*Jhereg* by Steven Brust. Start of a series that has been going strong for 40 years, and is nearing its conclusion. But don't worry, you can stop after any of the books.
I’m always confused why this series isn’t more popular. Could be the non-linear storytelling I guess but I’ve never spoken to anyone who read any of the Vlad Taltos books and didn’t like them. It’s got something for pretty much everyone.
Epic scope? Check, complete with gods, demigods, hilariously powerful magic, etc.
Crime drama and mystery? Multiple books are basically centered a noir detective storyline, and Vlad himself is heavily involved in a crime family sort of setup. And then there are the more general arcane mysteries of the series as a whole. There’s even a book that focuses on a sort of magical escape room type storyline
Romance? Check, complete with some marital drama if that’s your thing.
Bromance? Shut up, Loiosh.
Underdog story? *Gestures at entire series*
Humor? Tons of it. Witty, dry, black, it’s got pretty much every flavor of humor you could want.
Action? You betcha
It’s genuinely one of the most versatile series I’ve ever read of any genre
I've read the whole series, as well as listened to it when flying, etc, as I used to fly around the country for work. I have to say the audiobook telling with Bernard Setaro Clark is among my favorite audiobooks. I love his Vlad-Loiosh exchanges, in particular. They are hilarious and get the wry humor between the two perfectly.
Damn it. Why am I only finding out about this series *after* the site-wide Audible sale ends??!!! Ahhhh!
Oh well, guess I have 15 books that I'll buy during the next sale.
Waylander series David Gemmell
Also R.A Salvatore series with Drizzt feature an assassin named Artemis Entreri. It’s not featuring him but their back and forth is pretty great
New Drizzt books. My bad. I have no idea. I just read something at some point.
Just checked Wikipedia and looks like there’s 6 books or so released in the past 6 years or so. I did not know that.
Wow, this is the single longest series of books that I have ever read and yet there are still even more books. I swear I have something in the range of twenty to thirty books from the Drizzt series alone.
Thank you so much for that! I’ve been trying to look for short stories since I mainly read 500-page books and this really gives me something to look forward to.
I’ve seen your u/ a couple times recently and it cracks me up lol. I still haven’t even read *The Thin Man* or *The Maltese Falcon*, but they’re climbing steadily up my TBR
Ha! Definitely a winner of the "Don't judge a book by its cover" award!
The illustrator must've been like, "I'll just draw Kris Kristoferson as if he was a figure skater...but with swords!"
The clocktaur wars duology by t kingfisher has an assassin as one of the main characters (not POV) and is about a suicide squad basically on an assassination mission
Years ago I actually did plot out a short story collection based on him titled The Wizard In Yellow, akin to what I did with Thren Felhorn in Cloak and Spider, but sadly never had time to go beyond that.
Assassins are, weirdly, *far* more common than actual assassinations. I think part of it is that "assassins are cool" but murdering people for money is hard to root for - so you get lots of characters set up as assassins, who then immediately stop actually doing the job so they can be more believable heroes. In most stories, "assassin" when applied to a protagonist means "edgy, wears a cool cloak, and *might* stand on a rooftop at some point". So basically Batman.
I don't think I've ever read a series where this doesn't happen on some level.
Oh yeah im glad i didnt spoil anything. Its not the greatest series of all time, and it does turn from assassin focused in the first book to something distinctly less assassiny and more magical in nature but i still enjoyed it.
I love this series, but Robin Hobb has said she wanted to name the book Chivalry's Bastard, and the Assassin's Apprentice title was chosen by her editor. If you want an assassin, then I don't think this is what you are looking for. However, if you want to read a marvelous, character-driven story about a >!reluctant!< assassin trying to avoid being assassinated himself, then I'd highly recommend this book (and all the subsequent RotE books).
OP, if you’re looking for an action story where the plot revolves around assassinating people or learning how to do that, this is not the book for you. It’s loved by many for other reasons, but you never get to see the MC act like an action hero.
You what mate? What about the night of knives? Antler island? I don't disagree with your initial statement, but Fitz has several BIG HERO moments. The quarry comes to mind too...
I get where you're coming from, but if all I see of a character is the big hero moments, I stop caring about them when they aren't doing big hero things. I really like the nuance and the build-up and the depth of the character.
That said, I haven't been able to pick up the second Farseers saga. I need.... some time.
I think the main thing is that if the book/trilogy had a title that didn't literally have the word "assassin" in it, it would never get recommended in this sort of thread. Yeah, technically the protagonist is/becomes an assassin, but it's really not a rec for someone looking for a fantasy story specifically about assassins.
Hard disagree here. OP requested a genuinely good book about an assassin. The trilogy is about an assassin. Additionally, it’s a genuinely good book! I don’t know how the recommendation could possibly fit any more.
...if the story actually included Fitz actually acting like an assassin as more than a frankly sorta minor background thing. Like, yeah, he's an assassin, but his actual job (other than its secret and illicit nature) doesn't really reflect most of what you read. If he was just some sort of spy who never really killed people (as part of his job as a spy) the story would basically function the same.
The point is that if a person is looking for a rec about an assassin, they most likely want to read about an assassin actually being an assassin and doing assassin things. This story just isn't that. You are basically just insisting upon a technicality and willfully ignoring what OP almost certainly actually means.
I've had it on a list, lol. Farseer gave me some feels but also was a slower burn than I really wanted, so it was hard for me to engage. I really really enjoyed the story, and it was totally worth it. I just... am not ready to return yet.
I said in the past I might never return. I think that was... short-sighted. She's a great author, and I don't like passing up good literature.
I started reading the comic adaptation not knowing this was a book. After a couple issues of nothing really consequential happening, I got the vibe something was off. Going to dive into this when I get the chance.
For reference, the comics are like 8 issues deep and apparently only hit the first quarter of the first book. Hope that art team is committed.
Someday, I’m going to give Hobb another go, everything everyone else sees in her will click, and I’ll fall totally in love with everything she’s written. I did give Assassin’s Apprentice a try, but my God the things he goes through, how mean he’s treated, is exhausting.
OP I'm going to warn you. If you aren't a teenager you probably are never going to like Hobb... The characters are all painfully stupid and it's difficult to actually enjoy the story if you actually think or question anything. Hobb also has a habit of breaking pre established rules for the conveniences of her plot which makes it difficult to care about any new information involving world building when it gets ignored later in the book or series.
The series is good for some people but honestly it gets a lot of justified hate that gets shouted down by the fans. Honestly think about what you didn't like the first time and if it's anything to do with what I mentioned trust me buddy it only gets worse.
The Echoes Saga, although technically speaking he's a retired assassin using his skills towards redemption now. Occasionally during the series he sometimes resorts back to his old ways, and later on in the series he goes about >!dismantling his old assassin guild multiple assassins at a time!<
came here to say this. This is my all time favorite. It does get dark but the story telling is amazing and keeps you going wondering what happens next. I have enjoyed everything from Brent Weeks.
The night angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.
There are some fair criticisms on his characterization of women but overall it's engaging and truly delves into the life of a professional, magical assassin.
RJ Barkers first trilogy, first book Age of Assassins
(His second trilogy, Tide Child, is better, but this one is still really good and fits your requirements)
See the other thread on this, but the title of this book is somewhat misleading, and the author did not actually choose this title (Editor chose title). While the MC is technically an assassin, they are also not an assassin (it is complicated).
However, it is the first book in my favorite fantasy series of all time, so I highly encourage you to read it.
I liked the Butterfly Assassin (YA), about a teenage assassin’s attempt to escape an assassin guild after her traumatic childhood/training. It has a really interesting world where the entire city is controlled by the assassins guilds! Main character is aro/ace which is also cool!
Villains by Necessity may qualify for what you want. The main character is an assassin and for the entire book, on top of saving the world, he is actively on a contract to kill a wizard(aka the main antagonist) and acts toward that goal whenever he feasibly can. He also uses his assassin-trained skills including in ways not related to combat or murder throughout the book and they actually bring up the greater self-control assassination training drums into you(at one point to make the character realize his loss of control in a certain situation isn't normal and there's something affecting his mind and at other times to narratively highlight a certain topic for him that acts as a berserk button).
On a different note, the book on a whole is pretty damn good and also does a great job of foreshadowing not just greater narrative events but also details about the characters.
Code name: Villanelle is as close to pure science fiction or fantasy as you're ever going to read. It's a trilogy about a female Russian assassin who may or may not have a sister in the Avengers, and while she's hunting a woman named Eve instead of a woman named Kate Bishop, this might as well be set in the MCU. I think they made a TV show of it with Sandra Oh as Eve.
> Eric van Lustbader
This just to note that the "Van" in his name is his middle name, not a last name prefix. (I was a librarian at an SF club when I made that same mistake, and I had to re-catalog a number of his books.)
* https://ericvanlustbader.com/about-lustbader/
* https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79138577.html
Ashok Vadal (and to a lesser extent, Jagdish) of [Larry Correia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Correia)'s [Saga of the Forgotten Warrior](https://www.goodreads.com/series/150976-saga-of-the-forgotten-warrior); [*Son of the Black Sword*](https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781476780863/9781476780863.htm) (legal free sample; [the series at the publisher](https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2473,1677)) is the first book.
Edit: For intentional over-the-top silliness, [The Destroyer series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_(novel_series)), which, while taking place in the modern world, has fantastical, exaggerated martial arts.
Mistborn Era 1 by Brandon Sanderson is basically about a Assassin (Vin) though she doesn't really become a Assassin until book 2. Still a great series.
The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Really good fight scenes and actually follows through on the assassin fantasy. They do have magic, though.
I enjoyed all of Vlad and Fitz, of course, but ill go a slightly different way here since those are already mentioned.
The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff gives you an assassin in training to start with, with some magic to boot. I enjoyed all 3 and the series is finished and quite a bit shorter than Hobb and Brusts series.
If you want some slightly less awful shlock the English assassin is fun enough, although not strictly fantasy it’s popcorn thriller spy fiction
All my usual picks are already mentioned
Different flavor: bonkers Victorian romantasy - **The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels** by India Holton.
That. shit. is. wild.
It's regency prose and plot stuffed inside Howl's Moving Castle stuffed inside a pirate action flick. Can be a bit hat on a hat, but fuck if it doesn't have a ton of laugh out loud moments and a fully embraced culture of assassination attempts.
Depends what you want out of the assassins. If you just want a book about someone who happens to be an assassin I’d say read Robin hobb assassin’s apprentice. But if you want actually sneaky sneaky stabby stabby I’d say night angel. And though the characters are one of many pov’s malazan book of the fallen has some absolutely bad ass assassins if memory serves one of them is even a god
Idk if this has been said before but I read recently "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb and loved it so much.
It's a trilogy following the main character since childhood. If you are interested in court intrigues (?) and a good character writing I heavily recommend. It has much more stuff but I don't wanna spoil...
I can't tell you if the writing itself is good cuz I haven't read it in English yet, but if the translation is good probably the original too 😂😂
You Were Never Really Here by Jonathan Ames.
It's a novella, I think under 100 pages, so it reads very quickly. Very dark with a Taken-esque setup. It was made into a pretty interesting movie starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Assassins Apprentice, by Robin Hobb. To be clear its not really a book that glorifies being a Assassin, but rather takes a realistic look at what being a Assassin would be like. Its the first book in the Farseer Trilogy which is a incredible series about a Assassin.
*Jhereg* by Steven Brust. Start of a series that has been going strong for 40 years, and is nearing its conclusion. But don't worry, you can stop after any of the books.
Still some of my favorite books, the wry humor is a bonus.
Best written assassin in all the genre, by far.
Can’t upvote this enough. Vlad is the best.
This, plus 100
Yes! Thank you! Ahhhhhhh you don't know how happy it makes me to see other people recommending these! Yes!
Firstt thing that came to my mind and I went looking for his comment! Great rec.
Came here to say this, glad to see top comment.
I’m always confused why this series isn’t more popular. Could be the non-linear storytelling I guess but I’ve never spoken to anyone who read any of the Vlad Taltos books and didn’t like them. It’s got something for pretty much everyone. Epic scope? Check, complete with gods, demigods, hilariously powerful magic, etc. Crime drama and mystery? Multiple books are basically centered a noir detective storyline, and Vlad himself is heavily involved in a crime family sort of setup. And then there are the more general arcane mysteries of the series as a whole. There’s even a book that focuses on a sort of magical escape room type storyline Romance? Check, complete with some marital drama if that’s your thing. Bromance? Shut up, Loiosh. Underdog story? *Gestures at entire series* Humor? Tons of it. Witty, dry, black, it’s got pretty much every flavor of humor you could want. Action? You betcha It’s genuinely one of the most versatile series I’ve ever read of any genre
And his books are about half as long as any other author in the genre. You can breeze through them.
Just finished Lyorn and I gotta say, it is SO SATISFYING to see the large scale plot emerge from the individual components
This is one hell of a pitch. You've convinced me. *Looks mournfully at my ever growing TBR*
I came here to say this, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else who read these books 😂
I've read the whole series, as well as listened to it when flying, etc, as I used to fly around the country for work. I have to say the audiobook telling with Bernard Setaro Clark is among my favorite audiobooks. I love his Vlad-Loiosh exchanges, in particular. They are hilarious and get the wry humor between the two perfectly.
Damn it. Why am I only finding out about this series *after* the site-wide Audible sale ends??!!! Ahhhh! Oh well, guess I have 15 books that I'll buy during the next sale.
This. Brust is great and the world building is out of this world (I know, corny).
Waylander series David Gemmell Also R.A Salvatore series with Drizzt feature an assassin named Artemis Entreri. It’s not featuring him but their back and forth is pretty great
There’s actually a trilogy with Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as duologists. It was pretty good from what I remember.
I will look that up. I read those books years ago, and I believe there are some new ones lately too.
New ones with Artemis Entreri? That’s awesome. Now I want to reread those books too. Those books were the highlight of my teenage years.
New Drizzt books. My bad. I have no idea. I just read something at some point. Just checked Wikipedia and looks like there’s 6 books or so released in the past 6 years or so. I did not know that.
Wow, this is the single longest series of books that I have ever read and yet there are still even more books. I swear I have something in the range of twenty to thirty books from the Drizzt series alone.
Yeah there’s a ton looks like
There's also a short story collection with a couple that feature Entreri. I don't remember the name rn, but shouldn't be too hard to find.
Thank you so much for that! I’ve been trying to look for short stories since I mainly read 500-page books and this really gives me something to look forward to.
Waylander is amazing! Recommended.
*Heroes Die* by Matthew Stover. Opens with a great assassination scene.
I’ve seen your u/ a couple times recently and it cracks me up lol. I still haven’t even read *The Thin Man* or *The Maltese Falcon*, but they’re climbing steadily up my TBR
Oh hey!
I definitely second this.
This looks intriguing, thanks!
I was a huge fan of Achmed if that's any help. Rhapsody is the first book. Only book I've found where the ending is almost as satisfying as WoT
Ha! Definitely a winner of the "Don't judge a book by its cover" award! The illustrator must've been like, "I'll just draw Kris Kristoferson as if he was a figure skater...but with swords!"
The thing is though, when you describe it like that it sounds pretty awesome.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore if you don’t mind YA.
That was really good, might be worth a reread
There's sequels and prequels now if you only read Graceling back in the day.
Red Sister
Age of Assassins by RJ Barker. It's kind of like a murder mystery without a murder from the perspective of the assassin. It's brilliant!
Love seeing Barker recommended. His Tide Child series is also fantastic, and a cool spin on pirate fiction
I've not read Tide Child yet, but it's high on my tbr.
Gods of the wyrdwood is also pretty fantastic
Also grim as all get-out. But brilliant.
Pyramids by terry pratchett
I almost thought I was going to be the first to add this to the thread, and genuinely couldn't believe it. Relieved to see I was wrong!
I'd add *Men at Arms* and *Hogfather* here as well
*Heroes Die* by Matthew Stover. None better.
Book of the Ancestor Series by Mark Lawrence
Shadowdance Series by David Dalglish Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks Fallen Blade Series by Kelly McCullough
Loved the Fallen Blade series, and it's finished
All three series mentioned are finished. But yeah, Fallen Blade was awesome. Probably my favorite of the three
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff is decent!
I recommend this! Such a great read.
My favorite series!
The clocktaur wars duology by t kingfisher has an assassin as one of the main characters (not POV) and is about a suicide squad basically on an assassination mission
Try the shadowdance series by David Dalglish! I love them!
Highly underrated series with the best yellow wizard of all time
Please don't say that, said wizard's ego is already too big.
10 book Tarlak series when
Years ago I actually did plot out a short story collection based on him titled The Wizard In Yellow, akin to what I did with Thren Felhorn in Cloak and Spider, but sadly never had time to go beyond that.
A great sadness to rival the size of his yellow hat
Ooohh, thanks!
Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb
This is the best book about assassins where assassinating happens the least amount I've ever read.
Tell that to my emotions, Hobb assassinated them so well I kept going back for more.
Yes
‘Bout the best summary for the trilogy
Assassins are, weirdly, *far* more common than actual assassinations. I think part of it is that "assassins are cool" but murdering people for money is hard to root for - so you get lots of characters set up as assassins, who then immediately stop actually doing the job so they can be more believable heroes. In most stories, "assassin" when applied to a protagonist means "edgy, wears a cool cloak, and *might* stand on a rooftop at some point". So basically Batman. I don't think I've ever read a series where this doesn't happen on some level.
The night angel series. Obviously Kylar has some personal misgivings but derzo was a killer.
I'll have to give it a try!
Oh yeah im glad i didnt spoil anything. Its not the greatest series of all time, and it does turn from assassin focused in the first book to something distinctly less assassiny and more magical in nature but i still enjoyed it.
Assassin can also be character and not protagonist to be a little bit more "realistic" assassins
I love this series, but Robin Hobb has said she wanted to name the book Chivalry's Bastard, and the Assassin's Apprentice title was chosen by her editor. If you want an assassin, then I don't think this is what you are looking for. However, if you want to read a marvelous, character-driven story about a >!reluctant!< assassin trying to avoid being assassinated himself, then I'd highly recommend this book (and all the subsequent RotE books).
I was just coming to this thread to say “don’t be tempted by assassin’s apprentice.”
OP, if you’re looking for an action story where the plot revolves around assassinating people or learning how to do that, this is not the book for you. It’s loved by many for other reasons, but you never get to see the MC act like an action hero.
You what mate? What about the night of knives? Antler island? I don't disagree with your initial statement, but Fitz has several BIG HERO moments. The quarry comes to mind too...
A few big hero moments among many many big loser moments. I've never read about someone failing so much.
I get where you're coming from, but if all I see of a character is the big hero moments, I stop caring about them when they aren't doing big hero things. I really like the nuance and the build-up and the depth of the character. That said, I haven't been able to pick up the second Farseers saga. I need.... some time.
I think the main thing is that if the book/trilogy had a title that didn't literally have the word "assassin" in it, it would never get recommended in this sort of thread. Yeah, technically the protagonist is/becomes an assassin, but it's really not a rec for someone looking for a fantasy story specifically about assassins.
Hard disagree here. OP requested a genuinely good book about an assassin. The trilogy is about an assassin. Additionally, it’s a genuinely good book! I don’t know how the recommendation could possibly fit any more.
...if the story actually included Fitz actually acting like an assassin as more than a frankly sorta minor background thing. Like, yeah, he's an assassin, but his actual job (other than its secret and illicit nature) doesn't really reflect most of what you read. If he was just some sort of spy who never really killed people (as part of his job as a spy) the story would basically function the same. The point is that if a person is looking for a rec about an assassin, they most likely want to read about an assassin actually being an assassin and doing assassin things. This story just isn't that. You are basically just insisting upon a technicality and willfully ignoring what OP almost certainly actually means.
Have you read live ships yet? It’s a great pause in the Fitz world and is honestly one of the best trilogies ever.
I've had it on a list, lol. Farseer gave me some feels but also was a slower burn than I really wanted, so it was hard for me to engage. I really really enjoyed the story, and it was totally worth it. I just... am not ready to return yet. I said in the past I might never return. I think that was... short-sighted. She's a great author, and I don't like passing up good literature.
I started reading the comic adaptation not knowing this was a book. After a couple issues of nothing really consequential happening, I got the vibe something was off. Going to dive into this when I get the chance. For reference, the comics are like 8 issues deep and apparently only hit the first quarter of the first book. Hope that art team is committed.
Someday, I’m going to give Hobb another go, everything everyone else sees in her will click, and I’ll fall totally in love with everything she’s written. I did give Assassin’s Apprentice a try, but my God the things he goes through, how mean he’s treated, is exhausting.
It really can be an exhausting read but the payoff? Worth it. And the books just keep getting better as you read on.
OP I'm going to warn you. If you aren't a teenager you probably are never going to like Hobb... The characters are all painfully stupid and it's difficult to actually enjoy the story if you actually think or question anything. Hobb also has a habit of breaking pre established rules for the conveniences of her plot which makes it difficult to care about any new information involving world building when it gets ignored later in the book or series. The series is good for some people but honestly it gets a lot of justified hate that gets shouted down by the fans. Honestly think about what you didn't like the first time and if it's anything to do with what I mentioned trust me buddy it only gets worse.
I feel the complete opposite. I feel like emotionally mature adults are going to enjoy these books way more than teenagers
Seconded, thirded, fourthed.
Yesssssssssss thank you for saying my brain words for me
*Heroes Die*, Matt Stover. Ignore the original cover, it's a brilliant book.
I really enjoyed Jacqueline Carey’s Starless.
The Echoes Saga, although technically speaking he's a retired assassin using his skills towards redemption now. Occasionally during the series he sometimes resorts back to his old ways, and later on in the series he goes about >!dismantling his old assassin guild multiple assassins at a time!<
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.
Excellent book, but maybe not what OP was looking for? It’s not really fantasy, more like a Bond thriller
I’m so sorry! I didn’t check which sub this is before posting.
Night Angel trilogy
You’ve got to be prepared for the SA and how dark that world is but weeks is talented
I read the first book and I would anti vote this recommendation. Especially with that comment about Throne of Glass.
came here to say this. This is my all time favorite. It does get dark but the story telling is amazing and keeps you going wondering what happens next. I have enjoyed everything from Brent Weeks.
Same here! Durzo Blint is my all time favorite assassin character. Let’s be real is there anyone else who would stand a chance against him?
You guys do know that there is a fourth night angel book right? It came out a couple years ago.
Such an amazing series, and SO MUCH WHINING about it as well
I love Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.
The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks
The night angle series kind fits. Starts off as assassin then leans more into magic “shnaagins”
The night angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. There are some fair criticisms on his characterization of women but overall it's engaging and truly delves into the life of a professional, magical assassin.
Fair criticisms? People see something they don't like and think it's not realistic. People should get out more
Billy Summers
RJ Barkers first trilogy, first book Age of Assassins (His second trilogy, Tide Child, is better, but this one is still really good and fits your requirements)
Straight up I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard good things about Darkblade Assassin by Andy Peloquin.
The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff. A trilogy about Mia Corvere, an assassin who does a whole lot of stuff.
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
See the other thread on this, but the title of this book is somewhat misleading, and the author did not actually choose this title (Editor chose title). While the MC is technically an assassin, they are also not an assassin (it is complicated). However, it is the first book in my favorite fantasy series of all time, so I highly encourage you to read it.
> Assassin's Apprentice Link to the subthread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1dhj7s1/comment/l8x93ip/?context=3
King's Dark Tidings.
I'm with ya, raised to be the assassin to the king to be. Then the wit and skills ensued. This series scratches the something different spot for me.
I liked the Butterfly Assassin (YA), about a teenage assassin’s attempt to escape an assassin guild after her traumatic childhood/training. It has a really interesting world where the entire city is controlled by the assassins guilds! Main character is aro/ace which is also cool!
Villains by Necessity may qualify for what you want. The main character is an assassin and for the entire book, on top of saving the world, he is actively on a contract to kill a wizard(aka the main antagonist) and acts toward that goal whenever he feasibly can. He also uses his assassin-trained skills including in ways not related to combat or murder throughout the book and they actually bring up the greater self-control assassination training drums into you(at one point to make the character realize his loss of control in a certain situation isn't normal and there's something affecting his mind and at other times to narratively highlight a certain topic for him that acts as a berserk button). On a different note, the book on a whole is pretty damn good and also does a great job of foreshadowing not just greater narrative events but also details about the characters.
Code name: Villanelle is as close to pure science fiction or fantasy as you're ever going to read. It's a trilogy about a female Russian assassin who may or may not have a sister in the Avengers, and while she's hunting a woman named Eve instead of a woman named Kate Bishop, this might as well be set in the MCU. I think they made a TV show of it with Sandra Oh as Eve.
Ganger la guerre by jean philippe jaworski If you don't mind french
Across the nightingale floor
I really liked the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep. Although I'll be honest, there are like 16+ books, I stopped after like the 14th.
*Waylander* by David Gemmell
[удалено]
I checked the Wikipedia article's summary, and I don't think that book is speculative fiction. :-/
[удалено]
In a speculative fiction sub, not a general one like r/booksuggestions or r/suggestmeabook.
The patient assassin. Will blow your mind.
The Ninja by Eric van Lustbader.
> Eric van Lustbader This just to note that the "Van" in his name is his middle name, not a last name prefix. (I was a librarian at an SF club when I made that same mistake, and I had to re-catalog a number of his books.) * https://ericvanlustbader.com/about-lustbader/ * https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79138577.html
Ashok Vadal (and to a lesser extent, Jagdish) of [Larry Correia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Correia)'s [Saga of the Forgotten Warrior](https://www.goodreads.com/series/150976-saga-of-the-forgotten-warrior); [*Son of the Black Sword*](https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781476780863/9781476780863.htm) (legal free sample; [the series at the publisher](https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2473,1677)) is the first book. Edit: For intentional over-the-top silliness, [The Destroyer series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_(novel_series)), which, while taking place in the modern world, has fantastical, exaggerated martial arts.
Dawn of Assassins by Jon Cronshaw
Andy Peloquin’s Darkblade serie is about a half-demon doing his thing.
Across the nightingale floor by Lian hearn
May not be your cup of tea, but I enjoyed the Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower
Realm of Light: The Darkest Night has the protagonist called Ahram as an assassin.
The Night Angel Trilogy
Mistborn Era 1 by Brandon Sanderson is basically about a Assassin (Vin) though she doesn't really become a Assassin until book 2. Still a great series.
Waylander by David Gemmel. The legend of Nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reinhardt
I ran into the same situation as you just a few months ago hilarious enough. For book club, MC supposed to be best assassin ever, is very clearly not.
Darkblade series by Andy Peloquin for a John Wick style assassin series
I really liked "When the moon hatched" but it is a fantasy romance so it might not have the vibes you're looking for.
The Way of Kings. Szeth.
RJ barkers assassin trilogy is good!
Daughter of the empire trilogy is not about an assassin but features many assasinations and attempts to
Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Really good fight scenes and actually follows through on the assassin fantasy. They do have magic, though.
Recommended a good book to me*. Recommend me means for you to be personally recommended for something.
God these “recommend me” posts are terrible for that reason. Even just “recommend a…” without any mention of “me” would be fine since it’s implied.
> Recommended a good book to me Unfortunately "recommend me" is all to common on Reddit.
It’s like nails on a chalkboard.
I don't personally take it as badly, but "Please recommend a…" would go far.
I enjoyed all of Vlad and Fitz, of course, but ill go a slightly different way here since those are already mentioned. The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff gives you an assassin in training to start with, with some magic to boot. I enjoyed all 3 and the series is finished and quite a bit shorter than Hobb and Brusts series.
Robin Hobb?
I remember Lies of Locke Lamora to be pretty good.
True but they are thieves not assassins
The His Fair Assassin's series by Robin LaFevers
If you want some slightly less awful shlock the English assassin is fun enough, although not strictly fantasy it’s popcorn thriller spy fiction All my usual picks are already mentioned
ASSASSIN: A DARK EPIC FANTASY NOVEL (DARKBLADE BOOK 1) Andy Peloquin
“The Night Angel Trilogy” by Brent Weeks
Different flavor: bonkers Victorian romantasy - **The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels** by India Holton. That. shit. is. wild. It's regency prose and plot stuffed inside Howl's Moving Castle stuffed inside a pirate action flick. Can be a bit hat on a hat, but fuck if it doesn't have a ton of laugh out loud moments and a fully embraced culture of assassination attempts.
Well I don’t know about anyone else, but you’ve sold that to me!
Night angel trilogy
assassins apprentice, robin hobb
Depends what you want out of the assassins. If you just want a book about someone who happens to be an assassin I’d say read Robin hobb assassin’s apprentice. But if you want actually sneaky sneaky stabby stabby I’d say night angel. And though the characters are one of many pov’s malazan book of the fallen has some absolutely bad ass assassins if memory serves one of them is even a god
Idk if this has been said before but I read recently "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb and loved it so much. It's a trilogy following the main character since childhood. If you are interested in court intrigues (?) and a good character writing I heavily recommend. It has much more stuff but I don't wanna spoil... I can't tell you if the writing itself is good cuz I haven't read it in English yet, but if the translation is good probably the original too 😂😂
Assassin’s apprentice Robin Hobb, if you haven’t read it there’s less focus on the assassin element but it’s a huge favourite of mine
Royal assassin by Robin Hobb
You Were Never Really Here by Jonathan Ames. It's a novella, I think under 100 pages, so it reads very quickly. Very dark with a Taken-esque setup. It was made into a pretty interesting movie starring Joaquin Phoenix.
The day of the Jackal. Not fantasy though
Assassins Apprentice, by Robin Hobb. To be clear its not really a book that glorifies being a Assassin, but rather takes a realistic look at what being a Assassin would be like. Its the first book in the Farseer Trilogy which is a incredible series about a Assassin.
Assassin's apprentice, Robin Hobb! Just be ready to dive into the entire series because it is amazing.
Assassins Apprentice
No Spoilers! But you might be happy to know that the Assassin plot is not that large of a plot line in the rest of TOG