The magic system appeared but did not have a significant impact on the story. When a character cast a spell, I was told about the effects of the spell and the character casting the spell was successful in casting it. The magic did not have a sense of wonder or mystery. I would suggest that if the magic elements were taken out of the story, the story would not change in any significant way. World building is limited at times but descriptive and livid enough to grasp the environment the characters are currently in. Can feel that the author really tried to relay the images in his own head onto paper. The Character work is just outstanding. Hozark, as the Wampeh Ghalian – the master Assassin, is brilliant. The captivating way in which he engages with his world is totally enthralling, and you find yourself glued to the book, unable to pull away. Hozark travels with a small crew, a pilot ‘Bud’, who helps him on missions, he is just hilarious. He is not a Ghalian, but having worked with Hozark, knows all about them. He has a co-pilot Laskar, who is a gifted pilot (the only reason they keep him around), but he has the common sense of a dead rat. The dialogue between Bud and Laskar is like a comedy routine at times, and keeps you laughing. There are some other characters, but I won’t discuss them so as to not give away spoilers.

In Book 1, Hozark discovered that a former Ghalian, once considered dead, is actually alive, and has turned rogue, working for an organisation called ‘The Council of Twenty’. The Council is the ruling body for the Sector, and is meant to be an unbiased group, that looks out for the best interests of all those in the Sector, whether that be trade, planetary issues, people’s rights. However, they are totally corrupt, using their positions to gain money, power, and magic. Every member is either a Visla or an Emmik, one of the two privileged positions of power in the Sector, and the two that can hold significant magical power. The assassins found a twisted abomination corrupted by Fabius Bile – the Clonefather had formed an alliance with the remaining Brazen Drakes in what came to be known as the War of the Spider . In their combined assault upon the former Chapter Master, two of the Execution Force were killed, with the Eversor Assassin’s self-destructive bio-meltdown finally putting an end to Argento Corian. 3. The Assassination of Urgak ‘the Unstoppable’ However, Moore does an amazing job of conveying the emotional range of his characters, so you really understand what they are feeling, from happy to sad, angry to joyful, you get a good understanding of all of this. There was a lot of potential, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Though the story was interesting and I liked what I could "see" of this world, every Noun (person, place, or thing) in the book was named so terribly I instantly hated it. If you enjoy coup d'é·tat stories and power struggles and sword and sorcery action in a slightly space-y setting, this book definitely is for you.Although the topic is death, there is no gore, and the "on screen" violence is action-style, and mostly fair fighting (if fighting a magically enhanced assassin can be called fair). In the early years of the 41st Millennium, it was discovered that the Orks of the Roxanzand sector were rallying behind a powerful Warboss called Urgak the Unstoppable, who had set about gathering together Boyz and war machines from a vast area. Worse still, their Meks had begun construction of a colossal Gargant, which the Imperium couldn’t afford to ignore. Space Assassin at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26

The characters were one dimensional, and attempts at humourous interplay and comic side comments fell flat, or were distinctly high school cafeteria level. By making use of their pariah gene, a rare mutation that eliminates a person’s signature in the warp (effectively rendering them soulless), and the ancient technology of their animus speculum, the Assassin shrouded themselves from notice until they were deep within the enemy’s sanctum. In Book 1, we were introduced to Master Hozark and the Wampeh Ghalian, the Guild of Assassins that are somewhat unique, clever and creative creature for use as an Assassin in a Space Opera setting. I would have preferred if I were able to see more of the world building. Mr. Baron describes several planets and their life forms and plant life, but I could not get a sense or picture of any of these planets, life forms, or plant life. The main character travels in a spaceship from planet to planet, but I was not clear on how the spaceship operated or what it looked like. The Interstellar Slayer had everything a good fantasy story needs for me: interesting magic system, interesting races, political construct, revolution, intrigue, coup d'é·tat, assassins (a whole freakin shapeshifting assassin-species!), swords - and swords wih special powers. What made it amazing is to bring all of this into an intriguing SciFi setting with different planets, space travel, different species and interplanetary politics.This story is a slow burn. It took all five books for the character arcs to really play out and for them to become more likable as we went along. Ultimately, I think it is worth hanging in there for the full series to explore and enjoy the world building, the interesting lives and culture of the space assassins, and some of the plot complexities. But it’s far from a perfect series and here’s why… This book will be included in my biweekly reading wrap up on my YouTube channel that will be published on March 19th. For example, Chapter 2 was simply told from the perspective of the author. Everything we were told about the world was not from anyone’s viewpoint – it was just what the author wanted us to know.

Story flow is excellent. The pace is steady and solid. Ups and downs which makes you want to somewhat root for the protagonist and feel the emotions he's feeling. The ending was definitely intense, but it also made it quite obvious what should have a twist at a later point in the story. Nonetheless, I'm very eager to continue on with the series. The instructions you are given in (363) will get you killed if you follow them during the floor tile puzzle at (332). It's a very interesting formula, to match sci-fi and fantasy in a story and even though I feel that there's a lot to evolve, there's also a lot to explore, my rating here represents the potencial for the story to continue and get better because it has that potencial!!In book 1 Hozark had to complete a mission, and for that, he required a legendary Vespus Blade, and that was basically the plot of book 1, him hunting down and getting the blade and completing his mission. When the death of a key enemy commander, rogue psyker, or vile demagogue would avert potential disaster for the Imperium, the High Lords of Terra authorise the use of their most deadly weapons: Imperial Assassins. Drawn from several diverse temples and possessed of skills far beyond the capabilities of ordinary humans, the assassins are trained to succeed against even the deadliest of foes. They will complete their mission, no matter the cost.

There was far more at play than was apparent on the surface and Hozark would require all of his wits and skill to get to the bottom of it. And he most surely intended to do just that, no matter how high the body count. He just hoped to do so before more of his kin fell victim to the nefarious plot. The main focus of this story is that Hozark is to assassinate this Emmik, but to do so, he is going to have to get past the guards of the Emmik, and if intel is correct, one of those protecting the Emmik is a former Wampeh Ghalian, who carries a formidable weapon, one that can only be used properly by a Wampeh Ghalian – A Vespus Blade. It disappointed me that for a space story (where there are endless worlds) there should be endless diversity, and there just wasn’t. All the main characters were humanoid, bipedal, English speaking, eyes forward, blood bleeders. There was the occasional nod to other species, but they tended to be beasts of burden or monsters or wallpaper species.Space Assassins is set in a magical universe. This team of assassins accept a contract and set off on a magical adventure full of twists and turns. They are skilled in magic and armed with the most powerful blade of all. The Interstellar Slayer by Scott Baron is a short first book in a 5 book series called Space Assassins, that follows, Hozark, a man who is one of the finest assassins the galaxy has known. I really enjoyed diving into this very rich world with so much potential to build an epic story on. The characters we were introduced to are quite straight forward and there is not too much character growth happening, but then again this is only a very short book that introduced us to this world. I expect that the author is fully capable of writing great development across the rest of the series. Mr. Baron has a created a main character that is an assassin who appears to be powerful and overcomes any obstacle he faces to complete the assassination. As I read the story, I did not feel the main character was not facing any adversity and there did not seem to be any real stakes or danger. I thought the other characters featured are flat and not fully fleshed out and realized.