Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

This book was received from the author for review. All opinions are my own.

Assassin Marked by Michael C. Sahd
Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction
Release Date: Published October 6th 2017
Format: Kindle, 27 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Amazon

Damian DuFonte, a professional assassin working for the Crime Syndicate, just can’t seem to get past his need for revenge. So when the only woman he’s ever loved asks him not to kill one of their bosses, her pleas fall on deaf ears. Although Victoria may be willing to forgive this transgression, the Syndicate certainly will not.

To prove Victoria’s loyalty, the Syndicate tasks her with leading a group to hunt him down. Somewhere in the solar system, on the outs with his lover and on the run from trained killers, Damian is … an Assassin Marked.

Ignore how long Goodreads says it took me to read this, it really is a super quick read! I hadn’t realized I still had it on my currently-reading list until the time of writing this review. (It’s been a long few weeks, folks.)

Ahem. Review.

Jumping right into what I liked about this short bit, the descriptions were awesome. Literally, the first note I made as I read though this was “damn good descriptions”, followed by enjoyment of the fact we’re not info-dumped on like I had been expecting considering the length. The information was actually pretty nicely sprinkled along as I read, and at no point was I sitting there thinking I wasn’t going to remember anything because too much was unhauled onto me in the span of a few paragraphs.

I do have to admit though, because the information was so nicely laid out, that I was actually steadily getting more and more interested in the past rather than the future of the characters we’re given to see though. Not sure if that was the intention, but it happened to me! So, you know, I’d be down for seeing a prequel from this world, if that was ever in the works. Particularly from Damian. I was more invested in him than Victoria.

The thing I wasn’t very keen on at all actually was Victoria herself. Something about the way she read just didn’t click with me, and that could just be because I was more interested in Damian’s side of things than hers. For a short story, I would have rather had all Damian to read on.

And, as for the ending, I was not ready for it to come, and I think this definitely could have benefitted from a handful more pages to keep it from feeling as abrupt as it did. But, in general, it really is a cool sci-fi break to take if you want something short to flick through.

Thanks for reading!