Assassins' Dawn, by Stephen Leigh

Three books in one, the blurb on the back described "a guild of assassins, whose single law is that the victim must always retain a tiny but finite chance of escape." This struck my fancy, so I grabbed it and started reading. Assassins' Dawn depicts a fascinating universe with three warring cultures: one hidebound and stagnant, one militaristic and xenophobic, and one capitalist at any cost. What starts as the story of a group of people pulling themselves up out of the mire over the course of the novels becomes the story of the latter two societies warring over the dying third. Unfortunately, the drama drags on and on and never really lives up to the early promise. With a strong start and a depressing finish, this is an okay read but hard to truly recommend.

First Sentence:

Pause.