Sister Assassin by Kiersten White

Sister Assassin by Kiersten White
Buy Sister Assassin by Kiersten White at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Action-packed thriller has some interesting points but can't overcome a lack of any likeable characters.
Buy? No	Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 302	Date: February 2013
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0007491643
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Fia and Annie's parents died seven years ago. Five years ago, they were brought to a mysterious school where they are being trained to hone their special talents. Annie, who's blind, is a Seer who has visions of events and people, while Fia has perfect instincts - which makes her perfect for committing crimes. The pair are each threatened to ensure their twin's loyalty to the shadowy people running the organisation they work for - but has the time come for them to rebel?

This works reasonably well as a short, quick read, with some good, well-described, action scenes. White has created an interesting world where some people possess a variety of psychic talents. It's really fast-paced and the flashbacks to earlier times are a good way of introducing the backstory of the two sisters.

Where it completely falls down, however, is in the lack of any remotely likeable characters. By the end I could put virtually everyone in it into one of two categories - those I definitely hated and those I probably hated. With both of the narrators falling into the first of those two categories, it's hard to recommend. Another issue is that there's little to differentiate the girls other than their talents and Annie's blindness. Both are whiny brats with very similar personalities and voices which I never felt were anywhere near distinct enough for a dual POV narrative. It's also the second book I've read recently in which we seem to have central characters who are expected to be sympathetic because of the terrible things that have happened to them, but actually aren't because there's no real reason to cheer them on other than the situation they're in. For me, at least, there has to be something likeable about a character for me to want to spend time reading about them, and neither of these two have that.

Possibly worth checking out if you're a real fan of this type of thing, but fans, like myself, of Kiersten White's enjoyable Paranormalcy series may be disappointed.

For another action-packed thriller which was rather more successful in making me care about its characters, don't miss Dark Eyes by William Richter.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Sister Assassin by Kiersten White at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Sister Assassin by Kiersten White at Amazon.com.

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