The development of her character as she goes on her quest was much more satisfying to me than reading about Lavinia in the previous book, who was already a full-fledged Master. In addition to a series of assassination assignments, Aselin must also find an antidote for hemlock in order to prove to the Guild that she deserves the title of Master Poison Assassin.
The nobles that hire Aselin’s services are more than happy to pay for her to murder their rivals, but they also do not care one bit about Aselin and would gladly sacrifice her in order to save their own skins. Proving that she is a capable poisoner is difficult enough, but she is also a woman in a man’s (Tudor) world, so must learn to survive with more than just her assassin skills. Now that Lavinia is dead, Aselin has to show her worth, both to herself and to the Guild of Poison Assassins. In Apricots and Wolfsbane, Aselin was just an apprentice, picking up knowledge from her master Lavinia. After the shocking end to Apricots and Wolfsbane, it was interesting to pick up the story from Aselin’s point of view. And poison is a woman’s weapon, after all. So this time I was a bit more used to the idea that the main character of the story was an assassin. The previous book by KM Pohlkamp, Apricots and Wolfsbane, introduced me to the shady Tudor world of death by poison. The intrigue continues with Aselin in Shadows of Hemlock To save herself from her master’s fate, Aselin must navigate a growing list of debtors eager to toss her aside and confront her guilt in this fast-paced tale of growth and redemption in Tudor England. Unprepared for the independence she craved, Aselin is forced to seek aid from a fickle contact who wants only one means of payment: a ruby ring with a mare’s head. But the Guild of poison assassins will not be so easily pacified and charge Aselin to develop an antidote as retribution of her betrayal.
Shelter from her master’s crimes comes with an unwanted allegiance and a list of innocents to murder. In a desperate grasp for prestige, Aselin Gavrell betrayed her master to the execution block for the advantage of the onyx pendant now around her neck.
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