Review: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

Death Sworn

Author: Leah Cypess
Series: Death Sworn #1
Publisher: Greenwillow
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: ebook
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Source: eARC received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 3 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***   

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

I liked Death Sworn while reading. I really did. But then I sat down to write this review and I couldn’t put my finger on what I liked about it. The world-building could have used some work. The characters were not that well developed. The relationship felt jerky and abrupt. The ending was sudden and felt like you were dropped off a cliff. And there were so many unanswered questions.

So what did I like about this? The magic for sure. I loved magic. Anything with magic in it will immediately grab my attention and pull me in. Watching Ileni struggle with the loss of her magic was interesting although I did feel like she was quite whiny at times. But when she did use her spells, or the stones she had, or when they talked about lodestones, my interest level shot through the roof and I was eagerly reading, wanting to learn more. The few times that Ileni did use magic in defense were awesome. It just had such a badass fight feel to it. I so wish that magic was real. That would be freaking awesome.

I also really like Sorin. He was one of the assassins, the one charged with protecting Ileni. He was so quiet and mysterious and that instantly drew me to him. Which brings me to the relationship. I liked it. I thought it was progressing quite well. It was slow and you could tell there was something there, but it wasn’t in your face and was kind of on the backburner. But then all of a sudden, they are making out and professing their love to each other. Wait, what? Things were just moving at a perfect pace with no hint of insta-love whatsoever. What the heck just happened??? But I think that the relationship is great. I really do love Sorin and Ileni grew on me as the story went on. So I was disappointed that it was so abrupt and honestly unbelievable when it happened.

The world was interesting, but I felt like we didn’t get a lot of information. You have the Renegai who hide out in the mountains. The assassins who hide out underneath a mountain. And then the evil Empire who rules the rest of the world? Supposedly this Empire is terrible and living within their borders is a rough life. But we never saw a single example of this. I didn’t hate the Empire like I should have because I really had no reason to. My interest is definitely piqued because supposedly the Empire has powerful sorcerers that use dark magic. But I wanted more answers in this book.

So I feel like I need to talk a little bit about Ileni and what went wrong with her character. She is whiny the whole time. I didn’t really feel like she developed much at all throughout this book. I understand that she is devastated over the loss of her magic and I can see her being whiny at first, but she never snaps out of it. She continues to complain and feel sorry for herself the entire time and I was just so annoyed with her I couldn’t stand it. We are also told that she was one of the most skilled sorceresses out of all the Renegai, but I never fully believed it. I know we couldn’t actually see it because you know, she’s losing her magic, but I wish that she had thought about what she used to be able to do. Maybe given us a few flashbacks so we understood just how powerful she is. And her whole thing with Tellis, some guy from back home that she was in love with. No point whatsoever. All she does is cry over losing him, but no other information is given and he contributed nothing to the story. I think he is going to form a love triangle in the next book which I am not happy about.

So I’m giving this book three stars. Why? It sounds like I didn’t like it at all right? Well, I did like it. I enjoyed it while reading. I finished it and went “that was pretty good”. It was only once I started writing this review that I discovered all those negative things. Which makes me think that had I not written this review, I would have enjoyed the book more. So I’m giving it three stars. I’m interested enough to want to continue with the series and I truly hope that it gets better. Because there’s a lot of potential with this world and I want to see it go to amazing places. Happy reading all!

Have you guys read this one? What did you think? Have you ever read a book, enjoyed it, and then realized it had a lot of flaws when you're writing the review?