When Merrith was growing up there was never any question that she would apprentice to the Murderers' Guild. After all both her parents and her grandparents had been murderers. But although she found some aspects of the training easy – she was very good at booby traps and creeping somehow, when it came to actually killing someone she just couldn't do it.

So when Merrith is told that she has been named in one of Salmina's prophecies and that she was destined to save Quentaris she wonders if they could have got the wrong person. Sent on an expedition through the rift caves she discovered that the expedition leader as planning a risky engineering feat to bring steam power to the city. But when Merrith realised that this plan could lead to the destruction of Quentaris she knew that she had to do anything in her power to save her city.

The Murderers' Apprentice is the latest novel in the Quentaris series and follows the adventures of Merrith, an apprentice to the Murderers' Guild as she fights to save the city from certain destruction.

The story begins as a simple story of a young girl that has clearly been apprenticed to the wrong guild – she just doesn't have it in her to murder someone in cold blood. But she is fascinated by machinery and engineering and can calculate practical solutions to complex engineering problems with great ease.

I have read many Quentaris books now and I have to say that this one is my favourite so far. I don't know if it is because I am also an engineer but something about the story really hit the right spot for me.

This book was great fun to read. The characters are energetic and compelling and, for once, the final solution is not as obvious as with many other books. It is always nice when a book still holds a bit of a surprise for you!

Synopsis
Like her father and mother before her, Merrith is apprenticed to become an assassin with the Murderers' Guild. But Merrith is hopeless with a dagger and sword, inept at mixing poison and not really OK with the idea of killing people anyway. Just as she is due to begin her apprenticeship, the Guild of Soothsayers instruct Merrith to join an expedition to the rift caves, and it comes with a warning: if she fails to go, Quentaris will be destroyed.