The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas Published by Bloomsbury on March 04th 2014
Pages: 416
Source: Purchased on Kindle
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<p>Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam.</p>
<p>When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn's orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn's clutches and if they fail, they'll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives.</p>
<p>A prequel to Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas offers listeners a deeper look into the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling and deadly world.</p>
Much like Shadow and Bone, I put off starting this series for months. It wasn’t until all of the BEA Buzz around Heir of Fire was happening that I decided that I really needed to buckle down and start this one. I love swooning over a series with everyone WHILE everyone is still reading it so I knew this was going to be on my up and coming reading list. Melissa also wanted to start this series, so we decided to dive in together!
I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to review this one seeing as how it’s made up of 5 separate novella’s that take place prior to the events in Throne of Glass. I decided to break down each novella with a few of my thoughts and then have an overall thought and rating at the end. My overall rating for the book is based on my individual ratings for each separate novella. If you haven’t read The Assassin’s Blade yet, I would highly suggest skipping over my individual reviews of each novella as they are slightly spoiler-y…. my overall thoughts however are a summary and do not reveal any spoilers!
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord ★★★★
I thought this was a great start. I immediately fell in love with Celaena and also with Sam. It was really fast paced and I was on the edge of my seat reading, I was so nervous for Celaena & Sam when they were putting their big plan in motion! When I finished The Assassin and the Pirate, I had to jump in to the next one … I was terrified for what was going to happen after they returned home!
The Assassin and the Healer ★★★★
I was so intrigued by Celaena that I flew through this one, especially when you learn where she was off to… I knew I had to keep reading! Even this one was one of the shortest out of the book, that didn’t affect the overall feeling, or take anything away from this mini story. Celaena meets Ylene, and the short relationship that they had, made me love her even more! And I really liked Ylene, I hope we see her in the future books!
The Assassin and the Desert ★★★★★
This was absolutely one of my favorite of the five novellas. We really seen Celaena grow so much, and my heart HURT for her at the end of this book. I loved her lessons with the Silent Assassin’s and Master, and you really seen into a deeper part of her personality. Even though she is hard and complex on the outside, she definitely has a ton of feelings and a big heart for those who are important to her. We are also introduced to Ansel, who I liked a lot. I had such bittersweet feelings for Ansel at the end of The Assassin and the Desert, because I hated what happened but I also loved what she taught Celaena in the short time.
The Assassin and the Underworld ★★★★
This book made me HATE Arobynn. Like despise him. I already disliked him for what he did to Celaena after the Pirate Lord, but my the end of this I was seething. SEETHING. Now, on the plus side, I absolutely fell hard for Sam and I was totally rooting for him and Celaena. The events in this one really shook me, and totally set the tone for the next book
The Assassin and the Empire ★★★★★
If you could read one of these novella’s, read this one. Holy smokes… my heart. I was sobbing by the end of this book and as much as I absolutely hated the ending (seriously… this was my introduction to the series… HEART FREAKING ACHE), I loved the story. Celaena and Sam just thrilled me… I love Sam. LOVE HIM… and Celaena and him together just made my little life. And as shitty as the ending was, it really helped to build up the back story of who Celaena is in Throne of Glass.
Overall ★★★★
All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic start to this series. I’m not sure (reading Throne of Glass now) that I would enjoy Celaena and her story as much if I hadn’t read her back story. She is completely badass, fearless, snarky and AWESOME and by far, hands down, one of my all time favorite main characters. I think Sarah J. Maas did an amazing job building up her story, and roping you into Celaena’s grasp because when I finished I just had to keep reading and immediately started Throne of Glass. I’ve heard so many times that I had to read this series and seen it ‘book pushed’ a hundred times over, and I can wholeheartedly say I know why now: It’s AMAZING.
*squeals* *fangirls* *flails* I love this series so so so much! I actually didn’t read the novellas until after I read TOG and COM so I knew what was going to happen in the last one and it still broke my heart and made me sob my eyes out. I love Sam and Celaena so much!!! I really loved getting Celaena’s backstory and reading them all back to back made it feel like I got a whole new book in the series. Then I read HOF and am now dying waiting for the next one. Can’t wait to read your thoughts on the rest of the series!!!
I’m so intrigued by everyone’s experiences with reading the novella’s AFTER the book! A lot of people said that you didn’t need to read them first, but my perfectionist mind couldn’t even fathom reading something that is supposed to come before after knowing that it’s out haha. OMG so they do reference Sam sometime later? I’m only about 45% through TOG right now and he hasn’t been mentioned so I’m WAITING… I love him
I read these backwards, going from ToG and CoM and then back to TAB, and I still enjoyed it. BUT! When I did my reread, I did it with the novellas and then the series, and I loved it so much more. So I guess in this case it really is beneficial to read the novellas first!
Okay, and just a mental picture for you: Imagine me reading ToG and knowing about Sam, and then having to go back and read it. HEARTBREAK AND TEARS AROUND
GOSH, I know… I don’t know how you could have done it knowing about Sam and then having to read it :/ MY HEART. I agree, I think it is beneficial to read the novella’s, I feel like I got SO much more of the story and Celaena’s personality from doing it like that!!