Author Interview with Claudia Blood + Book Review

Welcome to the May 11th stop on the blog tour for Company Assassin by Claudia Blood, organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts & interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Interview

What is the sweetest thing someone has done for you?

My hubby realised I was having a bad day and got me a chai latte and flowers.

How would you spend ten thousand bucks?

I love the idea of helping people with that money. So supporting artists on kickstarter is appealing. I’d also give money to schools. I support via DonorsChoose.org.

If I had any left over, I’d buy books.

Where do you get your best ideas?

Walking the dog or daydreams or if I get really good sleep, dreams.

What comes first, the plot or characters?

I get a scene in my head and wonder why and how the characters got to where they were.

This series was inspired by a dream about the second book.

The scene opened with a team hacking through the jungle and uncovering this ancient ruin. They were desperately looking for Relics. (whatever that was)

Then inside was an alien machine. Rocks and dust fell down on them as they moved into the room. They put a silver pocket watch on a platform and turned on the machine.

Lights and electricity coalesced on a platform and the whole structure shook. But they stayed inside because they were desperate for one of these Relics.

What appeared on the platform? An ’80’s aerobic instructor who had been pulled forward in time. She was even wearing leg warmers!

I thought wow, I have to figure out what happened!

What does your main character do that makes him/her special.

Duff was persistent and developed skills with electronics to make himself more marketable to the Families and to odd jobs to keep the orphanage afloat. He spent his extra money trying to make up for the shortfalls the company left the orphanage with.

About the Book

Company Assassin
Relic Book One
by Claudia Blood

Published 15 January 2021
Dragon Bane Publishing

Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 208
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

It’s Duff Roman’s eighteenth birthday, but no one is lighting candles.

Turning eighteen in the orphanage on Kalecca means starvation for those who aren’t hired into a Family. Outside the Family compounds lies the jungle. And in the jungle lies death. And Relics—the only real currency on Planet Kalecca.

The orphans are Duff’s family, and he’s sacrificed everything to keep the orphanage running, even his chance to move on. Now, at eighteen, he has no choice but to leave. Without him to bring in extra money, the orphans will starve under the Company’s control. Duff’s only chance to save them is to find a spot on an independent crew and hopefully find a Relic to sell.

A seemingly chance encounter with Z, leader of the most feared independent crew, offers Duff his opportunity to score a Relic. And offers Z a chance to relieve the guilt he feels over his past.

But a company assassin has plans to lay waste to Duff’s future, and the orphanage as well.

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Books2Read: Book 2 | Book 3

Excerpt

Z from Chapter 10

Z took a small sip of the best whiskey they had at the Inn. It burned the back of his throat. He stood as if he didn’t care that he was the only freelancer in the place. He stood as if he’d only come here to enjoy some whiskey. It was good. It left a sweet smoky taste in his mouth. But he was here to gather information and to sort out a few things before going back into the jungle.

He’d gotten good at watching a room without seeming to. The Families had finally calmed down enough to resume the conversations that had stopped when he’d walked in.

They all recognized him as an ex-company man. The first time he’d come in here, there’d been bets on how long before he ended up dead. No one knew that he had something over Ravenne, which made him harder for her to kill. Not impossible, just harder.

He took another sip of the whiskey and closed his eyes as if he was just enjoying a drink. That allowed him to focus his senses on the conversations. No one was talking about the orphanage or Duff. They’d been long forgotten. There seemed to be a general unease in the room. Too many high ranked Family men were here. Odds were good they would meet in secret later. There was definitely something going on.

He’d also noticed that there seemed to be less Relics in the normal spots and that the company was paying a bit less. That would be a troublesome trend.

My Review

My Rating: 5 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads.

I was granted complimentary access to Company Assassin for review purposes as part of my participation in a blog tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Danger is everywhere on the planet Kalecca, and that fact goes double (at least) for orphans. Duff is one of those orphans, and as a newly 18 year old, his time in the orphanage just ran out. Will he be accepted to join a family? Will he be invited to join a crew? Can he find a job that pays enough to live AND continue to support the orphanage?

The dark world-building in this book is fantastically immersive and full of completely unique enemies and snares that I’ve never read in fantasy books before. If you like dark fantasy or urban fantasy and you’re on the hunt for something totally different, read this! I read this book in one sitting, and I don’t regret the lost hours of sleep it took to get it done, because I absolutely could not put it down.

Crews are hunting relics, which are objects from the past. The Company buys those relics. Seers read those relics. Crews and The Company alike employ assassins, and every Z-Crew assassin has always been an orphan aged out of the orphanage. Demons and other creatures are prowling just out of reach around every corner, and any dwelling left unprotected and wards and alarms and a completely intact perimeter are vulnerable to attack by nearly immortal demons. Orphanages are run by their own elder youth residents. The current mistress of Duff’s now-former orphanage is harbouring a secret: her blood contains nanites, and her touch can be (accidentally) deadly.

What an amazing set-up for a trilogy! I feel the need to dive right into book two, but alas I don’t have it yet, so instead I’ll fulfil my tour duties, write this review urging everyone else to read this book, and then finally put myself to bed. (Likely to dream of girls with purple nanite fingernails and an old woman in a rocking chair where a childhood bedroom should have been.)

About the Author

Claudia Blood’s early introduction to Dungeons and Dragons, combined with her training as a scientist and a side trip into the world of IT set her up to become an award-winning author of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

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