Review: YA Fantasy with a message of hope & forgiveness
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2013
Cintani Bird - Search for the Assassin by J. L. Cash is a YA fantasy with a religious message of hope and forgiveness.  The story begins with Lucca and Sophia exploring a forbidden tower and Lucca telling Sophia the secret stories that his grandfather had told him.  Neither of them believe the stories until they are forced to accept them as true and go on an exciting adventure.From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I was intrigued.  What is a Cintani Bird? I saw the picture on the ring but I wanted to know more.  What do the red eyes in the darkness represent?  The darkness against the goldtones made me think of good and evil.  As I read the book, the meaning of the cover became clear and my initial questions were answered.The book was well-written and obviously edited.  I didn't find a lot of grammar or spelling errors.  The plot was interesting and the story line moved quickly and flowed smoothly from one event to another.  The poems that were written as verses from The One Book were beautiful and definitely added to the story.  While the main focus was on Lucca, the author did at times shift between Lucca and Balin, the assassin, so that the reader was aware of both sides of the conflict.Lucca was a wonderful character.  Caring and brave, but humble and unsure of his role.  He wasn't sure if he was meant to be the hero, but he had faith and he trusted that Elyan and his words in the book.  Aldo was one of my favorite characters.  A fisherman friend of Lucca's he was outspoken but trustworthy and kindhearted.  Balin seemed so evil, until I read about Rajir and I released the hold that the demon had on Balin.  Rajir was definitely the personification of evil - there was nothing good about him.The ending of this book was a little surprising and really captured the idea of forgiveness and a new chance in life.  The message of hope and forgiveness made this an uplifting story.