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Assassins' Dawn
Stephen Leigh's epic trilogy of vast empires and dangerous politics, compiled in one thrilling volume
Neweden is a world whose gods are death and fate, and it’s here that the Hoorka have a guild of assassins, whose single law is that the victim must always retain a tiny but finite chance of escape. If the victim can survive until dawn, they may go free.
But the rich and powerful don’t care to have their will thwarted, and so the Hoorka must deal with the consequences of their own ethics. Gyll, the leader of the Hoorka, also has dreams of taking the guild offworld into the growing society of the Alliance, which is trying to reconstruct a shattered, worlds-spanning empire. Is that dream a genuine possibility, or will exposure to other cultures doom the Hoorka entirely?
Gyll must confront internal struggles within his own people, the dangerous politics of Neweden, and the twinned threat and promise of the Alliance. The Hag of Death dances around them, mockingly. Can the Hoorka survive to see the dawn of their own success, an Assassins’ Dawn?
Neweden is a world whose gods are death and fate, and it’s here that the Hoorka have a guild of assassins, whose single law is that the victim must always retain a tiny but finite chance of escape. If the victim can survive until dawn, they may go free.
But the rich and powerful don’t care to have their will thwarted, and so the Hoorka must deal with the consequences of their own ethics. Gyll, the leader of the Hoorka, also has dreams of taking the guild offworld into the growing society of the Alliance, which is trying to reconstruct a shattered, worlds-spanning empire. Is that dream a genuine possibility, or will exposure to other cultures doom the Hoorka entirely?
Gyll must confront internal struggles within his own people, the dangerous politics of Neweden, and the twinned threat and promise of the Alliance. The Hag of Death dances around them, mockingly. Can the Hoorka survive to see the dawn of their own success, an Assassins’ Dawn?
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
624 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 7, 2013
6 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Leigh
86 books59 followersStephen Leigh has been writing science fiction since he was in grade school. He sold his first story in 1975 and has been publishing regularly ever since then.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 7, 2014
Assassins, crumbling civilizations and an unhappy ending. What's not to like?
January 22, 2019
The author did a great job exploring the nuances of an ethical assassin guild, and also developing the society in which they operated. However, the founder of the assassin guild didn’t have any compelling motives beyond making more money. He kept talking about wanting to operate the guild on other planets, but as to why, it just seemed like it was all about capitalism. I stopped after the second book because I just didn’t care to follow a character with such uninspiring motives.
might-never-finish
April 10, 2018I not the biggest fan of books where you always have the “shoe of doom” hanging over your head waiting to drop. The concept and world were interesting and I kept feeling like it would get better if I kept reading but I didn’t make it quite far enough to know if it did or not.
Want to read
March 18, 20211 Slow Fall to Dawn (1981)
2 Dance of the Hag (1983)
3 A Quiet of Stone (1984)
Assassins' Dawn (2013) [O/1,2,3]
2 Dance of the Hag (1983)
3 A Quiet of Stone (1984)
Assassins' Dawn (2013) [O/1,2,3]
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews