Skullsworn
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4.6 • 12 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
For one apprentice assassin, the clock is ticking . . .
Pyrre Lakatur doesn’t like the description skullsworn. It doesn’t capture the beauty of her devotion to Ananshael, God of Death. And she’s not an assassin, but a priestess. Or she will be, if she can pass her final trial. The problem isn’t killing, as Pyrre has spent her life training for this. The problem is love. To pass the trial, she will have fourteen days to kill seven people detailed in an ancient song, including one true love, ‘who will not come again’. However, Pyrre has never been in love, time is short, and if she fails she’ll be given to her god.
Pyrre’s not afraid to die, but she hates to fail. So a month before the trial begins, she returns to the violent city of her birth, where she once offered an abusive father to the god. Here Pyrre hopes to find love – and end it with the edge of her knife.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this dramatic epic fantasy set in the same world as the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Staveley (The Last Mortal Bond) explores the relationship between love and death. Acolyte Pyrre is determined to pass her trial and become a full-fledged priestess of Ananshael, the god of death. To do this, she has to kill seven people in 14 days, including "the one who made your mind and body sing with love." Since Pyrre has never experienced love, she returns to the city of her birth to foment rebellion and reconnect with an old companion in hopes of finding a romantic spark. As she delves into the Shirvian delta and its myriad dangers alongside the handsome Ruc Lan Lac, investigating the mystery of long-forgotten gods and hidden peoples, Pyrre struggles to define love and understand what it means to serve her god. Lush, evocative descriptions sharpen the setting, which recalls Southeast Asia. Visceral action scenes and memorable characters bring this tale to life. Despite the outsize aspects of this adventure, it still feels remarkably intimate, right up to an epilogue that casts the book's events in a whole new light.
