[hawkeyye]

Seems all the assassin books I read, the main character is near perfect, a ninja, able to take on any task or situation, able to kill men by the score. That's neat and all but not really what I'm after. It's too "Mary sue-ish." Just read Shadow's Son, and the dude can basically turn invisible and has a ghost partner that can move through walls and warn him about threats. Nah.

I want something gritty, someone who gets down and dirty, but is very imperfect. A character like Dogman from the Abercrombie books. Barely gets by, almost dies every time. Only succeeds with superior planning and often relies on the help of others. Gets wounded often. Fails at times. Maybe doesn't like the work, but just trying to survive or exact revenge. Get the gist?

Any recommendations would be appreciated...

ps, I have not read the Night Angel books, let me know if those would fit the bill...

[PeterWilliam]

ps, I have not read the Night Angel books, let me know if those would fit the bill...

Unfortunately, I don't have any recommendations, which includes the Night Angel books. Those definitely would NOT fit the description you gave in the opening post.

[jackal912]

I think the Night Angel books were considerably better, though. Shadow's Son guy was a bit too Mary Sue-ish without being particularly interesting.. Night Angel people seemed a lot more fleshed out (with much more interesting personalities), and, to be honest, 'cool', (Hey, it counts for something :P) even though they were amazingperfect at their profession in the way he hates (though, admittedly, magic plays a lot into this).

Shadow's Son was sorta generic for me and I never really felt much attachment to the characters or plot, and lots of little things didn't add up (like the minor villain who keeps on surviving.. over and over and over and over and over things which no one would have any way of surviving and in fact killed everyone with him, with no magical traits or assistance or even being very badass in a non-magical sense.)

[Bastard]

Best I can think of at the moment is Vlad Taltos.

[jackal912]

Vlad Taltos is actually very appropriate, in retrospect.

If you haven't yet, (considering how much praise of her is being thrown around, here :P), you might also try Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice" which can certainly be gritty and gloomy, though it has a lot of traits of more traditional 'epic fantasy' as well, with the 'assassin' part becoming less important over time, and doesn't delve into abercrombie/ice and fire levels of grimdark (Which is good, IMHO.. That kind of grittiness is not always appropriate).

[MarcusTenser]

"The Legend of Nightfall" and its sequel by Mickey Zucker Reichert feature a guy who is supposedly the World's Greatest Assassin(tm), but who ends up ludicrously hamstrung by his situation. Come to think of it, he doesn't actually assassinate more than a few people over the course of the two (lengthy) novels, and ends up getting creamed fairly regularly for his pains. Nothing too dense there, but enjoyable popcorn.

For my money, the best 'assassin' in recent fantasy fic is the boy protagonist of Terry Pratchett's "Pyramids."

- Aaron

[Donteb84]

I was thinking Farseer Trilogy(Assassins Apprentice), but it might not have enough "cool assassin" stuff. He is definitely NOT perfect, lots of things go horrible in his life...lots.

[Roy Ryders]

Try Malazan, there're some cool assassin dudes there

[Alex]

I was thinking Farseer Trilogy(Assassins Apprentice), but it might not have enough "cool assassin" stuff. He is definitely NOT perfect, lots of things go horrible in his life...lots.

I'll second this one with a bit of reservation. It's a very mature series (don't confuse this with booring!!) and it's one of my all time favourite series. The series is completely heartwrenching at times and the main character (the assassin) is superb=)

[Donteb84]

I'll second this one with a bit of reservation. It's a very mature series (don't confuse this with booring!!) and it's one of my all time favourite series. The series is completely heartwrenching at times and the main character (the assassin) is superb=)

So very heartwrenching, I love thinking about how young and innocent he is in book 1, and what he has gone through by book 3 and I almost get teary eyed.