The Assassins of Tamvrin - flawed

[Particle_Man]

The Assassins of Tamvrin, by S.D.Tower, is a fairly nice "training-and-life-of-an-assassin" novel (although Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice does it better) with a romantic (as in Harlequin Romance) flavor. However, it has a fatal flaw: WAY too much foreshadowing of the plot (indeed, I hesitate to call it foreshadowing, it is done with so little subtlety).

What do others think of this novel?

Are there other novels out there that suffer from the aformentioned flaw?

 

[NateDog]

I agree that the foreshadowing was lacking in subtlety most of time. I think it occurs for two reasons:

1) I believe that this was the author's first novel (though I could be mistaken)
2) The story was told as a character flashback

That being said, I enjoyed reading it and in the end that's all that matters

 

[Particle_Man]

I agree that the foreshadowing was lacking in subtlety most of time. I think it occurs for two reasons:

1) I believe that this was the author's first novel (though I could be mistaken)

2) The story was told as a character flashback

That being said, I enjoyed reading it and in the end that's all that matters

1) You are likely mistaken. On the inside back cover of the soft cover version "S.D. Tower is an artist and an internationally published author (under another name) of espionage thrillers who lives in Canada." This implies that this is Tower's third novel at least, unless those thrillers are short stories. (Actually, the acknowledgment page's last sentence also implies that there are at least two authors to this book working under one pseudonym - maybe one is the artist and the other the "internationally published author"?).

2) Again, Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice is also told from a future-looking-back point of view. It is just done better. Hell, Wizard and Glass by Stephen King was done more with more subtlety. In this book, blatant stating of how things will end is done in every chapter, numerous times. It was done so often that if someone were telling me the story verbally I would tell the person "Enough already! I know how it ends, tell me how it begins!" It is the book version of movie trailers that give away the entire plot of the movie.

And yes, this book has good points. But it would have been a much stronger novel if all (better safe than sorry) of the foreshadowing elements had been removed.

 

[NateDog]

1) You are likely mistaken. On the inside back cover of the soft cover version "S.D. Tower is an artist and an internationally published author (under another name) of espionage thrillers who lives in Canada." This implies that this is Tower's third novel at least, unless those thrillers are short stories. (Actually, the acknowledgment page's last sentence also implies that there are at least two authors to this book working under one pseudonym - maybe one is the artist and the other the "internationally published author"?).

Ah, I must have missed that Perhaps the two authors, assuming that he (or she) writes solo on other occasions explains the problems with the foreshadowing.

2) Again, Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice is also told from a future-looking-back point of view. It is just done better. Hell, Wizard and Glass by Stephen King was done more with more subtlety. In this book, blatant stating of how things will end is done in every chapter, numerous times. It was done so often that if someone were telling me the story verbally I would tell the person "Enough already! I know how it ends, tell me how it begins!" It is the book version of movie trailers that give away the entire plot of the movie.

As I haven't read either Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice (though I'd like to) or Wizard and Glass (not a huge Stephen King reader), I can't agree or disagree with you