3.5 stars

Really fun book. The narrator's voice for Chevron bugged me throughout the book, but maybe it was his attempt at doing a Native American accent. The rest of the narration was quite good, and I enjoyed it. ( )

Riley is an orphan apprentice to Garrick, the greatest assassin of 1898. When Riley is finally old enough to murder someone himself, he can’t do it. But this man was not just any other victim of Albert Garrick, this man was from 100 years in the future. He was a time traveler, back in 1898 to witness an event. So when he wakes up, in a desperate attempt to escape the assassin he tries to to the future. This was a bad choice. Because right then Albert uses Riley’s hand to kill the man. And Riley is sucked into the future to a whole new adventure. What he finds there will stay in the book.

This was an enjoyable book with a good journey. I liked how I felt like was there with Riley that was fun. But this is definitely a book for 13+ people. Had a measurable amount of gore. But it was fine. It was a good book and I had fun reading it. It’s one of those books that has you glued from the start. But it was completely fine if you are mature enough. I really liked this book, and if you are 13+ you should read it too. ( )

The Reluctant Assassin is entertaining. The story follows unlikely pair Riley and Chevie, one a waif from Victorian England, the other an American teen who is the product of a decommissioned FBI taskforce. When Riley falls through a time tunnel, the pair struggle to escape a mad assassin and set things right in the present and history alike. It's a bit of a mad runabout, with the purpose falling away until it seems like the books will never end. It's entertaining, but altogether, it's a bit pointless.

The characters were fine, although there were moments that made me a bit uncomfortable. Chevie is Native American, when the pair travelled back in time, the story was rife with racial slurs. While, yes, these were period appropriate, I think they were unnecessary. I think Chevie and her surroundings could have been better adapted, especially considering this is a middle grade novel?

However, the writing style was very true to Colfer's original. It was light and fast-paced and funny when I didn't expect it to be funny. I didn't completely dislike the book - there were moments where it was perfectly entertaining! But The Reluctant Assassin feels like more of a library book than a buyer for me. Then again, I am many years older than the target audience, and I can see middle schoolers finding this particularly amusing. But it was a little off center for my tastes.

Generally speaking, I'd say that while I wouldn't necessarily recommend The Reluctant Assassin, I still recommend Eoin Colfer, and any fan should try out this series and see if they enjoy it. :) But I'd start with Artemis Fowl or The Supernaturalist. ( )

[review written 2013]

wow!!! i really like eoin colfer’s books. ive read several of his other ones and i really like this one.

so i’ve been a fan of artemis fowl since sixth grade so that’s like … five years now? and WARP: the reluctant assassin reminded me of artemis fowl, especially the time paradox. but then again it deals with time travel just like the time paradox did.

now this book was a lot darker than artemis fowl or the supernaturalist was which is why i kept seeing it in the teen section rather than the young adult. there’s more violence and a tad more cursing than i’ve seen the artemis fowl series. but it was cool. and chevie was seventeen.

and oh my god i liked chevie. like. what a smartass. i liked her a lot and her backstory. riley was pretty cool too i liked him a lot. like. okay, it’s not artemis-fowl level snark, but the snark is there. (artemis fowl is one of the snarkier series. if you don’t snark in artemis fowl, you’re probably incompetent and unimportant. rick riordan and john flanagan are quite snarky too. i enjoy snark a lot.)

so yeah! and the plot was good - garrick was completely off his rocker and he was a good antagonist wow. i am definitely waiting for the next book, because i really do like eoin colfer as an author

(and hopefully i can get rid of my artemis fowl parallels to because like there is age difference between the girl and the boy and also a bit of a romance hint too god i need to go read artemis fowl again) ( )

Unusual concept, good characters, quite a bit of blood (which kept my son interested). Will seek out the next one. ( )