Review | The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Title: The Assassin's Blade
Author: Sarah J Maas
Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books on March 4th 2014
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
The Assassin's Blade is a novella bind up of 5 stories that take place before the events of the first book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. To start off I would recommend reading Throne of Glass first before these Novella's as I feel like that is the better introduction to the series. I read Throne of Glass to the latest novel Empire of Storms all before picking up the Novella's and even though some things are mentioned in the series about events in these novellas I don't feel like it is essential to read the Assassin's Blade first. I think that the best time to read it is after Throne of Glass and definitely before reading Heir of fire possibly even before Crown of Midnight.
The Assassin and The Pirate Lord:
This is the first of the five novellas and in which we get the long awaited introduction of both Sam Cortland and Arobynn Hamel. Both Celaena and Sam are assassin's working for Arobynn Hamel and are sent on a mission of sorts that sends them to Skull's Bay where they meet Pirate Lord Captain Rolfe. This one has a whole lot of character progression in terms of Sam and Celaena and some awesome action scenes.
4.5/5
The Assassin and The Healer:
This is the shortest of all of the novellas however I feel like it was a great bridge between The Assassin and The Pirate Lord and The Assassin and The Dessert. We get to see Celaena in the aftermath of the ending of the previous novella and get a first look at her feelings on what happened. We also see a lot of Celaena being a bad-ass. We meet Yrene a new character and it is interesting how we also get to see a lot from her perspective. The interactions between Celaena and Yrene are really well written and I enjoyed seeing Celaena teaching Yrene moves to defend herself. I hoping that we will get to see Yrene again in the future.
5/5
The Assassin and The Dessert:
The Assassin and The Dessert I feel out of all the prequels has the most impact on Celaena's character, she finally gets the chance to actually make friends and in doing so we meet Ansel. I read Empire of Storms which is the latest novel in the Throne of Glass series before reading this and have recently re-read it and I feel like added a lot of depth to Empire of Storms so I would suggest reading The Assassin and The Dessert first. I don't want to say too much because I don't like to give away spoilers, just go straight into it. I really enjoyed this one!!!
5/5
The Assassin and The Underworld:
The Assassin and The Underworld was much slower in terms of the plot but definitely essential in terms of Sam and Celaena's relationship and character development. While reading this I really didn't want to get attached to Sam because of knowing what happens from reading Throne of Glass, however that just wasn't possible and I fell in love with him anyway. ALL THE FEELS!!!
4.5/5
The Assassin and The Empire:
Lastly Assassin and The Empire starts a little while after the ending of Assassin and The Underworld and ends with Celaena on her way to Endovier. This one definitely made me feel all the feels it was heartbreaking and emotional slowly seeing the plot unfold. The knowing also made it even more heart wrenching. I literally sobbed at this one, I don't think I have ever cried so much in my life!
5/5
As a whole this was such a great addition to the series and it really added a lot more depth to Celaena. The Assassin's Blade is great because we get to read about what Celaena was like before being sent to Endovier. The Assassin and The desert was my favourite I think, but I really did enjoy all of them. Even though you know where everything is going, (if you've already read Throne of Glass) you still can't help but fall in love with Sam; and now I feel that from reading the novellas that Celaena's choices and actions in Throne of Glass and the following books make even more sense. Overall this all adds up to amazing character development, I am so glad that I finally read it. Excellent! I Enjoyed The Assassin's Blade just as much as the rest of the books. Well done Sarah J. Maas!
Favourite Pages: 178, 256, 308, 309 and 416.
Overall: 5/5 Stars!
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