Author: Eoin Colfer
Narrated by: Maxwell Caulfield
Publisher: Listening Library
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-0804123358
Listening copy via Sync
Eoin Colfer is most well known for the Artemis Fowl series, a series I tried and never really got into. But since the good people at Sync offered The Reluctant Assassin, I thought I'd give this series a go.
The Reluctant Assassin in question is Riley, a Victorian orphan who's raised by a former magician. Alfred Garrick has turned his sleight-of-hand skills into becoming a master assassin and he expects Riley to complete his apprenticeship by committing his first murder. But what they don't know is that their intended target is a 21st century time traveler and things go from bad to worse when Riley ends up in modern day London.
Riley meets Chevron Savano, a 17 year old FBI agent, an orphan herself who was brought into the FBI for a secret assignment. Riley and Chevron team up to take on Garrick, who was transformed by time travel quantum mechanics and goes back to Victorian times to change history.
Sounds convoluted? It is a little bit, but complicated plotting keeps the action at a non-stop pace. There's a fair amount of deadly violence, which might be too intense for younger readers. But older readers looking for a rollicking adventure will find that here.
A nice dynamic grows between Riley and Chevron since each has their own special skill sets. Maxwell Caulfield does a fine job with Riley and Garrick, but his Chevron doesn't quite work. I don't know if he has trouble with women characters, American characters, or both, but Chevron comes off as stiff and stilted. Chevron is a Native American character, but she grew up in Malibu, so she sound like a normal American teen.
The Reluctant Assassin Book Trailer:
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