ONLY ONE THING STANDS BETWEEN HUMANS AND THE DEADLY SUPERNATURAL WORLD…THE ACADEMY OF ASSASSINS.Abandoned as a child and unable to remember her past, Morgan was raised as a hunter, one of an elite group of fighters sworn to protect humans from the dangerous paranormal creatures who invade our world…creatures such as herself. Her life changes the day she’s summoned to the Academy of Assassins, a … Assassins, a school that trains witches and hunters to eradicate paranormals who prey on humans. Her first assignment—find and eliminate the killer who is using the Academy as their own personal hunting ground.
As Morgan delves deeper into the investigation, she will need to dodge assassination attempts, avoid the distraction of romantic entanglements with the devilishly handsome security expert, Kincade, and his maddeningly overprotective teammates, while keeping the volatile magic in her blood concealed from those who would use it for their own purposes. When the danger increases and the school is threatened, Morgan must unearth her missing memories before someone finishes the job they started so long ago—killing her and unleashing a plague that will consume the world.
An Academy of Assassins Novel : Book 1
Meet the Assassins: Morgan, Kincade, Ascher, Ryder, Draven and Atlas.
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Astrid’s Description: A girl found wandering in the woods is raised to be a lone hunter. She is a badass…
The world building in this story is fantastic. I have a few highlights of beautiful, vivid descriptions. My senses came alive as I read too. That part was fantastic, along with the premise of the book and the character arcs.
If I remember correctly, the author does show the MC being said badass, but she does slip up a few times to tell the reader too. Look, in general, readers are smart enough to put together character traits and do not need a reminder. I have six highlights where the wordage makes it seem like the author thinks we don’t know how to put stuff together for ourselves. Here is my favorite (read most ridiculous) one.
“”Enter.” Recognizing a command when she heard one, Morgan twisted the knob and did as instructed.”
*source: Academy of Assassins by Stacey Brutger ebook page 46
We can recognize a command too, and we can also see when you are adding fluff for the sake of lengthening your novel.
I have a few highlights with spelling mistakes and grammar errors, but nothing that interrupted the story too much. There were a handful of times that information was unnecessarily repeated, it got a little annoying.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. I even started the second one, but I felt burnt out with reading (not the book, just in general needed a reading break) and stopped. I got distracted with other books, but I do plan on getting into the second book again. I will be trying to read the next one this week. We’ll see how it goes.
At the time of writing this, the book is part of the Kindle Unlimited Program, you can download and read for free if you have that subscription from Amazon.
I really enjoyed this series as a whole, there were a couple plot twists I definitely didn’t see coming!
And… can I just say how much I love Ascher? He’s my favorite harem member!
Great book! Something ages 14 and up would like. There is violence in this book, but no between sheets stuff.
Morgan has no memory from before she was 10. MacGregor found her wondering in the forest and decided to take her under his wing. Morgan is scared of the ruins on her back. When girls start dying at the Assassin Academy with similar markings, Morgan knows she has to go there even though she doesn’t want to.
This book was quite different from anything I’ve read. The characters are all broken in their own way including Morgan. The form of magic, the portals, the torque, all wildly original. There something happening at every turn of the page, so no danger of getting bored. I knew who the inside traitor was right away, or this would have been five stars.
Love this entire series.
So apparently reverse harem books are a thing and this is one. The one girl, five dudes thing didn’t overwhelm the plot which was entertaining and occasionally funny, so I’ll check out the next book in the series.
Favorite RH of all times. Love all the characters and the series is a go to for me for a bi-annual re-read. A definite slow burn with all the characters developing together as they work through each others flaws and strengths. Love this book and this series.
I don’t honestly remember when I got this book, but it must have been free or close to it, and I didn’t know anything about it before starting. If I had known it would become a reverse harem, I would have steered clear from the beginning. The first book doesn’t have any sex scenes, but it slowly becomes obvious that she is sexually drawn to many of the men in the book. I thought at first the main character was just enjoying the male eye candy, but sadly it finally confirmed it was setting up to be a reverse harem after 2/3 of the book. I just wish she could have kept that piece out of it and instead focused on having one main squeeze with a really closeknit brother-type group of protectors. And there are sooooo many inconsistencies. Plot holes. Mixing up character traits, establishing a no-bullshit badass main character who becomes the quintessential incompetent helpless female. Flashback scenes written in present tense which totally confuses the reader. The grammar errors weren’t as bad as the oversights on the details. It really irritated me when she would interchange “MaGreggor” as a name, and “THE Magregor” as in a title.
The potential for this series is so great that it makes it that much more disappointing. I wish I could say I don’t know how she has so many positive reviews, but I do understand. The main plot is gripping. The characters are each unique and thrilling. But there are just so many issues with the writing that I just cannot overlook them. And seeing some of the same criticisms for the books yet to come in the series, I won’t be pursuing them. It’s such a disappointment because I see so much potential. I sincerely hope she takes the constructive criticism and uses it to greatly improve her writing skills.
Gather round, readers, and let me tell you about this book that I’ve read four times. I am that in love with this series. I’m pretty scattershot in this review because #TeamNoSleep, so bear with me because I love this book.
Right from the beginning, Stacey Brutger plunges us into the suspense of Academy of Assassins with our heroine, Morgan Moran, dangling from the eaves of the coven’s manor’s rooftop as she watches a squadron of Hunters go off to what she knows in her gut to be their certain deaths in her woods if she doesn’t go with them. She joins up with her hellhound partner, Ascher, and they battle the beasties that bump in the night and, while, things go awry, Morgan makes it through the night and back home in time to be summoned by her foster father. Her foster father is The MacGregor, the head Hunter at the coven house, and he assigns her to investigate a series of murders at the Academy of Assassins while she attends Hunter classes.
Some of my favourite characters of Academy of Assassins are Drayven, Morgan, Ascher, and Ryder. Drayven is a jovial supernatural (I’ll let y’all learn what kind because eek!) who is quick to welcome Morgan when she comes to the academy. No stand-offish butthead behaviour from him, unlike some people. Morgan is in his friend circle tout de suite. Ryder has ‘love at first scent’, forget bonding, forget predestined mates the fates determine, he loves Morgan from that first moment that she intervenes on his behalf. Ascher is Morgan’s rescued hellhound who becomes her partner in her solo Hunts for supes that cross over from the other side of the rifts. Tell me y’all know me enough by now to know that I will always root for the dog. Morgan has a simple outlook on life. To live is to to Hunt. Everything she does revolves around Hunting. She has two mysterious gifts from her unknown past, a line of fae runes carved into her back that act as a creature-detection device, and a torque that acts as a dampener for her magic. Since she’s Amnesia Girl, she uses her gifts to Hunt. Go Morgan! Morgan also gives absolutely zero fig newtons about your status or species, if she claims someone as hers, be it family, friends, classmate, or fellow living being, she will dive headlong into any danger that pops up, not giving one figgy pudding iota about her safety if it means helping them. Morgan is goals.
One thing I disliked about Academy of Assassins was how easily it was to figure out who Morgan’s harem members were going to be. I much prefer the romantic whodunnit guesswork style of harem books. A few chapters in and you know who’s in, now it’s just a matter of when they join the group. Another thing I disliked was Kincade’s initial treatment of Morgan, he was a pretty big jerk about the ‘women as Hunters deprives a man of his mate and it’s selfish of her to do that’ thing and I kept wishing Morgan would put a steel-toed boot in a certain place.
Overall, I’m rating Academy of Assassins a shiny 4 stars and 1 sexytimes flame. I’m not saying this is The Great American Novel, it’s a paranormal reverse harem romance that’s a smidgen predictable. But I love it and I enjoy it. If polyromance is something you’re into, y’all should check this out.
This is a review by Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book and I hope y’all enjoyed it!
Morgan, our FMC, has no knowledge of her past, but has worked hard to become the huntress/assassin she is when we first meet her. She has a drive to protect along with magical marks she doesn’t understand and doesn’t recall how she got them as a child. She works with a hellhound to hunt magical creatures who do bad things. Until a letter arrives informing her that the academy has requested her presence. Going into the unknown with a hidden agenda and a group of guys is a task that she must undertake. We follow her as we read along.
I really liked the concept of the book. A lot of the little things made this book. Little touches that pushed either the characters or the plot forward, but did so in an interesting way.
I also liked the characters. They each had a personality and kept things interesting. The FMC was really cool. She was full of contradicting emotions and traits. Broken but strong, unknowing but smart, lost but determined, kind but also a badA when needed, and so forth. Even the more minor characters had a level of depth to them.
Overall I would recommend this book. I read this book about a year ago the first time and I’m not sure why it didn’t remember it, but skimming through it again reminded me how much I enjoyed the book. I’m off to check out book two.