Review: Death Sworn by Leah Cypress

Publisher: Greenwillow
Published: March 4, 2014
Pages: 352
Source: For Review from HarperCollins/Edelweiss
Rating: 3 Stars

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.

In short: Death Sworn was not especially memorable, but I did appreciate Leah Cypress' ability to create such a darkly atmospheric world.

It's definitely not a good sign that I am sitting down to write a review for Death Sworn a month after I finished reading it and I have already forgotten quite a few of the details. Sure, I probably shouldn't have waited so long to write my review, but to be honest, that isn't normally a problem for me because I actually have a pretty excellent memory normally. I rarely have problems remembering scenes and plot points from books I've read so to say that I have forgotten much of Death Sworn means that it did little to impress me and was not particularly memorable.

That's not to say that I disliked Death Sworn. I don't recall the details of course, but I do recall enjoying it enough. I was intrigued with the darkly atmospheric world that Leah Cypress has created. Immediately we are introduced to an ominous mystery and feeling of unease simmering just below the surface. I love reading about magic and assassins and I think Leah Cypress delivered an original premise combining the two. I was definitely unclear on some of the aspects of the world and certain plot points, but overall I think the dark tones and the rich atmosphere of the world were my favourite parts of Death Sworn.

On the other hand, from what I recall of the characters in Death Sworn, they were pretty inconsistent and largely frustrating. Ditto with the romance. Hey, I like forbidden romance as much as the next girl, but can we please stop with the whiplash-inducing personality changes? Because of this, I felt distant from the characters for most of Death Sworn. I was still occasionally intrigued by the characters and their actions, but they were really lacking the oomph that makes great characters memorable.

Overall, Death Sworn was an unfortunately forgettable book that was lacking specialness. BUT I do think that Leah Cypress has a definite talent for creating enigmatic and shadowy settings and tones that intrigue and tantalize. While my experience with Death Sworn isn't enough to convince me to move forward with this series, it has confirmed my committal to read Leah Cypress' previous book, Mistwood, which many people seem to love.

Other Reviews:
Ex Libris
The Daily Prophet
Supernatural Snark

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