Review: Death Sworn by Leah Cypress

Death Sworn by Leah Cypress
Publisher: Greenwillow
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

When Ileni lost her magic, she lost everything: her place in society, her purpose in life, and the man she had expected to spend her life with. So when the Elders sent her to be magic tutor to a secret sect of assassins, she went willingly, even though the last two tutors had died under mysterious circumstances.

But beneath the assassins’ caves, Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love. She will struggle to keep her lost magic a secret while teaching it to her deadly students, and to find out what happened to the two tutors who preceded her. But what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world

My Thoughts:
Oh how I love assassin books!  For some reason I am all about this type of book lately and Death Sworn was another great addition to my collection!

Ileni has been sent by her people to train assassins how to use magic.  This has been the agreement set by her people and the assassins in return for their teachings the assassins help keep them safe from the Empire who exiled them long ago.  Problem is that every teacher they send winds up dead from mysterious causes.  Ileni is positive she will find out what happened to the previous teachers so she goes willingly down into the caves.

I felt like I was walking a high wire the whole time I was reading this.  I never knew if the next sentence would make me finally misstep and fall off.  In my eyes this makes this type of book beyond exciting.  It was dark and creepy with assassins lurking in the dark every where she turned. 
Ileni never knew who to trust which in turn made me question everything.  It was awesome!  

I loved the whole storyline behind this idea.  The master of the assassins really intrigued me and I am left wondering more about him and how his operation came about.  I would love a prequel so that I could understand this world just a bit more.  We are given facts but honestly those took a backseat in my mind, all I wanted was to read more about the caves and find out more about the assassins...yes I know I keep repeating the word and yes I love it ha!

The only part that bothered me was toward the middle where things took a little detour into romanceville. Don't get me wrong I love romance just as much as the next reader but I don't think this story needed one.  I felt like the world and idea were strong enough to hold the story up by themselves.  Maybe in later books this relationship could have been developed, but for this book I really wish the author would have stayed more with the major storyline.  I would have preferred more development and information on that then a love struggle between two characters.

I did like the characters in the story and Ileni proved to be quite the badass.  I wasn't sure how she would turn out after something happens (you need to read to find out) but I have to give her major credit for doing what needed to be done and she did it herself.  I was beyond thrilled that she was in a cave full of assassins and she still chose to finish what she needed to on her own.  The last part though I think was a little rushed and the author did a great job of detailing why it happened and how it happened, but I am not sure if I completely buy it.  I think other players would have been more involved and it wouldn't have been as easy as it was.

All that being said I did really enjoy this book and I cannot wait for the sequel!  It is sure to be explosive since the decisions that Ileni made have yet to be revealed to certain characters!

4.5 snowflakes