The worldbuilding is a very interesting mix of SF and fantasy. Vampire space assassins, a legendary blade and magic. Sadly, we don't see much of the worldbuilding. It's all tell, no show and feels we're missing a book of backstory.
The writing is so bad I thought surely this must be the first work of the author - and then I looked him up and saw that he has published a bunch of books. This here could have profited from a lot more editing. Neither the plot or characters could convince me. The plot was simple, almost child, the characters are one-dimensional.
The story has potential, but the execution is terrible.science-fiction-fantasy vampire8 s Sibil1,496 69

2.5 stars
Thanks to the Editor and BookSirens. I received this book in exchange for an honest review

Assassins in Space and spatial dragons. What could go wrong?  I am glad you asked. First thing first, it is simply too much. The length of the book and the content of the book did not match. We have a very rich and complex world-building but we don't get to explore it. At all. We are thrown in there and the author dumps on us the info he deems necessary to understand what is happening. But he didn't show us his world. And it is a shame, because... Dragons! But dragons aside (even if he managed to make something with dragons... In space... A spatial bore! And I cannot forgive him!) we really have a complex world, inhabited by a ton of different races. But we are just said what we need and we are pushed onward. It is such a waste. And I had a really hard time figuring out what was what because we don't have time to immerse ourselves. We had so much potential in there, and seeing it go to waste was just annoying. But I could have closed an eye there (dragons! In space! And assassins! But boring... Ok, maybe not. How dare you??)Anyway, let's get going because I am not done, sigh! The characters are the most boring ever! Let me see... We have an assassin (and then we have two, but this is another story), a pirate in space and his new copilot that seems quite the roguish tipe. So, this trio should have been an amazing trio! I was there, waiting for funny things to happens because... Come on! How could they not! Maybe witty retorts. Banter here and there. But do you know what we get? Exactly! None of those. And we have also a wise old swordsmith (in space!) and a renegade assassin. It has to count for something right?? Wrong. Nothing special, again! And don't get me started on the dialogues. Plain. Boring. Bidimensional. Sometimes they made me cringe. Ow, come one!! Plotwise is really fast-paced, maybe too much. Usually, I would have been happy to see a fast-paced plot, a lot of action, fights, and intrigues. But here we have a heavy underline of political intrigues, but... But we are just told they are there. And that's it. Nothing more. On one hand, I have to admire him, because he came out with a magnificent idea, and managed to make it boring. I wasn't invested in the story. I wasn't invested in the characters. And the writing wasn't the best either. He did a very subtle thing with the voices of his characters: usually, we don't "hear" them, because it is a 3rd person, external narrator. But here and there he throws in a sentence that brings the focus on one of the characters. Without rhyme or reason.I complained a lot (because again! Dragons! And assassins! In space! Pirates! Old wise swordsmith! This is the opposite of boring!!) but I think that the main problem is the length (or lack of) of the book. There is simply too much and the author didn't manage to balance all in the right way. I was sooo looking forward to this series, but our journey together ends here. readtoreview7 s Jason916

In most cases, when you read a book, you are going for the good guy, we all love a story of the Hero (gender neutral term) saving the day. But what happens when it isn’t about the Hero saving the day? What about when it is about an Assassin sneaking in to take out someone (Well, multiple someone’s, since generally there are multiple guards at the location who all have to die first for the Assassin to reach their Target, or on the way back out!)
This is the story of one such Assassin, and the Race/Order that he belongs to. This Race is known as Wampeh, and as a general rule, their race is fairly common, a pale race with dark hair. But our main character is a Wampeh Ghalian, which are only ‘a fraction of a fraction’ of the Wampeh, and have unique gifts. They have a rare anomaly of magical potential that allows them to steal another’s magic, but only by drinking their blood – in a sense, the Wampeh Ghalian are Vampire Assassins, with the ability to use magic. Over thousands of years, they have refined their skills, abilities, and craft, to become the most feared Assassins in all the known Galaxy. If you find out that you have a Ghalian after you, you might as well just give up, it will just be easier on you.
This is an epic story, and the world building is truly masterful. There is just so much detail that has gone into the background of the Ghalian’s, their Guild, how everything comes together, their magical abilities, weapons, magic items, and then there is the magical abilities of others.
In this first book, we are introduced to Hozark, a Master in the Ghalian Order, who has been set a task. He has to assassinate a Political figure known as an Emmik (they hold this title as this is a rank that has been earned and means the holder has significant power and magical ability. They work for an organisation called ‘The Council of Twenty’, which is the ruling body for the Galaxy, but is also very corrupt.
The Wampeh Ghalian do not take sides in confrontation or war, although several times it is referenced that due to the Councils overwhelming corruption, the Ghalian’s have been known to act against the Council, work for less etc, to disrupt Council plans, as they see the Council as a corrupt entity that should not exist.
The main focus of this story is that Hozark is to assassinate this Emmik, but to do so, he is going to have to get past the guards of the Emmik, and if intel is correct, one of those protecting the Emmik is a former Wampeh Ghalian, who carries a formidable weapon, one that can only be used properly by a Wampeh Ghalian – A Vespus Blade.
When a Wampeh Ghalian uses their special ability, and feeds upon someone with Magic, drinking their blood, they take this magic, and they can pass it to the sword, imbuing the sword with power.
I don’t want to go into huge detail and give away too many spoilers, but let’s just say it makes them even more lethal.
As such, part of this story becomes about Hozark finding his own Vespus Blade, and this is no easy feat, as there are very few left who can create such amazing weapons.
As I said previously, the world building is just incredibly in-depth, but rather than being overwhelming, or losing you (as it can do in some books where there is just too much information), in this case, you find you get totally absorbed in it, and just want more. It is utterly fascinating, this world of assassins, and with each new revelation, several more doors open into this wonderous world.
The Character work is just outstanding. Hozark, as the Wampeh Ghalian – the master Assassin, is brilliant. The captivating way in which he engages with his world is totally enthralling, and you find yourself glued to the book, unable to pull away. Hozark travels with a small crew, a pilot ‘Bud’, who helps him on missions, he is just hilarious. He is not a Ghalian, but having worked with Hozark, knows all about them. He has a co-pilot Laskar, who is a gifted pilot (the only reason they keep him around), but he has the common sense of a dead rat. The dialogue between Bud and Laskar is a comedy routine at times, and keeps you laughing. There are some other characters, but I won’t discuss them so as to not give away spoilers.
As a Space Opera/Mil Sci-Fi, this is just an exceptional story, with fast paced action, intense combat scenes that are masterfully described (the sword-fighting scenes are just beautifully choreographed, and read so well). There is clever dialogue that compliments a creative, well thought out storyline, that keeps you both enthralled and guessing.
If you love a good story, doesn’t matter the genre, you will this – and seriously – ‘MAGICAL VAMPIRE ASSASSINS!!!’, do I have to say anything else??4 s Joanne, drinker of tea, reader of books, servant to cats108 4

Thank you to BookSirens for a free copy of this book. An honest review follows.

Vampire assasins in space. Space faring vampire assasins with magic.

An intriguing concept for a book, and the book blurb had me wanting to know more.

Our protagonist Hozark is a master of the feared Wampah Ghalian vampire assassins, who we meet while he is supervising a job. His graduating student is not succesful, but Horzark completes the job and returns to base. On arrival, he is told an important job has arisen, and he is the only one who can complete it.

It involves seeking a vespus blade (the most powerful sword of the Ghalians that stores and channels magical power), and dealing with someone the assassins thought was dead.

Given the number of books the author has written and published, I was expecting a polished and well honed plot, and well developed characters.

I really struggled to get engaged with this book.

Imagine if you will, tuning into a science fiction series halfway through episode 4 in season 2, where season 1 is when all of the relationships have been developed, high jinks have been had, histories are given, galaxy described etc etc, and you are trying to work out who, what, where, and why.

When reading the first chapter I had to check that I was indeed reading the first book as I felt I was missing all the back story. But, I thought, perhaps this was just a clunky start, and the next chapter would lay out the why's and who's and where's. But no, the back story never really arrived.

What snippets there were, arrived in dribs (no drabs, just dribs), and were only to further the next few pages of text.

The characters were one dimensional, and attempts at humourous interplay and comic side comments fell flat, or were distinctly high school cafeteria level.

The book required much better editing, and a thesaurus. The writing was distinctly clunky, and repeated statements abounded.fantasy fiction reviewed4 s Eileen2,192 108

4/27/24
I'm going back and listening to these on audio and so far I'm enjoying it. A few words I was pronouncing differently in my head, but overall, it's a good narration and I'm enjoying going back to the beginning. I just finished the Book of Bawb, and I'm waiting for the next one to come out so I thought I'd revisit this original Space Assassins series.

Original Review:
A novella that was an interesting introduction to a 5-book series (I think). The feel of the story was kind of an RPG for me, and I found the magic system to be really interesting. The main character (at least in this book) is Hozark, a man who was plucked from a very harsh planet as a boy and trained to be a master assassin. When things go completely sideways during a job, he needs to regroup and figure out what is going on. This was a short first book, so you're introduced to some of the various factions and types of magic users and animals, but I suspect we'll find out more as we move further into the series. I d his longtime friend and ex-space pirate and hope he'll be around for the rest of the series. His friend's partner was a bit obnoxious, but I suspect that was deliberate. I have never heard of this author or series before I found it on BookSirens as a recommendation based on my past , and I'm really glad I came across it. This was a relatively quick read, but I'm glad to see that the next book is normal novel length. I am definitely interested in seeing where this is going to go!

I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.2021 2021-ng-group-challenge 2021genrechallenge ...more3 s Eloise182 39

The Interstellar Slayer is a Space-Fantasy romp that, unfortunately, left me wanting. The standout concept of "Vampire Assassins In Space" and thrilling prologue made my expectations skyrocket, and the novella couldn't quite live up to them.

There's a clean, sparse, quality to Baron's writing, excellent for avoiding info-dumps and speeding along a plot. There was just enough information on the new universe I found myself in to find-my-feet as a fantasy-bricks-worth of assassin-on-high-takes-job/revenge-quest-plot was stuffed into a novella. The downside to this is that the action and character work were also fairly sparse. I'm a very visual reader and really struggled to "see" the fight scenes, which were so central. I also either some complex characters or a bit of banter, and outside the lead the characterisation felt very perfunctory and dialogue could be a bit one-note. At times I could imagine the "comic-relief-character says something funny here" draft notes as I read.

On the whole if "Vampire Assassins In Space!" sounds your thing this should be an entertaining read. I'll probably try the next book and see if a higher word count fixes the niggles that made this just not click for me.

I received a free copy via Booksirens and am voluntarily leaving an honest review
_fiction fantasy reviewed ...more3 s Spire Metro362 8

Simply put this book is fun in a brutal action sort of way. (There is a Mass Market Edition available now.)

The author did well to craft a back story of the protagonist, expansive world, and narrative plot in such a short novel. It comes off as a delectable appetizer for a hopefully fullying series.

Although prejudice would lead to believe that this book is Assassin Creed in space. A more apt synopsis may be a turned Harry Dresden joined Red Rising's Howlers.

I recommend this book and I will continue the series.own science-fiction3 s Baird Carr23

Same universe as the Dragon Mage Series, you get to follow around a new Wampeh assassin. A very entertaining and worthwhile read3 s M.R. Pin143 3

Assassin's Creed in Space??

That was the vibe I first got so sorry in advance, no intended to be taken literal here!!

First of all, thank you BookSirens and Scott Baron for the opportunity to read and review this work!!

The Interstellar Slayer introduces us to a world where the science in science fiction is more or less replaced with magic! The universe has magic and projects magic all around!! Characters themselves have little to no magic, having to resource to devices that'll give them the powers!!

In a way I didn't this idea, because in some sections you feel there was an afterthought and the author did a "magic did it!" to save it... But that's not a common occurrence!!

There's a huge world of wich we only see a fraction but we follow Hozark, an assassin, and one of the deadliest of them all!! We create some empathy with him, even knowing him to be fearless and emotionless (on purpose)!! The main character is deeper than the rest of them, but being such a short book I didn't expect a lot of character development outside the main ones!!

The narrative, other than the situations stated above, is very interesting and it keeps up with the pace of the story, wich is FAST!! The dialogues are very straight forward and knowing the main character along the book you accept it as part of him and not a problem with the writing itself!!

Downside?? Well there were, supposedly space dragons and we saw none, that was a major downside.... Just kidding, but I hope to see space dragons next!!

It's a very interesting formula, to match sci-fi and fantasy in a story and even though I feel that there's a lot to evolve, there's also a lot to explore, my rating here represents the potencial for the story to continue and get better because it has that potencial!!

This e-book was freely given to me through BookSirens in exchange for an honest review!! 2 s Hayley ChowAuthor 9 books104

The Interstellar Slayer is a fun science fantasy adventure that takes us into a thoroughly interesting and detailed universe. In a way it reminded me a lot of The Mandalorian in the way that the story follows this rather taciturn assassin as he navigates through this rich new universe on a mission from his guild. There's plenty of action to show off his interesting, magic- abilities that make him so effectively deadly, and we also got a glimpse of some colorful side characters and lore which I'm sure get more facetime in future books. Honestly, the only criticism I have this book is that it packs of lot of info into such a short book, but with lots of sequels to follow, there's still so much to explore and see through Hozark's adventures. Definitely recommend for anyone looking for a fun new space-fantasy world to explore with a fresh new magic system and lots of action. (4.5/5)

Thanks so much to Booksirens for the free ARC!2 s CC Sanders258 38

Lately I am really in the mood for a good SciFi story. Coming from reading a lot of Fantasy I was able to find quiet a few fun Space Operas, but nothing that really screamed Science Fiction Fantasy that I loved.
This book might have answered that call.
The Interstellar Slayer had everything a good fantasy story needs for me: interesting magic system, interesting races, political construct, revolution, intrigue, coup d'é·tat, assassins (a whole freakin shapeshifting assassin-species!), swords - and swords wih special powers. What made it amazing is to bring all of this into an intriguing SciFi setting with different planets, space travel, different species and interplanetary politics.

I really enjoyed diving into this very rich world with so much potential to build an epic story on. The characters we were introduced to are quite straight forward and there is not too much character growth happening, but then again this is only a very short book that introduced us to this world. I expect that the author is fully capable of writing great development across the rest of the series.
The only caveat I have is that again - this book is very short and for these few pages, we might have been introduced to a bit much within this world. The author was able to not make it too info-dumpey but the downside to that was that for the first half of the book it took me quite long to start to understand everything. I was at times struggling between understanding if we are talking about a planet or a person since all the names and descriptions are so unfamiliar and names have such a similar structure that it was hard to tell it all apart. I believe that as soon as you understand the world and who is who, this will not be an issue anymore. But I would have appreciated to be introduced into this world a little slower.

If you enjoy coup d'é·tat stories and power struggles and sword and sorcery action in a slightly space-y setting, this book definitely is for you.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This book will be included in my biweekly reading wrap up on my YouTube channel that will be published on March 19th.

See my thoughts in my March Reading Wrap Up #1 : https://youtu.be/sEGcZO7pYak2 s Leslie Wiederspan224 1 follower

What a wonderful addition to the Charlie and Daisy stories! Yes, one can read this book without reading the other 14, but why would one want to? This is more of a backstory with an "ah ha!" moment. Still, wonderfully written and hard to put down. I highly recommend reading this book/series.2 s Lori Peterson986 21

Received as a review copy from Booksirens (2020), this is an honest review. Hozark has spent his entire life enduring the rigorous training it takes to become an expert Ghalian assassin. Wielding a complex set of magic spells and deftly used swordsmanship, Hozark sets off across the galaxy to accomplish the contract his has been called to complete. From the first page to the last, this story is beautifully crafted, balanced with elements of the genres meshed together that will keep you engaged as the epic journey unfolds. A very exciting series beginning with The Interstellar Slayer, highly recommended.2 s Louis C217 7

Thanks to the Editor and BookSirens. I received this book in exchange for an honest review so here we go!


The Interstellar Slayer by Scott Baron is a short first book in a 5 book series called Space Assassins, that follows, Hozark, a man who is one of the finest assassins the galaxy has known.

And I don’t know what to think of him.

I feel the book is what I needed. It was short, action packed and fast paces, something that I definitely wanted to read after a few slower and bigger books. However, and this is what I find with most assassins books, the characters are so skilled. They know so much, they know how to handle every situation, and they get to handle the situation (almost)perfect. That, and most of the time the writer tells more about how amazing their assassin character is without actually showing it. Put that together with magic users, and well, it can feel the characters are overpowered sometimes.

This book kind of follows under it. There is this balance, we have the start where stuff doesn’t go as planned and there are some chapters of Hozark when he was young and just started training, which I did to read about. He sure is an interesting character, does what he needs to do, ha some inner conflicts, and an angsty past which is always a plus for me.

Speaking of characters, I did the rest of the cast. Some characters stayed there the entire book and some got introduced halfway, but they never felt too flat and got some cool history themselves (as individual as well as tied to Hozark), which I would love to read about. The main thing that does itch me a bit, are the ‘villains’, since I didn’t get much about them, but then again, it was a short book and it might be for a reason, which I believe it is.

This book is a great start of a series that I feel wouldn’t drag too much (the danger of a long-ish series for sure) and I do think I’ll continue reading about it. It is also great for anyone who is looking for a book that mixes science fiction and fantasy together, but isn’t too hard to understand.3-star-books e-arcs1 Warring Wings165 6

Vampire(-ish) Assassins. In Space. With Magic. What more could you want?

For someone who doesn't read short stories/novellas often, this book was surprisingly captivating. An amazing world building, interesting characters and action packed, fast paced plot.

We follow Hozark, one of the five masters (we are told this quite repeatedly
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