I wonder what it says about the world we live in that fictional assassins are now often shown as the good guys? Perhaps it speaks to our feelings of being powerless and unable to influence our leaders, elected or otherwise? Perhaps we admire their skill set, as long as it’s not being pointed at us or ours? Perhaps we just don’t trust square-jawed, toe-the-line heroes any more?

Whatever it is, I’ve decided to take a close look for myself this week. I’ve picked two books that kick off trilogies about assassins. One is American, came out this year and is set in China Town in an alternative modern San Francisco. One is English, came out five years ago and features an assassin in a fantasy kingdom who is tasked with saving a life.

I’m hoping that both fantasies will transport me to worlds where assassins can be good guys who I can cheer for.

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‘Ebony Gate’ by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle (2023)

‘Ebony Gate‘ is the first book in the ‘Phoenix Hoard‘ trilogy which will also include ‘Blood Jade‘ and ‘Tiger Eye‘.

According to TOR.COM the authors, Julia Lee and Ken Debelle, said this about the book:

“We love contemporary fantasy and we wanted to read a fantasy with East Asian monsters and myths. So we wrote Ebony Gate, a love letter to San Francisco highlighting one woman’s journey to find her place in the world. This is the core of our Asian diaspora experience, only in Emiko’s case, it’s a magical diaspora”

Editorial Director, Claire Eddy, pitched it like this:

“We’ve got a female John Wick in a San Francisco Chinatown filled with dragon magic. A retired assassin wanting nothing more to do with death—who is then dragged into a deal with a death god because a gate to hell has been torn open. It’s gritty and empowering, and at its heart is a commercial freight train of action and adventure centering an amazing heroine and a unique Asian magical system.”

Those pitches plus the gorgeous cover, were enough to get me to give the book a try (although I’m hoping for more plot and more character development than I’ve ever seen in a John Wick movie).

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Julia Vee likes stories about monsters, money, and good food. Julia was born in Macao and grew up in Northern California, where she studied at UC Berkeley and majored in Asian Studies. She is a graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop.

Ken Bebelle turned his childhood love for reading sci-fi and fantasy into a career in prosthetics. After twenty years he came back to books, writing about plucky underdogs and ancient magical artifacts with deadly secrets. He grew up in northern California and now lives in southern California with his wife, two kids, and too many tomato plants.

Ken and Julia have written together since middle school. They work collectively as Sixth Moon Press, independently publishing their Military SF novels ‘Cold War: Alien Storm‘ and ‘Cold War: Alien Exile‘

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‘Age Of Assassins’ by R J Barker (2017)

I’d been thinking about reading RJ Barker’s most recent books, the ‘Tide Child Trilogy’: ‘The Bone Ships‘, ‘Call of the Bone Ships‘ and ‘The Bone Ships Wake‘, which have made quite a splash but I decided, in my slightly over-structured way, that it would be better to start with his first trilogy ‘The Wounded Kingdom‘ which starts with ‘Age Of Assassins‘ and also includes ‘Blood Of Assassins‘ and ‘King Of Assassins‘

‘Age Of Assassins‘ looks like a fairly conventional fantasy setting but with some unconventional characters and motivations. I’m hoping for something with a distinctive, gritty, English feel to it.

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