Author: Alyssa Palombo
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 314
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis: A Renaissance courtesan must choose between love and duty in this high stakes 16th-century mystery, perfect for fans of Madeline Hunter and Rhys Bowen.
Valentina Riccardi is many things: beautiful, cultured, deadly. As one of Venice’s famous courtesans, she’s perfectly positioned to seduce powerful men, get them alone, and assassinate them. Spies. Traitors. Who they are doesn’t matter—only that they made an enemy of the Council of Ten, the shadowy and seemingly omniscient power from which Valentina takes her orders without question.
Venice is her home, and after losing everything once before to an invading army, there is nothing she won’t do to protect her city, for there is nothing she loves more.
Almost nothing.
She vowed to never fall in love again, but Valentina can’t help but give her heart to Bastiano Bragadin, a fellow assassin. But when Bastiano starts asking the wrong questions, Valentina receives a new assignment: kill him.
Yet the more Valentina learns about the Council of Ten, the more she wonders if they are truly acting in the interest of the Venetian state, or using her for their own dark ambitions. If Valentina is to save Bastiano, she must untangle their conspiracy—with the help of her fellow courtesans—before it’s too late.
The Assassin of Venice is a captivating, sensual, high stakes read that brings 16th-century Venice to life, and draws on the fascinating real history of both Venetian cortigiane oneste—“honest courtesans”—and Renaissance Venice’s sprawling intelligence service.
My Review: Valentina Riccardi is one of Venice’s most famous courtesans. However, she has a secret. She is an assassin. Valentina quickly falls in love with a fellow assassin named Bastiano Bragadin. However, she has been given orders to assassinate him. Valentina is determined to save him. She also wants to explore the true motives of the Council of Ten, who has hired her to be an assassin and whom she directly reports to. Could the Council of Ten be acting for Venice or are they acting out of their own dark ambitions?
Valentina has all the makings to be a very fascinating character. She is beautiful, intelligent, and deadly. However, I found her to be a Mary Sue. She is perfect in every way. She has no flaws. She did not seem very realistic. Instead, she was a very paper-thin character. I had a hard time connecting with her. Because she had no depth, I was not really invested in her story. I did not care for her troubles. Therefore, Valentina had the potential to be a wonderful character, but sadly she was not well-written.
Overall, this book is about loyalty, secrets, and love. I found all of the characters to be flat and one-dimensional. The romance was undeveloped and was more instantaneous. There were also many explicit sexual scenes that were not well-written and were very off-putting. There was not much mystery or suspense in this novel. Nevertheless, it was a short and fast-paced read! I also thought that this book was meticulously researched, and I liked the setting of Renaissance Venice. I thought that. The Assassin of Venice had potential to be an exciting and wonderful book. However, Ms. Palombo just could not pull it off. I was very disappointed with it because it was very underwhelming and failed to meet my expectations. Nevertheless, this book may appeal to those that liked reading novels set in Renaissance Italy. This book may appeal to fans of Sarah Durant, Kate Quinn, and Marina Fiorato! However, this was a very mediocre and forgettable book and there are better books set in Renaissance Italy out there!
Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
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