corbett does a fine job with the narration as her voice is clear and easy to understand. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

A forgettable way to pass the time.

The premise of this story was interesting, but the execution felt poor. The characters were unlikable or forgettable, and I didn't find myself rooting for or caring about what happened to them. The story ended in a good place with the promise of adventure ahead, but I can't see it as a series worth investing in further.

It was an okay way to spend a spare credit that I needed to blow before canceling my subscription, but I wouldn't care to listen to it again.

Review for dragon assassin volume one

I have listened to quite a few of Arthur Slades’s audiobooks on audible. He has quite the range of books for a variety of listener styles. His books are for young adults but as an adult I enjoy them. The reader did such a wonderful job with her voice, she really fit the character I thought! A good story line which held my interest. At the end I’m ready to listen to volume two now! What’s next for our dragon assassin? By the way I always love the endings in his books. I had no idea how this one was going to wrap up but I liked it!

What a treat !!

Really enjoyed this book !! Nice change of pace !! looking forward to the next one

it was ok

this book... or 3 books... was ok. I did find my mind wandering off a lot. I still kept up with the story though...which isn't always great. the narrator was just ok. she did well for thew female parts and I thought she fell short on the dragon. I don't know if I will listen to the next book.

Interesting concept

What a totally unlikely heroine Carmen ends up being. A one eyed assassin who shouldn’t even be an assassin as she is memorable. A Dragon who is more than he appears to be. An unexpected meeting saves them both. I totally loved Carmans snarky attitude, her partnership with Drax, her defence of the Assassins creed. Her life is never going to be the same ever again. Highly recommended.

Not quite good

It started off so good… and in the second part it all went downhill. The build up was great. I enjoyed the story and the quirky character. But somewhere along the way it got a bit silly. The main character also isn’t very clever. She keeps being described as one of the better students, that she’s only suffering from the one eye. But her plans are downright dubious at best. She’s also an assassin who seems to have serious problems with killing people. She also doesn’t seem to get any more competent, and I keep wondering why she wants to be an assassin. There are a few things that really made me go ‘uhm’ which I can’t mention without spoilers. I also have a lot of questions. Like: how big is the eye of a dragon??
The writing is a bit mediocre, though it does have a pleasant narrative tone. The whole thing just feels a bit childish. The novel can’t decide what it is: too gory for children, too silly for adults.

nice

even though the comments said this was a bad story I loved it. I only read it because of the bad comments. I wanted to see what made it such a dis likeable book

A load of crap.

This is terrible. Assassin my foot. Idiotic story telling with a fool of a main character. You have been warned.

Interesting and inspiring

The book was very interesting and good.when there was 10 minutes left I got very sad that it was about to end and I was very startled.well what I'm trying to say is that.....................................IT WAS THE BEST BOOK EVER!

totally enjoyable for all ages

Loved it both me and my son couldn't stop listening and reading
really enjoyable for all ages

A great read.

An action packed adventure with engaging characters. I really liked the Dragon character with his dry humour.

a good story

in joy this book looks to read the next part it sounds really good

Assassin Harry Potter

Assassin school, hmmm. Not sold on this one maybe all the best fantasy books have been written: I find I keep going back to books I have already read as modern fantasy novels appear so poor.

Didn't finish

what's up with child assassins. Are fantasy writer only allowed to write about child assassins.